Where the Natives Feast in New Orleans: A Secret Guide to Local Restaurants [Paperback]

Jamie Menutis (Author), Debby Hirsch Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2002

A quick and easy guide that tells you where the locals in New Orleans go when they want a great meal. New Orleans is a town filled with fabulous food and finding just the right restaurant can be an overwhelming task. New Orleans natives share their favorite places to eat in this one-of-a-kind guidebook to New Orleans best kept secrets from go-in-your-bluejeans neighborhood gems to five-star dining establishments throughout New Orleans’ many neighborhoods. Our book eliminates the overwhelming task of finding a great restaurant that only the locals are privy to while avoiding tourist traps. Includes a Dining Journal and favorite New Orleans locals' recipes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jamie Menutis, a New Orleans native grew up surrounded by the traditions of Creole, Cajun, and Mediterranean cuisine. Her passions in life include travel, politics, photography and, of course cooking with friends and discovering new restaurants. Jamie has a Master of Arts degree from Georgetown University in International Affairs and has worked on U.S Foreign policy formation and Human rights advocacy in Washington, DC, Vienna, Austria and in seven countries in East and West Africa. "Where the Natives Feast in New Orleans" is a tribute to the city she grew up in and loves.

With New Orleans jazz in her genes, Debby Wood has been a long-time resident of the Crescent City. Her interests include music, traveling, politics and health and fitness. With a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Tulane University in Piano Performance, she enjoys the music of Rachmaninoff, Wagner, Benoit, and Earthsuit. Traveling the world with her husband Donald, she scuba dives in such exotic places as the Red Sea. Her love of great dining with friends led her to share her experiences in this book.

For more information, go to nativesfeast.com

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

BON TON CAFÉ
401 Magazine Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
[phone]

Downtown
Moderate to Expensive

Five words describe the Bon Ton Café – locally loved and historically Cajun. The Bon Ton Café has been a popular favorite since the 1900's – housed in the historical 1840's Natchez building not far from the Mississippi River. Its atmosphere is energetic and cheerful (probably similar to the attitude of the Cajuns that came to Louisiana from their home in Canada). The Bon Ton Café fames itself as the oldest existing Cajun restaurant (where the head chefs have a combined 60 years of experience!). Typically "Cajun" cuisine relies on the foods from Louisiana's bayous and the Gulf of Mexico such as crawfish etouffee, crawfish bisque, soft shell crab, redfish, lump crabmeat, and shrimp and oyster jambalaya. The Bon Ton Café's authentic tradition of true Cajun cooking has inspired many chefs in restaurants across the nation and the Bon Ton Café has branded its name in many international culinary societies, gourmet publications as well as travel and leisure magazines.

No matter what you order – it will be consistently delicious and fresh. The proprietors, Wayne and Debbie Pierce, have guarded Bon Ton's recipes given by their ancestors who lived deep in the Cajun country of LaFourche and Terrebonne Parishes. Must tries are the shrimp remoulade (with Alzina's homemade remoulade sauce), all etouffees, the soft shell crab Alvin (topped with crabmeat, together with French fried onion rings), fried trout, crawfish bisque, fried shrimp with homemade tartar sauce and/or homemade cocktail sauce, or the crabmeat salad. You won't want to miss trying the Rum Ramsey Cocktail or Bon Ton's homemade bread pudding with Whisky sauce. This is a very popular place for downtown executives to dine for lunch. You won't get any more authentically Cajun food unless you get in a pirogue with Boudreaux on the bayou.

Product Details

• Paperback: 133 pages
• Publisher: Jamie Menutis (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971602700
• ISBN-13: 978-0971602700
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,679,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ATTN: VISITORS TO NEW ORLEANS, March 20, 2002

By 

Manhattan Reader (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where the Natives Feast in New Orleans: A Secret Guide to Local Restaurants (Paperback)

Oh! How I wish I had had this book a few years ago when we gave a party for more than 150 "mostly New Yorkers" at a grand hotel in the French Quarter.
It would have saved me a lot of talking and direction writing (which can be a real chore in this Crescent City). I would have gone out and purchased a copy for each couple and felt that "WHERE THE NATIVES FEAST" written by Jamie Menutis and Debby Hirsch Wood was a real bargain and a GREAT souvenir for all the guests!
Our guests really didn't want to eat where the tourists go; after all, they were young executives from the Big Apple who wanted the "insider track" on the "Big Easy".

This slim, easy to carry, book is filled with on-the-mark descriptions of each restaurant and its menus, to a point where some of MY super-secret places were too well described!! Thanks gals! The cover of the book is a delight; the setup (especially the printing of several maps for getting around New Orleans) is true genius in style and usage. And as lagniappe i.e. "gravy", the inclusion of some recipes allow the out-of-town reader to stock up on a few spice items before going back home.

I can't recommend this book more highly than 5 stars, 6 beans, 7 diamonds and 8 forks! It's a winner all the way!