Galatoire's

Galatoire's is a NOLA institution and one of the few places to catch locals on Bourbon St, especially on a Friday afternoon. They aren't hard to spot and actually they bear a striking resemblance to your typical big hair, big make-up Westchester JAP/guidette-nice clothes, big rocks, hair blow dried straight. You know the type.

Anyway, we had to wait about three hours for a table at the 2 o clock seating, which we happily passed sipping cava-what else?-in the upstairs bar. Two bottles of cava and a campari and soda later, I was pretty starved. We finally sat down-the same table my parents always get-and our waiter, a chappy Hungarian, took fine care of us. We started with crabmeat Lorenzo (to die for!), oysters Rockefeller, and I got sweetbreads which were pan fried to perfection in a buttery caper sauce. The foie gras was served with candied apricots and was in tact, as in a whole liver. For some reason when I think of foie gras I think of pate, which this was definitely not. I do love pate, but this was less processed tasting, lighter, and perfectly delicious. As for the oysters, I like my oysters down and dirty, raw and with hot sauce, so that appetizer pleased me less so, but not for any other reason than my own idiosyncratic prferences-the creamed spinach was delicately flavored and beautifully done.

Anyway, three out of four of us ordered fried fish, which, while fresh, delicately and lightly fried, just did not compare to the supah flavah of the fried fish that my Papi catches himself and makes at home, so I think next time I will stick to appetizers, which are more complex and dynamic overall. In fact, it sort of seems like entrees at Galatoire's are mostly for people who don't know how to make food for themselves. C'est la vie.

En fin, if you go to Galatoire's, which YOU SHOULD, because it is one of the few places servin' up real Gulf Coast- and that means UBER-LOCAL-specialties (no fish from Thailand, no lamb from New Zealand) go for the appetizers and save the mosre conservative entrees for some one else.