Domenica Happy Hour

I used to think American Sector had the best Happy Hour in the city, but I completely change my mind. Domenica completely kicks their butt. They serve all their pizzas and select cocktails for half off from 3:00 - 6:00 pm every weekday. That means only $7.50 for 8 gourmet slices of heaven.

I've had a lot of pizza in New Orleans, but this is definitely the best I've ever had. Mackenzie, Gavin, and Eric accompanied me on this food expedition and we went to town on these pizzas!

We got 4 different types so we could try a variety. The spicy lamb meat ball, ricotta and mint pie was interesting but the roast pork shoulder, fennel, and apple was much better. My favorite was the wild mushroom, fontina, bacon lardon and egg pizza, it was phenomenal. But possibly equally as tasty as the lardo pizza.

For those of you who don't know, lardo is fat. Seriously just straight up cured pork fat. The classy version of deep frying things in lard apparently is just laying it on thick over a thin crust pizza! Even though the thought of eating fat was pretty disgusting, the fantastic flavor immediately erased any negative thoughts. It was paired with toasted fennel and stracchino cheese - perfecto!

Even the leftovers were superb. So good that I couldn't get the pizza cravings out of my system. After my cold leftover breakfast I had boot pizza topped with voodoo gumbo Zapps for lunch.

And then proceeded to have slice for dinner. Their bacon pizza was hardly edible in comparison to the Domenica's spectacular pies.

The prosciutto arugula pie was better, but still not as scrumptious as the Domenica pies.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention the last thing we tried at Domenica, stracci with oxtail ragu and fried chicken livers. I LOVED the oxtail ragu but the liver isn't really my thing. Luckily liver is one of Eric's favorite foods so none of the lovely little livers went to waste.

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Boyfriend Brownie Points

To celebrate the opening night of my final Choreographic Production at Tulane University Eric found the perfect way to combine his romantic and creative side with a fun foodie twist.

As you can tell from the background of the site, I LOVE bacon. I can eat it any time of day or night and with all sorts of different foods. Sweet, Salty, Spicy, you name it and I'll probably eat it if it involves bacon. (Which is why Eric and I are contemplating finding a Denny's for their Baconaillia Bacon Fudge Sunday).

So to stay in the performance gift tradition Eric gave me a bouquet of red roses... made of bacon! This wonderful surprise scored him some super brownie points (with me and everyone else I've bragged about the roses to). But he promises they were a sinch to make.

Apparently all you have to do is get an extra small cupcake tray and a bouquet of fake flowers. Then roll slices of bacon the way you would roll a cinna-bun and place the rolled bacon in the cupcake tin. While you're cooking the bacon in the oven remove the flowers from the fake bouquet. Finally, after the bacon has cooked and cooled simply pop the tiny rosette bacon on the pointy stem and prepare yourself to wow your girlfriend. Not all girls love bacon as much as I do, but you really can't go wrong with something that creative and thoughtful that looks like a dozen roses (plus if she doesn't like it you still get to eat bacon!).

Who ever thought bacon could keep the romance alive! Enjoy!!

Dat Dog!!!!!

Whether you like hot dogs or you thinks they're disgusting, I guarantee you will LOVE Dat Dog, the adorable new restaurant on Freret. They serve up 10 varieties of hot dogs and sausages (all for 6 bucks or less). On top of these succulent links they pile the complimentary condiments high. The beautiful picture speaks for itself. This hot dog was seriously orgasmic. This Louisiana Hot Sausage is topped with horseradish, creole mustard, onions, chives, and diced tomatoes. This darn thing was so delicious I seriously found myself silent for just about the entire time I spent eating it. That good. Honestly the best part was the sourdough bread. So soft and squishy, the perfect amount of chewiness and fluffiness, it was like the best piece of bunny bread you could ever wish for, a little cloud like puff of sourdough goodness. I'm determined to find their bread supplier and make some bomb french toast, garlic bread, PB&J sandwiches, and texas toast with it. Definitely a new spot that everyone in the city should check out.

Strawberry Festival!

Ponchatoula Strawberries! Lots of 'em, sold in every shape and form imaginable. Strawberry beer, tea, snow balls, smoothies, and so much more. Home made jam and jelly in every strawberry infused flavor possible even pepper jelly!

Just an hour away from New Orleans, the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival is a local favorite. The small town hosts thousands of people for this lovely Spring festival, completely transforming the town into a strawberry heaven.

I couldn't pass up the chocolate covered strawberries. The white chocolate covered berries drizzled with milk chocolate were scrumptious. I don't always enjoy chocolate covered strawberries because the berries are too tart, but these were perfect. Plus the heat melted the chocolate so that they were more like fondue dipped berries!

One of the most popular strawberry delicacies was of course funnel cake topped with strawberry sauce and gobbs of powdered sugar. Funnel cake is a must at any carnival, fair, or festival but I decided to pass this time so I could save some stomach space for other delightful treats.

