Eat Like Ushi

New Orleans is known for po' boys (aka sandwiches) and I did really want an oyster one. Even though we didn't get around to actually trying one (even with 4 nights), there also seems to be a banh mi movement going on here (aka Vietnamese sandwich I suppose). The best rated one in town actually isn't in town. It's a solid drive looking like  a highway pit stop with loads of parking. It is close to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge (which is a nice little walk, but it really is little and there isn't a whole lot to see).

The takeaway counter is next to a restaurant - I'm not entirely sure what the restaurant serves, but probably Vietnamese cuisine.

It's certainly an excellent price for banh mi USD5.50 inc. tax. Compare that to NYC getting into USD12+. Even the local prices in town are around USD8-10. 

Cold cuts was very generous with lots of meat layers and also quality vegetables, pickles. Nem nuong was also very generous and deliciously seasoned, and I would get that one next time. Unfortunately though the bread was too soft with the outside having no crunch/crackle to it. Maybe it was a bad batch, too old or that's just the way it's done here. Or maybe it has something to do with the humidity? Not sure.

They also sell pate chaud $2.50 (aka "meat pie") which uses a wet char siu type filling rather than the dense pork patty usually. It was alright. There is also a variety of che which I didn't try. They also ran out of bread/banh mi by about 1pm this day.

Nice to have something Vietnamese although I don't think people here know how good banh mi can get if this is their mark. It got better in Houston though...

On the 4th of July, we headed into the French Quarter to explore the street festival atmosphere (although I'm sure quieter than usual due to Covid and the lack of tourism) and fireworks. It was an easy walk from Marigny and lots of people were out and about. All of the more well known restaurants in the area had queues outside (such as the Original French Market restaurant with people wanting their crawfish). A simpler and less busy place along the way was Coop's. For whatever reason the staff were keen to keep the tables empty and the central bar area full, and so there we sat.

Creole is the local cuisine of New Orleans, a mix of the flavours from the settlers of many regions in Europe, Africa and the West Indies. Coop's was one of the few I found online that was well rated, well priced and served jambalaya (thanks Seinfeld for introducing this word into my vocabulary).

Coop's Taste Plate had it all (cup of seafood gumbo, cajun fried chicken, shrimp Creole, red beans & rice, rabbit & sausage jambalaya) USD15.95.

Seafood gumbo (Creole stew served with rice, prepared using dark brown roux, French Market vegetables, ground sassafrass leaves, drum fillet, shrimp, oysters, crab claws) was tomato based with little crab and meat parts. Decent Southern fried chicken (not Nashville level though). Shrimp Creole was a disappointing tomato and prawns on watery unflavoured rice. Smoky beans were good though. Finally the dish I wanted most had arrived. I expected jambalaya to be a soup (from Seinfeld's Soup Nazi episode) but it was an actual rice dish (like paella). It had a smoky flavoured rice with pieces of sausage and was pretty good overall.

The food was fine without being anything mindblowing. Nonetheless good to try authentic Creole food at its origin.

New Orleans was absolutely steaming. Temperatures in the 30s, humidity in the 90s - wow. Going outside the air conditioned room was little being hit in the face was a wet blanket. The old house turned hotel we were staying in was beautiful though, even if it had some musty humid air and rainforest insects would come in at any opportunity. Marigny was a pretty and colourful area to stay, seemed relatively safe, nearby jazz clubs and a short walk to the French Quarter for chaos and 4th of July celebrations (thanks Will Smith for funding these fireworks).

Our first meal there was brunch - Ruby Slipper was packed, with several waiting outside. There was no way we were getting a table, except that we were one of the few willing to sit outside (well we weren't prepared to wait for inside or try somewhere else). In the end it was fine, sitting under the shade of an umbrella and not moving too much to avoid sweating.

After seeing but not trying "biscuits" in Nashville, it was nice to see the opportunity to try a traditional Southern biscuit elsewhere.

