Author: Ernie Seals

When you learn to trust a bar or restaurant, one of the greatest advantages is being able to try new things with confidence. It’s easy to experiment at Soji, because the staff never lets you down. I’ve yet to be disappointed, never had to send anything back or even wait overly long for something I’ve ordered. The katsudon was not an exception to this rule. The pork was perfectly panko fried and the rice was wonderful, with all sorts of flavorful bits and pieces. I really enjoy hitting Soji early in the lunch hour and sitting at the raw bar to yak with the guys prepping there. Like any other restaurant, there’s a lot of artists and writers and musicians on staff at Soji. When I lived and worked in Santa Monica, one of the running jokes was when someone told you they were an actor, you immediately asked Really? What restaurant? and that really never changes. The service industry has launched millions of people into unrelated careers. It’s a good way to get through school, or help with the transition to an entry level day gig, and something to fall back on in between jobs if an attempt to better yourself doesn’t pan out. Sure, some employees will remain just that, with nowhere better to go than another restaurant, but the talent pool in restaurants and bars is deep with people pursuing their dreams. Makes for a great lunch. A new and exciting food to try, new people to talk to, all sitting right in the middle of a concept new to BR that pushes the boundaries. And don’t we all like to push boundaries.

Having survived a particularly nasty form of cancer myself, I try to support the cure whenever I can. When Umami has partnered with @franzborghardt to donate 100% of proceeds to the Susan G Komen Foundation, it’s a no brainer to go check out the special roll and support researching better treatments and results for breast cancer. The surgery for my esophageal cancer was brutal, but the follow up chemo and radiation did not have me puking and losing my hair. The fact that I survived at all was pure dumb luck (a colonoscopy that I had continually put off led to the discovery of a very aggressive form of cancer in an incredibly small window for survival) coupled with the efforts of doctors and researchers across the globe working to improve treatment and survivability of all forms of cancer. I was always tired during treatment, and I had to scramble to find dishes I still wanted to cook and eat. For example, the cheese omelets I had been eating for breakfast were too dry, so I had to resort to sunny side up fried eggs chopped up in a sort of instant grits or oatmeal soup to get by. I lived, when people with my disease always used to die, and my treatment wasn’t nearly as horrible as it could have been and would have been without the extensive research that is ongoing all over the world. The only bright side of ever having cancer is that you know what others face, and it makes you want to help.

Of course, being at Umami I couldn’t just eat the donation roll and go. Chef Cong had fresh sardine on the menu that I had to try. A bit sweeter and drier than mackerel, I liked it a lot and would pick it over mackerel. I still had a bit of room left so I finished with this beautiful sashimi sampler.

The thing I like most about Brew-Bacher’s is how much room there is inside. Most sandwich shops have booths and tables stacked almost on top of each other. Here you don’t have to worry about bumping into anyone on your way to the counter to place or pick up your order, and you can just step back and look over the menu board to see what you want that day.

These guys are solid and they have all the sandwiches, all the burgers, and all the poboys you could want to choose from, along with a few standard plate lunches and all kinds of sides including fried mushrooms, fried pickles, and fried okra. They also have Barq’s in the bottle which goes a long way with me. I didn’t really know what I wanted when I walked in, but it only took a minute or two to figure out I was ready for a mushroom Swiss burger. They nailed it, and the fries were hot and crisp and I definitely ate too many of them.

Their menu definitely reminds me of one I was playing around with a while back. I’ve been thinking about the Big Dog Saloon for a long time. Just a day dream that goes away quick as soon as I even start to think about financing it. But I’m pretty sure it would be a fun place.

This most recent trip to Brew-Bacher’s, there were eight or ten State Police offers at a big table. And that is another advantage of this place. Get there early enough and you can put together a large table and since it’s counter service, you don’t have to deal with a server trying to get your order right. If you are all going to do separate checks anyway, why not go somewhere with counter service? I also like the food art on the walls. Good food, good atmosphere, plenty of room, and great fries.

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Not a whole lot of words needed to describe good food done right. The pot roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn muffin, and green salad tasted exactly as I’d hoped for and looked like a photo shoot from Southern Living. Staff was great, dining room spotless, and the framed stained glass in the windows was a nice touch. They’ve partnered with Dyson House for singer/songwriter shows on the weekends, but the kitchen’s only open for breakfast and lunch. They’ve got a vegetable plate with a choice of four down home sides with a corn muffin that I’d love to hit one evening since I don’t eat meat after lunch, but I guess I’ll just have to roll back over at lunchtime to check that one out.

This is a classy little joint with excellent food and service. The opera they play at lunch is very soothing, to me anyway. The waxed cloth table covers and well worn furniture make for a very comfortable and comforting environment to eat some real deal Italian fare.

They have a whole lot of lunch specials, and poboys, and pizzas at lunch time, along with some higher end classics like osso buco, and veal piccata and Marsala available on the regular menu if you want to splurge mid-week. I wouldn’t argue against it. I chose the five cheese lasagna over the spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and parsley, and the spaghetti with olive oil, capers, and anchovies mainly because it has been such a long time since I had a lasagna. I would be happy to go back and sample the other two dishes later this week, since I really wanted all three and both veal dishes. I love a menu that makes me struggle to decide what I want. The lasagna was very good. The DiGiulio red sauce is not too bright or too bold. More low and slow and savory. The Caesar salad was well done with homemade French bread croutons, and the fresh baked bread that came with the lasagna almost stole the show completely.

