Clancy's

6100 Annunciation Street New Orleans, Louisiana .

(504) 895-1111

http://clancysneworleans.com/

Overall Ratings (H in orange, C in purple)

Food:  B+ / B+

Ambiance: A / A

Service:  A / A

Drinks: B+

Overall Experience: B+ / A-

Photo courtesy of Clancy's website

H says, I had been to Clancy’s before and really enjoyed it. I had planned on bringing C here eventually but, we don’t eat uptown all that often. As fate would have it, though, when we went to take my parents to Crepe Nanou, the power went down. I quickly called Clancy’s and they had a table for us upstairs.

C says, We went to Clancy’s on a fluke. H had been there before, and when the restaurant where we were supposed to have dinner lost power, he suggested Clancy’s. Since I had heard good things (and it was not in the power outage zone), away we went.

Overall thoughts:

H says, Clancy’s is a wonderful little restaurant located on a quiet corner of Uptown. The inside is very inviting, and has a family-type atmosphere. I really enjoy it. Now, the first thing you need to remember when you go is that Clancy’s does one thing really well: Meats and desserts. [C says, That’s two things...] The rest of the food is good, but nothing amazing. The lamb/steak/pork are all fabulous. C and I had an appetizer of mussels, which were good, but not amazing. I much prefer Adolfo’s still when it comes to mussels. For dinner I had a filet mignon, which was wonderful. Cooked to perfection with just the right amount of sauce and taste. The wine list is extensive and very well stocked. My parents and I shared a bottle of wine and it was very nice. Overall, I would recommend Clancy’s. It’s not in my top 5, but I would definitely go back again.

C says, Clancy’s is an upscale neighborhood restaurant--it’s smack in the middle of a residential zone. The atmosphere inside was quite nice; we sat upstairs, which was quiet and a bit secluded (only one other table in the room we were in)--I liked it. They bring hot french bread and butter to the table, as any self-respecting old school NOLA restaurant should. I thought the mussels H and I had first were delicious. We told them we wanted to split them, so they divided the serving into two bowls for us. For dinner, I had the drum with muddy waters sauce--which was invented at Uglesich’s--a NOLA restaurant that “ain’t dere no more.” It’s basically a meuniere sauce with garlic and jalapenos, and they add some parmesan on top as well. It was fine, but I wouldn’t order it again. The corn and asparagus with it were good, but the yellow rice was underseasoned. That is why I marked down the food score; Henry’s dad, who also had fish, was similarly unimpressed, whereas the meat diners (lamb and steak), were in heaven. So maybe fish just isn’t the way to go. The brownie dessert, with ice cream and hot fudge, was good, but nothing really special, and should have had a little more ice cream. The butterscotch budino (pudding) with salt and caramel sauce was heavenly, though, and H’s mom loved the fresh strawberry sorbet she had.

Budino. Photo courtesy of Clancy's website.

Oyster Festival

Woldenberg Park, NOLA

Early June

http://www.neworleansoysterfestival.org

Overall Ratings (H in orange, C in purple)

Food:   A / A

Ambiance: A / A

Music:   A-

Drinks: A

Overall Experience: A / A

H says, I didn’t go to this last year for some reason; boy did I miss out. [C says, I think he did go, but he says I am thinking of the Seafood festival, not the Oyster Fest...] I had a blast, even though I was melting in the heat. The food here was amazing. The only thing that I felt wasn’t very good was Drago’s, which is sad because normally their oysters are amazing. This year though they didn’t have enough butter and sauce on them. They were just cooked oysters :( . My favorite by far was the Fried Oyster Taco from GW Fins. It was amazing. Too bad they don’t offer it at their restaurant. If you are in town, you have to go. Period. I wouldn’t fly down for it as French Quarter fest and Mardi Gras are better but it is definitely ranked up there as far as fun and food goes.

C says, I love a good festival, so I thought we would give you some thoughts on what we sampled at the recent Oyster Festival here in NOLA. The menu will probably change somewhat by next year, but this will give you an idea of what to expect. Plus, the dishes are from restaurants around town, so maybe it will give you an idea of some new places to eat!

Dishes we tried:

Shrimp and Oyster Eggrolls from Arnaud’s: Quite tasty, with a nice dipping sauce. These, to me, were really spring rolls, not eggrolls (different wrapper), but yummy nonetheless!

