Criollo Restaurant & Lounge - French Quarter - New Orleans, LA

Criollo Restaurant & Lounge is located inside the Hotel Moteleone. If you didn't know any better, that may make the restaurant difficult to find, so to help you out if you intend to dine there, once you enter the hotel, go to the right and you will see it.

I was very captivated by the ambiance of the restaurant. A lot of dark browns and woods were used in decorating this restaurant but that is offset by white walls and huge windows lining the restaurant. Despite the dark colors, it was still bright and since I do not like a poorly lit restaurant that was a huge plus for me.

But, what I really liked about my experience at Criollo, is our waiter. He was funny yet professional and as attentive as they come. I was able to get that Southern hospitality which doesn't always seem to exist in New Orleans. 

At Criollo, like most other restaurants, they start you off with bread but what makes theirs different, is that they serve it with three kinds of butter. Butter can't sell the bread though, so thankful the bread was actually good and fresh. The Foccacia Bread was like the really good homemade kind with actual olives in it.

My boyfriend ordered the special for the day, Chicken and Waffles. He was at first disappointed that it was Chicken breast not chicken parts but the well-seasoned, tender pieces chicken made his not think twice about that one. The Waffles were fresh but on the crunchier side. What really sold the dish was the two accompanying sauces. Instead of regular maple syrup it was their own sweet sauce along with the option of a spicier one.

I, on the other hand, ordered off the COOLinary menu and for my first course, had the Soft Shell Crab Belle Meuniere. The soft shell crab was lightly breaded and fried. Along with the brown butter sauce, onions, tomatoes and wild mushroom, it created a delectable light lunch. It was subtle but flavorful and had just the right amount of sauce that the dish didn't become soupy and the Soft Shell Crab never got soggy.

For my second course, I indulged in the White Chocolate Creme Brûlée. I was amazed by this creme brulee. It wasn't too sweet and you could distinguish the white chocolate flavor without it overpowering the dessert as a whole. The fresh fruit and the pastry shell were a great touch to an already outstanding dessert that I honestly would go there solely for. 

If you cannot tell by now, I LOVED dining at Criollo. Obviously I will be back for many more times to come, but now that I have experienced New Orleans dining at Criollo Restaurant, cocktails at Carousel Bar (located just next door) are definitely in order on my next visit.


Criollo Restaurant & Lounge 
214 Royal St New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 681-4444
www.criollonola.com

Audubon Aquarium of the Americas - New Orleans, LA

I was pleasantly surprised by my trip to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. I thought this was going to be something that catered only to kids and that I would be bored as hell, but I had a good time. It is a small place but I still managed to spend over 1.5 hours here. Besides seeing all the sea/wet animals, inside the aquarium you can also check out Parakeet Pointe, but since I was too lazy to use my map I never found or saw it, but it must be interesting, I suppose. 

At the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas there is definitely lots to see, experience and learn about if you are about that aquatic life or even if you're not.


Audubon Aquarium of the Americas
1 Canal St New Orleans, LA 70130
(504) 581-4629
www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/aquarium

Hot Wok Chinese Restaurant - Metairie, LA

When I first spotted Hot Wok, it reminded me of the type of Chinese take-out restaurants you would find in New York and automatically peaked my interest. After passing it quite a few times, I finally had the urge for wings and fried rice and went inside to get my American Chinese on.

The place itself has no ambiance. It's just a hole-in-the-wall, average-looking take-out restaurant where you should never take a date to sit down and eat. Just as I had expected, the place was run by New York transplants who had taken ownership of the restaurant about a year ago.

This is a pretty good place, and even ordering Buffalo Wings off of the "American food" section I was satisfied. It was obviously not the typical buffalo flavor but was good sized wings with a proportionate amount of sauce that had a nice flavor to it.

I also ordered a pint of Roast Pork Fried Rice. It could have easily been a tasteless, greasy, soggy mess but it was really great rice. It tasted fresh not microwaved.

