Tag Archives: new orleans

Chophouse New Orleans

Chophouse New Orleans overall score: 85

My buddies from law school and I were on a “mancation” and needed to hit a steakhouse during our visit. I had been eyeballing this place for a while, so it was time to go big.

Flavor: 8

We had the porterhouse, the tomahawk, and the chopped steak. All were great, but I think we were all surprised by how good the chopped steak was. A pleasant surprise for sure.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 8

There’s a good selection of cuts here, as well as some nice alternatives like the chopped steak for those on a budget. All steaks were listed as prime, and some were dry-aged. They offered an abundance of solo cuts as well as large format cuts for two or more people.

Portion Size & Plating: 8

Portions are big, and plating is simple here, which is what one would expect from a steakhouse. Nothing too fancy.

Price: 9

Coming from the insane menu prices in NYC, this bill felt refreshing. A huge blowout steak meal for five came to just $728. Great deal.

Bar: 10

The bar here is awesome. There’s a piano right there with stools around it, so you can sit and watch the piano player, make requests, etc. They also mix a great martini.

Specials and Other Meats: 7

I don’t think there were any specials read to us, but I didn’t expect much from a focused-menu steakhouse. As far as other meats go, there was nothing; only beef. I respect the shit out of that. But that means a few points will come off the score in this category.

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 8

We started with a chopped wedge salad, which was great.

Then, some bacon. This was nice but I wish I had gotten a photo before they cut it up and served it.

The carpaccio was beautiful and delicious. I could have had this as a main course.

The garlic spinach was nice, and gave us some much needed greenery.

We also had some steak fries as well. I was hesitant when the guys wanted these, because I usually dislike them. But they were excellent!

Dessert was excellent as well. we went with the gigantic chocolate cake and the key lime pie. I liked the pie better.

Seafood Selection: 8

There’s standard steakhouse seafood fare here, plus a few local favorites with NOLA-inspired preparation styles. We had the baked shrimp entree and it was great. Unfortunately the only photo I got was the single shrimp that was served to me on my plate (we shared this dish along with the appetizers). Based on this, I think the other seafood items would be pretty good as well. Next time.

Service: 10

Service was great here, and the phrase “southern hospitality” comes to mind. Our waitress was excellent and knew everything when asked about the various cuts and menu items.

Ambiance: 9

The real win here for ambiance relates to the bar. Being able to sit face to face with the piano player and request songs was so cool. The dining place was beautiful as well. I would definitely go back.

CHOPHOUSE NEW ORLEANS
322 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Mother’s Restaurant

This southern food restaurant is a staple in NOLA. On my last trip to the “Big Easy” I was finally able to try it.

They’re known for their po’ bouys, so I had to try the Famous Ferdi special: a po’ boy packed with baked ham, roast beef, debris and gravy, served dressed.

Absolutely incredible, and I think this was the best bite of the 2025 trip.

The waitress came over and gave us this plate of collared greens, shrimp etouffee and green beans. Someone had ordered it and left, or they made an extra by mistake.

This didn’t look like much, but it was absolutely amazing! Definitely need to come back here next visit.

MOTHER’S RESTAURANT
401 Poydras St
New Orleans, LA 70130

Hot Benny’s

Not much to say about this little coffee spot near the casino in NOLA, but the coffee was great, the beignets were supposedly better than Cafe Du Monde, and they served an amazing bloody!

HOT BENNY’S
364 Canal St
New Orleans, LA 70130

Gumbo Shop

We stopped into this joint for a quick bite. I tried the special gumbo of the day, which was called the Cajun gumbo. It consisted of chicken, andouille sausage, crawfish and shrimp. It was really tasty!

GUMBO SHOP
630 St Peter
New Orleans, LA 70116

Pizza Delicious

This slice joint in NOLA is serving up some great NYC style pies. I only took a photo of this spicy slice, but the other varieties were good as well. Apologies this was cut into four so that we could share.

PIZZA DELICIOUS
617 Piety
New Orleans, LA 70117

Bratz Y’all

We stumbled upon this little German biergarten while waiting for a pizza joint to open.

We wandered back and found a rooster roaming among the tables.

We stayed for a drink, but wished that we had tried more than just one of the brats.

