Eat Out! Even if all you are doing is grabbing an All-American Big Burger in the Big Easy, eat out! While New Orleans food scenes somehow revolve around everything local that the palate can imagine, from fresh oysters to gumbo ingredients that steep all day in well-seasoned pots, there’s still a chance you are among those simply craving an old-fashioned hamburger while out ‘n’ about. Ye Olde College Inn on Carrollton Avenue provides the perfect uptown upscaled-burger, along with a nice new-wave menu of classy dining desires. This new menu is offered in a new building, next door to the old College Inn (now a parking lot) that still features the tried-and-true restaurant-name of ole, and keeps locals returning like clockwork as well as enticing new folks to stop by. Pre-storm owner and local-friendly icon John Blancher is often spotted eating and visiting on-site when he’s not over at his other place of legendary proportions, just up the street at the Mid-City Lanes Rock ‘n Bowl where they “used to serve” a bowling burger delivered 50’s-styled. (Customers can still order food there - just not burgers! - while wildly dancing to live music and trying to knock down a few pins at the same time.) But back to the days of ole - - don’t let the name of this Olde restaurant fool you. There is nothing old about this newly-restored, beautiful building (except maybe the shell). Nor is it a real “Inn” or even a bed and breakfast for that matter. And, Ye Olde College Inn is also probably the only college-titled restaurant that doesn’t cater to college kids (nowadays anyway). Go figure how it got its name long ago! “College Inn”, as longtime locals call it, has a well-presented modern carte du jour and cooks up a top o’ the line hamburger that really fills the bill in this lively and fancy atmosphere, in an otherwise isolated block. On the flip side of fancy, Bruno’s on Maple Street is definitely a “hamburger and let’s play cool pool” place that gratifies college-aged kids who are constantly in and out with youthful appetites, feisty pool cues and very high spirits. Yet that doesn’t stop anybody else from poppin’ in ov’r by Buno’s for something to eat or drink, especially if willing to find a parking spot and especially if someone really wants a good, dressed burger with “lotsa s-w-e-e-t sweet-potato-fries”. Then there’s G.B.’s Patio Bar & Grill in a different section of Maple Street by the Riverbend area, which not only gives good burger but also gives good baked potato, loaded. What seems like another popular, perky “college hotspot”, G.B.’s outdoor patio - adjacent to a darkened bar with tables inside - also has a die-hard adult following that slips in at all hours just to order-up, yes among other things, hamburgers. These yummy burgers are “ground fresh in-house and hand-pattied” and are prepared to order, so it’s well-worth the thirty-minute wait for “fresh”. Beats fast-food burgs in the burbs any day. Nicknamed by local burger-lovers, they claim “G.B.’s stands for Great Burgers!”
If “dressed” burgers (or hamburgers served with special sides of American cheese or Creole mustard) aren’t your momentary wish for meat eating while meeting in the Big Easy, then . . .
Be awed! Stake out a Sizzling Steak! New Orleans knows how to serve high-end food of any style and steak is no exception. CrescentCity Steakhouse returned to the CrescentCity a year and a half after Katrina and it is going exceedingly strong, while bustling as big-time as ever. If you have seen a huge steak in the CrescentCity, you probably still have not seen anything the size of these choice cuts. Nor has Bordelaise Sauce tasted quite so tasty as when it is smothering your sizzling CrescentCity steak here. Opened in 1934 at its present location in New Orleans by 26-year-old John Vojkovich, the Crescent City Steakhouse has been family-owned and operated ever since, with John’s wife and son still at the helm of this “great service and great steaks are everything” eatery. (Vojkovich was “15 when he left the village of Sucuraj on the island of Hvar” for NOLA.) Downstairs includes a pleasant seating arrangement in a bright open room with white clothed-tables. Private cubby-holed booths with private curtains are tucked along one wall for, you guessed it, privacy. There is more seating in the back, and also upstairs dining. Even if you are practically rubbing elbows with the strangers next to you, you will find yourself and guests so involved in the size and taste of these steaks, that you won’t even notice how close the next table might be. Talk about large “cuts of prime aged beef” - - this is the only kind of beef they’ve served since opening three-quarters of a century ago. Their Filet is 10 oz. when most around town hover around 8; their Rib-eye weighs in at 14 oz.; their Strip Sirloin amazes at 14 oz.; and, their T-Bone Steak lands an all-time high at 18 oz. Vojkoich started his specialty steaks by “sizzlin’ them in butter”, which is done to this very day and is something many steak houses try to copy but just can’t. 2008 marks the 74th Anniversary year of this local-experience steak-place (with mouth-watering ala carte everything else, like Lyonaisse and Spinach Au Gratin, for starters).A reservation is always encouraged because everybody wants one! Meanwhile, across town - - and across a quiet side-street from the now-closed historic Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Avenue in the Garden District - - resides Mr. John’s (a restaurant not a residence). Current newer-owners handsomely offer a renovated luxurious family-owned restaurant and refined bar with fine service, white tablecloths, classic view of the streetcar passing by the front windows and elegant dining that is quite quiet. Steak orders include a Cowboy Steak (“a huge bone-in version of a prime cut”), Porterhouse for Two (combining rich flavors and tenderness like a filet) and Filet Mignon (their most tender cut of corn-fed beef). All their USDA Prime Beef steaks are “seared at 1800 degrees” in their broiler. An interesting tidbit is that Mr. John’s does serve a side of baked potato that comes so large it sometimes even arrives on a separate plate. The chef’s seasoning secret has surely been spilled - - it’s simply salt and pepper, with added melted butter on top!
If meat and potatoes aren’t making you salivate, then possibly try switching to a savory salad for your entire entrée and satiate your appetite with something leafy and health-foody! Just stay tuned . . .
Remember!Circulate around our famous city of unique wining and dining experiences!Always be safe.And, enjoy! – Patty Lee
Bruno’s Tavern, 861-7615, 7538 Maple St.
CrescentCity Steakhouse, 821-3271, 1001 N. Broad
G.B.’s, 861-0067, 8117 Maple St.
Mr. John’s Steaks, 679 7697, 2111 St. Charles Ave.
Mid-City Lanes Rock‘n Bowl, 482-3133, 4133 S. Carrollton Ave.
Ye Olde College Inn, 866-3683, 3000 S. Carrollton Ave.
Writer-producer Patty Lee is a New Orleanian by marriage to local musician Armand St. Martin who entertains regularly at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans.
