2008 French Quarter Fest And The Food That Comes With It

This weekend we went down to the French Quarter to enjoy the music, the people, and the food of the French Quarter Fest. It was crowded,no doubt, but it seemed a bit less so than last year. We seemed to have no problem navigating through Jackson Square or around The Mint. Of course, we never made it to Woldenberg Park and that is usually where it is the busiest. We had no trouble finding a place to sit down while we enjoyed the food and the music either, which made it a wholly enjoyable experience.

This year we decided to avoid the big stage at Woldenberg Park for two main reasons: its always crazy crowded and Pam has a broken toe. This makes it difficult to do a lot of walking (for her). I also decided to document all of the foods we ate while out and about. There are many food vendors and I always have a hard time choosing a few from the many. I usually end up ordering something from nearly every booth and eating myself sick, but this year we shared every plate and I think this ended up much better. So, here it goes . . .


The pupusa (left) and the chicken tamale (right) came from Jazz Tacos. The pupusa was delicious and the salsa was well done and complimented well. The chicken tamale was chock full of veggies as well as chicken.


Jonathan insisted on raw oysters but finally came around when I convinced him that there were none for sale. He settled on this cajun roast beef po boy. I am not sure what made it 'cajun' but it was good.





This is a pulled pork and cole slaw po boy. It is not the same as the famous Jazz Fest Cochon Du Lait po boy, but it was pretty darn good. BTW, the cochon du lait po boy can be purchased all year long at Walkers BBQ, 10828 Haynes Blvd. This is good news for me because it is my favorite Jazz Fest food item!




Paige tried the egg rolls (not pictured here) but found them too difficult and painful to eat with braces. So we went in search of some easy to eat food and found the grilled chicken with lemon grass from Bach Dang Cafe. The chicken was tender and had a strong lemon grass flavor. Of course it did, there was grilled lemon grass in the dish! It was served over vermicelli.



Spring roll from Bach Dang Cafe. These are available on the weekends in the French Market and we think they may be the best spring rolls in town.

A taquito from Jazz Tacos. This was the least impressive of the items we got at Jazz. But, I am not really a fan of fried Mexcan fare either.







After listening to Zydeco music for a while we decided to walk down Royal Street to hear some other sounds and to eventually work our way to Jackson Square. We listened to VaVaVoom for a while and enjoyed their music. I also enjoyed that they performed right across the street from Touche Bar, where I was able to get some drinks for me & Pam. When they finished up we moved on to Jackson Square, and to more food . . .

A stop by Jacque-Imos yielded boudin that was tasty and smoky. Oh, and it came with homemade creole mustard that tasted a lot like a white remolade. Go figure.






We also got the well-known duck debris po boy. I have read elsewhere that some do not like this and it was a bit goopy. But, it tasted like a delicious slow cooked duck in goopy duck-flavored sauce, and that is OK by me.





This is a spice seafood caprese salad from Cafe Giovanni. It had shrimp, crawfish, and maybe a scallop. The dressing wasn't too spicy and I have always been a sucker for the tomato/mozzerella combo.





Muriel's goat cheese crepe with a crawfish/seafood sauce. Pretty good but nowhere worth the 45+ minute wait in line. Fortunately it was my sister-in-law who did the waiting. Ha ha.






I welcome any opinions on the food choices at the French Quarter Fest or any opinions on my opinions. And since this is my first blog ever, maybe go easy on me.