Outback salads, Coney Island dogs loaded

Tonight since we have eaten way too much the last few days. Had a great "small " dinner after dropping off a carload of kids at Tinseltown. I had an outback side chopped blue cheese salad and grilled spicy snowpeas , Gerald had a side Caesar salad and a loaded baked potato. One beer for him and a bottled water for me . Total bill $15.82. Not bad for a quiet evening.

At lunch today--West monroe coney Island in downtown. Loaded down with chili and onions on the hotdogs , yummy and the world's hottest fries.
And yes an antacid chaser.

Taste of the Twin Cities

Taste of the Twin Cities had a record crowd this year and the food was good where we could get in to try. Dankin' Trail did a fried barb eggroll that was great . Vic and Jenni Hendricks came for Cypress Inn with Etouffee. Barbq west had a line that just kept on all night. BBQ WEst is always the most popular.

O'Charleys did a strawberry lemonaide that they sell there . it was wonderful . Very few places had anything to drink. Next year that is something they need to look into .

Kaylas had her bread pudding and the cream cheese with a pica pepper sauce.

I had a media ticket so we got in quickly, but we were also out by 45 minutes later and on our way home.

Get crabs from Cormiers quick! last Thursday nite

The bluepoint crabs are coming to an end at Cormiers this Thursday night . So go in between 5pm to 8pm and chow down on bbq or boiled spicy crabs. Order and get a cardboard container overflowing with great taste. Friday night will be the last fish fry of the season ....... 5pm to 7:30 , so go early before they run out. If you don't like the seafood , you can order a pig poboy or a sausage and chicken gumbo.

While you are there reserve your fried or smoked turkey , dressing, ham , gumbo and be covered for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You know once Larry gets his orders, the party is over and no amount of begging will get you in! A 21 year tradition.

Fire and Ice is now open, Jason Humble owner

Went to Fire and Ice Saturday night , good service and food was good. I had the fire and ice burger , similar to the coda burger with pepper jack cheese and Peppers and pepper bread. Nice and spicy with an afterburn. Gerald had the blue cheese burger. We also had the crab augratin before. It was all very good but we could have gotten one burger and used the crabmeat dish as a main course with nothing esle. 2 beers, tea Total bill was 36.00

Went back today (Sunday) for lunch, shared a philadephia poboy. And the mac and cheese sidedish. The side dish was so good, a creme handmade sauce and noodles insteadof macroni topped off by melted cheese. The poboy was really good and tasted great. We also had sweet potato fries with the poboy. total bill one tea , one coke.18.00


The cook is from The Warehouse and a few of the servers are also from there. We saw Brandy that grew up helping Miss Ruth at Arons.

A fun surprise is the bartender from the Samari ..... The guy who has a big fellowing.

Open daily, Sunday to 3 only. They have their wine and beer license so far. Lots of TV's on the walls . Open plan so you can see the tv from anywhere. Both times the place was full.


Burgers , steaks, pasta , unusual appetizers . We saw a couple of brown bags on the tables, it is called catdaddy and is sorta a augratin with fish, crawfish and shrimp for 14.00, not on menu.
Lots of interesting salads .
the restaurant is kid friendly

West Monroe in the new strip center , mill and 6th street.

Jason Humble is the man behind the restaurant and his vision is working! Jason , I will stop by and introduce myself.

No excuse for poor service !

Ok those of you that saw my tweet realize I had to leave or start a big hoopla ! 1) person did not speak english 2) took Gerald writing his order on a napkin to take back 3) got things we did not order 4) totally called over an interpreter and finally got something close 5) cashier was a complete idiot ! I am sure I paid for everything I did not order ..... oh he gave me a 10% discount.... 6) Never will I go back to Chil verdi on 165 in monroe . Tomorrow I don't know, I think a call at least to see if I can get at least a I'm sorry. But the parking lot is always full .... why..that is the second time in a row we have not had a good experience.

Enestos expanding and putting in Indian

Ernestos has taken the Peking in across the street for a indian restaurant . That is all I know ! someone fill me in as you find out .

Shadoe Haze gone from radio stations

Long time DJ Shadoe Haze is gone from Opus broadcasting as of early last week. Opus will be looking for someone to carry on the torch but will continue the Toy and Bike Drive for the Christmas season. Seems to be a lot of production directors moving around .....

The 101.9 program director is going to KEDM to take over Sunnys spot that she was terminated from a few months ago. So 101.9 will be looking for a new director .

It is a cake walk ! who will get the seat first !

Cormiers blue crabs set for a few more Thursdays

Cormiers Blue Crabs are held over due to the place overflowing last night with customers. Larry will cook for the next few Thursdays of October except the 15th. He has a catering job that night.

