Stylish Dining in the French Quarter

After our long day of Louisiana country adventures, Win and I went back to New Orleans and got cleaned up for a more stylish night on the town. Our first stop was The Pelican Club. The Pelican Club has a gorgeous atmosphere and a pianist was playing in the bar. Those two elements combined made it a wonderful place to stop for a cocktail. We decided to sit at the bar and enjoy the piano music (the pianist totally wins points from me for playing "Gotta Lotta Living to Do" from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie"---that song always makes me happy in a Broadway showtune kind of peppy way).

A cosmopolitan for me, a rum and Coke for Win. The bartender mixed delicious drinks and when he heard us talking about our anniversary he insisted we take him up on his offer of some complimentary champagne. This was such a kind gesture and it made us enjoy The Pelican Club even more.

Their menu is spectacular, but alas we wanted to try a couple places that evening so we opted to share just an appetizer. We selected the Pelican Club Baked Oysters. These were oysters served on the half shell with smoked bacon, roasted red peppers, Parmesan cheese and garlic herb butter. These were hands-down the best oysters I ever had. Win isn't a huge oyster fan, but he wanted to try them and even he was thrilled with this plate. If you go to The Pelican Club, give them a try. So good.

The Pelican Club is beautiful, sleek and romantic all at the same time. And the oyster presentation was gorgeous. The place totally warranted photos, but I felt too odd snapping photos of my food in their intimate little piano bar. Yes, even I have limits to my food-driven nerdiness. So no photos of this one, but check out this section of their web site if you're interested in how the place looked.

After the lovely cocktails and champagne, we were off for another stroll through the French Quarter in search of dinner. We happened upon Louisiana Bistro. This place had all the hallmarks of what we usually like; it was small, personal, had a delicious and interesting menu, and didn't seem touristy.

After enjoying their freshly baked bread, we ordered our appetizers. I had the Fried Green Tomatoes with Spicy Shrimp and Win went with Grillades and Grits. Here's how mine looked:



Absolutely wonderful! We loved these starters so that gave us very high hopes for the entrees as well. Win ordered duck and I had the Creole Surf and Turf which was filet mignon served with a shrimp scampi and garlic mashed potatoes. Here are photos of Louisiana Bistro's very pretty presentation:





Both dishes were outstanding. Great flavor combinations, excellent preparation, and really delicious overall. Sadly, these wonderful meals left us too full to sample any dessert but that was probably best anyway. A few days in New Orleans can do some serious damage to the waistline.

The Pelican Club
312 Exchange Place
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
USA
Telephone: 504-523-1504

Louisiana Bistro
337 Dauphine Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
USA
Telephone: 504-525-3335

Next time: A Jazz Brunch and Exploring The Garden District