City Diner - Metairie, LA

What is open 24/7 and serves a mean breakfast? The answer is simple, City Diner. Although I am not a breakfast person, in reality, it is a necessity of life and not too long after waking up you stomach is going to tell you please feed me. With family in town, it didn't seem right to feed them the the items I compile and call a breakfast so I wanted to take them out.

City Diner offer the typical breakfast items like eggs, bacon and omelets. My sister ordered the Spinach Omelet which was quite good. The portion was huge.

Speaking of huge, if you are going to order pancakes here, please know that it is larger than an XL pizza pie and could feed an entire family of 4 so order with caution if you are by yourself. Their Chocolate Chip variety would be great for the kids.

Besides the food being fresh and surprisingly quality, what I liked about City Diner is that they combine the foods you expect to see with New Orleans classics. An example of this is their Hash Brown creations. I had the one with Crawfish & Andouille. It was very good but is definitely something you can't eat too much of at one time; it had a little too much Cajun cream sauce for my liking. It came with a biscuit on the side which was delicious addition I might add.

City Diner
3116 South Interstate 10 Service Rd E Metairie, LA 70001
(504) 831-1030
www.citydiner.biz

Deanie's Seafood - French Quarter - New Orleans, LA

I went to Deanie's Seafood and I just did not like the place. The atmosphere was nice enough. Nothing special but it was clean so that is all the really matters.

The customer service was a bit questionable (lacking). I could ignore that if the food was good but it wasn't.

My niece ordered a pound of boiled Crawfish. The one item they was guaranteed to deliver was over cooked and so the Crawfish tasted slightly rubbery.

I ordered the Stuffed Crab and my sister ordered the Stuffed Shrimp. Not to say it was bad, but it the flavor wasn't very likable. My sister complained that the shrimp was too greasy. The fries and coleslaw it came with wasn't the best either.

My boyfriend had the Shrimp Po Boy and said that the bread was too tough.

I know this is a popular restaurant with multiple locations. It could have possible been an off day but there are too many other places that don't disappoint. 


Deanie's Seafood
841 Iberville St New Orleans, LA 70112
(504) 581-1316
www.deanies.com

The Crazy Lobster Bar and Grill - Central Business District - New Orleans, LA

Views of the Mississippi, live music, and outdoor seating are all good reasons to at least try The Crazy Lobster Bar and Grill, so I did. 

At places like this that caters to tourists I am often scared to order certain items off the menu. You see restaurant like this sometimes do not care what they put in front of you because they assume you will never come back anyways. With fear of this, I decided to start off with Hushpuppies. Luckily, they were freshly fried and tasted yummy.

I decided to continue the safe approach and ordered another fried item, the Fried Crab Claws. There is not much to say about them. However, they were also freshly fried so it tasted fine.

Surprisingly, on this outing, my boyfriend was the daring one and at the suggestion of our server, ordered the Shrimp Cajun Étouffée. Visually, it did not look that appealing to me, but he said that it wasn't bad.

I will admit, the food at The Crazy Lobster Bar and Grill isn't great (could be due to my choices), but if anything else, it is a fun place to be to people watch and have a few drinks! It comes down to this location, location, location but if you do not care, please skip it.

The Crazy Lobster Bar and Grill
#1 Poydras Street Suite 83 New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 569-3380
www.thecrazylobster.com

Domenica Restaurant - Central Business District - New Orleans, LA

With Domenica being located in the historic Roosevelt Hotel, before even stepping foot inside the restaurant, you know that the ambiance will be warm and inviting. The high ceiling, beautiful artwork, and modern design elements creates a high end appeal but paper menus and rustic wood allows the restaurant to remain casual and not pretentious. Even though the service left something to be desired, the environment compensated (somewhat) for that.

One thing I liked about the restaurant is the selection of cocktails. I choose to get the Carry Me Away. The portion was a little small but it did pack a nice punch.

The pizzas are really what define this restaurant. I know you are thinking really? but trust that this is not your ordinary pizza. It is good, really good.

I ordered the Squid Ink Tagliolini with blue crab and herbs. To sum it up I saw virtually no herb and overall it tasted like just plain salted pasta.

Someone else in my party decided to venture outside of the pizzas and ordered the Wood Roasted Goat cooked shakshouka style with a yard egg & tomato sauce. One word, delicious!

For dessert we ordered Banana Zuppa Inglese (banana cake, bananas, crema cotta mousse & peanut brittle). It was served cold, but basically if you don't like bananas, you are not going to enjoy this one.

