The Big Boys

When most people think of New Orleans' restaurants they think of the ones serving the traditional French cuisine. They r all located n the French Quarter: Galito's (pronounced gal-e-twas -the grand dame of all NO restaurants) est n 1905, Arnold's (pronounced R-no's) est n 1918, Court of Two Sisters (known mainly for their Jazz brunch) location est n 1886, and the new kid on the block, Brennen's Steak House est n 1946. Each of these restaurants have stayed n business for many years bc they are so traditional. It's what the public wants. Most NOLA residents prefer Galito's or Arnold's. All of these restaurants have all five $ in the travel books beside their names. They r very expensive BUT you can still get a quality meal that exudes traditional NO cuisine.

Then u have the "newbie" Chefs of NO- Emeril Lagasse who owns NOLA's and Delmonicos, Paul Prudhomme who owns K-Paul's and invented blacked-everything and John Besh who owns August and Luke's. Most of these restaurants r way past their prime and run on name alone n my opinion. They all have 3-4 dollar signs behind their names and i can almost guarantee u will feel like you've been taken advantage of after ur meal. The wait to get n and the cost r just not worth the meal.

The only chef who has been around for a while n this "newby" category is the innovative Susan Spicer of Bayona and Mondo fame. She keeps re-inventing herself and all of her ingredients r fresh. Her legacy could eventually turn into that of one of the old places n town.

...but now have you ever had someone ask you "Gosh, you don't know about _______?" and you, being the "expert" n this field, has to reply honestly, "Nope-never heard of it!" Well this is what happened to me when Sista told me about Irene's. It's in the French Quarter a few blocks off of Jackson Square. I was so grateful when our friends, Bert and Karen invited us for this weekend and wanted to go there. You see, they knew about it also...as did numerous other people that I spoke with! I was so grateful to b getting this monkey off my back!

A line forms early at the small old front door of this place...like 4:30 early. They only take a limited amt of reservations so if u want one you have to call ahead a week n advance. Irene's is an Italian food restaurant although no one will tell you that bc it is definitely not traditional Italian.

I started w the mussels - Bubba explained to the waiter, Dan that I traditionally like a white wine, butter sauce w the mussels but Dan suggested that we not upset the chef. I really didn't want to make enemies before the meal got started so I agreed to the marinara sauce. We all took turns dipping our bread into it after I had finished w the mussels. We wanted to drink it!! It was amazing!! Karen and Bubba had the almond- crusted soft-shelled crab that was "the best" Bubba had ever tasted. Bert had the incredible breaded oysters!

Our entrees were just as flawless- Bubba got the special -veal chop w blue cheese polenta and grilled artichokes. Karen had the most succulent lamb chops that I've tasted n a while- served w a Demi glaze. Bert and I had the duck- again, a perfect meal which made Bubba almost jealous...and he doesn't eat duck! It had a rosemary brine w sweetened chopped pecans and sweet potatoes!

Dessert was Creole cream cheese cake, flour-less chocolate cake and one of the best bread puddings I've ever tasted!

Try Irene's!!- she's running w the big boys in town!!!