If you’ve followed along my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that what started out as a blog about food and travel turned into a blog about my career change.  Food and travel are big passions of mine, but so was getting out of dentistry.  When I started writing about my career change, there seemed to be a story there for me to tell.  Writing about it has been the perfect culmination, and I plan to do more.  But it’s time to take a break because I recently went to New Orleans, and it’s time to have some fun.

What comes to mind when you think of New Orleans?
Debauchery, perhaps? 

On my most recent trip to this city that I love, I was reminded of this word twice.  Alright, maybe it was more than twice, but for the rest… well, you had to be there.

I’m hesitant to do this, but I feel compelled.  I don’t want to share this restaurant for fear that it will get too popular and I’ll never be able to get a reservation again.  But it was too good to keep to myself.  I must do it.

Boucherie.  I think I’m in love. 

It is rare to find a gem with this caliber of food and atmosphere at such good prices.  I thought these places were extinct.  Most decent restaurants in NOLA average $25 and up for entrees, and many of those fail to live up to their standards.  There is nothing more disappointing than paying a lot for a meal that doesn’t deliver.  The most expensive thing on the menu here is $16!You know how sometimes you can’t find one thing on the menu that sounds good, and other times you can’t decide because everything sounds good?  Well, at Boucherie it all looked fantastic, and they delivered.  Everything that came to the table was beyond exceptional.  I know because I tasted it all.

The fresh-cut french fries with garlic butter and Parmesan Reggiano rank up there with some of the best fries ever. 

Blackened shrimp and grit cakes, a modern twist on a classic New Orleans dish pleased the crowd. 

Smoked Wagyu Beef Brisket… juicy, saucy, tender perfection (and more fries, of course.)The peppercorn smoked scallops and rice grits were a favorite.Saint Louis Style Niman ribs.  The meat fell right off the bones… more goodness.And pan seared puppy drum (that’s fish, not dog) with roasted beets… when can I go back?

With a start like this, we had to go for dessert.

Drum roll, please…

Yeah, so… dessert arrived, and I couldn’t contain my excitement and curiosity for what they placed in front of me: Krispy Kreme bread pudding and a bacon brownie.  Bread pudding is one of my all-time fave desserts, so imagine it made with donuts?  And what’s better than bacon and brownies on their own, let alone mixed together?  I was so excited that I missed the photo-op.  Yeah, I simply forgot, until the plates were empty.  While they were both good, neither knocked my socks off like the rest of the meal did.  The bacon in the brownie had too strong of a hickory flavor that overwhelmed me and reminded me of a bad brownie-experiment-gone-bad I had in college.  Not good for me, but it didn’t seem to stop the rest of the table.

In French, boucherie means butcher.

In Cajun Country, a boucherie is “a community butchering which involves several families contributing the animal(s) –usually pigs — to be slaughtered. Each family helps to process the different cuts of meat, like sausage, ham, boudin, chaudin, chops, and head cheese.  Each family gets to take home their share of the yield. [The process is generally] done in late fall to provide meat throughout the cold months.”

To me, Boucherie means debauchery…
complete and utter food debauchery.