Our final full day in New Orleans had us making another trolley ride to what had the potential to be one of the most awesome, and diabetic inducing, breakfasts of my entire gluten free life: Gourmet gluten free waffles from Waffles on Maple. This small place specializes in, you guessed it, waffles and has been gracious enough to the gluten free community to keep one of their waffle makers for gluten free batter only. With over 10 waffle styles available everyone is bound to find something delectable to satisfy their sweet or savory tooth. We ended up ordering the Monkey Madness (bananas, chocolate, almonds, and whipped cream) and the Heart Attack (caramelized onions and mushrooms, two fried eggs, jalapeno, mozzarella, cheddar and muenster cheese). They were so good, but oh so filling… I was lucky this place wasn’t located on the trolley line directly, so the walk to and from made me feel like I did a little work for my waffle (and displaced some of the calories). Although we did sit down to eat your best bet may be to order out, as the place had a constant flow us business and was a bit small.
For dinner on this last day we met up again with my friend for the crowing glory of New Orleans cuisine: Casamento’s. Established in 1919 this place is like the soup Nazi of seafood, especially fried seafood, for all those that get that Seinfeld reference. You better know what you want by the time you sit down, which is made an easy task considering the huge lines that form there each and everyday. We waited in line along what used to be the diner counter for about 30 minutes, and were treated a show that proved the food was fresh: The Oyster shucker doing his job right at the end of the counter. Of course this sight isn’t for the squeamish of heart, but I personally found his skill fascinating. Although the wait was lengthy the staff were friendly and didn’t make you feel rushed once you are seated. The most important piece of Casamento’s is that for us gluten free folks this place fried food is heaven, every single piece of fried food is gluten free. You heard me right: Every single piece:
Just be warned that you MUST ask for no toast and inform them of your allergy when ordering, as a piece of toast comes on top of every pile of fried goodness. If you do visit Casamento’s go on a day where you’ve skipped lunch so you can eat as much as possible, and know that the wait is worth it! Also don’t let the run down look of the place scare you off, this is part of the charm that makes this a New Orleans Gem frozen in time.
On the morning of our departure we did two things we had been waiting for during the entire trip. First we enjoyed an authentic jazz brunch at Court of Two Sisters. Initially there was a sense of panic when we were seated and there was no Jazz band in sight, but we quickly found out that was because the band traveled from room to room because the place was packed. The Court has a menu for those with food allergens but as I found out from speaking to the chef out of precautions the gluten free menu had a few items on it that were not gluten free (ex: one of the soups said it was gluten free on the menu but the chef let me know it was thickened with flour). I gather that this menu is not kept up to date consistently since their brunch items do vary, so be sure to ask to speak to the chefs if you do go here to take as much precautions as possible. Despite this concern the gluten free options were rather plentiful. You can easily go for simple things like hard boiled eggs, steamed shrimp, and fruit but other items such as grits, scrambled eggs, Cajun corn salad, tuna salad, and the bananas foster were also safe. This was however one of our pricier meals and if it were not for the atmosphere and live jazz music I would say the quality of food wasn’t worth the cost.
The second thing we did was meet up with amazing local blogger Carolyn of Gluten Free New Orleans. Although we had wanted to meet up with her earlier, this was the only time where our schedules met up so we got together at Sucre for a quick visit before we took off for the airport. Carolyn is originally from the New York area and was at the time a very recent New Orleans transplant. She holds a Master in Public Health Nutrition and has always worked to bring gluten free individuals together where ever she’s lived through MeetUp Groups. She shares some of the same interests as Mike and I in respect to nutrition, community health, and food justice issues so naturally we hit it off instantly. We’ve stayed in touch since our trip and she certainly does the gluten free New Orleans community justice! You should find her on social media and give her some love! It was really a great experience meeting a fellow blogger from another area, here’s a nice little photo we snapped together:
Restaurant Ratings:
Waffles on Maple: 5/5 shamrocks (full score: options, atmosphere, price, hospitality, and food quality)
Casamento’s 4.5/5 shamrocks (full score in options, price, hospitality and food quality, half point for atmosphere)
Court of Two Sisters: 3.5/5 shamrocks (full score: options and atmosphere, and half point price, hospitality, and food quality)
This concludes my series on New Orleans. I hope you found some great recommendations for your next trip to the Big Easy, and be sure to continue following my site for more resources!