New Orleans is, without a doubt, a city that defies the rest of the United States. From the French influence to the third world-esque devastation of Hurricane Katrina to the fact that women are willing to take their tops off for beads (okay maybe that one’s not so different), it is unquestionably a unique city. Yet, as a first time visitor with a meat blog, I was far more interested in the culinary aspects of NOLA than anything else, beginning with The Ruby Slipper Cafe.
Based on the line out the door when we arrived for brunch, The Ruby Slipper on Magazine Street seemed to be almost as famous as its namesake, but we braved the wait by grabbing a drink down the street and then took our seats. The menu was full-on Southern fare meets France, which I guess is to be expected in New Orleans. And in a rare twist, the wife and I split two dishes.
The first was the Corned Beef Bennie (pictured way up north), which is just a cutesy way to say Corned Beef Benedict. This started with a buttermilk biscuit base, topped with corned beef hash, horseradish cream, poached eggs and hollandaise. It was every bit as delicious as that sounds and the worst thing I can say about it is how sad I was to have to split it.
The second dish was the “Bacon & Egg” Sliders (their quotation marks, not mine), which was two mini burgers, each topped with their own stuff. The wife took the burger topped with a fried egg, roasted red pepper coulis (which I can only assume is terrible), pickled red onion and further pickled green tomato. I cannot speak for this mini burger, but like the coulis, I can only assume bad things. My half, however, was topped with pig-candy bacon and cheddar. Simple and effective. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the salty and sweet, all I could think about was eating more of that bennie.
The Ruby Slipper Cafe was a good first foray into the cuisine of NOLA and I definitely felt much better-prepared to take on the rest of the town after a hearty brunch such as this.