Friday nights are fried fish night. You know everybodys fish is a little different which is what makes it so fun....... Larrys are good and sorta like granddaddy used to cook outside in the fall.

Purple Onion was fun

Went to Purple Onion yesterday after going to Dr. Coleman with Gerald and Katie for hayfever.

The Purple Onion is Brian Babbs new venture in West Monroe.

It was good, they are pushing the cheese sticks rolled in tortilla chips with Queso in the middle !
We had some and they are excellent, very spicy.

Menu has a lot of burgers, salads and off the wall things like the skinny dippers. Fun place to go but a little pricey. For us three it was 36.00 , that was cheese sticks, soup bar, salad and soup and 1.95 drinks . They also have a lunch special that we did not try.

Athena is gone for good, Indian Food coming !

Saw a couple of cars at Athena's, I stuck my head in and asked when they were opening.

It is reopening at some time, as an Indian restaurant. I will miss Athena. I love greek food and hate that it has failed again.

Maybe the cooks will reappear somewhere else soon.

Funny----- signs "for sale" have been freshened up. so does that mean the people that are opening have purchased or just another group leasing.

Artichoke DeSiard and other rich foods

It is interesting how many places use local bodies of water,for naming their specialities . The Chateau has Artichokes DeSiard which is so rich, the appetizer could feed two people. it is fried artichoke bottoms with a sauce and crab meat on top. The Waterfront Grill has it's Catfish DeSiard.

Cypress Inn has it's blackened catfish, grilled with a crawfish sauce named after George Young a customer.

Chateau has a dish named after Eric MaHaffey , with fetticini , and shrimp scampi blended. We listened to Erics story recently as he was having dinner of how that came about.

We do have some good restaurants here in Monroe.

I also got a report of grilled oysters as an appetizer at The Sage. Also Mohawk in West Monroe does a grilled oyster on the half shell.

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the Cormiers grilled tilipia at lunch with special sauce .


Good eats tonight !

Chateau a winner

Ok , one of my favorite places is "Victors" aka Chateau. It did not disappoint last night. Wanted something with taste. They have the best steaks and I love the beef vegetable soup. Last night a crab meat cocktail and an Italian salad were hits.

One thing about victors if you go in at lunch, you never leave hungry with the specials. Salad, Soup, bread , a special, and desert.

usually if we go with friends, someone asks for something not on the menu. The waiter never flinches. Just says sure. pan fried fish with crab meat over angel hair is not on the menu but they will do it ! Yum.

Fast Food home of rude servers, does anyone care

I have been amazed at driving thru the local fast food establishments. I don't know if the owners just don't realize just how many people are turned off by bad or poor service.

This am went to my favorite Sonic on North 18th Street to get my one allowed coke of the day. You can understand when you are limited on something, that it becomes important to have it right.
The server Missy must have missed her morning coffee or her happy pill, because she was not on top of her game. Ordered , got up to the window, after 5 minutes of sitting there watching her talk to her fellow workers she said, oh what did you order ..... once I got it and drove out, I took a sip .... and guess what wrong drink. Reparked asked for another but hopefully correct drink.... she came out, ten minutes later still with another wrong drink.... at this point I was a little peeved...She said , well , I guess I will have to go get you another and the look!

Yes, I did say something like Missy I think you need to maybe listen to the customers and put on a smile. She said, I don't have to smile and you know we are busy.


By the way no receipt , I figured either cash going somewhere esle or just didn't want anyone to know name or have a tracking record. But yes her name tag was pinned on so I am deciding what to do next !!!!!


I figure if you fog a mirror and can pass a drug test , you are in !

It's a donut day with close friends

The Sunday am place to be is Shipleys in Monroe . We try to get there before 9am so we can have them hot out of the cooker. I know , they are absolutely not on my diet but you have got to feed your creative sugar side sometimes.

I am a purest having hot glazed donuts. Jerry and Angie (O'Pry) Blades stopped in and we ate an enormous amount of donuts. Jerry and Gerald added in some chocolate covered.

Now if my friend Charlotte was in the country, she would be having a cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing , plus a couple of other fancy things.

I never make it past the glazed especially with coffee!

arons burgers and salads at the pharmacy

Hey, eating at Aron's on North 18th Street and Roselawn is always fun . Just make sure you have a few minutes to wait for a table and then for your burger. The burgers are just plain old good. I also like to have a salad there, Miss Ruth will fix it how ever you want, if you are on a diet. I always start off with a full salad full of ham, lettuce, cheese and whatever esle she has then I mess up by adding fresh cooked hot bacon and ranch dressing. If you want a cherry vanilla coke or a Miss Ruth Shake save room.

