If you follow me on IG or Snapchat you would have seen a bunch of photos from our little adventure in Nola this week. It was mainly to have a mini vacay and take the baby to the aquarium (post to come for grands) but it was also an excuse for the two of us to try a few restaurants that have opened up since we were in and out of Nola all the time.
I tried to pick family friendly places, no one likes to be somewhere with a ticked off baby with nice dishes and table cloths. Some were friendlier than others, but I'll get to that later on as I discuss each restaurant.
District Donuts has been on my list for quite some time, thanks Instagram! It definitely didn't disappoint. We got the Banana Split, Cookies & Cream, and their Chicken Biscuit. We both also got Nitro Coffee, it was interesting.
Hands down favorite donut was the Banana Split, but the Chicken Biscuit was pure heaven. I'm not he most committed coffee drinker, so the Nitro was fun but the taste wasn't my thing. It's basically iced coffee served the same way as beer, hence the nitrogen.
While we loved it, I have heard other people say they didn't like it. If you are a dozen hot glazed kinda person you probably won't like this. Then again every place I've been to with this type of gourmet donut doesn't serve them hot. They were fresh, just not piping hot. (The Chicken Biscuit was made to order though)
Yet another on the list of places to visit that we are just getting to is Hansen's, last year we intended to go but going out of town with a 5 month old tends to make you want to go home with no extra stops.
They were the most amazing snow cones though, I got us both Cream of Nectar with Cream of Ice Cream. The guys making them said that was "classic" Hansen's, and it didn't disappoint.
The baby sleeping in the car while I got these didn't disappoint either.
If you've been to New Orleans and haven't been to Mother's you basically haven't lived.
The intent that morning was to actually go to Humble Bagel, but seeing that they were closed midweek (who does that?), Jeremy suggested we hit up a place we haven't been in a few years. I'm just not one to repeat restaurant often when we travel.
By the way if you go get the special, 2 eggs, grits, biscuit or toast (get the biscuit), and a meat option. I got the debris and Jeremy got the black ham. If you're interested in the notion of black ham, I've got a really good copy cat recipe right here<<<
Now for my favorite dinner, The Company Burger.
I found this place via the chef Jeremy and I worked for in college, well his IG account. If you're in Monroe ever check out Cotton, we haven't been yet but he was amazing when we worked for him at Sage.
So, Company Burger...
The burger was amazing, the pickles were so good I wanted to eat a bucket of them, and any place that serves ranch dusted pork rinds as a side has my vote for best place on the planet.
We ordered Harrison their Chicken Sliders, he ate those as well as half of my pork rinds.
Oh and they have a mayo bar.
All the heart eyes for that mayo bar.
I was so busy dipping bread from Harrison's sliders in the garlic mayo that he decided that was the thing to do as well. He "dipped" every bite he took in my pork rind dust, it was more of an action than getting any actual dip on something.
Next to the burgers, Slice was my second favorite meal. I don't know though, they just about tie, that salad was amazing. Plus the prices were great, I got a half salad for 6 and a slice of pizza for about 3 bucks. Aside from Company Burger this was high on the baby's list of favorites.
On a scale of child friendly, this was really great. The bartender even happily let me park my stroller under the bar, it's a shot gun house style building, so there wasn't just a ton of room.
If I'm being honest St. James Cheese Company was probably my least favorite restaurant. The food was great but we went to the one in the Warehouse District instead of the one closer to our B&B in Uptown. We were there during peek lunch hour and it was crazy busy, filled with obvious business lunches, and loud as could be. Because it was packed we ended up at a table for 2, which anyone with a baby knows is not ideal. They happened to come out with out plates when Jeremy was away from the table, before I got all of Harrison's stuff ready, and he was grabbing at the plates and carrying on.
It actually took awhile to get a seat since it was so crowded and in that time standing around (no waiting area for such a time) we knocked over a drink into the cracker display while juggling a manic hungry toddler who wanted to walk around. It's not like we could even walk around outside, because well... Warehous District.
Definitely go to the Uptown one if you have kids.
The food was really good though. I would have enjoyed it more had we not been within baby reaching distance of the next table. He seriously tried to take food off the table next to us. Luckily I'll never see those people again.
If I had to pick between Creole Creamery an Hansen's I have to say it wouldn't be possible. It was everything I dreamed it would be, I'm quite the ice cream junkie.
My mini sampler was Peanut Butter Fudge Pie, Cookie Monster, Petit Four, and Creole Cream Cheese. Jeremy had the PB Fudge Sundae. Harrison acted as scavenger, his primary role in all dessert situations.
I seriously loved this place, super family friendly, free street parking in that area, and tons of families were parking strollers right outside the shop.
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Hopefully this gave someone an idea of somewhere to go in NOLA that isn't your typically hangouts. I for one am an Acme Oyster House lover but try to eat at new places when we are in town.
So I have to ask, what are some of your favorite places to eat in New Orleans?
