1. Bar Frances. I’ve been back to Bar Frances twice in the last week! Why? Despite the minimalistic menu, it’s clear that they strive to focus on a few set items and execute them well. I love the brunch options on the weekends…especially the list of bottomless drinks! I’m looking forward to what else Bar Frances has in store. Order the Chicken Biscuit and the Lemon Compari to start your day!

2. Nomiya. This HOT and NEW ramen “bar” made its entrance to the New Orleans food scene and it’s here to stay. Nomiya’s authenticity steams from their homey broth to their sweetly balanced braised pork. This ramen bar does not currently serve liquor, but Geki-Kara (“too spicy”) ramen bowl is a great choice to kickstart your night!

3. Seaworthy. I am absolutely in love with Seaworthy right now. They are truly the “Best Bar” in NOLA this Fall. Why? It’s hard enough to find a great eatery and hangout spot open past 10 PM, but Seaworthy’s kitchen is open until 12 AM Sun-Wed and 1 AM Thurs-Sat! You won’t find your ordinary hot dog and nachos (which I still love from time to time). The menu consists of an array of oysters from coast to coast as well as some sophisticated items such as the Gulf Coast Roll or Blackened Redfish.  Seaworthy is a rare pearl in my book!

Check them out and let me know what you think! What other NOLA food bars would you recommend?

1. Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat by Chrissy Tiegen. Not only am I fan of this spunky lady, but I admire her for her passion for food. If you happen to follow her on SnapChat, you’ll see what I mean. One of my favorites in the book have to be her Creamy Potato Salad with Bacon!

2. Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. Thomas Keller is my Chef hubby’s idol. He’s world-renowned and deserves every bit of notoriety. I’ve been to 3 of his restaurants: 1. The French Laundry 2. Ad Hoc 3. Per Se. I remember every bite from each restaurant. Each restaurant has shared their own cookbook, however, we can’t always prepare a Michelin-rated dinner for the family, so this book shares more family-friendly meals very much like Ad Hoc’s menu.

3. Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes. Besides “The Chef” hubby himself, Chef John Besh is my next chef crush! Not only has he created a restaurants empire in New Orleans, but he’s philanthropic and has a great heart. For refined New Orleans’ homestyle recipes, this is your resource:

3. I’ve attached the links to check them out for yourself. What are your favorite books at the moment?
5. Stay tuned for some new, up-and-coming restaurant reviews in New Orleans!
8. Upcoming posts:
9. Bar Frances
10. Nomiya
11. Restaurant Des Familles

Yakitori. 

Spicy Cucumbers.

Spicy Shoyu Ramen. 

Fried Doughnuts and Pandan Custard.

Tiger Den is located in the hottest strip mall in Chinatown, Houston amongst the some of the best such as ShareTea, Kung Fu Tea, Juicebox, Fu Fu, and many others. There was a clipboard where you could sign your name on a list, but we waited no more than 10 minutes at 9 o’clock on a Sunday night. The restaurant has a darker, bar-like feel that is immediately brightened up by their enthusiastic servers. We were seated on a long community table but there were booth and table options as well. Loved it!

The menu consists of a number of appetizers as well as an extensive Yakitori menu, which makes this a great spot for bar hopping. Yakitori literally means “grilled bird”, but as the menu states, the more modern interpretation of yakitori could be any type of protein grilled on a skewer over a charcoal grill. We ordered the Chicken Wings yakitori with soy marinade. These wings were a treat! You could really taste the chargrilled flavor!

The spicy cucumbers are a must-have. The spices appeared a bit overwhelming, but the cucumbers were light and refreshing, a necessity for a balanced ramen meal.

I can’t enjoy  my ramen without a bit of kick so I opted for the Spicy Shoyu Ramen. The broth was well-balanced with the right about of spice and the perfect amount of richness. I find that ramen restaurants tend to veer towards an overly rich broth, but Tiger Den does it well with the perfect mixture of richness and depth.

I’m not finished yet! The Fried Doughnuts and Pandan Custard were amazing. It’s a simple and fairly “light” end to a great meal. Excellent job Tiger Den!

Regrets: Not trying the Tsukemen, dipping ramen noodles. It was highly recommended but we weren’t in the mood.

Rating: 5/5 spoons!

Spinach Dip. 

Mediterranean Salad. 

Chicken Pesto Calzone. 

Magazine Supreme Pizza. 