Crabs are the bomb here in Monroe, Thursday nights

Cormier's was the place to be last Thursday night, the restaurant was full of blue crabs cooked spicy or boiled. I had the spicy grilled ones, they were so good. AB and Vince Chao, Angie and Jerry Blades, along with Robin and Tim Hitt and my family all sat on one row. The crackers were out and we were all trying to figure out how to get them open. We had a couple of true crab eaters that were walkering around helping out ! We will be there again tomorrow night for spicy crabs. -- of course for the less brave you can have a pig sandwich or pig bites. Now they only cook the blue crabs on Thursday night, they are also doing a old fashioned fish fry on Friday nights.

Now I would be amiss if I did not talk about Cypress inn on the bayou with their spicy snow crab legs. You get a pail full for about 15.95 to 16.95 and have all you can eat also with drawn butter for not that much more. On Tuesday they do the $3.00 pitcher of beer. You can get pitchers of beer and cold frozen Cypress Inn margeritas. I have been known to go out two nights in a row. Now I love to take the family and all of the extra kids. We all have a good time eating family style several dishes to share. Yes always get some homemade battered onion rings . I have not had the buffaloed frog legs, someone will have to write in about them.

Wednesday in food land and a touch of Thursday nite

Today I am lunching with Larry at Cormiers because I need some grilled fish, as I said on facebook , I am having a Tilipia salad, that is a Tilipia filet blackened and spiced up on top of greens, toms, artichokes. Pretty good. I am sure Gerald will either have the same or a order of pig bites. Their lunch special is spicy chicken fettuccine.

Tonight onto Cypress Inn for grilled catfish, they spice theirs up too. I just ask for extra spice and to be blackened. We always ask for Glenda to be our waitress, we love her. You know me I may have to have the spicy snow crab legs but I really just need the fish.

You know Cypress Inn on the bayou also has those lunch specials everyday and the two for under $10.00 for dinner.

Well times will be a changing soon, I need to be a little better at getting calcium rich foods and eating more grilled than fried. But may have to make an exception Thursday night because Larry Cormier of Cormiers is on his way to the gulf to pick up "live" blue hard shelled crabs for tomorrow night (Thursday). He had them last year and they were great. He called them BBQ crab,of course he cooks them with lots of seasoning. So come tomorrow at 5pm, you can stop after work or he is open until 9pm or until they are gone.

Rhoda Brown Smoking Fatties for the holiday

If you know Dawn Sims, then you will know of Rhoda Brown. She asked a few months ago for me to take him on as a client and I had a chance to follow him at the Battle of the Badges . He was the VIP cater and had a heck of an outfitted truck with a kitchen. So every holiday he does an overall catering which means he cooks extra for people to buy. So give him a call for some pulled pork, st. louis ribs, brisket . 318-801-8123. He is trying up his orders by this Friday at 9pm. He just has meat with sauce upon request. Dawn is going to law school and drives back and forth to Jackson Miss and they have a beautiful baby, so support the cause .

Preview of my food rant and raves

Today is my first rave on this new blog.

I will rave about eating last night at Cypress Inn in Monroe. I took a crew of seven to eat and we had a bill of 92.00 that included some adult beverages for the adults , and crab legs and lots of fish and shrimp and a couple of orders of their homemade onion rings. I thought it was a deal to feed teenagers. It would have been much cheaper if I had not had to order the second plate of snow crab legs, three of them ate off one order, each getting a leg section plus claw each. I felt the pain of them wanting more, so ordered a second order ! They were gone in a flash ! They liked them spicy and juicy as it was everywhere on the table when they finished. The rest of the table got bite sized shrimp and fried fish.

I can also rave about eating tamales at that little bitty Lantino market on 165 North , I saw it as we were driving through Taco Bell across the street . it seemed to be hopping with people coming out with bags so when we got ready to eat (adults) . I decided to check it out ----wow it is tiny inside but the owner called us over to his counter and said he was just pulling out more fresh hot tamales . So we decided to eat three a piece and take the other three home. We ended up eating them all and getting another dozen to go. The inside lacks the look of a restaurant, it is a dive but the owner sets it aside by making a spread easy to eat. Salsa's , onions and celetro, along with sliced limes. Looking around everything is in spanish , even the cokes are imported . I had a grapefruit soda. Asking the owner , he said he is open everyday 8:30 am until 8pm. and if you call him, he will tell you when he is pulling out the fresh ones from back. My next door neighbor said he gets the guc. at least one a week. I don't know how to spell it but it is made with avocados. so there you have it , my two raves of the day.

Rant! new bbque place on Oliver Road in Monroe has a nice sign to pig out with them but does not have pulled pork snadwiches just beef. So whats the beef ! in a pig out place. I asked and she said we might have them sometime! so off we went over to Podners for their new pulled pork got a few pounds and made up a vinagar dressing and ummmmm!