And now for something completely different

I intend to start a food blog at some point in time. I just have not mustered the energy to do so yet. I have it set up (sans any content) and will set up a link later.

With that being said I did not have intentions of posting my food thoughts here in the land of potatoes and kartoffels but the German and I had an extraordinary dining experience on our anniversary and I wanted to share. Also please accept my apologies in advance for the lack of photos. We forgot the real camera and neither cell phone camera did justice.

For our first anniversary we opted to go to Chappy's on Church. We went there once before for a business dinner with some of my New Orleans associates and enjoyed every morsel. To say that mein Deutscher and I are "foodies" is an understatement. We tremendously enjoy cooking together and eating. We are not snobs when it comes to food. We simply enjoy good meals. We understand that sometimes a good meal is a Greek pizza delivered to the front door. But I digress, so let me tell you about our experience...

Chappy's has these enchanting private rooms that seat four people. They are nestled along a wall and have a drapery that can be drawn for privacy. I specifically requested that and had let it be known we were celebrating our first anniversary when I made the reservation. We were greeted warmly and wished a happy anniversary as we were escorted to our seats. We were to be in the "Rex Room" For those that do not know Rex is the king of carnival for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We were already being recognized as royalty - LOL.

We ordered our wine and listened as John, our incredibly patient and wonderful server, told us of all the specials for the night. We agreed upon the blackened grilled shrimp with crawfish tails. I have to tell you I am half Cajun. I know my Cajun and Creole cuisine. This also means I know my shrimp... Especially having grown up near the Gulf Coast... Whoa Nellie! The shrimp was outstanding! They were freakin' huge! Two-biters is what I was calling them.... They were seasoned perfectly and were not too spicy which would completely overwhelm the more delicate taste of the shrimp. Thankfully there was an even number of them so we did not have to do "rock, paper, scissors" for the odd one.

Oh! I failed to mention that they bring out a loaf of bread with four different butters... plain, strawberry, garlic and gator (yum). I limited myself to just half a slice slathered with gator butter so as not to spoil my appetite for the noshing to come.

Being that our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs, we both opted for a cup of soup as well. The German got the seafood gumbo. It had a rich, dark roux base and was chock-full of shrimp and scallops. It too was not overly spicy. I would have thrown a few shakes of hot sauce in it but the German opted not to go that route. I had the turtle soup with sherry poured on it. I have forgotten how yummy Yertle can be when put in a rich soup... Thanks for coming out of the shell for my benefit.

We both perused the menu; however, two of the six specials of the evening stuck out and that is the route we opted for... I had a pan-seared grouper topped with gently sauteed mushrooms, lump crab meat and more shrimp. Not meager shrimp mind you, these were the size you would see in shrimp cocktail... And I got six of them - not that I was counting or anything.... Mine also came with Mardi Gras veggies (veggies in the colors of purple, green and gold, the official colors of Mardi Gras) and a twice baked kartoffel (hehe, my weak attempt at throwing in a German word today). Mein Deustcher had the blackened blue marlin. Let me tell you something, WOW!! There were two humongous filets on his plate along with Mardi Gras veggies and the rice du jour (which was almost like a jambalaya - bonus!).

After all the other food we had eaten, we powered through our entrees as best we could; however, to no avail. We could not finish them. Blackened blue marlin is still tasty as a late night snack.... Once you get over messing up the foil swan it's wrapped in that is...

Since you now know we took home a foil swan I guess it comes as no surprise that we did not have even a smidgen of room for dessert... I never even got around to looking at that portion of the menu because I was mesmerized by all the tantalizing seafood choices before me.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend you try this place out. If your experience was anything like mine you will not be disappointed.