Cafe Minh – Those skinny eggplants are indeed fabulous!

Those skinny eggplants are indeed fabulous!

Do you like eggplant? How about scallops? How about gently roasted Japanese eggplant, so sweet that you eat it with the skin. It’s the base for three enormous scallops. Someone in the kitchen at Cafe Minh knows how to brown the scallops perfectly to bring up the flavor. A heavenly dish, not cheap at about $12 but worth every penny.

Summer rolls with peanut sauce. The perfect beginning.

About $45 with tip for two. Not a cheap lunch, but a relaxing moment in the very modern interior.

Accessible by streetcar just one block off Canal and Claiborne.

Former chef at Lemon Grass.

Lil Dizzy’s gains ground on Esplanade.

Lil Dizzy’s has finally managed to find a service staff to match the food.

Wednesday breakfast after Jazz Fest we descended as a group of five. One order of waffle, one shrimp omelet, one eggs with fried catfish and two orders of liver and eggs.

In the past I’ve ordered the shrimp grillades and grits. That’s shrimp with a sauce over grits and it’s heavenly.

The waffle was crisp and tasty, the omelet got two thumbs up, the catfish got a maybe and the liver got a heads up.

But the nice report is that this restaurant has finally found some servers who can provide good service. Our visits before have found the servers charming, but unable to remember to bring the coffee, or the orange juice, or whatever else, with endless arguments echoing from the kitchen area.

This trip was very different. Efficient, solicitous service.

Try the shrimp….

Playing Hookey at Acme

Everyone else was at Jazz Fest enjoying Crawfish Monica.

We slipped into Acme with a wait of only about ten minutes. We hope you enjoyed the fest, but we got to sit at the bar, drink beer and tatter a friendship. The question under discussion? Not the war in Iraq, but which is better, the fried oyster poboy or the combo oyster/catfish poboy.

How do they balance the oysters and bread so perfectly?

What does everyone else have too much bread?

It’s enough to make golf on TV almost bearable….

Cafe Adelaide wows us with its service!

Cafe Adelaide wows us with its service.

At last, the service matches the food.

Cafe Adelaide has been a long time favorite for its food, but its service has been erratic. Things were always worked out, but not with the customary Brennan aplomb.

How good was the service? One of our party wanted to adopt our waiter as her 14th grand child…..

And the food was wonderful. Short ribs done in a modern fashion that would make my grandmother happy, and wonderful fish. The best cheesecake in town.

Another post about the food, but the service is finally in place.

Angeli’s Pizza Aspires

Angeli’s Pizza Aspires.

So what’s with the new table tops? What happened to the old, rickety but very authentic pizza joint tables.

Angeli’s Special is our favorite. White sauce, garlic, artichokes, chicken. Ethereal. Look no further.

Not your frathouse pizza.

Good beer, funky movies on the wall, and sometimes music (hope the new table tops don’t mean that white table cloths are coming!).

About $12 for a small pizza on the Friday night before Jazz Fest. The service has moved up from good to excellent. Do you suppose it’s the new table tops?

On Decatur. Open at almost all hours.