There are a lot of fine Italian choices in town. This place definitely joins Gino’s and Pinetta’s in my top three. Really the only reason I pick one over the other two is entirely dependent on my mood at the time. I like them all, and I always want to go back soon.

This is probably the best grab and go Chinese I know of. They have a few tables, but that’s mostly for waiting for your food to be ready to go. Extensive menu, well executed.

I tried their won ton soup for the first time, and while it was very good, it didn’t quite make it to the level of the one I had recently in Huntsville, so I’ll keep searching. But the shrimp rolls are what always draw me to Nine Dragon. They are outstanding. Now I haven’t been to the sister Nine Dragon in awhile; it shares the shopping center with the neighborhood Wal-Mart at Highland and Lee and is very good in it’s own right, so I probably need to run by there soon. I like to take my take out Chinese and plate it up at my house. Looking better doesn’t necessarily make food taste better, but it does make the whole meal feel better.

One of the greatest things about Inga’s subs is that they are fantastic the next day. I don’t know the secret, but maybe a combination of the oil and vinegar dressing and how well they wrap the sandwiches to go and the bread they use all combine to make a sandwich where the bread is soft, but not soggy, and all the meats and cheeses and condiments are married perfectly into a fantastic treat to pull out of the cooler with a beer when you’re fishing and the sun hits the top of the sky. Yeah, yeah, yeah–I know. A frycook is supposed to pack his own lunch. Make his own sandwiches or shrimp and orzo pasta salad, but sometimes I cheat. And Inga’s is perfect for that.

I spent nine years at LSU pursuing two degrees, so I am very familiar with Inga’s. And Louie’s. And the Chimes and Chelsea’s. The Library, The Bayou, Magoo’s, The Gumbo Place and Calendar’s on the other side of campus. The White Horse, The Brass Rail, The Cotton Club, Mother’s Mantel. Slinky’s, the Long Branch. I miss most of those places since they’re gone and I grew up there. So I’m very happy that Inga’s is still around, although this is the fourth location they’ve been in between The University Shopping Center, State Street, and Chimes Street. Inga was a wizard at taking money to move the shop a couple of doors down, or over to the next block. She sold the place a while back. I don’t know the particulars and haven’t run into her in several years, but the subs are still great (if you order double meat they are almost exactly like they were back then) and again, they are great to pick up the day before you have to pack a lunch somewhere.

This funky place was my last stop before leaving Natchez to head back to Baton Rouge. I couldn’t help but think the whole time that this lunch would be so much better with beer. Reading up on Mississippi tamales, I couldn’t really find a straight answer as to why tamales were so prized in a community with so few Hispanics. There were tales of migrant workers or Native Americans introducing the tamale to field hands (slaves) as an easy to transport meal, but I couldn’t find a clear reason for the Mississippi version to persist when there’s such easy access to more authentic tamales. These were okay, I even got some chili to top them off with to recreate what they call a gringo pie (tamales smothered in chili, onions, and cheese) but I’ve had so many better tamales, it was hard to see what all the fuss was about. All of us old enough to remember Muffaletta’s tamale joint on North miss those more than any other tamales. Fat, greasy, and fantastic with a High Life. And certainly venison tamales have worked their way into hunting camp processing over the years, but the Mississippi claim on great tamales seems as overblown as being the state that birthed the blues. Now they may have caused the blues, but certainly New Orleans and Memphis and Chicago have just as much if not more ownership of the blues. Anyway, still think this place would be a lot more fun with a bunch of friends and a bucket of beer.

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I’ve had some of the best ham and cheese poboys at joints like this, and Andrew’s did not disappoint. Now there’s no place to sit, except for four folding chairs set out to wait for your order to go, so you definitely have to have a place in mind to take your food to chow down, but the ham and cheese is definitely legit.

And the fried wings with shrimp fried rice ain’t half bad either. And both are dirt cheap. Eight bucks for the poboy and six bucks and change for six wings and the rice that comes with. Good deal. They will also put together a power order if you want to pick up lunch for the office.

Thai Pepper is a great place to turn people on to Thai cuisine. Especially at the lunch buffet which has a lot of vegan options to go along with all the standard Thai fare. Pad thai, lemongrass soup, fried rice and spring rolls, coconut soup–it’s really extensive and well prepared. Here’s a look at the buffet, and some plates I was able to put together for a fantastic lunch.

I know it’s really hard sometimes to get meat and potatoes folks to leave their lane, but I’ve found that if they think they are getting a lot of bang for their buck, they are much more eager to try new things. They worry that elitists foods are not filling and are just an attempt to take advantage of them, and they don’t like trying foods they didn’t grow up with, but Thai Pepper welcomes everyone with fresh, well prepped dishes that can help get anyone out of their rut. Opening minds is the first step to opening hearts. Everyone will find something they like at Thai Pepper. Point them towards the fried rice and the lemongrass or coconut soup to get them started down the right path.