Artz Bagels (review)

Restaurant Review: Artz Bagelz

This little bagel place on 9th, right off of Magazine Street, opened today! I am a serious bagel lover but trying to find them in New Orleans is not the easiest. I've been getting mine at the Crescent City Farmer's Market  and also buying them at Whole Foods and freezing them. Stein's is also a good source- but I've always heard that they import them from New York (that could be a huge rumor). There are also a few restaurants that make their own bagels. 

Anyway, we walked the few blocks to check out Artz Bagelz on its opening day. I forgot to ask them about the name, I'm not a fan :P 

I'm not going to write a long review, since they just started and probably have to work out some kinks, but here's some info and photos for you. 

not open on Monday (obviously, since it's New Orleans) and pretty normal hours 

Good selection of bagel options from sesame and poppy to cinnamon raisin.

Asiago cheese looked good to me.

There's a window to watch the magic happen, but we didn't see anything exciting going on.

The photo above shows their brightly colored interior.

Simple, clean, and bright. Reminds me of Ikea.

The ceiling lights are shaped like bagels... :)

 There's seating outside. It also looks like they put a dog bowl out there.

Now, onto the food. Ben went with the tunafish sandwich on whole wheat bread. You have the option of a bagel, bread, or croissant sandwich. (mmm croissants). He then opted to pay the extra $1.95 for a side salad- I believe it would've come with fruit or coleslaw if he didn't opt for the salad. He thought his sandwich was good but he wondered where the other half of his egg was...

I ordered an egg and swiss cheese sandwich on a sesame bagel. It comes with a meat choice but I asked if I could switch the meat for avocado. After some confusion on their part, I got some lovely avocado slices added. You can tell they just opened today as they're a little nervous :) it's cute

They didn't ask me how I wanted the eggs, which made me assume that the only option was scrambled (like Stein's). But it came out fried, which was great. The bagel was very small (in the first photo you can't tell that it's taking up a tiny spot on the sandwich tray) and I realized that $5.00 was just way too much for such a small meal. (I'm just super cheap right now and realized I make the same thing for $1.50 at home all the time). I think it would be good at $2.50 without meat and $3.00 with an added option for meat/avocado/etc. Anyway, the quality was good and I was happy.

If you wanted, you could get some cookies! They didn't look great to me, so I passed. Also, I missed how much they are on the menu. But, if you want to plan out your meal before you head over, here's a photo of the menu options for you. The lafayette square salad (sans the bacon) sounds good.

Overall, not bad, pretty good even- they get extra points for being in my neighborhood :-D. I would probably pick up a few bagels here- or even a bagel with a schmear- rather than shell out the $5 for a sandwich. Because I live only a few blocks away I'm sure I'll return and take bagels home.

I'd love to know what you think when you try out Artz Bagelz. Leave me a comment when you do!

Milk Bar

-- restaurant review -- 

ordering window

You're in New Orleans, you're hungry for some lunch...there is nothing better than a trip to Milk Bar (at 1514 Delachaise St in the Touro area). You can hold me to that. I happen to live pretty close to this place and I work about a block or two away but I would frequent it multiple times a week even if I was miles away. Last week I had Milk Bar for lunch three out of five days...it's an obsession. Since I came upon it three months ago my fondness has only grown and never wavered. That's pretty good seeing as I am a harsh critic for restaurants and usually find one or two things I think could be improved. Not at Milk Bar. 

What is so good at Milk Bar? Pretty much everything. I have tried all of their vegetarian sandwiches and thought all were a culinary masterpiece. My carnivorous friends say the chicken, lamb, and other meat sandwiches are to-die for. The ciabatta bread that Milk Bar uses is from La Boulangerie (see an older post below) who has the best bread in probably all of Louisiana. I can only eat half of a sandwich, which means the other half is a great snack later! Every day there is a new soup and the staff post it on Facebook so you can know ahead of time what you might want to order. If you do get the soup let me say that the tomato basil is creamy and delicious and they give you a huge piece of bread with it that you'll never be able to eat in one sitting. The salads are all perfect. I almost never order a salad when I'm out. Mostly because I think they're usually overpriced, don't have fun ingredients, and it's something I can easily make at home. I do order them all the time at Milk Bar.

drink boards on the left and fixings station

My favorite items on the menu:

*The I Dream of Aubergenie (sandwich) with added mozzarella- roasted eggplant, roasted red pepper red onion, kalamata olives, feta, pesto on one side, hummus on the other, and i add mozzarella which they broil into an amazing melty mass. 

*The Maple Pecan & Feta Salad- spring mix, roma tomato, kalamata olives, feta, red onion, sauteed mushrooms, maple pecans, all tossed in a citrus balsamic vinegrette. 

*The Chocthunder from Downunder- a chocolate milkshake...

i dream of aubergenie sandwich

To top it off all orders come with Chupa-Chups. My fav flavor is the chocolate vanilla mix and one of the guys there always lets me get two :)

Milk Bar has about four-six chairs outside (2 small tables) and a bunch more inside. The area is not bit but not small, but it does fill up with lots of students and medical staff around lunch time. If you don't want to wait you can call in your order so it'll be ready when you arrive. The staff here are always really nice. A few weeks ago I went in and wanted to buy some fruit and they gave me oranges picked off of their neighbor's tree! Also, you should know that this is the only place where I can always find small bags of Zapps sour cream and onion chips. Overall, Milk Bar does everything right and would most definitely get 5 stars in my book!

cows are everywhere

Cafe Rani

-- restaurant review --

Cafe Rani has a lot of things going for it that I must let you know about.

