Lunch in New Orleans

Thanks so much to y'all for your thoughtful recommendations on food and drink in New Orleans. Between the comments and emails, I had more than 10 spots to think about, yet only one lunch, sadly.

Many of the restaurants that seemed most appealing to me were closed on Monday or don't offer lunch at all. Upperline, for example, seemed like just what I was looking for - a place with a bit of history that offers real Creole food. But it doesn't serve lunch and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Galatoire's looked perfect too, but is also closed Mondays. August's menu looks awfully good, and it's open for lunch, but the menu didn't seem to be focused on Creole or Cajun food. I wanted to eat something like Gumbo or Étouffée or Jambalaya or gulf shrimp or turtle soup.

In the end I chose Herbsaint, named after a brand of Absinthe. I had only a few hours on Monday and I wanted to take the St. Charles streetcar all the way to the end of its route. Herbsaint is located on St. Charles Avenue near the beginning of the route. And although the lunch menu is not entirely Creole food, I had my eye on a few things.

It is a bright and welcoming space that on this Monday afternoon bustled with people in suits enjoying their lunch break, and also with people dressed casually. I sat at the bar and was immediately impressed with the extensive wine list. Plenty of interesting bottles at all price points, lots of enticing Champagne, and several magnums that would be great fun to open with a group at dinner - 08 Tempier Bandol Rosé comes to mind. There were 4 or 5 whites and 4 or 5 reds by the glass, and a Fontsainte Corbières Gris de Gris rosé too.

My plan was Gumbo and then fried catfish with green rice, but there is this problem I ran into in New Orleans. There is a "grocery store" on every block that sells fantastic po'boys, the delicious sandwiches on soft French-style bread. You try walking past the 7th grocery store advertising things like fried oyster po'boys or hot roast beef with gravy po'boys. By the time I arrived at Herbsaint, it's fair to say that I had already had at least one lunch (and I must say that the fried soft shell crab po'boy I ate was a truly wonderful thing).

So instead, it was a light lunch. I began with a salad of crisp lettuces with bacon and buttermilk blue cheese vinaigrette, $8. It was okay, nothing special. But the Sazerac cocktail, $8.50, I drank while eating the salad, now that was great. Next I had what turned out to be the best thing I ate in new Orleans (although that crab po'boy was mighty close), a small plate of Louisiana shrimp and grits with Tasso and okra, $11. Everything about this dish was perfect, and I already long for the next time I can eat it. A square of creamy and cake-like grits with plenty of fresh, perfectly cooked, and utterly succulent Gulf shrimp lying about in recline. Chunks of okra and Tasso, the spicy Cajun smoked pork shoulder for texture and flavor, and all of this upon a deeply flavored brown sauce that must have been based on a roux. None of the wines by the glass seemed right with this dish (I almost ordered the 06 Épiré Savennières Cuvée Speciale or the Cornières rosé), until I noticed La Cigarrera Manzanilla by the glass for $5. It was perfect with the shrimp dish - bright and briny and pungent.

Next time I go to Herbsaint I want to go on an empty stomach, and with at least one other person so that we can take better advantage of that wine list. And I will not lie to you - the street car ride was lovely, but I was a drowsy man.

Thanks again for all of your advice on where to eat and drink in New Orleans.