Overall, my experience at Domenica was nice but what stood out for my was the pizzas and cocktails. Since they offer half price on those items during happy hour from 3-6pm, I would recommend that as the time to go.

Domenica Restaurant 

123 Baronne St New Orleans, LA 70112

(504) 648-6020

www.domenicarestaurant.com

Elizabeth's Restaurant - Bywater - New Orleans, LA

What's for breakfast? Elizabeth's I say. I had heard about their famous Praline Bacon and I needed try it so I made my way to Bywater to get it.

Entering the restaurant made me go back into time when I was kid eating at my grandma's house. There were a lot of colorful artworks on wall and cute cherry covered table cloths on the tables. It was bright inside and open with ample seating.

Our server was okay; I wish she was a little more cherry and didn't forget the bacon I ordered. I had eating half way through my meal before I realized, I was not going to get my Praline Bacon and had to ask for it. It was good but not for those who do not like sweets. The issue with me loving it was the fact that it wasn't fresh and was just sitting around and bacon just isn't great like that.

The meal I order was off their daily specials menu (which was posted on the wall). I can't remember what it was called, but I am just going to go with Sombrero Burrito. It was a tortilla stuffed with eggs, bacon and sausage. It was an interesting concept but the sweetness of the maple syrup on top just threw things off for me.

My friend had the Veggie Omelet which seemed to be good.

My other friend ordered the French Toast but with the Banana Foster's on the side.

I will admit that I am not a lover of breakfast foods (I hate eggs) but as a lover of Bacon, the fact that they offer Praline Bacon give them some contention when it comes to Breakfast.




Elizabeth's Restaurant
601 Gallier St New Orleans, LA 70117
(504) 944-9272
www.elizabethsrestaurantnola.com

Sushi Village - Metairie, LA

Sushi Village is less of a village and more of a small, casual restaurant in a shopping center, however the atmosphere is comfortable and the staff (sushi chef and 1 waitress) were pleasant.

Every meal at Sushi Village come with Soup and Salad. Both were very small and lackluster. The Miso Soup wasn't bad per say, but was room temperature which killed any desire I had to maybe like it.

I wasn't extreme hungry, so I ordered the 12 Piece Sashimi Entree. The fish was fresh with a clean taste, however, some of the pieces could have been a little bigger.

My dining partner ordered the Hibachi Steak and Salmon. He thought that it was pretty good but still was nothing write home about.

I am obsessed with Fried Oreos so when I saw them on the menu, I had to have some. Typically Fried Oreos have a thick cake like batter, but I liked that these were a little lighter and that they used tempura batter to compliment the style of the restaurant.

One great thing about Sushi Village is that they offer an all-you-can-eat selection so if you are trying to get a bang for your buck then this restaurant will suit you just fine but just for a casual sit down meal, there are better options out there.


Sushi Village
3535 Severn Ave Metairie, LA 70002
(504) 885-8678
www.metairiesushivillage.com

Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop & Pub - Metairie, LA

I drive past Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop practically everyday and it made no sense that I never stopped in to eat, so I stopped to eat.

Even though the restaurant is referred to as a stop, despite the small size, the restaurant is suitable for comfortable dining-in. Also, the fact the Chef Ron, the chef and owner, comes out to personally greet and talk to every single guest makes it more homely than a pit stop off of the highway.

We were hungry, so we decided to order an appetizer. I have seen Boudin Balls on many menus in New Orleans but never tried them, so I finally decided to take the leap and order them. They are balls made of ground pork and seasoning and I loved them (its hard not to love freshly fried anything).

I love me some gumbo but I wanted to see what else Chef Ron offered, so I ordered the Bayou Scampi. It was full or flavor and tasty however I am not one for greasy food so that bothered me a little but honestly it is scampi so it is hard not to expect that, besides a little greasy never hurt anybody (at least until the heart attack).

My boyfriend had the Southern Fried Chicken. It was good but not great. This probably wouldn't be the best choice for this restaurant. He ordered the Jambalaya on the side. He didn't like it. It wasn't bad but just had way too much tomato and was a little overcooked for my liking.

Although I did not initially order the Gumbo, I decided to order some to take home and eat later. I choose the Mumbo Gumbo and can I say that it was so delicious and amazing. The flavoring was outstanding! I know that the proximity of the restaurant is going to make this my number one spot for gumbo.

The food at Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop is good but if you really want to be impressed please get the gumbo.


Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop
2309 N Causeway Blvd Metairie, LA 70001
(504) 835-2022
www.gumbostop.com