For one, it has a prime location. It is right on Magazine Street with popular shops surrounding it. There is a nice little indoor seating area with a bar that is comfortable but still nice enough to feel a little fancy. The outdoor seating, however, is really where it's at. With New Orleans' climate it is lovely to sit outside in the sun year round or under the shade of a huge leafy tree. I'm not sure if many restaurants in New Orleans can claim such a nice dining atmosphere as under an old Louisiana tree with the sunshine coming through and a light breeze.

The food is definitely the best thing about Cafe Rani and I would give just the food five stars. There is a vegetarian section of the menu and all of the food is made with the freshest ingredients. Cafe Rani claims that they were "green" before it was cool to be green. The eggs sardou has a creamed spinach and artichoke base for a fluffy egg and golden hollandaise sauce. With your sardou you can choose between chips (Zapps), grits, or cheesy grits. The cheesy grits were mm mm mm good because they topped the grits with a layer of toasty cheese instead of mixing it in. The entire meal was lick-your-plate good and to top it off I had my favorite brunch/lunch (or dinner, even) drink- a bloody mary. I enjoyed it but the drink was very light on the alcohol and wasn't spicy enough for me. I like my bloody mary with a little zap to my taste buds (like at Bridge Lounge). My dining companion had a burger and said he would give it 4/5 stars when compared to all burgers he's had in his lifetime.

eggs sardou and cheese grits

burger with avocado on top

I have to note: the only little ding on the experience is that we waited for our meal for a good long while only to have the waiter come tell us that he had forgotten to put our order in. This wouldn't have bugged me so much if the maitre d' wasn't so awkward and could've understood that all we were asking for was a seat in the sun.

virgin bloody mary and then rani mary

Finally, for two people to have brunch with one drink each but without dessert you're looking at about $35-40 (sandwiches and burgers from about $10-$15 drinks $7-$10). Luckily our living social deal got us the entire meal for fifteen buckeroos! Cafe Rani is usually pretty busy and is crowded with uptown ladies lunching or rich college girls meeting for drinks on their parent's credit cards. If you can stand the uppity crowd and the occasional shoddy service the food here is worth it! I will be back often, especially considering I only live a few blocks away.

La Boulangerie

--restaurant review--

La Boulangerie, aptly named the bakery in English, is a French pastry and bread shoppe at 4526 Magazine Street. Of course, I noticed it's adorable blue and yellow decor walking down Magazine Street months ago, but my first real experience with La Boulangerie's wares was at one of my favorite lunch spots-The Milk Bar, where La Boulangerie supplies the fresh crusty rolls for sandwiches.
But, I had recently heard good things about the pastries and could not fathom a better way to spend a Sunday morning (before the game) by biking over to this cute store and having a croissant with coffee. Many other New Orleanders must have been thinking the exact same thing because while we slowly nibbled on our pastries the line never ended!
La Boulangerie offers an array of French pastries, breads, cakes, and even personal sized quiches.

While the tortes, pies, and especially the opera looked amazing, we opted for an array of croissants. We shared the plain croissant, a chocolate croissant, and (my favorite universally) the almond croissant. The coffee, I'm sad to report, was a do-it-yourself cup with the only options being sugar and cream. With amazing French food like this, I was super disappointed by the quality of the coffee and noted that in the future I would have to pick up a cup somewhere else and bring it in to enjoy in La Boulangerie's comfy couch seats. 

The plain croissant was the winner of the favorite thing we ate. Light, fluffy, and with that amazing glaze on it the plain croissant was close to what I have had in France and definitely something that I would go out of my way to eat again. The chocolate croissant was a rectangle shaped loaf of croissant with a dime-shaped bit of chocolate on one little spot of the inside. I recalled having better chocolate croissants at the mall in my childhood. The almond croissant was very different than any I have had before. It was thick and weighed more than any pastry should. The inside was not full of almond paste but rather but lightly glazed with it. The outside was covered in powdered sugar and soggy almond slices. This item disappointed me as almond croissants have always been such a big hit with this eater. At the same time, I would go back again and order it a second time in hopes that the almond croissant was just poorly made that morning. 

La Boulangerie does have ample seating including some tables and a couch surrounding a coffee table. While I was there there was an adorable father holding his baby and a the mother next to them knitting while enjoying their pastries and coffee (how adorable!). The inside is decorated in those typical New Orleans signs, but in French!, and also a chocolate chicken. Since we're in New Orleans you can expect to pay cash. However, you also should expect to be treated in a typical French style with curt responses and no extra chit-chat. Some customers have found La Boulangerie's wait staff to be rude and have taken their business elsewhere, but I would say that if you can stand not to be ushered in warmly you'll be fine. 

My biggest mistake in visiting La Boulangerie was not trying any of their breads. I do believe that that is where the bakery truly shines and will definitely be returning in the near future to grab a crusty french loaf.

Overall, La Boulangerie would not warrant five of my stars. They would benefit from upgrading their coffee and making sure that their chocolate and almond croissants were perfect every time, instead of slightly subpar. That said, overall I did enjoy my first experience at La Boulangerie and I promise I will return in the near future to try those muffins..and breads...and the chocolate mousse!

Best Pizza in NOLA?

So, i know i need to post something but i'm in a crabby/confused mood thanks to a job offer that i don't want but feel i should probably take to make some money...ergh    >:(

BUT, the real reason for this post is to find out....WHAT IS THE BEST PIZZA IN NEW ORLEANS?

Recently on YELP a talk thread discussed the various pizza offerings and we decided to create a poll. 

So, here it is. On the right side of my blog you'll find a poll where you can choose one place to vote as your favorite pizza in New Orleans. So, go for it.

and then check out yelp.com :)