icygreg

I am celebrating my 50th in NO this November along with 5 others.
Pls recommend the best restaurant for creole food in the French Quarter or Garden District. Price and dress code are non issues.

Thanks

Tandoori_Girl

Paul Prudhomme's is Creole. Unless you can get a reservation then you will have to stand in line with all the other non-reservation people. But the line moves quickly and it is kind of fun.

offlady

What are the differences between creole and cajun (aside from the pepper spices)?

sognatrice2

I don't know if Jimmy's is still there, but they used to make a fantastic "dirty rice".
Much more dressed down the Paul Prudhommes though. Wherever you go, as they say "Come hungry!"

Differences between cajun and creole.
the dancing. The flavor of the music,
Well, best to look it up, and I'm sure others have lots to add.
Google zydeco and cajun, and it will give you a tiny bit of info.
My mom grew up around Baton Rouge, and half her family has cajun roots .
I used to go to central Louisiana every year for the dancing in the small towns around Lafayette and acros Highway 10 towards Texas. Lots of wonderful music there, both kinds!

Have a ball, icygreg!!

highbay

I believe the differences in Cajun and Creole is:
Cajun has French roots and Creole has African roots.

benj

I have always said that the main difference is creole foods are more formal (sauces & more "french" like) while cajun is more informal (throw together whatever you have & it tastes great).
Cajun food tends to be spicier & their gumbo has a thinner broth type look.
Creole style gumbo has a thicker almost stew like look. Maybe this will help explain it. http://www.tabasco.com/taste_tent/me...le_cooking.cfm

As for a place to eat creole.. I would suggest Arnaud's for the whole creole experience. It is elegant & usually serves a wide variety of creole specialities.

snowrooster

benj - That's is the same general impression I got of the difference having grown up in New Orleans (though I'm sure there is probably more to it). Arnaud's is great - there is a jazz room with live music that you can sit in while you eat for a small cover. I've heard Jacquamo's is very good as well (not sure if it's creolo or cajun though) though I haven't tried it, I plan to next time I return.

rjw_lgb_ca

It's kinda hard to distinguish, and the term "Creole" is used differently by different people. In New Orleans, it's often used to describe people with mixed African-French-Spanish ancestry, while in the Bayou Country it can be used to describe people of majority Spanish ancestry (as opposed to the Cajuns, of French-Canadian ancestry or people like my great-grandmother, from France).

My mom is half-Creole (Spanish-American father) and half-Cajun (Cajun mom). Her cooking of Louisiana cuisine is a bit of both: liberal use of the "Cajun trilogy" (our mirepoix of celery, bell pepper, onion) in everything (her spaghetti sauce!), Cajun love for spice (but not too much), Creole reliance on roux only to thicken gumbo (no filé powder!). She cooked to please my father (whom she adored), whose family was French (and a little Scot).

My aunt is full-blood Cajun and a terrific Cajun cook; she and my mom are great buddies but definitely cook differently. Her crawfish étouffée is incredible...!

My mom's not a big fan of Paul Prudhomme's cuisine ("too much cayenne", if there is such a thing), but loves Arnaud's. I'd go there if you can get in. I mean, the corner of Bienville and Bourbon St.-- can you get more "Nawlins" than that?

Tandoori_Girl

rjw and snowrooster, how do you feel about uninvited guests for Thanksgiving? I think the fare will be better than at my place.

Tandoori_Girl

Actually, sognatrice, I might show up at your place instead.

sognatrice2

All are welcome at my house, but you have to serve up your own gumbo from the pot I'll leave on the stove, cause I'll be in Rome!

snowrooster

TandooriGirl - You don't want to be at my Thanksgiving - it will be a disaster waiting to happen: my first turkey, lots of people, and a single oven (which I may replace w/a double ahead of time . . . hopefully).

Unfortunately my cajun cooking isn't the best since I lived in NO as a child and my parents are yankees from Boston (though my mom does have a fabulous bbq shrimp recipe she got down there that is loaded w/butter). I may still be learning to cook cajun/creole, but I can eat it like there is no tomorrow!!

Tandoori_Girl

The food in New Orleans is soooo good. I think I like the food better than the music at Jazz Fest. That fried eggplant with oysters in sauce. The oyster po'boys. Boudin. And Crawfish! Every now and then someone will open a Cajun or Creole New Orleans style restaurant in Tampa but I've never been to one somewhere other than New Orleans that was any good. I wonder why that is.

I grew up in NM and the SW-Mexican food from there is not like anywhere else. And when someone's tried to make it, well...forget it.

Sognatrice, I'm not going to chase you all over the world for your cooking. But who needs an excuse to go to Italy?!?

snowrooster

New Orleans food is the best - I've never had good, authentic red beans and rice anywhere else. At LEAST half the fun of going to NO is the food.

TD - I'll be looking to you for help when I'll (hopefully) be planning a trip to Santa Fe next year. I've never been to NM and am excited for some authentic Southwestern food (I love mole' and I've heard it's quite prevalent in SW cooking?).

rjw_lgb_ca

Funny, I don't think "mole poblano" (associated with the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca) when I think Southwestern cuisine (New Mexico and Sonora)-- I know it's on the menu at most Southwestern places, but I go there for Sonora-style plates and save the mole for oaxaqueño places (relatively easy to find in this part of California)-- so good, so hard to make!!

But I digress-- icygreg, Brigtsen's
and Jacques-Imo are supposed to be good joints as well (I haven't been to either one).... Anyone want to comment? They might be a bit informal or relaxed, but....

Tandoori_Girl

Back again. Had to run out.

Molé is not found in traditional New Mexican-Mexican food. There's a lot of enchiladas, chile rellenos, tacos, tamales, mostly ground beef, some chicken. And in northern NM, they have sides of posole and rice, where as in southern NM, it's always frijoles and rice. And northern is more adventurous using blue corn. I always buy powdered red chiles when I'm in NM and make my own red sauce. It's very easy to make. Funny how different tex-mex is from New Mex. I've not had a lot of Arizona Mexican but I think it's similar to NM.

rjw_lgb_ca

tandoori_girl, you're making me super-hungry...! It's been too hot here to have pozole, but it's cooling down in the evening, so I think I'll have me a HUGE bowl of it tonight...! Or some mole poblano con guajalote (turkey with Puebla mole sauce).... There are anywhere from 18 to 30 ingredients in a good mole-- makes the 10 or so used in gumbo seem like tinker toys, doesn't it?

Tandoori_Girl

It is really amazing. The taste is so refined. And yet people think it is a simple food the Mexicans make. Not so.

But I have one question? Why does cumino smell like perspiration but taste like heaven? Haha.

rjw_lgb_ca

t_g, that's what cumin smells like to you? I guess I'm so used to it now, it just smells like... well, cumin. Now epazote has a slightly funky aroma-- but when you cook with it, yum!

I still don't get how people can eat boiled okra (a staple of Southern home cookin'-- well, my dad loved it and my mom made it, go figure). Smothered (a very Cajun presentation) or fried, sure. Cooked into gumbo, absolutely. Boiled with white vinegar on top.... I shudder at the thought.

highbay

To rjw lgb ca:
Ever try that okra on conch or zipper peas? That is to die for southern heaven!