Clinical Laboratory Scientist. Louisiana State University. Taiwanese. American. Footbiker. Dreamer. Food Blogger; Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and some other places too.
Food wrapped in leaves.
I feel that foods that are wrapped in leaves and then cooked are popular among lots of cultures. It’s so tasty!
In this case, it’s seasoned glutinous rice with braised pork inside. The rice tends to pick up hints of the leaf’s aroma.
So that means foods with different types of leaves used as a wrap taste slightly different. Some are boiled, some are steamed. And this changes the way the rice is composed. Sometimes the rice is cooked beforehand, sometimes it’s raw before cooking.
I know in other cuisines, rice isn’t the only thing that is wrapped in a leaf. So my question is: What other cultures do this? And what types of foods are wrapped in leaves??
Pizza Consegna, a delivery only pizza place, had a “Pop Up Restaurant” in the Hyatt of New Orleans yesterday. A pizza buffet style meal with pizza, salad, and dessert pizza! I had a really good time sampling everything they had. Pictured from the bottom to top are the quattro formaggi, pepperoni, bbq chicken, and pulled pork. They were all so great. I was a huge fan of the cheese pizza, and I never order cheese pizza. But the attention and care they put into designing it made it filling and flavorful. The pulled pork came in a close second. Smoky pork, a little on the dry side (from the baking process I imagine), but the taste won me over. BBQ chicken was really moist and popular with my friends. The most special thing on it was cilantro leaves, which really complimented the red onion and bbq sauce flavor. The pepperoni was a classic. Can’t go wrong with that.
The crust really won me over. Thin crust, crispy goodness. I love flatish breads.
After tasting all of their pizzas, I’m definitely going to have to order this sometime. Their usual operation includes 18” thin crust pizzas for $11. Free delivery to limited areas around CBD. I love the message that these guys are sending: locally sourced, organic foods, delivery on electric bikes. Does that sound like something I would like… or what? I would love to support local businesses like this.
Manning’s Jambalaya with Braised Short Rib. Also had brussels sprouts w/ onions. I think the jambalaya had salted pork, instead of sausage, and chicken. It was full of Southern spices and packed solid heat. The braised short rib was cooked just long enough so it was full of flavor and fell apart with the tug of the fork. The brussels sprouts were crunchy and the onions were sweet and tasty.
The feeling I got from the restaurant was… weird. Sports bar TVs and noise mixed with elegant and fancy food. I guess if you order like the table next to us did— rare steaks and french fries —then it would have felt more fitting. It was difficult to have a conversation without yelling, which detracted from the experience. Service was fine and fast, though.
Anyway, thanks to Ms. Cindy for bringing me along!
NOLA blonde and bacon, cheddar, ranch fries at Dat Dog. Great combo. Plus they were celebrating national drink a beer day and ran happy hour all day. Yum.
NOLA blonde and bacon, cheddar, ranch fries. Dat dog was celebrating national drink a beer day and has happy hour all day.
Amazing homemade gumbo by Chef Vi! Sausage, chicken, shrimp, crawfish, okra, mushrooms. Thanks so much for bringing a piece of home in my life.
Drago’s in the Hilton in downtown NOLA specializes in charbroiled oysters and other seafood. Were these dishes hits?
Good to try, but not going to return. In my slow, slow journey through New Orleans’ many, many restaurants I won’t be venturing back here. The crab au gratin was creamy and crabby tasting, but any lumps of crab meat that may have been in there were disintegrated. The crust on top was easily broken by the provided tortilla chips. They chips were thicker than what I’m used to, which is restaurant style tortilla chips and… Doritos chips.
The Charbroiled Oysters, which are highly recommended by many, were quite good. But the taste of the oyster was really covered up by the toppings. I’m not sure what all was on there, but I feel that it was predominantly cheese and herb butter. The flavor of being charred was there, and the shells show it too. That was a nice touch. I guess I’m just a purist, or a minimalist. Whatever the word is, when I’m going to eat oysters I want to taste oyster. Instead, I got a mouthful of cheese and butter.
On that note, the butter herb was amazing. That french bread served on top? It’s made to absorb all of butter that’s sitting at the bottom of the plate. It’s the vector that the butter will use to wind up in your stomach. The star of the show: Bread and butter!
Yet another San Dong dish, but in HQ this time. Instead of the noodles I got the rice dish this time. Steamed white rice, fried chicken, braised egg, steamed broccoli, and a meat sauce (rou zhao that happens to have a lot of do ban jian and/or zhajiang… hard to describe, but very delicious). I think the fried chicken uses a sweet potato flour, which gives it a unique flavor. I also believe it’s a deboned thigh in there, marinated, giving it a slightly sweet taste. If you don’t like sweet meat… what a shame. This is a very filling dish. So full after eating this. If you know anything about the way I eat, that’s quite a statement. If I lived near this place I’d go everyday.
The second picture is shaved ice from a place called Juice Box. In the complex that Juice Box is in, there are actually a number of shaved ice spots. We just went with the one that was recommended. For around 7 dollars you get a shaved ice dessert that any normal person will need to share. A scoop of strawberry ice cream, balls of melon, pineapple, strawberry, mango, and a generous squirt of condensed milk covers the shaved ice on this one. I think it’s called the “mixed fruit” or something like that. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if these fruits were sweet or not. But the flavor of them came through the condensed milk. I have a feeling that the milk just made the flavors a lot stronger than they were. Condensed milk to the rescue!
Just hitting these two places up in Chinatown was worth it.
Not as good as Lay’s. Pretty disappointing. Has the crunch but lacks the flavor.
