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Brian and I had some errands to run yesterday -- mainly getting our drivers licenses renewed, as his expires tomorrow and mine in September -- so we combined a few more to make it more of a fun run.
We went Uptown to get our licenses so I asked him to take me to a huge wine store, Martin Wine Cellar, to get some rosé wines. I've been in the mood lately to try a couple of rosés but know nothing about them. I wanted to make sure I got a couple of dry ones as opposed to more fruity and everyone at Martin is highly wine educated so I wanted to go there. Their selection is huge as well. A guy named Alex helped me select a couple of bottles to try. Alex was smart, too, as he said he'd leave the bottles at the front register so we could look around. The place is gorgeous and we hadn't been there since they rebuilt after Katrina, which took them years and years, but it paid off for sure (I think they must've been buying up more of the property around the older pretty big store, as this place was huge and it had a big raised front porch with tables and chairs and tons of tastefully landscaped parking, too). I picked up a few hunks of some really nice cheeses, some walnut oil, a jar of blood orange preserves and a couple bags of some nicely flavored bagged bruschetta-type bread bases.
They have a big catering/deli section and serve divine sandwiches, the descriptions alone will make your mouth water, sumptuous salads and all types of yummies so I asked Brian if he wanted to get some lunch. He smiled and said, "Why don't we go somewhere where they wait on us?" (you place your order at the counter at Martin and pick it up, or you used to anyway). I smiled back and said, "I checked the computer before we left and Atchafalaya is open for brunch on Mondays," so we headed off to a great small restaurant Uptown by that name. We always enjoy it, we were close to it and I just knew that's where he was thinking of!
We used to rent an apartment two blocks away from there many years ago; it was good then (was Café Atchafalaya back then) but is even better now. We didn't have reservations but they have a very small bar where we got seated after a short wait. And just like I was recently speaking of, they have a super cocktail menu. I had a Grandpa's Sour, which was like an upscale whiskey sour and not only very good but very pretty as well. Grandpa's Sour consisted of knob creek rye, lemon, fee brother's peach bitters, and egg white. We had to wait about 30 minutes so I also had a Stars & Garters, which consisted of chinaco tequila blanco, marca negra mezcal, giffard pamplemousse liqueur, campari, lime and some smoked salt "schmeared" down one side. I'm not a big campari fan but the bartender told me it was only about a tablespoon of it in the drink so I could handle that much Campari flavor. The pamplemousse liqueur is grapefruit flavored. This, too, was exceptionally good and the bartender's favorite as well.
For brunch I ordered a "special" starter of three small crabcakes, most of which I had her wrap up to take home. My entrée was Duck Hash, which I'd had before and it's delish, too: poached eggs, duck confit, blackberries, mangos, hollandaise, and bacon vinaigrette. Brian had Chicken 'N Biscuits, fried chicken, housemade biscuits, and sausage gravy. I tasted that and it was also to die for good. We went home stuffed like sausages; tired but feeling pretty good.
We were both too stuffed for dinner later on so he made brownies and served me a warm brownie with Creole Cream Cheese Ice Cream on top before we went upstairs to bed. Yummy! It didn't take me long to conk out for a couple of hours once in bed. A good food day and a very fun day for both of us!
We went Uptown to get our licenses so I asked him to take me to a huge wine store, Martin Wine Cellar, to get some rosé wines. I've been in the mood lately to try a couple of rosés but know nothing about them. I wanted to make sure I got a couple of dry ones as opposed to more fruity and everyone at Martin is highly wine educated so I wanted to go there. Their selection is huge as well. A guy named Alex helped me select a couple of bottles to try. Alex was smart, too, as he said he'd leave the bottles at the front register so we could look around. The place is gorgeous and we hadn't been there since they rebuilt after Katrina, which took them years and years, but it paid off for sure (I think they must've been buying up more of the property around the older pretty big store, as this place was huge and it had a big raised front porch with tables and chairs and tons of tastefully landscaped parking, too). I picked up a few hunks of some really nice cheeses, some walnut oil, a jar of blood orange preserves and a couple bags of some nicely flavored bagged bruschetta-type bread bases.
They have a big catering/deli section and serve divine sandwiches, the descriptions alone will make your mouth water, sumptuous salads and all types of yummies so I asked Brian if he wanted to get some lunch. He smiled and said, "Why don't we go somewhere where they wait on us?" (you place your order at the counter at Martin and pick it up, or you used to anyway). I smiled back and said, "I checked the computer before we left and Atchafalaya is open for brunch on Mondays," so we headed off to a great small restaurant Uptown by that name. We always enjoy it, we were close to it and I just knew that's where he was thinking of!
We used to rent an apartment two blocks away from there many years ago; it was good then (was Café Atchafalaya back then) but is even better now. We didn't have reservations but they have a very small bar where we got seated after a short wait. And just like I was recently speaking of, they have a super cocktail menu. I had a Grandpa's Sour, which was like an upscale whiskey sour and not only very good but very pretty as well. Grandpa's Sour consisted of knob creek rye, lemon, fee brother's peach bitters, and egg white. We had to wait about 30 minutes so I also had a Stars & Garters, which consisted of chinaco tequila blanco, marca negra mezcal, giffard pamplemousse liqueur, campari, lime and some smoked salt "schmeared" down one side. I'm not a big campari fan but the bartender told me it was only about a tablespoon of it in the drink so I could handle that much Campari flavor. The pamplemousse liqueur is grapefruit flavored. This, too, was exceptionally good and the bartender's favorite as well.
For brunch I ordered a "special" starter of three small crabcakes, most of which I had her wrap up to take home. My entrée was Duck Hash, which I'd had before and it's delish, too: poached eggs, duck confit, blackberries, mangos, hollandaise, and bacon vinaigrette. Brian had Chicken 'N Biscuits, fried chicken, housemade biscuits, and sausage gravy. I tasted that and it was also to die for good. We went home stuffed like sausages; tired but feeling pretty good.
We were both too stuffed for dinner later on so he made brownies and served me a warm brownie with Creole Cream Cheese Ice Cream on top before we went upstairs to bed. Yummy! It didn't take me long to conk out for a couple of hours once in bed. A good food day and a very fun day for both of us!