Such as deep fried strawberries! I was thrilled when I saw this tasty bite size dessert at the fest. I really shouldn't be surprised, it's a fair in small town Louisiana of course everything is going to be fried! And it was smashing! Coated in a thick layer of cinnamon batter and fried crispy brown, then topped with powdered sugar. It was like eating a strawberry stuffed beignet. Yummmmy!

Not surprisingly, there were many more deep fried delights for sale. The blooming onion was quite beautiful but my tongue led me to the fried pickles (which were WAY too salty, but I still enjoyed them).

The Shed

6 weeks after visiting the happiest place on earth I am finally ready to write about it. Now I'm not talking about Disneyland, I'm talkin Mississippi BBQ. And not just any BBQ, ribs! From none other than the SHED. This Mississippi gem has been featured on the Food Network and the Travel Channel many times, and has been #1 on Mackenzie and my list of restaurants we NEED to go to. So we finally made it! And let me just say that we were not disappointed in the least.

Since it's around two hours away (and we didn't know when the next time we'd be there) we decided to get the party platter, which has a little bit of everything, seriously! Ribs, Sausage, Brisket, Chicken, Pulled pork, Texas Toast, Baked Beans, Potato Salad (with bacon), and Coleslaw. Needless to say, we were pretty pumped. The Ribs and the Sausage were my top two favorites but everything else was incredible too.

Definitely finger lickin good, maybe even plate licking good. Between that and the eclectic building built and decorated with entirely recycled materials (aka other people's garbage) I was absolutely in heaven. I want to live there one day. Or make my own mini shed in New Orleans so I can get mighty tasty BBQ and then have beignets for dessert!

Asian Food Porn

The photos speak for themselves.

Banh Mi from Pho Nola in Metairie, it's called the Nola Special: Roast Pork, BBQ Minced Pork, and Vietnamese Ham. I called this post Food Porn for a reason.

Best Banh Mi I've ever had (thanks for the advice Farinaz)! And it definitely didn't brake the bank, under 5 dollars, you really can't beat that. (Plus the pho and noodle bowls are awesome too).

Awesome midnight snack at Hoshun. Sashimi salad with squid and seaweed salad. The Squid was the best part, and the whole thing was just over 10 bucks.

The Grocery

There are two things in this world better than happy hour specials: Living Social and Groupon. For those of you who are not already signed up with these two lovely websites DO IT. Each site sends you an email with their daily deal. These deals often offer a service for half the price of their retail value. This includes spas and salons, vacation packages, and my favorite, Restaurants!

I first discovered the magic of these websites this summer when my lovely friend Joanna invited me to a fancy dinner to redeem one of her Living Social deals. After eating slow cooked pork belly and creamy polenta for half the price I was sold.

So I went right ahead and registered for this lovely service and now I buy deals all the time. The cupcakes in the last post were actually bought with a deal and so were the delicious sandwiches displayed here. The deal that led me to these mouthwatering sandwiches was an offer from The Grocery on St. Charles. Now this isn't any grocery store, in fact its not a store at all, it's a tiny sandwich shop famous for their pressed sandwiches and po boys.

Their list of pressed sandwiches is incredible, it took me literally a week of pa rousing their menu to decide what I wanted to try. In the end I settled on the alligator pork sausage melt, and it was AWESOME. Just spicy enough that it didn't extra condiments or hot sauce and somehow it the perfect amount of cheese, enough that it fully coats every bite, while also not overwhelming the sausage (and spilling everywhere).

We also tried the shrimp triple decker club sandwich, shown above. It was was fantastic. Very fresh and crisp, perfect for a hot day. Even Eric liked it, and it had avocado and bacon (two things he doesn't really like).

Another Living Social/Groupon success, time to buy some more!!!!

Delachaise

After months of jonesin for some goose fat french fries I finally achieved my goal! Eric and I attempted to go to Delachaise twice before finally making it there. Between flash floods and Rally's tempting us across the street we came very close on two separate occasions, but no dice until last week.

After months of dreaming of these fries I have to say that I wasn't blown away. Maybe I was expecting too much but they honestly just tasted like really good french fries. They were better than the Burger King variety that I had that afternoon, but not too different. No hint of goose fat could even be detected. But they did serve them with two really interesting sauces, one horseradish mayo (which I loved) and a peanut sauce that was a little too thick and sweet for my taste. It still was definitely worth the 6 bucks, but, the frog legs stole the show. I highly recommend them. They are super tender and delicious, and not something you see everyday.
These frog legs were lightly battered and fried, then drizzled with a slightly sweet Vietnamese sauce. We couldn't put our finger on exactly what the sauce was but it tasted spectacular. The meat itself is a strange hybrid texture, somewhere in between the consistency of chicken and white fish.

And of course, last but not least, Delachaise is a Wine Bar afterall so we did drink some lovely wine with our dinner. I am not a wine expert in the least (so I won't give any tips or recommendations) but I'm trying to learn more about the craft so hopefully soon I'll be able to expound upon my wine adventures!