I went in also wanting to get an order of Fried Crab Stick but they no longer sell them so I settled with the Fried Crabmeat Cheese Wontons instead. They were just okay. I wish the wontons were a little crispier and that you could actually taste the crabmeat in the stuffing and not just cheese.

Regardless, prices are really good and I enjoyed the rice, so I will be back again when I'm craving Chinese!



Hot Wok
901 Veterans Blvd Metairie, LA 70005
(504) 831-3328

Patrick Turner's Westport: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Patrick Turner's Westport Development has stayed under my radar as of late. One reason or perhaps the only reason is because the Westpoert waterfront remains quiet. There are luxury no Apartment high rises, no Office Buildings, no Retail, no 500 room Hotel, no nothing. By now in a perfect world this wouldn't have been the case especially since the first buildings were slated to open in 2008 but a series of unfortunate events has put the future of this $1.4 Billion waterfront in limbo.

All of these unfortunate events can be traced back to one thing; the Economic Downturn of 2008. It's as if Patrick Turner's Westport was held together by a single pin and that single pin was moved the whole project collapsed. But don't worry, just because there have been some unfortunate events, the project can still be dusted off and put back on track. I certainly hope this is the case.

 In 2004 Patrick Turner began assembling land on the Westport waterfront that has long since been abandoned industrial land. His hopes were and still are to turn it and the Westport Neighborhood into Baltimore's next hot spot in fact the company he formed to focus on Westport is appropriately named "Inner Harbor West" an obvious play on the now thriving Inner Harbor East. By the time Patrick Turner owned the entire Waterfront he had spent $13 million.

In 2007 Patrick Turner presented his Master Plan for the Westport Waterfront to the City and the Westport Community. The plan had won the hearts and minds of both the City and the Westport Community. Given the very large price tag of infrastructure for such a massive undertaking, the City agreed to help pay the $160 million it would cost. They were to do it by issuing bonds through a deal known as "Tax Increment Financing" which the bond holders would pay back the City over time through the property taxes generated by the development. The only problem was, the builders who would build the properties that generate said property tax had pulled out leaving the infrastructure unpaid for essentially.

Turner had also taken out a $32 million loan as well as a $15 million loan to get the ball rolling on the first phase of development which was to include a 200 unit Apartment Building, 90,000 Square Feet of Office Space, 72 Town Homes, and another 220 units Apartment Building. With news of the infrastructure deal crumbling, the Builders and Lessees of these projects pulled out. They more than likely would have done so due to the crumbling economy. With no financing for infrastructure and no Builders willing to overlook and stay signed to the project anyway, the whole waterfront and Patrick Turner himself were in deep trouble.

The combined $47 million in loans Turner had taken out were to be paid back on the contingency that he would get builders and lessees for the land. Due to the series of unfortunate events, Turner now had no financial backers aka builders/lessees. Patrick Turner still had to pay back those though. Since Patrick Turner, or any of the companies he was associated with, didn't have $47 million in cash (just land that at the current time is useless) bankruptcy and foreclosure became all too common words around the water cooler at Patrick Tuner's Office as well as the media. 

These days, despite the looming threats of the Banks who lent him this money, Patrick Turner is still very optimistic that this thing can get turned around and his plan to redevelop the Westport waterfront will come to fruition. He now claims he has financial backers who will help him buy back his $32 million loan from the Bank. Whether these financial backers are actual builders looking to develop the land or are just supplying Turner the cash he needs to stay afloat is unknown. What is also unknown is whether the City will re-agree to issue the $160 million in bonds to kick start the infrastructure needs. I know they're fronting some serious cash to Harbor Point at the moment so I'm not sure if they're willing to do so for Westport. 

Given how good the idea is and how the Westport is a gold mine of untapped waterfront City living and the plethora of existing housing in the Neighborhood of Westport I'm confident that the plan will come to fruition, whether Patrick Turner can keep control of the goings on is yet to be seen. Hopefully the series of unfortunate events will be overshadowed by an even larger series of fortunate events.