I’ve ordered Magazine Pizza about 3 times and have loved it every single time. Their Spinach Dip is awesome! The garlic bread sticks that accompany it are thicker, but still soft and chewy on the inside. I nearly liked it more than the pizza itself. To be honest, I usually hate calzones due to excessive breading, but Magazine Pizza has found the perfect bread-to-filling ratio. I can now say that I love calzones. As for the pizza, it’s perfect! The pizza was picked up and traveled to the Westbank and despite the wait, it was still crispy and delicious. Excellent job especially for Game Day service!

Loves: Late hours every day of the week. Online orders. Great calzones, dip, and pizzas!

What NOT to Love: Limited parking on busy days or weekends.

Rating: 5/5 spoons

Breathless is a very new all-inclusive resort that was built only one year ago and is linked with AMresorts. It’s also the fun big sister of Secrets, a more mellow, relaxing, and more secluded resort. The mommy and daddy of AMresorts is Dreams, a family-friendly resort. If you’re going with a group or looking for a ton of fun, Breathless is the place to be. It’s central to everything and is only a 5 minute walk away from the downtown nightclubs and bars.

THE VIEW: The room options indicate ocean view and marina view but I’m pretty sure they are all the same. To my surprise marina view is spectacular and you get the ocean in the background as well.

There’s a ton of action going on in the marina. You’ll see charter boats pulling with fresh caught fish and if you’re lucky, you may even get to feed a sea lion!

THE FOOD: There are at least 5 restaurants and 1 buffet at the resort. I didn’t expect much from an all-inclusive resort, but the Breathless restaurants far surpassed my expectations!

BITE Restaurant was probably my favorite only because it’s primarily tapas and there’s a lot of variety from day to day. The view is nice and the location is basically central to the resort. There was even a night where they offered a Spanish buffet with fresh Paella made on the spot in the hugest Paella pan I’ve ever seen! The wings and onion rings are definitely a two thumbs up. I also enjoyed the Breakfast Chilaquiles. Pop on in any time of day! It’s a different menu every time.

SPUMANTE Italian Specialties was probably my most favorite as far as finer dining. I am amazed at the quality of the food! The seafood Paella was loaded and surprisingly the Spaghetti and Meatballs was the best I ever had! I SWEAR! I loved that it wasn’t drenched in marinara but instead lightly coated in a white sauce.

SPOONS is a breakfast and lunch buffet located by the adult pool and bar. It’s a great spot to meet your friends in the morning. Don’t forget about the bottomless mimosas and unlimited drinks from the bar! You can basically order anything you want. On my last morning there I was craving ceviche because they had served it around noon the other day. Unfortunately, it was too early and ceviche had not been prepped. One of our servers named Martin went above and beyond and found me some Aguachiles (we may recognize this as Shrimp Ceviche in America). Loved it! Ceviche in Cabo is my fave. I’m not going to lie…I think it was more the memory of the ceviche than the ceviche itself, but either way it was delicious! Our hostess Dalia was also great. We were pretty rowdy for only a group of four and she remembered us for our demand for “shots!” every 10 minutes. It was really nice how special they made us feel during our stay at Breathless.

There were a few more restaurants. One was named Kibbeh for Mediterranean food and the other was La Bibloteca for Mexican food, but La Bibloteca is the ONLY restaurant that you have to pay for. It’s 20% off if you are staying at Breathless Resort. We definitely wanted to try it, but we were going with the flow and we never made it there. Next time!

NEXT BLOG: ENTERTAINMENT, NIGHTLIFE, AND TRAVELING TIPS FOR CABO

Stuffed Shells. House-made ‘Nduja Ricotta. Pancetta. Herbed Béchamel. Toasted Pine Nuts. 

Happy hour item: Bruschetta. Sundried Tomato Pesto. Goat Cheese. Fresh Basil. 

The Godfather. House-made Meatballs. Sicilian Red Gravy. Mozzarella. Sweet Peppers. Gracious Bakery Sesame. 

T.A.S.T.E. Sandwich. Fried Turkey. Avocado. ‘House of Greens’ Sprouts. Tomato. Fried Egg. Chipotle Aioli. Gracious Bakery Ciabatta.

Sneak Peek!

First, we ordered the Stuffed Shells, which appeared to be so delicate but turned out to be a wonderful surprise. The shells were al-dente but roasted which gave it a nice chewy texture and the stuffing had such an airy filling with a smooth finish. This dish surprised me the most! The Bruschetta came out next and what makes this great bruschetta is that every component was perfection from the airy lightly-crisped bread to the deep and flavorful Tomato Pesto atop it. 

