louisiana – Mel's Mosaic

Visited NOLA awhile back and one of the people in our group said we were required to visit ACME Oyster House.

Despite being the middle of the afternoon, the wait was quite long. This place obviously lives up to its reputation.
Once at our table a couple of us just felt like having Bloody Mary’s. Can never go wrong!

Then orders varied around the table. Raw oysters had to be ordered by some. Apparently their (traditional) roasted oysters are phenomenal — some great butter and parm on there.

I asked if I could get something different done to mine because of my whole lactose intolerance issue. The waitress took some notes and said she couldn’t guarantee anything and I would still have to pay if anything came out wrong. Gulp! They were perfectly roasted and I just added some lemon juice. I don’t love oysters but I just had to order them because of where I was.

Some crawfish also came to the table. Was hilarious watching different people eat them. Everybody had their own way of dealing with them.

By the time the meal was done we were just sort of rolling out of there. The meal was definitely worth the wait.

Found out last minute last week that I got to go to New Orleans on a business trip. What did that mean – I get to visit NOLA – FINALLY! There is a first time for everything, right? I knew this meant culture, scenery, music and some great food. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

When I arrived I had time to grab a quick bit to eat before heading into meetings. I was directed to good local place right near where I needed to go, Mulate’s the Original Cajun Restaurant.

So many choices on the menu of course. I wanted local fare and after what felt like a novel of reading I had to go with the alligator. It was available grilled or fried. I opted for the former and it was coined as ‘tender pieces of Louisiana farm raised alligator cooked to your liking.’ I think I’d had this stuff years ago in FL.

Though they claimed it was grilled, it was quite oily. And, as I expected, I was just like super chewy chicken. But, was fun to try it and it was checked off my list.