Just a quick note here about Dudley’s, which has a great brunch on weekends. My wife and I tried their Bloody Mary with “chicken salt” rim – delicious. I got mine with mezcal, she got hers with vodka.
They make a great double cheeseburger, reminiscent of Big Mac flavors. I’ll definitely be back for this more often, now that I live close by.
And on the healthier side, poached eggs with smoked salmon and salad. Very nice.
DUDLEY’S
85 Orchard St
New York, NY 10002
My wife took me to this joint for a belated Valentine’s Day date. This spot has some great seafood. We tried a lot of it, so I’ll get moving.
First, their bread service is incredible. I didn’t take a great picture of it, but the focaccia and sourdough are perfect. They bring it out with a dish of whipped butter mixed with some seriously high quality olive oil.
We started the meal with some fresh uni. This was a bit steep at $38, but it was so damn delicious, seasoned simply with some flake salt.
The stone crab claws were probably the low point of the meal. It was difficult to extract the meat (didn’t come out in good sized chunks), and over all it was just average in terms of flavor. For $25 a pop, we would have spent that $50 on more langoustines or carabineros (you’ll see that ahead).
The octopus with gigante beans was a good dish, but not excellent like some of the others. I would pass on this next time and focus more on the other seafood options.
Here’s one of those excellent dishes now: grilled langoustines.
These were perfectly cooked and incredibly flavorful. Make sure you save some bread so you can scoop out the succulent brains and eat them together like a makeshift lobster roll.
The carabineros shrimp were our favorite part of the meal. These giant, head-on shrimp from Spain are so deeply flavorful that it’s almost hard to explain. That dark red flesh is packed with natural fatty juices too. You’ll want to wipe some bread into that shit as well.
For our mains, we had Japanese snapper and a Niman Ranch rib eye. Both were served as composed dishes with sides of vegetables, and both were cooked really nicely. The steak was a solid 8/10.
For dessert, 16-layer lemon cake. So good with that blood orange sherbet swirl.
I definitely plan to go here again. They have beef tataki and lamb belly pasta on the menu that I need to try, but the daily seafood specials will be difficult to pass up again, I’m sure of it. Go give this place a shot.
OCEANS
233 Park Ave S
New York, NY 10003
This nice sandwich and cheese shop is a fun place to stop in for a quick lunch if you’re in the area. The bloodies are good, and the sandwiches and cheese are nice.
I could’ve used a little more roast beef on this sandwich, and thinner sliced, but the smoked blue cheese sorta made up for it. That was unique. But I think I’m starting to notice a NOLA trend with small amounts of sandwich meat down here. Not a good look!
ST. JAMES CHEESE COMPANY
641 Tchoupitoulas St,
New Orleans, LA 70130
I, my wife and some friends ate at this joint for New Year’s Eve dinner before heading to a party in New Orleans. We tried a bunch of shit so I’ll get right to it.
STARTERS: steak tartare, charbroiled oysters, and crispy fried sweetbreads with mushrooms.
Of these, my favorite was the sweetbreads. They were crispy outside, creamy inside, and packed with lots of earthy flavor from the mushrooms. The oysters were great too, and over all the charbroiled oysters in this town are amazing almost everywhere we had them.
ENTREES: lamb chops and game pie.
These were both pretty good. I’d definitely recommend either one if you’re dining here.
SIDE: artichoke gratin.
This dish ate more like a dip, and as such would have benefitted from some bread or chips for dipping.
RESTAURANT REVOLUTION
777 Bienville St
New Orleans, LA 70130
This little joint is the perfect spot to stagger into for some great drunk eats after hitting Bourbon Street. The po’boy is pretty good, despite not being on the traditional French bread.
This pile of meat really hit the spot though. It’s braised beef in roux gravy, on top of cheese fries. It’s like a NOLA poutine!
NOLA POBOYS
908 Bourbon St,
New Orleans, LA 70116
We stopped in here for a quick bite and a drink. It was early in the day, so I had a bloody mary.
I wasn’t crazy about it. Something in the mix didn’t sit well, and I didn’t finish it.
The fried green tomatoes app with crawfish remoulade was nice though. Even though it looks like a pile of puke.
FRENCH MARKET
1001 Decatur St,
New Orleans, LA 70116
We stopped in this joint for brunch after landing in New Orleans with an empty stomach. They offer a trio of broiled oysters with three different styles (you get two of each for $18). These were great, and if you eat here, this is what to order.
The fresh raw oysters are nice too.
I ordered a cajun burger, which was supposed to have a sausage patty, a beef patty, and some remoulade. But they gave me the “Hangover Burger” instead by mistake. It was okay, but pretty basic as far as burgers go.
COTERIE
135 Decatur St
New Orleans, LA 70130
I stopped by this NOLA joint last time I was down in the Big Easy, but I didn’t try anything. I was too full from eating at Cochon, their sister restaurant, next door. This spot is the more casual, bar-style deli. They offer up some meaty hot and cold sandwiches. On rec from a friend, I tried the muffuletta, which he said was better than Central Grocery. I disagree. There was a noticeable lack of meat, and the olive salad and giardiniera is much better at Central Grocery. Pass on this.
I was also disappointed by the porchetta cheesesteak sandwich. This came served in a strange hybrid between a pita and an English muffin. It also lacked meat.
The saving grace at this joint, and a possible best bite of 2020, was the Pig Mac burger.
This was killer, and I highly recommend this if you make the trip over here.
COCHON BUTCHER
930 Tchoupitoulas St b
New Orleans, LA 70130
This Bourbon Street joint is serving some decent grub given the chaotic location, namely, the charbroiled oysters.
Those were great. The red bean hummus sounded promising but was pretty underwhelming.
I had a mixed fried seafood platter for my main course, which was nice, and a great way to beat back the remains of a Bourbon Street hangover.
The bread pudding, however, was awesome.
BOURBON HOUSE
144 Bourbon St,
New Orleans, LA 70130
I finally made it over to Au Cheval Diner in Tribeca. I’ve had the bacon, the burger and the French dip prime rib sandwich at their sister restaurant, 4 Charles, so I’ll just dump some pics of those here and focus on the new items that I tried. These were all just as great as they are at 4 Charles, so if that’s what you want to get at 4 Charles, just come here and save yourself the headache of fruitlessly trying to score a reservation at 4 Charles.
The bologna sandwich with melted cheese is awesome. Simple and delicious.
The wings are great and crispy, but they were a little bit over sauced.
These hash browns with duck heart gravy were insanely good. Make sure you get these.
The fries were perfect as well, but I didn’t shoot them.
This marrow is great too, especially when smeared onto that buttery toast that comes with it.
I’ll definitely be back!
AU CHEVAL DINER
33 Cortlandt Alley
New York, NY 10013