Our sandwiches The Godfather and the T.A.S.T.E. came next and boy was I surprised! The Godfather was a solid meatball sandwich and is great but a little too heavy for me. The T.A.S.T.E. (turkey, avocado, sprouts, tomato, egg) was basically a California Club…on steroids! It has to be my all-time favorite Turkey sandwich EVER. When you turn something so simple into something so amazing, that’s when you know you’re great! Kudos Part & Parcel! You’ve changed the way I look at sandwiches! 

LOVES: Top notch ingredients and well thought out foods. One of the longest happy hours in NOLA 3-7 PM!!

What not to love: Nothing!

Rating: 5/5 spoons

Fresh Oysters.

More fresh oysters calling your name…

Beautifully plated.

Bottoms up!

I ordered the Shucker’s Dozen Platter, which is the chef’s selection of oysters. Our selection of oysters were the Fat Bastards, Shigoku, Virginica, Kusshi, Kumamoto. The selection was excellent! I was a bit jealous of how flavorful these oysters are compared to the Gulf Coast oysters. Gulf Coast oysters tend to be much larger, but they’re more on the blander side compared to East and West Coast oysters. It’s amazing the amount of flavor that these tiny little oysters can hold. Luckily, some of these oysters are offered in New Orleans too.

What to love: The excellent oyster selection and oyster bar concept.

What NOT to love: They tend to be pricier here so I would come here for drinks and an oyster snack, but it’s not the best if you’re hungry and on a budget.

Rating: 4.5/5 spoons

Bar Seats available. 

Soup Dumplings. Hot and ready even before menus were given!

Dumplings. 

Pork Chop Fried Rice. 

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic. 

Potstickers. So beautiful! Perfection. I could never make potstickers like these!

There was a bit of a wait of about 40 minutes on a Sunday afternoon, but the restaurant is located in an outdoor mall and you’ll receive a text/call whenever your table is ready. Once we got in, soup dumplings were hot and ready to serve even before we got our menus. SO worth the wait! They were delicate morsels of homey goodness. Refined but still made me feel at home…

We also ordered some Potstickers, Sautéed Spinach, Pork Chop Fried Rice, and Shrimp and Pork Wonton’s in Spicy Sauce. I really loved the Potstickers which were visually so perfect, you almost don’t want to eat them but when you do, they are SO good. My next favorite was the Wonton’s in Spicy Sauce. The Spicy Sauce wasn’t ridiculously-spiced…just a small kick. That sauce was sooo good with rice.

Was it well worth the wait? Indeed! I don’t get many soup dumpling choices in NOLA but everywhere I’ve traveled, I always fit in soup dumplings and these are one of my favs!

Rating: 4.5/5 spoons

Roasted Brussel Sprouts. 

Roti. 

Fried Rice with Fried Chicken. 

Pad Thai. 

YUM! Solid dishes all around and our waitress was so spunky and sweet! She had the best recommendations. We ordered the brussel sprouts as her suggestion and it was beautifully plated but equally as delicious. We also ordered our usual Roti and Pad Thai. Be sure to request for spice if you like a little kick. I forgot and was so sad! We opted for Fried Rice with Fried Chicken and it was actually amazing! If you’re in the Gretna area and are looking for a good Thai spot, try Banana Blossom!

LOVE: Solid Thai food. My fav was the Fried Chicken Fried Rice. Great fresh strawberry mojitos!

What NOT to LOVE: Pad Thai is a bit dry but still good. Signage is poor so it can be easily missed. Look for Yoga Krewe and Cafe Zen nearby.

Rating: 4/5 spoons

Chicken Thai Basil. 

Green Curry. 

Pad See Ew. 

Royal Dip. 

Thai Chicken Wings.

Curry Puff. 

Nothing failed to please! My friends and I LOVED the Royal Thai dip and ordered a second..maybe even a third??? (Along with maybe 5 rounds of sake…) Everything was great. We ordered the Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Chicken Wings, Curry Puff, and Green Curry. I loved every single dish. The restaurant is not too far from the Elmwood Shopping Center, but it is hidden in a more warehouse-y commercial area. It’s so worth it!

LOVE: Royal Thai Dip. Solid and delicious classic Thai dishes. Affordable drinks.

What NOT to LOVE: nothing?

Rating: 5/5 spoons