Restaurant Recommendations-----The Louisiana Edition

As you know by now, I rarely go out to eat as I cook most nights.

However, when I'm traveling dining out is often more of a necessity and it can be such fun to discover the local cuisine.

I do have some great restaurant recommendations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as I spent my college years in New Orleans and go back often to visit there and Baton Rouge since my son goes to LSU and my dear Uncle Jack and Aunt Judy live close by in Covington, LA. All of these restaurants are famous for their special brand of upscale New Orleans Style (Creole) food.

They are all out of this world and have fabulous atmospheres to boot.

Antoine's in New Orleans has long been a special place for my family. We would eat here each time my family dropped me off at Tulane for school and then again when they came to pick me up. We always had a private waiter, arranged for by my Uncle Jack and often sat either in a private room or a secluded table at the back. It was always me, my mother, One Mama (my mother's mother), and Jack and Judy.

My next New Orlean's recommendation is Commander's Palace. A New Orleans restaurant of local and national fame. We had my Pi Phi initiation here in a private room and I danced on a table that night. Apologies to my mother, with whom I have never shared that story and is learning about it now thanks to her religious reading of this blog. (Sorry Mom!)

We celebrated Riley and Harrison's 21st birthday here last summer with a brunch in their honor.

It was wonderful and a memory I will always treasure.

Brennan's is next on my NOLA list. This is another locale we would frequent when my family came to town while I was at Tulane. We would have special Sunday brunches with the same family group as Antoine's and often include some of my best friends from college.

Their decor is fun, happy, southern and quintessentially New Orleans.

I mentioned Juban's in my blog about Baton Rouge, but added it to this list because it has become a special place for Harrison and me, as we come every time we visit or drop off Harrison at school.

Here we are at Juban's at a mother/son Sigma Nu brunch.

This Michael Buble song perfectly describes my feelings when I'm in that part of the country---happy as a clam and feeling like I could fly!

Tonight I'll be home for dinner and my sweet mother will pick up a baked chicken from Central Market that we'll serve with salad.