Author: Ernie Seals

The second LSU game of the century was going to go down in Tuscaloosa so it seemed a good weekend to visit friends, first Mark and Paige in Abita Springs for game day, then Jason and Vic at the new place they just opened in Lakeview. The weather was spectacular both days. The water and sky were both very clear in Abita. I had hauled up a sack of oysters and Mark had gathered chicken thighs and wings and some shrimp, and also had a six foot bonfire of old oak and pine ready to light after the game. I’m not sure I’ve ever been happier than I was at halftime with a twenty point lead over Bama. Great effort on both sides and definitely brought back memories of the 2011 throwdown when Eric Reid’s interception and Brad Wing’s seventy-three yard punt saved the game for the Tigers.

Since I knew I’d be in Abita Springs for the game, I had planned on crossing the causeway to Lakeview Sunday early enough to do lunch at Elle-J’s that Jason and Vic recently opened in the space left available when Susan Spicer moved Mondo’s to the new terminal at MSY. The day was gorgeous and it was my first time crossing the lake from the north shore back into town. The skyline coming in was pretty impressive, as was the collection of pieces gathered to grace the walls of Elle-J’s Lakeview.

I got there early enough to witness the brunch menu Instagram shoot at the bar, and I was very tempted to go with either the Belgian Waffles or the Shrimp and Grits, but I’d already plotted a course before I arrived. Got to talk a little shop with both Jason and Vic and was happy to see both were very happy to have their own shop and do things their way. To a large extent that means resurrecting and recapturing old, treasured family recipes and paying homage to childhood favorites from long gone New Orleans legends. Just the chance to order a cup of She-Crab soup and a bowl of cioppino made it a bit easier to decide among all the great choices they offered on the menu. Both dishes were perfectly executed, and along with the shrimp and crab and mussels and clams and calamari they were full of love and passion and pride. I’ve got to make a run down their soon and gather some friends to join me in a wood fired pizza party because I know they know how to use that oven they inherited from Susan Spicer.

Stopped in at Ivar’s for the first time in maybe seven years and had my first ever meal there because I was in the mood for a bar burger and I was closer to Ivar’s than Phil Brady’s. When I really get in the mood for a dive bar I want Chris’s bar on North, but that was then and this is now so I hit Ivar’s and got their cheeseburger. It was about ten times better than I expected and I could get tots or fries with it and went with tots. The very first bite made me think of Port of Call on Esplanade in NO and while it wasn’t that good, it was much, much closer to that Port of Call burger than I’d have thought possible. A couple of High Life’s would have brought me that much closer to dive bar heaven, but it was lunch and I needed to head back to the shop so I got a Barq’s instead and just thought about how much I wanted a High Life or two.

This place grows on me a little more every time I visit. I like the spaces they’ve created inside, the diversity of the menu, the staff, and the wonderful wall art. I always like the music they’re playing as well. Just a really nice commitment to style in every aspect of the establishment. And it’s not like they hit you over the head with it. Just very comfortable and tasteful. I’m going to share a bunch of interior photos and then explain what I mean by the phrase “kudzu cuisine.” Bear with me a minute, because I really like the interior of this place–even the men’s room has a bit of class and style to it.

So I use kudzu cuisine to describe how here in Louisiana we will appropriate any kind of food we run across and make it ours. Even if it’s already deeply Southern, we make it ours. I mean, do you want to eat low country shrimp and grits or Louisiana shrimp and grits? Only one of many examples. The Chimes has a fried catfish taco lunch special on Fridays dressed with remoulade slaw and corn maque choux with red beans on the side. Provisions took the ever popular chicken and waffles and translated it into the Froglegs and Beignets appetizer pictured here.

The frog legs were excellent. Perfectly fried and tossed in a sweeter than usual version of buffalo sauce. The beignet was a little denser than most with a bit of bleu cheese sauce to set it off. Really good stuff. I also had the Duck Breast with Tasso Fried Rice, a serious play off the Peking version of duck and fried rice.

As much as I loved every bit of the froglegs, the duck breast was screamingly better. One of the best dishes I’ve had this year. Perfectly cooked duck breast, the gingered brown butter with just a touch of sirachi complemented both the duck and the tasso jambo. I really recommend you check out the menu online and see if something doesn’t catch your eye enough to draw you in. I guarantee you’ll be glad you went.

One of the nicest things about Eliza is they shuffle their menu seasonally. If you’re good at what you do, you can do a lot more than you can fit on a single menu. When they came out with the fall menu, the Crispy Oyster Stew appetizer immediately caught my eye for a couple of reasons. I love the combo of fried seafood and rice and gravy or gumbo. It’s one of my favorite hacks at Parrain’s or The Chimes, to order fried gator with rice and gravy, or add fried shrimp or fried oysters to my seafood gumbo. I really can’t wait until someone does a crawfish étouffée where all the crawfish are fried rather than a half and half where half the crawfish are cooked in the gravy and half are fried. I just think it would be an exciting product to cook the gravy separately and fry the crawfish tails to order. At any rate, Eliza nailed the oyster sauce.