- Southern Breakfast (2 eggs poached, stoneground grits, applewood smoked bacon, fried green tomato with a buttermilk biscuit) USD11.5;
- BBQ Shrimp & Grits (gulf shrimp sauteed with pork tasso, bell pepper, red onion, beer & rosemary-butter reduction, over creamy stoneground grits served with a buttermilk biscuit) USD 15.5.

Biscuit are like a scone-cake mix with lots of butter flavour (not surprising given it's buttermilk...). Mine in the shrimp & grits came with cane syrup butter, and strawberry and grape jam. Grits were thick and similar to polenta (not surprising since I discovered both are made from corn, just white corn vs. yellow corn). Nice prawns in tomato sauce too.

Good way to start the day and load calories just to sweat them out.

After visiting the Elvis Graceland museum (which was an expensive but probably should-see-once experience, albeit a little disappointing in that it didn't really explore deeply his personality or his demons), it was off to New Orleans. After the delight of Central BBQ, we didn't want to justify driving backwards and spending time getting more, and so found a well rated place along the way. It was off a road in a little town somewhere in Mississippi that really noone would expect two tourists to be on for any other reason.

People stood outside waiting for their takeaway from this red hut, that wasn't allowing any inside dining. Nonetheless it was pleasant enough using the outside table with some shade from the heat.

Bar B-Que Ribs plate (with corn, coleslaw and bread) USD11.75 had some thick big ribs which had some chew to them. Good but not Central BBQ in our opinion. I thought I'd try some local fried delicacy of catfish plate (with coleslaw, fries & hush puppies shrimp) USD8.4 which was soft fish with thin crisp coating but not seasoned. It was a massive serve that I couldn't finish. Hush puppies were like a fried dough ball, I didn't think it was anything special.

A nice break enroute.

We couldn't decide if it was worth stopping somewhere between Nashville and New Orleans. Going direct would mean one helluva long drive that day, our first day of the car rental on a 10000km journey. It seemed reasonable to go easy to start with - then it came down to a stop in Memphis or Alabama. In the end the appeal of blues, ribs and (to a lesser degree) Elvis won out.

We stayed in the room of an Airbnb where our host confirmed my online reading that Central BBQ was the place to try, and he said particularly the midtown location. It was a little further away but still easily done, and maybe that location would be easier to park and have a shorter queue than the downtown one.

It was also a memorable day because Australia decided to half its international arrivals - meaning we ended up paying an extra USD12000 to upgrade our return flights to maximise the chances we would be able to get home. On the one hand going out to eat wasn't in the spirit of saving money; on the other hand as if some ribs would really make that much difference to our budget. And so in the end we drove out there and found an easy parking spot in their carpark in front of a large mural advertising meat and blues. For a Friday night, it was less busy than expected although there was a bunch of people at the counter in front, but only a 10min wait.

The reality is I wanted to try everything. But we knew American sizings are more than we can handle and we didn't want to get takeaway. Getting a full slab of pork ribs USD27 (with sides of bbq beans and green beans) was easy - I ordered half wet and half dry. I was keen to try a whole smoked wing and even though they came as 3 for USD9, the waitress was happy to give me 1 for USD3. She recommended wet over dry, and so wet it was.

What can I say about the food - these were simply the best pork ribs we've ever had. No exaggeration and no doubt. They were thick meaty ribs, fall off the bone tender. There was contrast between the salty dry rub with slight sweetness, and the more sweet wet version. Both were good with my preference probably being the wet. My single wing was also delicious, sweet and an excellent combo with blue cheese sauce.

My oh my. Then it was time to head to Beale Street for some music.

Payne's BBQ was the other option I had read about, but was only going to go if I couldn't get into Central. Maybe worth a visit next time.

On the hot Nashville days, after spending some days wandering and experiencing the honkytonks, we were up for a more casual afternoon. Of all things, the local new hip shopping mall L&L Market was a bus ride down the road and something to do whilst embracing air conditioning.

There were a few food options like Five Daughters Bakery or the enormous looking (American sized) sundaes at Gracie's Milkshake bar. But this highly rated Italian place drew us in.

