Café Du Monde

I'm of two minds on this place, which is also nut-free due to its limited menu. Basically, I like it. But now when I talk about wanting bennies, I'm not sure if I mean benefits or beignets! CDM has only beignets and chicory-laced coffee, which I am apparently not allergic to. (It was no regular coffee though). The hype for it is kind of baffling to me, but hey, I did eat a total of 9 bennies in 4 days. (They come in orders of 3, which is plenty). They're covered in tons of powdered sugar, nice and warm and cute. Not too pricy, either. I can't complain! But really this is no substitute for a lunch or dinner, it should be for brekkie only.

Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 7/10

Izzo's Illegal Burrito

This was another new-to-me chain in New Orleans that I ate at out of sheer lack of options. But I figured it'd be similar to Chipotle/Moe's/Qdoba, right? And it was nut-free and that's nice. But it was really most similar to the freakin' "Burrito Elito" Cal Tort knock off in the Philly airport that is super awkward, dry, bad, overpriced, missing half the menu items, and the workers are baffled by a customer's presence. I always think it will be different there, by the way, and it never is! I wish CalTort were still around.

ANYWAY, this place was dry and bad and didn't have half the ingredients their website says they do. I wanted, like, guac. But I got chicken in I think soft tacos, with sparse lettuce and maybe chips and queso (the best part was this tiny queso). Not great, but it was food and not nuts. Desperation option.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10 (Compared to New Orleans, not compared to TexMex fastfood)

Raising Cane's

More New Orleans shenanigans -- I couldn't find a single non-nut fast food chain in walking distance from my hotel except for this one, which was in a mall food court. Unfortunately, I don't really like chicken fingers (I never order them elsewhere), but beggars can't be choosers. I do like the idea of a limited menu, but it works more for me at In 'N Out or Chipotle than it does here. Anyway. I got the Box Combo, which I assume is "the default meal". It had 4 chickens (greasy and boring, but fine), fries (same), a texas toast slice (kinda fun, buttery), and cole slaw (surprisingly good slaw). Also a drink and a cup of their special sauce (slightly spicy mayochup?). It was decent and definitely filling, but made me feel like a trash can. Ah well, I'm still grateful this place was around!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Drago's Seafood Restaurant

This place has a lot of hype for a hotel restaurant, but as someone with a seafood allergy I really do not care. However, since I was staying in said hotel, this was a perfect place to eat with 7 of my closest friends (or, 3 of them and 4 grad students)! We waited at the hotel bar for a bit and then were forced to "be counted" before we could either make the reservation or sit down. A bit weird and potentially age-ist? Anyway, the waiter was pleasant and I ordered the boneless short rib, which was a huge hunk of meat. It was tender as promised, and was decently good but I think I actually liked the other restos in NOLA better. The service here was notably quicker, though, and more willing to make substitutions. Still, it was too awkward to finish my meat, and it was really expensive for what it was.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Copper Vine Wine Pub

I also went here with two buds/colleagues at LSA, and it was like an awkward first date. But this was a nice, airy, classy place inside. Never heard of a wine pub before but they had beer and cocktails too. I got the pork chop, which came with grits and greens and mustard. The pork was good but not great. There were random grapes too, which I did like. The wine was also good. But the service was very slow (I guess it's a NOLA thing).

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Public Service Restaurant

OK, I'm really of two minds about this place, which is in New Orleans where I was for LSA. I went here with two cool and fancy colleagues, who claimed that the star rating was about 4.5 even though when I googled it it was like 3.8 (I guess they were using OpenTable or something). But that duality is present in my reaction too. Firstly, this is attached to a fancy hotel, and as you can see, the room is very pretty as well. But it wasn't very crowded and it seemed ever less fancy the longer I was there. (Note: price was certainly very fancy though.) The waiter was polite, but also would not let anyone modify their dish, even for an upcharge, which is super frustrating. They accepted my allergy info though I guess. They also were out of the beer I ordered ( a sour ), so I got the one they said was most similar (a not great malty wheat beer?) and it was not at all similar.

That all being said...my food was great. My eating partners got tragically bad salads, but I got the Braised Beef Short Ribs, which came with veg (my only veg of the entire trip!!!) and mac and cheese (yom). The beef was tender and great, spicy and warm and filling. I didn't eat it all only out of social decorum (it was very big compared to salads), but if I were with my parents or something I sure would have. Anyway, to sum up: public service = bad service, but good food if you don't get salad.

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (like 150$ for three people, who had one drink each and no dessert!!!)
Taste: 7/10