1/2 Dozen Charbroiled Oysters from Drago’s: Generally, we’d recommend these highly, but they were skimpy with the butter this time. They know better than that! Hopefully this was just a fluke.

Fried Oyster Taco from G W Fins: Pretty simple, but absolutely delicious. Our favorite thing.

"St. Louis" Po-Boy: Fried Oysters, Bacon and Provel Cheese from Katie’s: Pretty darn tasty. Bacon was nice and crisp.

Sno Balls from Original New Orleans Snoballs: They never have cherry, which is my preferred flavor, but the strawberry was pretty good!

Oyster Pastries from Royal House: Two puff pastry shells topped with a spinach and artichoke sauce and a fried oyster atop each. Not overly generous with the oysters, but tasty.

Friends said the Bacon & Tasso crusted oysters w/ dill fondu from Cafe Reconcile were amazing and also enjoyed the BBQ shrimp po-boy (but I don’t see the one she had listed on the website, so I am not sure where it was from!)

Boucherie

8115 Jeannette St, NOLA

504.862.5514 http://boucherie-nola.com/

Overall Ratings (H in orange, C in purple)

Food:  B- / B++

Ambiance: B / A

Service: C / B+

Drinks: C

Overall Experience: C / B+

Photo courtesy of the Boucherie Facebook page

H says, Not impressed. I was looking forward to dinner with Caitlin, but I hadn’t really read much about the restaurant. It was converted from a house to a restaurant and it is very cramped inside. I felt that they tried to fit one too many tables into the space. Also I felt the service was slow for such a small place. Normally I am ok with it, but it just felt off to me.

C says, I had heard good things about Boucherie, so I suggested to H that we try it out. The restaurant is tucked away in a little uptown cottage off of Carrollton, though they also run a big purple food truck sometimes spotted around town. The truck serves much more casual fare than the restaurant, though the restaurant is not expensive (but portions are not overly generous, either).

Overall thoughts from H:

First off, don’t go. It’s inexpensive but the portions are not great and the portion size is quite small. We had the mussels appetizer and it was well...terrible. It was basically just boiled mussels. The grit bread that they served with it was good but the mussels themselves just tasted like mussels; there was nothing to the broth. Not a fan. I ordered brisket and fries as my main course and I was planning on having a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon but they didn’t have one listed. I was a bit shocked honestly. I had never been to a restaurant that didn’t have a simple glass of Cabernet available. So I ended up skipping any of the drinks (they seemed overly expensive) and just went with water. The brisket was quite good but also quite small. It’s not overly expensive, but I did feel let down by the portions. Honestly, I could have gotten more and better from The Joint for about ½ the cost. We ended up skipping dessert and I was glad to leave. Never going back.

Overall thoughts from C:
I think H’s review is way too negative! The restaurant is small, and they do have as many tables in there as they can, but I didn’t find it cramped; I thought it was cozy, and the decor is very nice. I would describe the service as leisurely; I was a little annoyed that they didn’t bring silverware right away, but that was pretty much my only complaint. H was turned off right away when he saw that the wines by the glass didn’t include a Cabernet. First, they bring an amuse bouche; it was a snapper terrine, which was pretty tasty--I would guess that they change this up depending upon what they have, but maybe it’s always snapper! We ordered the mussels first--as H said, the grits crackers that came with it were great, and the collard greens were delish (H didn’t try them), but the mussels themselves were a little underwhelming--I’m not sure if they were cooked separately, but they didn’t seem to soak up the flavor of the sauce much. It was a small portion, but most mussel appetizers tend to be overly generous, honestly. I had the blue cheese gnocchi for an entree. It was quite good--not nearly as good as Herbsaint, though! It was also a small portion and when it first arrived I was rather surprised at how small it seemed, but by the time I ate it, I was not disappointed. I didn’t really need a bigger serving. I also tried some of H’s fries, which were pretty tasty. So, I gave the food a B++ not because it wasn’t good, but because the portions are moderate and mostly because there is not a lot on the menu I would actually order; most of what they offer is meatier than I prefer. I don’t think we will be back, but I certainly wasn’t as disappointed as H was. [I will also note that I gave him 3 choices for dinner, and he picked this one, so he can’t blame it all on me!]