It specialises in pinsa - a Roman bread that crosses pizza and foccacia. And the Pinsa pazza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, pesto, burrata) USD17 was a thicker denser chewy salty base with enough bready crispness to pick up without flopping and enjoy by hand. Lasagna (spinach pasta, ragu meat sauce, mozzarella) USD16 was a nice version with the green striking pasta burnt with flavour at the edges and topped with a thick bit of melted and dusted cheese.

A great and tasty lunch.

After chatting with a local girl at our hostel who was there managing bands in Nashville, we told her of our intent to his the honkytonk scene that evening. She said a lot of places in town catered toward the young groups of bachelorette parties and were far lss than traditional, playing all sorts of music. However her favourite and that of many locals was Robert's, which also came with the recommendation to try the fried bologna sandwich.

It was definitely a western-style venue that I had imagined, with a few ladies in cowboy hats enjoying the dancing. Not quite line dancing style but maybe that's a stereotype for another place. The music was a fun type, what I suppose would be traditional country music.

We found a seat upstairs and the trio sitting at the front of the balcony left soon after giving us full views of the venue and the band. I ordered the Recession Special $6 which included the infamous sandwich, bag of chips, moon pie and a drink. I also had a whiskey and coke for the local Tennessee experience.

What can I say about the fried bologna sandwich - it was effectively a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. I don't honestly think I can say it was more than that, and nothing particularly special. It may be that my American fast food taste isn't quite the same as theirs.

Nonetheless a fun few hours there and I would go back again.

After the joy of Hattie B's (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/hattie-bs-hot-chicken-nashville-07-2021), it was serendipidous that I found on Google maps that there was a branch of Prince's in the foodcourt off Broadway. I didn't want to make the trek all the way down south to the original Prince's, and even though the Google ratings of this branch aren't particularly great, I had to try for myself.

After a night in the honkytonks, a bit of fried chicken to wash down the alcohol seemed like a Nashville thing to do.

Prince's was located in the upstairs food court. It was a Wednesday night so not very busy but a short queue was at Prince's, and nowhere else in the foodcourt. I hoped it would be as good as the main branch and competitive to Hattie B's. The menu is quite limited and so I ordered wings hot (given my Hattie experience that hot level). It was slightly hot but it's very obvious that there was not much spicing at all. Also it was definitely not cooked fresh as the wing meat itself was only warm, far from a freshly fried piece. The fries were decent. But charging $2 for a tablespoon of coleslaw was disgraceful. 

I would suggest everyone join the line for Hattie around the corner instead. I would consider going to the original place if I'm ever in Nashville again, but that's a longshot maybe on many fronts

The pure inspiration for me going to Nashville was for the fried chicken. Yes, I read later about the honkytonks and party vibe (endless bachelorette parties apparently) but it was the chicken predominantly. My first Nashville chicken was from Belle's (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/belles-hot-chicken-melbourne-02-2016) and their subsequent spinoff/copycat in Geelong (https://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/the-hot-chicken-project-geelong-08-2016).

I looked up recipes online and found one from Belle's and one from their inspiration by Sean Brock. I cooked a hybrid version once and I have to say it was great. It would be the closest I would find in London. Reading online their were only really two names that came up for where to go in Nashville - Prince's and Hattie B's. Most of the reviews suggested Prince's was the more favourite although being located so far south I didn't want to make the journey there.

So Hattie B's in its convenient location on Broadway meant joining a hot midday queue in the sun enviously looking at the people inside. After a 15min wait I made it to the order counter, before finding a counter seat to watch the passing street traffic. I wasn't sure how hot to order and so ended up with a large dark meat (2 leg/thigh quarters) $12 at medium and one extra wing $2.5 at hot. The 2 sides chosen were pimento mac & cheese and creamy coleslaw. 

And the chicken was as good as I hoped. Spicy, crisp skin which crackled overlying a very good and tender chicken. Hot was definitely better than medium and brought it to life. It was a lot less salty than I expected, and not smokey like the heaped paprika from Belle's. It was just delicious.

After the disappointing Prince's, once we were driving away from Nashville there was another Hattie B's in West Nashville on our way out to Memphis. This time we ordered hot and were thankful for the last bit of bliss. Until the next time Hattie B. But for now Belle's will do fine.