It left a bad taste...

Discovering something crunchy in a creamy soup, finding a long, black hair baked into pasta or sliding your teeth through a thick chunk of gristle...we've all experienced mishaps that will put us off a meal. It's a horrible sensation that destroys your appetite and try as you might, it's almost impossible to continue. Most of the time these experiences are purely accidental, but sometimes they can be creativity gone awry. I think the latter is what happened to John and I when we visited Origami last week, the new sushi restaurant on Freret Street.

We probably should have been forewarned that something would be amiss with our entire outing, considering the obnoxiously-bad cabby driver who sped at a frightening pace through the busy, after-school streets and the noisy road construction on the corner of Dufossat and Freret right outside of the restaurant. 

But once inside, things improved considerably. The dining room was modern and elegant with white flower-like chandeliers and concrete floors and luckily, the walls seemed to insulate us from most of the construction noise. We were seated at a large, private booth where we looked over the hefty menus and decided what to eat. After some green tea and a couple of warm, wet towels, we made our selections, anxious to inhale some excellent rolls. 

One thing I should make perfectly clear, John and I love sushi, especially the crazy thick "special" uramaki that many Japanese restaurants offer to please the American palate. It is rare when a month goes by without us placing an order at Ninja Restaurant around the corner for four or five fat, delicious rolls sporting ingredients like avocado, eel, tempura shrimp, deep fried soft shell crab and let's not forget the hallowed "crunchies" sprinkled through a spicy crab-mayonnaise mixture. John loves sushi so much that I can easily woo him into buying it so that I won't have to make dinner that night. It's like his kryptonite.

We started lunch at Origami with some salads. My Poke Salad had bright red cubes of tuna, tons of sliced cucumber, avocado and seaweed tossed in a wonderfully spicy, chili ponzu sauce. John tried the Origami Salad which was mostly plain lettuce, a few sweet baby greens and your basic squid salad tossed together in a ponzu spicy mayo dressing. Both were tasty, but we both definitely preferred the Poke.

We ordered three rolls, but the first to arrive was our "experiment" roll. Let's face it, all sushi joints sport pretty much the same array of these kinds of super-rolls, so when we try a new spot, we like to attempt their original concoctions with varying degrees of success. In this case, it was the "Italian Roll." The menu described a mango and eel interior with layers of prosciutto (spelled "prochuto") and broiled cheese on the outside. "Broiled cheese?" I thought to myself...maybe it'll be shaved Parmesan? Knowing the castigation I would receive for ordering sushi containing any other kind of cheese besides cream, I decided to take the risk. The chef obviously liked it enough to put it on the menu, right?

In my worst nightmare, I never would have imagined that the unknown cheese would turn out to be American. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I said American cheese. Those bright orange slices are a welcome sight on a bologna sandwich, but for sushi? And I thought the roll was supposed to be Italian? Since when did plastic, processed cheese squares bring to mind the taste of Italy? Don't even get me started on what seemed to pass as prosciutto...

John was acting unusually optimistic (maybe it's cheddar?), I blame it on his hunger and blind love of rolls, but he dove in with a will and popped a piece into his mouth. Since I couldn't initially gauge his reaction, I took a piece without hearing his verdict and knew immediately it was going to be difficult to swallow. At this point, lunch was basically over.

We had also ordered our favorite Rainbow Roll and a Blackjack Roll, but after a couple of unenthusiastic attempts, we just couldn't enjoy them at all. No matter how much I rinsed my mouth with green tea or nibbles of ginger, my tongue was haunted by the flavor of the dreaded Italian.

After our server packed the other food in go-boxes, I ordered dessert in a desperate hope to salvage the meal. Sadly, the tempura-fried bananas were crunchy shells holding formless banana goo and we had no less than three different people ask us to clarify the dessert order...at least the green tea ice cream that accompanied it was nice?

Oh well, these are the events that make life interesting...right? 

House of the week: Fixer-upper on N. Miro Street

Have you ever seen the movie Money Pit? Tom Hanks and Shelley Long play a new couple who believe they have finally found their dream house, but it (along with their relationship) basically collapses into rubble. This is what always comes to mind whenever I see the words "fixer-upper" or "investment opportunity" in a house listing. For example, how about this Greek revival on N. Miro?

It seems like an incredible deal. A gorgeous, three-story mansion originally built in 1860 with five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, original pine floors, marble mantles, pocket doors and transom windows for a total of 4,232 square feet of living space and a lot almost twice that size. It looks to need a lot of work, possibly some new plumbing and electric, drywall and paint, floor sanding and varnishing...but I have a vision in my mind of what it could be. Perhaps I am being optimistic, but this "investment" seems like a steal listed at $179,000. Since I am certainly no whiz at real estate investments, I wonder how much it would cost to make this place what it was and how long it would take to finish it. What do you think?

I do love to paint!

Suffice it to say...

We adore Creole Creamery.

(A perfect scoop of Banana Cane Malt ice cream)

Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.  ~Don Kardong

A taste of the Mission at Juan's Flying Burrito

When people ask me what I miss most about living in California, aside from the obvious answers like my family or the beach, my most common answer is Mission-style burritos. Often I find myself craving the huge, inexpensive burritos loaded with well-seasoned meats, rice, beans, cheese, shredded lettuce and tomatoes and served with free tortilla chips, salsa and tasty condiments like whole pickled jalapenos. A feast such as this would easily feed me for two meals and all for less than $12! While there's nothing exactly like this in New Orleans, I can get pretty darn close at Juan's Flying Burrito.

John and I have been to Juan's on many, many occasions and at both locations, but last week we headed for the original on Magazine Street. Perhaps it's the loud music blaring through the restaurant with chefs singing along while they work, the heavily tattooed servers or the eclectic decor (who doesn't love a chandelier made from Patron bottles?), but we prefer this location to the Juan's on Carrollton Avenue - even though the Mid-City restaurant is closer.

We arrived late in the lunch hour and after some dithering about where to sit (I wanted the best light for pictures), we opted for one of the larger booths in front. Dani and her 2-year-old daughter Posie were with us and we all pretty much knew what we wanted until we spotted the colorful, chalkboard specials adorning the walls and were forced to make some adjustments. Our server was prompt, helpful and before we knew it, our drinks and appetizers arrived in a flurry.

It was hard to make everyone wait while I snapped shots of one special, their house made Chorizo Queso. The aroma of the cheese and sausage together was overwhelming, so I worked fast and got the best images I could before the first chip was dipped. Everyone agreed that we had made an excellent choice after tasting the creamy, melted cheese and the warm, cinnamon-rich chorizo...even Posie! We made quick work of the queso and had to request another basket of their fresh, crisp tortilla chips in order to scrape up every last drop.

Before we finished inhaling the appetizer, our entrees arrived. Posie was feasting on her own order of creamy, fresh guacamole while Dani enjoyed their Shrimp Quesadilla with an extra helping of sour cream. John fell back on one of our favorites and their namesake dish, the Flying Burrito which features grilled steak, gulf shrimp and chicken with cheddar, jack, yellow rice, black beans. salsa and guacamole in a grilled Chipotle tortilla. I veered from the norm and chose another special, the Shrimp Hooligan burrito that touted "twice the shrimp" and I can confirm that's not a lie. Plump Gulf shrimp were rolled into a grilled spinach wrap with jack cheese, refried beans, rice, sour cream and salsa. Though it was delicious, after a glut of queso dip I was able to finish less than half of the monster burrito (John had the same problem), but I wasn't complaining, because now I didn't have to worry about what I was having for dinner...