New Orleans: Dinner at Desire Oyster Bar

The day before Tales of the Cocktail opened, I checked out Desire Oyster Bar in the French Quarter.  I stumbled upon fried food heaven!  I had to have fried green tomatoes. Cheesy as it was, I was in the South and by golly was I going to have a lot of fried food! And what could be better than fried green tomatoes?

The batter was light and this was well-fried as I would find with all our delightful fried foods.

 

I couldn’t resist getting the fried pickles and my table of pickle-loving friends rapidly agreed.

Although I was on a gumbo kick, I decided to get the turtle soup. The only other time I’ve had it before was from Emeril’s Commander’s Palace in Las Vegas (sadly now closed). I was expecting something similar but this was a whole different animal. The soup I remembered was delicious with chunks of turtle meat. Desire’s version was almost a puree. It was devoid of any bits of turtle and was probably closer to a bisque except it was fairly thick. Taste-wise, it wasn’t bad but I wished I had gotten gumbo.

When I decided to get the fried seafood combo, I was asked what sort of potato did I want. I got the baked potato- fully loaded. Little did I know just how loaded it’d be. There were huge pieces of bacon, a mound of sour cream, thick pats of butter and a lot of cheese. Man, this could have been my only meal of the day and I would have been happy.

 

But I had to contend with the folly of what I did. My plate of fried seafood was really amazing. I started slowly. I enjoyed a nibble of the hushpuppies, paid some attention to my cole slaw but I knew I’d had to get in on the fried oysters, shrimp, fish, scallops and whole freakin’ soft shell crab soon. I had a little bit of everything and my favorites were the oysters, fish and and shrimp. I wish I was eating this right now as I write this. I was VERY fond of that fried seafood. Again, not greasy and perfectly fried. The South sure does know how to fry.

Oddly, I didn’t have a drink here but I needed something to settle my stomach after the massive intake of fried foods. Good thing I was there for Tales and a handy drink soon found its way to me.

Desire Oyster Bar at the Royal Sonesta

300 Bourbon St., New Orleans, LA 70130 — (504) 586-0300

© The Minty 2012