Cupcake Queen

Cupcakes, a tiny little cake, decorated with frosting and sprinkles, and made just big enough for you! What a wonderful idea. Who ever created the first cupcake should go down in history as the original Walt Disney, making children everywhere giddy with their creation (and bringing out the inner child in everyone else). I personally am a cupcake fiend. I like making them, decorating them, and of course eating them!

I began taking my cupcake making seriously in High School. My tiny little school had a lovely tradition of bringing baked goods for your friends on their birthday. I started off small making simple Duncan Hines yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but soon my creativity got the best of me.

Before I knew it I was making Chernobyl cakes for my Ukrainian friend (fake barbed wire, and sickle and hammer included)... not the most tasteful joke but he thought it was funny. Eventually I came to discover the magic of a cupcake. Rather than having to theme my frosting drawings around one central idea, I could make a barrage of different crazy cupcakes! I actually once drew a portrait of the birthday boy on a cupcake, that one didn't go over as well as the Communist Cake.

Baking cupcakes become soothing, somewhat of a meditation or an escape for me, and definitely one of my favorite pastimes. A few summers back, right after the economy crashed there was an ungodly number of homeless people in Venice Beach, CA (20 minutes from my house). Luckily, California has a ton of incredible organizations which provide food and shelter, but they don't often have cupcakes.

So I decided to make 89 crazy colored happy cupcakes to help cheer up all those who were in desperate need of a hug and a treat.

Before I had even given out ten, people started calling me the cupcake fairy, I title I am proud to hold. But I must say that my Shrek inspired green variation was not a hit. It's kind of like the purple Ketchup, even though it tastes the same, it grosses people out.

Right around the end of high school (just after I discovered my love of these tiny personalized cakes) cupcakes became a huge craze. Between Sprinkles and Magnolia Bakery (and a ton more) they were taking over LA. But it seems the cupcake frenzy just recently hit the Food Network with Cupcake Wars (a show I actually find immensely boring). And this food fad has actually made it all the way down to the South.

I usually get my store bought cupcakes from Kupcake Factory on Claiborne (less than a mile from where I live) but I recently discovered Be Sweet Cupcakes on Magazine St. just before Whole Foods. I actually went there to get Taylor a lovely little surprise for her birthday.

These babies were SUPER sugary. Possibly too sweet actually. I think I prefer Kupcake Factory to Bee Sweet, but their flavors were very creative. I got a lovely selection including 1 red velvet, 2 banana foster, 1 pralines and cream, 1 s'more, and an "Elvis" (Banana bread cupcake filled with marshmallow fluff and topped with peanut butter frosting, chocolate chips, and marshmallows).

My roommate Meredith (or Megadeath as we like to call her) said it best, "one bite of a fancy cupcake is equal to the sweetness and intensity of a whole homemade cupcake," and I think I'm just more of a homemade kinda gal (especially if I'm making it)!

Eric and Jenny's Fabulous Food Adventures

Since I started this food chronicle in January I have always had two very loyal partners in crime, my roommate Mackenzie and my boyfriend Eric. Of course, I have already written extensively about Mackenzie's role in my culinary journeys, but Eric's only cameo was in the fertilized duck egg post. Contrary to how disgusting balut actually was, he usually has pretty good taste and is filled with great ideas of where to get rare and interesting cuisine. So between the two of us, we come up with some pretty epic dates.

The HungryHeretic should honestly be called the Fabulous Food Adventures of Eric and Jenny (and Mackenzie of course)! One or both of them is present for at least 99% of what I post. Banh Mi picnics, Parasol's, Restaurant des Familles, basically anything that sounds awesome was probably Eric's idea. So of course we had to do something fun and delicious yesterday for his birthday. And what better than frying shrimp?!?!

Growing up in Vegas and LA in a Kosher home didn't exactly give me many opportunities to fry shrimp so last night was actually my first time (which is shocking to most New Orleanians). I got to peel em', shake em up in flour, dip it in a nice egg wash and toss it in some seasoned fish fry. I let Eric handle the cast iron skillet, but I did flip a few of them myself! They were actually really good. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it's always a little surprising when a guy my age can actually cook.

We put our crispy fried shrimp on some fresh french bread, which we buttered and warmed in the oven, and then dressed our po boys with remoulade, creole tomato dressing, and sriracha (of course). It was REALLY delicious, and way easier than I thought it would be to make it. We didn't even have to use a fire extinguisher.

Our po boys were even better than the one we got the day before at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company, and that one had coleslaw on it. And it trumped their famous thin fried catfish (and that stuff is mighty tasty).

Shrimp po boys plus Abita Strawberry and caramel turtle brownies (which I made for dessert), we were both in taste bud heaven. Not to mention the fudge brownie nut blue bell ice cream... mmmmm I'm literally drooling thinking about it.

And this was just the low key birthday celebration, we haven't even had doberge cake yet from Dorignac's. Wait until you hear about the food on friday!