Muffuletta | Eating With Ziggy

Its our last day in N’oleans. Staring at Nicholas Cage’s future tomb in the St Louis Cemetery and still somehow haunted by the zoo images from yesterday (another example above), a sudden feeling of uneasiness hits. The feeling goes into another mode when I realize at the cemetery that my stomach has transformed into this nicely rounded pregnant like shape. Later on I notice I can no longer see my… shoes. Time for 4 weeks of couscous and kimchee diet after this trip. But first we have some unfinished business… more beignets and revisit Mr 3 sticks of butter (aka Mr B’s Shrimp). Well sort of finished business revisited actually.

Cafe Beignet – More wonderful sugary goodness. Until I had a sudden cough and sprayed sugar all over. These beignets were larger and fuller (less airy) than Cafe Du Monde’s. But if I have to choose one I would go with the legend here. And the legend’s Cafe Late was better.

Mr B’s – As I indicated before this is a major rarity for us to go to the same place twice. Turks and Caicos is the only place where I do this with my favorite restaurant in the world, Caicos Cafe. Started with a wonderful plate of rice and beans which came with some nice and juicy sausages. The same sausages and other meats however were a bit overcooked inside the pasta jambalaya which disappointed overall as it did not have the same kind of explosiveness that we found in so many NO dishes . The seafood gumbo and the famous BBQ Shrimp we enjoyed on day 1 saved the day

The Sweet Palate – A gourmet chocolate gem of a place that definitely entertained our sweet palates. They get their chocolates from a master chocolatier in Barcelona, Oriol Balaguer who used to work for Feran Adria at El Bulli arguably the most famous restaurant in the world when it was open. Feran is the master that invented molecular cooking . These little chocolates were understandably expensive and as expected rich and explosive, especially the one dubbed Pop Rock.

Cochon Butcher – This is not a review. Plenty of locals recommended Butcher as the place to sample the Muffuletta, which is a large round loaf filled with various cold cuts, cheese and an olive salad dressing. Back in the day Italian immigrants who used to work in the French Market used to go to the nearby Central Grocery for lunch to get the cold cuts, cheeses, olive dressings and the Muffuletta bread and eat them all separately until the owner of the store advised them to combine all the ingredients into one and hence the Muffuletta was born. Central Grocery is still there going strong and still according to the locals has one of the best Muffulettas in town. But based on my experience with Cochon Butcher, and this is coming from someone who has a sandwich as his avatar, the Portuguese Francesinha, aka the worlds best sandwich, the Muffuletta is not for me. Partially due to the heavy olive presence. Still, you have to give it a shot while in New Orleans. Pretty sure its the law and you have to fly back with one