Eating Out: New Orleans: Emeril's

One of the things about my birthday that I love when I was a kid was the chance to dictate what I wanted for dinner. Let's just say, there was a lot of pizza. When my mom made it herself, she added a little cheddar cheese, which was so wrong but so right.

I sort of miss how happy that cheddar cheese pizza made me on my birthdays. I wonder if I would have enjoyed a place like Emeril's back then.

Poor Emeril. Reduced to an easy joke, like making fun of Shake-n-Bake or pogs. But Emeril is awesome. Even Tony Bourdain admits it: "I think that beating up on Emeril was turning into shtick... Emeril worked his way up and has a real restaurant empire. And he has been nice to me, shown incredible good humor about me calling him an Ewok. I went out drinking in New Orleans years ago with a lot of his cooks and employees, and they said he's a good boss, a fair guy who looks after his people." (Read the rest of the article here.)

If you ever have the chance to got to an Emeril's restaurant, go. A week before my birthday, my mom called and arranged to have a bottle of champagne greet us. Too much fun. It was delicious and a perfect companion to the Abita Root Beer Braised Bacon Salad with Goat Cheese and Pork Cracklings. Mmm... that bacon was heavenly.


Next came Escargot with Orecchiette Pasta. I was hoping for a little more escargot but the little ears of pasta made up for it.


Patrick had the Grilled Ribeye of Beef with Romano Potatoes, Local Vine Ripe Tomato-Arugula Salad, Aged Gorgonzola, Lardons and Aged Balsamico. The smokiness of the meat was totally captivating combined with the crisp salad and tangy balsamic. Patrick tends to "win" at ordering when we go out.


I had the Andouille Crusted Texas Redfish with Grilled Vegetables, Shoestring Potatoes, Glazed Pecans and Creole Meunière Sauce. It was delicious-- the crunchy potatoes with the tender fish, all soaking up the salty-sweet-savory sauce-- but the portion was so giant, I was actually sad. That's got to be the worst thing about traveling-- no bringing home tasty leftovers and having them for breakfast the next day! Sad.


We were pretty stuffed by the end, so this little creme brulle with a birthday candle stuck in the top was the perfect end to a very tasty night.

A very good way to start a new decade! Thanks, Emeril.