Two more restaurants in the French Quarter to discuss briefly. One is Deanie's, new to the Quarter but not new to the city. They've been on the Lakefront, a neighborhood known as Bucktown, but now officially part of Metarie, and now are in the Quarter as well, just up the street from the Acme-Felix's faceoff. It's a block beyond the craziness of Bourbon Street, and on the night of our visit a little observation and, yes, eavesdropping, gave the idea that a lot of the patrons are local. It's surpringly large, glossy modern in the style of a streamlined diner.
A very light meal, indeed, by the usual standards, but quite tasty. An appetizer serving of the old New Orleans standard barbecued shrimp, was a half-dozen large shrimp. Traditionally served in the shell with the head attached, their butter-based sauce packed with seasonings, these guys were first rate. I personally prefer to shell them, which often isn't done by the locals, but I am delighted to follow the old crawfish instructions, which apply here, too: "You got to suck dey haids." The fat-enriched tissue there is the essence of the dish, and worth plowing ahead. Jonathan Swift wrote about how bold it was for the first man to eat an oyster, and this calls for the same amount of derring-do, but only the first time.
Yes, the sauce is swabbed at with pieces of bread, but Deanie's has an interesting variation of that. Instead of a bread basket arriving after ordering, another basket arrives, this one containing small new potatoes, perfectly boiled and accompanied by little pots of butter. They're still warm, and nibbleable as it is - the cooking water has crab boil seasoning in it, but when crushed into the shrimp sauce, ah, there's the way to go. Bread comes later.
"Something simple", requested my pal. A lovely piece of grilled tilapia, its mild flavor seasoned up just a little and, of course, with some butter involved as well, worked well, too.
Really good service once they cleared up just who the table belonged to.
No reservations taken.
Deanie's Seafood
841 Iberville St., New Orleans
504-581-1316
Lunch and Dinner daily
And then there was the Old Coffee Pot. We wrote about it on a previous visit,, and it remains one of my morning standards in the Quarter. This was a late breakfast early in the week, only two other tables for the two ladies working the front of the house. They looked familiar from previous visits, kept the good coffee flowing, including bringing milk instead of the "creamer" provided, and chimed in "Amen" when another table said grace before eating.
The oysters Rockefeller omelet was great, a perfectly done omelet filled with small sauteed oysters and the creamy spinach mixture gently seasoned. The sky-high biscuit was flaky and flavorful. Calas, the rice fritter that dates back maybe a couple of centuries, were denser than I've had there in the past, and rather dryer, but the omelet was such a winner, it made up for it.
When the check for the grace-sayers had been paid, the server brought the receipt, put it down on the table, nodded pleasantly and said, "Have a great holiday and don't forget the reason for the seaosn." And then she planted her feet firmly, squared her shoulders, threw her head back and let out a contralto gospel "Silent Night". Amazing. (And a nice lady to us, as well, and hugged us goodbye But not as amazing as the song.)
My pal was so taken with the visit that she wanted to return, and so we did three days later. We walked through the covered driveway past the door to glance at the patio - and a waitress we hadn't seen the previous visit came out and announced quite firmly, "You can't sit there." We were after another oysters Rockefeller omelet. What arrived did have the oysters and spinach, although the spinach had been ladled over the outside, and the interior had chopped onions and green pepper and cheese, which hadn't been on the previous version (and added nothing). And the coffee was different, not nearly as good.
In addition, the other server, another face we hadn't seen before, was also in a state. Her frame of mind wasn't improved by the request of another table who declined beverages and asked for a pitcher of water instead. When that was delivered, they asked for lemon. A bowl of lemon slices, in fact, which meant they were planning on making lemonade. Servers say this is almost invariably a precursor to a really bad tip. So the atmosphere was dense with disapproval.
We ended up sympathizing with the server who had the frugal drinkers, and jollied them into giving us the cofee with chicory, which is what we'd had the earlier visit, but it was a whole different experience.
Okay, one rough visit in, oh, thirty years of patronizing them. Give it a chance if you haven't.
The Old Coffee Pot
714 St. Peters St., New Orleans
504-524-3500
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner daily
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