So, I’m in New Orleans for the 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings, although if you believed the typo in the talk I gave, it was only the 2010 Meetings.

Anywho, so New Orleans = food, right? Here’s a rundown of what I’ve sampled so far.

  • Acme Oyster House - Fried Peace Maker Po-boy. Basically, a big ol' sandwich with spicy fried oysters and shrimp. I was at the bar, and there was a dude in front of me shucking oysters non-stop the entire time. It made me wish I'd gotten some raw ones.
  • Felipe's Taquería - Burrito w/ Shrimp & Grilled Vegetables. The beans, my personal litmus test for Mexican food, were pretty freaking good. It was a huge burrito, but I still wanted more after I finished.
  • Mister Apple - White Chocolate-Covered Rice Krispie Treat. I suppose I should've gotten one of their caramel apples, considering the name of the place. But what I got was decadently de-scrumscious!
  • Mother's Restaurant - Breakfast Special w/ Baked Ham. The Breakfast Special comes with coffee. I don't drink coffee. So I ordered Sprite instead. So they charge me the full price of the special plus the full price of a pop. Hrmph. The service was horrible and confusing (one lady was jogging back and forth between running register and filling drinks, no one really knew how we got our food until another lady randomly came by and took our receipts...). The actual meal was eggs (pretty good), grits (meh), baked ham (supposedly the "world's best" -- it was pretty good) and a biscuit (amazing! the jam was to die for).
  • Crescent City Brewhouse - Various. This was my big celebrate-because-I-survived-giving-my-very-first-talk-at-a-big-national-conference meal. I love going to local brewpubs when I travel, so I ordered the sampler. They only brew 5 beers, all of the German/Austrian/Czech variety. They varied from okay (pilsner) to woot! (weiss). Inspired by my trip to Acme, I ordered a half-dozen raw oysters. Mmmmm. Then deciding that shrimp in and of itself wasn't enough seafood, I got crab-stuffed shrimp as the main dish. Yeee-ah! The service was meh, and their poor oyster shucker looked really lonely. I think I was the only person who ordered raw oysters while I was there.