Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dane

Hey everyone,

Adair and I had a pretty good week, having gotten back to school/work after our long and unexpected hurrication. In addition, we have ventured out to a few of the local restaurants and hangouts around town, and really enjoyed what we found.

First, I knew that my first priority was to find a little breakfast place where we could go on weekends, if we got the hankering for a greasy spoon. We had tried “Dot’s Diner” in our area of town a few weeks back, and we weren’t thrilled (it wasn’t even charmingly dingy, it was just grimy with impolite staff), so we figured we needed to look closer to the real New Orleans area to find something satisfactory. Adair whipped out the guidebook that her mom had given us (thanks Becky!) and found us an awesome spot in the Uptown district, specializing in benedicts of various shapes and sizes. Adair had a strawberry waffle, because that’s how she rolls, and I decided to go full-scale New Orleans and get the Crawfish Etouffe Benedict…with grits! Both of our meals were amazing, and the place had a great atmosphere as well. We will be back for sure.

The second place we knew we had to try was a gourmet hotdog spot, recommended to us by our friends Corey and Becka. Despite ridicule from those closest to me, within the last few years I have declared hotdogs to be my favorite food, so needless to say I was excited to check the place out. I was quite pleased to find that it was fairly close to the university, and it was really charming with a heavy Portland vibe. They had beef dogs, pork dogs, chicken dogs, cod dogs, and crawfish dogs, with great toppings (I opted for a sauce that itself included chunks of andouille sausage!) and homemade buns. They even had a hefty craft beer and cider selection (rare down here), and although we didn’t drink any this time around, I could see us going there just for the happy hour some time. Now, lest some of you think that we are gorging ourselves on nothing but fatty foods down here (Mary E. Rowinski), don’t worry, our trips out for meals are much much more the exception than the rule!

In other news, Adair had a very pleasant birthday, or at least as enjoyable as possible for being so far from so many loved ones. We did some bowling, got some sno-balls (NOLA version of snow cones I guess, with more sugar) and made some fantastic spaghetti with Adair’s signature garlic bread. Thanks to everyone for all the kind wishes and gifts, it all really meant a lot to both of us. We miss you all a bunch, but I’m so glad we are able to keep in touch so easily.

Dane