A Nola Taste to Remember
In 2015, I decided that a group birthday trip would be an ideal way to ring in my 20-something birthday. Those of you who have been on group trips know that these affairs are usually a hit or miss chuckle, chuckle. I won’t say what this one was because you know some of my friends are reading this.
The destination was Nola, New Orleans if you need me to break it down. I instantly fell in love with NOLA and often refer to it as one of my soul locations on the globe. I mean as soon as I landed, my soul felt at peace. Everything felt so familiar and it was my very first time there. This trip, now that I think about it, was also my first foray with being very intentional about what I was eating while I was away on vacation. At the time, I only used one source to pool all my potential spots to try. I was a tad disappointed with many of the popular hotspots that we ate at in the Quarter as they came with overall high reviews. Despite this, I did not give up on the culinary experience of Nola. With every visit, I soon learned that the trick is to either stay clear of the dining in the French Quarter or try your luck at “hole in the wall” spots in the Quarter. Side Bar ~ the charbroiled oysters at Acme Oyster which are located in the French quarter are A1 and need to be on everyone’s list of items to try if you aren’t averse to seafood ~ End Side Bar. However, I did notice during my latest visit in 2018 that dining in the Quarter (every time I type this I say this with a Louisiana drawl by the way) has gotten better. Another side bar ~ earlier this year I was attached to another group trip to Nola and was ready to run my way through a culinary experience, a Tour de Nola, in September but the Rona was like nah heaux.
Okay, on to the taste to remember. I was entirely blessed to have been on my first visit to Nola with a college friend of mine who is a native to the south and had family living in Louisiana. Its crazy because as I am writing this I am thinking about other moments fueled by food during this trip. For instance the Silent Lunch: cues a group of about 10 people sitting around 2 tables eating in utter silence and not because the food tasted good !! And oh yes, the hole in the wall spot where we found the best po boys and chicken wings off of Canal St. on a drunken night out exploring that eventually turned very emotional.
So back to that memory. One afternoon, we rented some cars and drove to the country to go to attend a party that my college friend’s family was hosting. We get there and we are immediately met with stares. I remember whispering to my close friend jokingly asking as to whether or not our friend had even told his family that his RSVP to the function included a plus 8. Im sure I heard someone even utter that didn’t want us coming in eating all they food chuckle, chuckle. But soon the matriarch of the house welcomed us in with open arms. And this my friends was an invitation for me to go get my plate and begin to partake in this home cooked food! I begin to make my way through the house like I was a distant cousin and end up in the kitchen where I was greeted desserts. These sweets were bomb. Eventually, I head back out to meet the rest of my friends and soon thereafter the main attraction hits the stage, a homemade boil. The boil comes out in this aluminum containers seasoned to perfection and is then poured out onto the table for all to dig in …the crayfish and potatoes with the corn and the sausage on another end (this part of the memory gets fuzzy.)
A real cousin begins to teach some of us how to eat crawfish. I became a crawfish believer that day. I mean, who knew there was so much sea meat in them thangs. These days I prefer someone else to fetch the meat out for me because its a whole workout to do it myself but I still know my way around a crawfish now. My dream is to be able to partake in another homemade seafood boil like that preferably in a state where homemade boils are a thing!
Inspired by my nephew who passed away in 2016, A Taste That Made Me Remember is an outlet for me to recount food memories. I really fell in love with this idea of memories that are tied to food as my nephew really loved to eat and recounting food memories make my soul happy. My wish is to entertain others with these memories as I want your soul to be happy as well when you remember a taste. Please be sure to share tastes that you remember as I would love to share those as well.
