JUNE, 2015...What's For Dinner??

Crybaby wrote:

Uncle Jimmy wrote:21 years ago, in the French Quarter .... Tina and I were there for my 50'th birthday, we went to a little hole in the wall A&P store ??if my mind serves me? on Decatur St. ??? I think!  There was Tina ...zooom ...right to the Meat Dept. to check out the meat and the prices. Tina worked for the A&P here in our town back then.

You're on the money with the name, as it was indeed an A&P, which FINALLY closed a couple of years ago.  It had been there FOREVER but when you live in the Quarter and relying on a street parking place (if you weren't blessed enough to have off-street parking, which is pretty scarce if you own, much less rent), any port in a storm, you know?  The street, however, was Royal Street and not Decatur.  

Did you go to Central Grocery (Italian "grocery" on Decatur) and get a muffaletta, Jimmy?  They not only invented the sandwich but, IMHO, still have the best one in town.  They're huge, but I can down a whole one.  Brian laughs at me, as he can only get down a half.  Some of the places here have pretty decent ones, but a lot of them HEAT the sandwich, whereas I prefer it as originally made, room temp with no heat whatsoever.

I love going to Central, as they have all the imported meats and cheeses -- Prosciutto de Parma, pancetta, sopressata, mortadella, spec, Genoa salami, fresh mozzarella, imported Romano and Parmesan, fresh feta (I know it's Greek but sometimes they have it; the fresh is the BEST), provolone, gorgonzola, fontina, etc.  They have other cheeses, too, which aren't fresh but sometimes hard to find.  And the canned items are amazing.  Some of the best are behind the counter.  One time I got six cans of imported cherry tomato sauce added to my already huge order and the man behind the counter (family but he looked like he just got off the boat!) said, smiling, "Only the best cooks know about and purchase the cherry tomato sauce."  I howled laughing, as did he!  

Even though it was 21 years ago, I sure hope you had a good time here, Jimmy. And I definitely hope you ate well, too!

Bugster2 wrote:After I watch "Food Paradise" or "Man vs Food" or "Man Finds Food" I tell my DH "Wouldn't it be fun to do a road trip and just eat our way across the U.S.?"


I can pass on Andrew Zimmern's exotic food finds.

I think the same when I watch Anthony Bourdain. I told Tina....if I ate in so many places like him, I would be 1/2 TON Man in a month!

NormM wrote:We had a crock pot "Dump" dinner.  By dump, I mean it was open some cans of soup, a little milk, package of cheese and Stove Top and dump it all in over some chicken breasts in a crockpot and let it go on low for about 7 hours.

I'll tell you the recipe here because i don't plan to post it on my blog.  The recipe is to line the bottom of a crockpot with chicken breasts (5) in this case, pour a cup of chicken broth over it,cover the chicken with slices of cheese.  In a bowl mix together a can of cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup with a half cup of milk, dump that over the cheese then dump a box of Stove Top over it all, cover and let it go on low for 6 or 7 hours.  We all thought is was good but needed something else. I felt it would have been better with some mushrooms and onions cooked and added to the soups and maybe some more cheese. I couldn't tell any cheese was in it at all.  i used store brand soups and Charlie could tell it wasn't Campbell's.

Bugster2 wrote:Don't they have those electric scooters that you can use in the store?

Niagara Visitor wrote:I am having a large fillet of fresh caught large mouth Bass that my son caught in Lake Erie today.  Yesterday was apparently opening of Bass season but we had monsoonal rain.  I also have 4 very large Bass carcasses simmering on my stove to make stock for future chowder.  

I will have a whole bunch of still locally grown asparagus to go along.  Yummy!

Barbara wrote:I shopped like heck when I went to DS in Delaware OMG the stores. Plus it was so much cheaper then here.

NormM wrote:At first I missed the cattle ranch and dairy farm where I could get better quality meat than at the grocery store.  They both used a butcher shop in a small town about 20 miles away.  All the meat available from them was frozen solid.  Now that I was looking for some place where I could get a whole brisket, I discovered some nice butcher shops that sell fresh-never frozen meat.

Crybaby wrote:

NormM wrote:At first I missed the cattle ranch and dairy farm where I could get better quality meat than at the grocery store.  They both used a butcher shop in a small town about 20 miles away.  All the meat available from them was frozen solid.  Now that I was looking for some place where I could get a whole brisket, I discovered some nice butcher shops that sell fresh-never frozen meat.

Boy, I'm jealous!  Do you have a long driver to get to them, Norm?  Even if so, it's worth it.

Brian is going to smoke the other half of a whole brisket that we froze about two weeks ago.  He took a page out of Beth's book and put his rub on the entire brisket before freezing one-half of it.  We're still using Mad Hunky's rub and really like it -- we use it on more things than we ever thought we would.  We even mixed it with some flour once to prepare a standing rib roast for roasting.  (I like to lightly flour a rib roast so the outside is a bit crunchier than it is without the flour.)