BRATZ Y’ALL
617-B Piety
New Orleans, LA 70117

Willie’s Chicken Shack

If you spend any amount of time in NOLA, you will come across a Willie’s Chicken Shack. They’re everywhere! And they’re delicious.

We scored some fried chicken late night before passing out for the night. It was worth every greasy, salty, delicious bite.

WILLIE’S CHICKEN SHACK
428 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Canary Club

My wife and I have wanted to try out this cocktail bar and live music lounge for a while. We finally made it in for an early dinner yesterday.

Quick take-aways: Delicious cocktails and good comfort food.

We really liked the broiled oysters and the french fries, as well as the ice cream sundae. The rest was just okay.

The snails were a bit under-seasoned and lacked that “snap” texture.

We also tried the shrimp and crab cake special. The shrimp were slightly overcooked and the batter on the crab cake needed work (no texture). The salad with fried green tomato was really nice though.

The batter on the fried chicken was too hard, but the meat was cooked nicely. The Voodoo seasoned fries were great.

Their coffee-based dessert cocktails are incredible. They have two, and each one is extremely unique, with one even having carrot juice espresso and tahini in it. Wild. They paired really well with the ice cream sundae.

We will be back for cocktails and live music, for sure. But maybe we’ll stick to the oysters and fries in terms of food.

CANARY CLUB
303 Broome St
New York, NY 10002

Rib Room

Rib Room overall score: 81

Our first dinner in New Orleans during our 2019/2020 New Year trip was here at Rib Room. I was dying to try some prime rib from here ever since I passed by it on the street two years ago. Here’s how it went down.

Flavor: 8

I had the king cut prime rib, which is a gorgeous tomahawk chop that’s roasted to perfection. The cap was delicious, and the eye was cooked evenly throughout, without getting too monotonous in terms of flavors and textures.

This baby came with a hard, pipe-hittin’ horseradish sauce that will known your brain out of your skull if you’re not too careful with how you apply it to your steak. I love that kick! But beware.

Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9

There’s a good selection of cuts here, even beyond the standard prime rib sizes that you expect to find at a place that specializes in prime rib. They also served grilled rib eyes, strips, filets, etc. Everything is sourced from local producers and purveyors, but I didn’t detect too much dry-aged flavors coming through.

Portion Size & Plating: 9

The portions here are big, and you get a lot for your money on everything from the apps all the way through the entrees.

Price: 9

At $45 for the king cut of prime rib, which comes with a side and a salad, you really can’t go wrong. Coming from NYC it was a nice, refreshing reveal when the bill came.

Bar: 8

The bar here is nice. We hung out for a bit before being seated and enjoyed the beautiful hotel-lobby environs (Omni Royal). The martini I had was a bit too sweet though.

Specials and Other Meats: 8

In addition to an extensive list of chops and roasts, they also offer specials here as well. My wife had the prime rib “manager’s special,” which is a princess cut of prime rib that gets grilled on the sides after roasting. Here is a before and after:

Apps, Sides & Desserts: 7

We tried a few things as starters. Let me get right into them.

Lamb Pastrami Grilled Cheese:

This sounded better than it tasted. I had high hopes, but it came out a bit cold, and not too pastrami-flavored at all.

The cast iron baked cheesy oysters were pretty fantastic. Very unique.

 

The frog legs were massive, and breaded very nicely – fried to a golden, crunchy crisp.

The baked potato and salad came with the prime rib. Both were basic but good.

We skipped dessert and opted for some late night beignets at Cafe du Monde instead.

Seafood Selection: 7

There’s standard steakhouse seafood fare here. I didn’t try any so can’t really rate it.

Service: 8

Service here was good. Our waiter Richenel was really nice, attentive, and made good suggestions. However the restaurant messed up my wife’s order a bit (they brought her out a princess cut of prime rib instead of the manager’s special – firing it on the sides meant it was a bit overcooked from how she ordered). As a result, her steak wasn’t as good as it could have been.

Another thing to note here, they don’t have a prime rib cart service here like at Lawry’s or House of Prime Rib. They have something a bit different: a central carving station on the side of the dining room where you can watch the meat master work if you’d like. I dig it.

Ambiance: 8

This place is gorgeous inside. The hotel spared no expense in decking this place out. High ceilings, dark woods, fancy music.

RIB ROOM
621 St Louis S
New Orleans, LA 70130

St James Cheese Company

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