And here’s the other reason I was fired up to see it land on the appetizer menu. This is the pecan praline cheesecake that I followed up with. It was big enough that pairing it with an entree wouldn’t work. I needed an appetizer portion to allow room for dessert. As for the cheesecake itself, words won’t work. You really have to go get some of this for yourself.

I’d never stopped at Magpie before, but I’d often admired the rustic exterior and the tenacity of a place that could stay open in such a tough parking zone with Zippy’s and Parrain’s and Frankie’s Dawg House. The interior was open and comforting at the same time, and I think part of that was the great tunes that were playing at a nice, relaxing volume plus the very upbeat service. One really great thing is they don’t make you wait at the counter for your fancy espresso drink, but let you go find a table and bring it out to you. Some nice art on the walls and a lot of good grab and go in display coolers and a secluded patio area with plenty of greenery and shade.

But as pleasant a place as it is to hang out, I was there for food and drink at lunch time. The iced mocha was perfect, and like I said, it was good to find a seat and play with my phone while they made it. I ordered their Cubano after a good bit of consideration. Several other things caught my eye, but I was very happy with the sandwich. The pork and ham were top notch, good bread and cheese as well, but what raised it up to the next level was the house made bread and butter pickles. Everything about the sandwich was rich and authentic, but the pickles put it over the top. Side salad that came with was a very nice touch as well. Really need to make my way over for breakfast one morning. Maybe a non-home game Saturday, or even a pre-brunch Sunday would be good.

This place is almost not there on the exterior, folded away in a strip mall, so maybe that’s why they are so down home and wood heavy inside, to re-establish their character once you get in the door. They do a real good job with the food too. The menu is really sandwich heavy, with about a dozen different burger treatments, but I was in a roast beef kind of mood and went with it. Very happy I did so. Tried to wrangle the waitress into upgrading to fried mushrooms for a side, but had to settle for mac&cheese. Not a bad outcome. The roast beef was the chunk debris style rather than sliced, grilled, then gravy smothered. Good stuff. And the macaroni was in a soupy cheese and garlic sauce that was so much better and smoother than a lot of over baked specimens you run into. Gives me confidence to go back and try to pick a burger next time.

My dad has been going on and on about Elsie’s oyster poboy so I went over there expressly to do an oyster poboy, but as soon as I saw the shepherd’s pie on the special board just outside the door, my conviction started to waver. It was cold outside, and the perfect day for Paul to launch his version of shepherd’s pie. When I ran into him at the bar and he started talking it up, I knew I was a gone pecan as far as the oyster poboy went. I love the starter salads he does with spring mix and pepper jelly vinaigrette–such a fresh and light start to a hearty and quite beautiful cast iron skillet of roasted meat and gravy and whipped potatoes baked off with just a bit of cheese.

I couldn’t stop until I’d scraped the plate clean, so I didn’t have room to try the Cookies and Scream pie in the display box. But maybe I’ll try it out when I head back for my oyster poboy. One last note, I was sitting at the bar very near the door back into the kitchen and I must have seen five orders of fried okra head out into the restaurant while I was eating my lunch. I’ve had it before, so I wasn’t at all surprised by the popularity. They’ve got a number of shareable apps that are a good strategy if you want to have room for pie.

And I did make it back the next day. My slice of Cookies and Scream pie.

My oyster poboy.

Some left over roasted duck and Jimmy Dean’s sausage, beef broth and gravy mix, one onion chopped and a slow cooker on high. Add grits and green onions.

Normally I just run by here for boiled crabs or crawfish or beer if I’m headed to a get together with friends in that area. The people are super nice and I’ve always been treated right there, which is not a guarantee at corner markets, but I heard good things about their fried chicken from some co-workers so I went to check it out and thought What the heck? and just got one of everything in the hot box display. The chicken was very good, and the meat pie had a nice spicy kick to it. The egg roll and the corn dog were both good, but not really any better than anyplace else. It was just good to be able to get them both in the same place. I also got a sausage and cheese biscuit that was left over from breakfast, and I want to go back and get one a little earlier in the day, but they have a great half-life, so I wasn’t disappointed with it at all. The star of the show though was the fried fish filets. Pretty sure it was that Mekong Delta catfish called basa, but it was perfectly cooked, flaky, tasty, really hit the spot. No need to order everything like that, but it is good to know what’s there and available if you just want a quick hit to take on the road when you’re running late. Good stuff, all of it.

So I headed over to Zeeland Street to get their four sides plate, but as soon as I saw the two lunch specials, chicken and sausage jambalaya with corn and peas and a corn muffin on the side alongside the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, I was immediately torn, and uncharacteristically indecisive. I really wanted both specials, and it took me a long minute to shake that impossible thought. I guess I really could have ordered both, but even I thought that was just too much. Ended up going with the jambalaya. It was a lot like flipping a win-win coin. And I did win. The Zeeland crew does homestyle as good as anyone in BR, and that’s saying something.

They also have a lot of interesting wall decor which fits their sometime role as the host of Dyson House Listening Room. Haven’t been there for a show yet, but I know I will at some point. Here’s a little gallery I shot on this last visit.

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