Mooching Off Tha Rents

There are few things better in life than when parents come to town. They give you love, affection, compliments, and free meals. Free meals that would otherwise be wildly expensive on your own. But because they are your parents and one of them is Jewish, they must show how much they love you by feeding you with nothing but gourmet fare.

And so, when Don and Carol came to town, we mostly did nothing but eat. True, we walked around a bit and moved me out of my dorm and into my house for the fall, but we organized our days around meals.

Caribbean Sandwich with chips!

Tofu Breakfast Platter

My mom and I started at Surrey's Café & Juice Bar for some brunch on Thursday. She ordered the Tofu Breakfast Platter, which we agreed was a bit too salty but tasty nonetheless. It consisted of soy and ginger marinated tofu, sauteed with bell peppers, mushrooms and onions served over brown rice. I had an exotic Caribbean sandwich served on delicious focaccia with sprouts, lettuce, tomato, plantain chips, and tofu. And because we're Voracious, we also ordered a vegetable juice and a sundried tomato bagel with guacamole. Surrey's is a good deal because it's very vegan friendly, and it marks vegan and vegetarian items on the menu with asterisks! Also great because it has that casual feeling of Sunday brunch regardless of when you're dining.

Carol and Don eating well and looking cute

After attending Commencement at the New Orleans Convention Center we were ravenous. My dad landed from Florida and we met up at The Green Goddess. The self-proclaimed 'quarter rat' hostess was a little snippy and could've used a razor, but we put our name down anyway because the food is rumored to be divine. We had to wait an hour, but it was a beautiful steamy night so we wandered around the quarter until our table was finally ready. I ordered a Covington Stawberry Ale. Pure heaven. It's wheaty and thick, not as fluffy as Abita Strawberry. It was cold and perfect. The swarthy, sweaty, but jovial chef even brought me another one for free because "I'm so pretty."

The menu is seasonal and whimsical, loaded with exotic ingredients and lengthy descriptions. We started with the Nigata Bruschetta, consisting of a spicy mint and edamame tapenade on toasty bread. I had the Muhammara for dinner, which is a dip with roasted red peppers, walnuts, and pomegranate molasses. It was served with raw and roasted veggies. I could've eaten the dip by the spoonful. My mom had the South Indian Savory Ivory Lentil Pancake. It was topped with tamarind and reminded me of my favorite Tamarind Eggplant from my hometown's Indian restaurant.

Muhammara

Dessert was weird, and later orgasmic. The waitress suggested their vegan dessert, Saturn Calling. It sounded delicious in theory - "sticky coconut black rice pudding with 'rings and stardust.' " It was actually just a pool of unsweetened coconut milk and bland sticky rice. Eh.

The real treat was my mom's french toast, which was not vegan, but oh so worth it. She likes to call us "virtual vegans," meaning that sometimes we stray from our animal-free path. I would never eat fish or meat, but when a heavenly restaurant item presents itself I don't reject it, especially if I know the ingredients are local. In certain cases, it's just cruel to deny yourself the pleasure of a good meal because there's a trace of egg or dairy. Therefore, we gorged ourselves on Chocolate Norweigan-French Toast. It was gooey and warm, stuffed with chocolate and goat cheese that was admittedly damn good. We scarfed it down without words, just moans.

Lunch the next day was at Surrey's Uptown and hit the spot after a day of packing and moving in the rain. Dinner was at my favorite restaurant in all of New Orleans, Dante's Kitchen. It's perfect for any occasion - birthday brunches, dinner with parents, meals with certain manfriends...you cannot go wrong.

After you order drinks they bring you spoonbread and you eat dessert first. It comes in a mini skillet and is topped with melting butter. My dad was introduced to Pimm's Cup, my mom ordered rosé, and I had some sort of champagne and citrus vodka cocktail. Then my rich shiitake mushroom and carmelized onion soup came. Life was swell. Next was dinner - my mom had the Local Farm Vegetable Plate, which is served with the most delectable goat cheese and carmelized onion croquette. I had three sides. My favorite was the crispy sauteed broccoli served in a peanut satay sauce. I also had some smokey curried cauliflower and carmelized onion mashed potatoes.

The spread at Dante's Kitchen

We had the chocolate mint cake for dessert, which was a bit like a giant Junior Mint. It was thick and dense, served with a deceiving chocolate lemon gelato, which was really lemon but looked like chocolate. My taste buds were baffled.

Our last meal was lunch at Gott Gourmet Café at my dad's request. He loves their fries, and I adore the sweet and spicy cucumber jicama salad. As a side note, I think jicama is my new favorite summer vegetable. I love how crunchy it is!

How pretty is that salad?!

I had the Gott Salad without brie. It had organic baby greens, candied pecans, seasonal berries, cherry tomatoes, and raspberry vinaigrette. Perfect after a morning of pilates and moving a bed and box spring down a spiral staircase.

All in all, it was a great few days. Gotta give a shout out to D&C for giving me the resources to be able to eat so well and pursue my growing interest in food. They've taught me how to appreciate food and culture.

And my mom's a MILF (Mom, it's a compliment, trust me), so I have to thank her for the good genes.

Whew! Sorry for such a long post. But hey! I ate a lot, so I had to write a lot.

I'm off to Honduras tomorrow for a service trip. It'll be a lot of rice and beans, but I can't wait.