Midtown Lunch

5:15 pm.  A roast pork po-boy, dressed of course (in New Orleans that means mayo,
lettuce and tomato). Salty, smokey and amazing. A great way to enjoy
pulled pork. I think that may be it for today… even at Jazzfest I
think eating at 5:15 may be considered dinner.   

These photos were live-blogged from the 1st weekendo of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.  Check out previous entries: Crabmeat Po’boy, Daquiri & Gospel, Crawfish Monica, Patton’s Catering Combo, Cafe Au Lait, & Crawfish Bread.

3:45 PM. The first po-boy of the weekend. Can’t just jump right into the soft
shelled crawfish or cochon de lait po-boy. You gotta work your way up.
It’s 3:45 here. That’s still lunchtime, right?

3:04 PM. A SoCo Frozen Daquiri (hurricane/lime mixture) in the Gospel Tent. Life
is good. 

2:49 PM. Ah yes. The famed crawfish monica (that name is trademarked by the
way). I think somebody referred to this as the hamburger helper of
crawfish. Um… if hamburger helper tasted like this, I’d be president
of the hamburger helper fan club. Pasta, cream sauce, cajun spices and
crawfish. What’s not to like.

1:48 PM. Why choose one when you can get the combo! Crawfish Beignets, Crawfish Sack & the Oyster Pattie ($12). I think we’ve hit the motherload. Picking a favorite is impossible so why bother trying. Not spicy enough? They give you a little mini tabasco bottle. I think it may be time for a daquiri.

12:43 PM.  We were in such a rush to get here we skipped breakfast (and caffeine). Can you follow crawfish bread with an iced Cafe Au Lait? Might lead to disaster. We’ll see.  Nothing like chickory coffee to get you going…

12:33 PM. Gotta kick Jazzfest 2007 off right. Straight to the crawfish bread. More like a cajun calzone than “bread”, it’s pretty freakin’ good. You may say the secret ingredient is cheese. Nothing like this in Midtown…

Tomorrow is a very special edition of Midtown Lunch.  I will be live photoblogging my lunch (normal)… at Jazzfest in New Orleans (not normal).  And by “lunch” I mean everything I eat between 11am (when the gates open) and 7pm (when they kick me out).  It’s my first trip to Jazzfest, but anyone who has ever been knows that it’s all about the food.  Who cares about seeing Rod Stewart and John Mayer… there’s crawfish bread to be had!  It’s time to see how another city lunches… and I’ll be bringing it to you live tomorrow starting around 1pm.

“But Zach.”  You say.  “Jazzfest is not in Midtown.  Seeing those pictures will just make me jealous and angry.”  To that, I say- too bad.  It’s a friday, and that’s where I’m having lunch.  So you will be forced to read about it.  Midtown Lunch is going to New Orleans!!!  (Not quite as exciting as “The Simpsons are going to Japan!”, but certainly more exciting than “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?”)

When it comes to New Orleans food, I feel as if Jazzfest is my final culinary stone left unturned.  Beignets at Cafe du Monde, Boiled Crawfish, Raw Oysters, Muffallatta at the Central Grocery, Fried Chicken at Dunbar’s, meals at Bayona, Jacques-Imo’s, Dick & Jenny’s, Lilette, Mother’s, Casamento’s, Commander’s Palace, Clancy’s, Upperline, Camellia Grill, Crabby Jack’s, Emeril’s, and of course- the meal served at my wedding.  But I’ve never had crawfish bread.  Or crawfish monica.  Jazzfest, here I come!

Not convinced that the food is more important than the music?  Check out the list of food vendors they publish *in advance* on the website.  Right now my must-haves are crawfish bread, crawfish monica, fried crawfish tails, and the soft-shelled crawfish po-boy (what????).  I guess it’s going to be a crawfish kind of weekend.  Got any suggestions (besides ‘Don’t die from overeating’)?  Feel free to leave them as comments…  photos will start around 1pm EST on Friday, and go up throughout the day (as I eat stuff), and maybe on Saturday if I haven’t exploded.

 There is no doubt the food is good. The few people who are actually willing to wait in line for this food, are coming back (and telling their friends). But to say they are “working out the kinks” would be a gross understatement. In three days, no progress has been made to get the lines moving quicker… so sad. I want some damn Jamaican food! It’s now been 20 minutes, and 5 people have been served food. When will the madness end… 

UPDATE:  After a whopping 45 minutes of waiting in line, we finally got our food… and as predicted, it was delicious (we had the Jerk Chicken, Curry Goat & a beef patty).  Not worth the wait though.  I pray these people get their act together… more info (and some better pictures) next week.

I finally made it out to the Midtown branch of Mandler’s Sausage Co. which finally opened a few weeks ago (after numerous delays).  I love it when new places open in Midtown, and it’s especially gratifying when that new place is a transplant from a better lunch’ing area of Manhattan.  If Midtown is good enough for the Mandler family, than maybe it will be good enough for Mamoun, or David Chang or any of those people who make cheap Banh Mi in Chinatown!

And now… for the first time ever- I present a Midtown Lunch +/- in pictures.  Who needs my terrible prose, when you can just see the food for yourself!

THE + (what people who like Mandler’s would say about it)

 

(+)The selection.  With 11 different kinds of sausages, 12 different toppings, schnitzel, crepes, breakfast and more- there is something for everyone.  There’s also a Kosher sausage, a turkey sausage and a veggie sausage for people with dietary restrictions.

 

(+)The Mustard Bar.  If you are a fan of the dipping sauce (and quite frankly, who isn’t), then Mandler’s may be your favorite place in Midtown.  A whopping 6 different mustards (plus ketchup and mayo), and it’s self serve- so you don’t have to be embarassed asking the cashier for 17 sauces.  Horseradish, Vermont Maple, Roasted Garlic Dijon, Amber Ale Honey, Three Peppercorn Dijon & Smokey Garlic Dijon.

 

(+) The combo meals (and side dishes that come with them).  There’s something very comforting about a combo meal.  Even if it only saves you 50 cents (or zero cents, like at some places), I like it when places offer an option that *forces* you to eat more.  And the best part about Mandler’s is the side dishes that comes with the combo meals.  It makes it easier to forgive the $9 price tag when you are getting these sides!  With your choice of sausage, you can get regular fries (seen above)… or delicious zucchini fries! (seen below)

 

You can also get your sausage with a cheese, zucchini or potato pancake (seen below)

Or the greatest side dish of all time…. after the jump Read more »