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:

Crybaby wrote:

Uncle Jimmy wrote:21 years ago, in the French Quarter .... Tina and I were there for my 50'th birthday, we went to a little hole in the wall A&P store ??if my mind serves me? on Decatur St. ??? I think!  There was Tina ...zooom ...right to the Meat Dept. to check out the meat and the prices. Tina worked for the A&P here in our town back then.

You're on the money with the name, as it was indeed an A&P, which FINALLY closed a couple of years ago.  It had been there FOREVER but when you live in the Quarter and relying on a street parking place (if you weren't blessed enough to have off-street parking, which is pretty scarce if you own, much less rent), any port in a storm, you know?  The street, however, was Royal Street and not Decatur.  

Did you go to Central Grocery (Italian "grocery" on Decatur) and get a muffaletta, Jimmy?  They not only invented the sandwich but, IMHO, still have the best one in town.  They're huge, but I can down a whole one.  Brian laughs at me, as he can only get down a half.  Some of the places here have pretty decent ones, but a lot of them HEAT the sandwich, whereas I prefer it as originally made, room temp with no heat whatsoever.

I love going to Central, as they have all the imported meats and cheeses -- Prosciutto de Parma, pancetta, sopressata, mortadella, spec, Genoa salami, fresh mozzarella, imported Romano and Parmesan, fresh feta (I know it's Greek but sometimes they have it; the fresh is the BEST), provolone, gorgonzola, fontina, etc.  They have other cheeses, too, which aren't fresh but sometimes hard to find.  And the canned items are amazing.  Some of the best are behind the counter.  One time I got six cans of imported cherry tomato sauce added to my already huge order and the man behind the counter (family but he looked like he just got off the boat!) said, smiling, "Only the best cooks know about and purchase the cherry tomato sauce."  I howled laughing, as did he!  

Even though it was 21 years ago, I sure hope you had a good time here, Jimmy. And I definitely hope you ate well, too!

I now know from your being in that area, that it was Royal St.
The sights I loved and Tina also, but for me.... the Food was really the prize that stuck in my mind. Food..... I never forget. LOL .... We did eat a Po Boy, and it was NOT heated. That was over near a Plaza, and on a corner with round steps.
APost office?? Maybe? .... It was good, but a lot of bread.
The shrimp and especially the Craw fish really was delicious. The seafood Gumbo and the Beigne'ts were delicious. All the food, the people, and the music were a plus 10. The only thing I didn't like, was the fancy hotel we stayed at.
The Double Tree Hotel as it was at that time. We are not a fancy people.
I'll never forget, Tina wanted fried chicken, and I remembered walking up Canal Street to find the fried chicken. Our hotel room smelled like a carnival was there. The questions were not, where shall we GO next, but rather, what shall we EAT next?

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Our hotel room smelled like a carnival was there. The questions were not, where shall we GO next, but rather, what shall we EAT next?

Crybaby wrote:Jimmy, if I mention adding brown sugar to the Mad Hunky rub, Brian will adopt that right away, I'm sure!  

Son Jimmy, as a baby, and even growing up, never went for sweets.
He even never asked for Ice CreaM.
When we BBQ,a chicken drums or ribs or dogs, we had to be so extra careful that his did not touch any that had BBQ sauce or sweet anything.
Naturally, Tina, her mom, and I couldn't get enough sweet sauce to stick to ours. There was more candy on our drum sticks than were on a tootsie roll lolly pop.
Our faces were so sticky, the fly's would stick to our faces like fly ribbons hanging over the kitchen table.

What turned the tide with son Jim, was I used the Mad Hunky Rub. He didn't know it, and just thought the ribs were just BBQ'd with nothing.
Believe it or not. He could not get enough of the ribs. He said, this is the best tasting spare ribs I have ever had!"....

Crybaby wrote:Here's a photo of a Central Grocery muffaletta I found online!


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Retired Italian wrote:What turned the tide with son Jim, was I used the Mad Hunky Rub. He didn't know it, and just thought the ribs were just BBQ'd with nothing.
Believe it or not. He could not get enough of the ribs. He said, this is the best tasting spare ribs I have ever had!

Uncle Jimmy wrote:I could go for one of those right now!....
PS... It's not nice to tease Michelle....hahahaaa

Crybaby wrote:

Retired Italian wrote:What turned the tide with son Jim, was I used the Mad Hunky Rub. He didn't know it, and just thought the ribs were just BBQ'd with nothing.
Believe it or not. He could not get enough of the ribs. He said, this is the best tasting spare ribs I have ever had!

Did you ever tell him the rub contained brown sugar, Jimmy?

Barbara101 wrote:


I have been snacking all day. I may have these and call it dinner.