Breath Easy, Drinks are Cheap

Its Friday night and you want to unwind after a hectic week. You want a drink or two in a relaxed environment where you can rehash the week with all your good friends. Then I suggest you head to Phillips if you are anywhere near Uptown, New Orleans. Every Friday night they have their strong delicious artisinal martinis for you to consume for only $3. The martini menu is extensive so don't limit yourself to having just one. I have been twice and each time did not disappoint. My favorite one was the Passionfruit, but for the real Southerner, I suggest the sweet-teaini. It tastes like the real thing with the added bonus--a surprisingly strong mixture of Sweet Tea vodka and lemonade. To sustain the evening you can order a nosh or two as well. The music ia great and as the night progresses you won't be able to not dance. So when deciding on a place to get drinks tomorrow after work you know exactly where to head. If you enjoyed your time so much this week head back on April 16th when Phillips will go smoke free. You won't get the lung while you have a great time. Now breath easy, drinks are cheap.
Image via Flickr

Liquidating Tastes

I have known about this secret for fairly a long time, and now I am just revealing it to the world. Well it actually took a reminder on my recent trip to spread the savings with everyone. As I was gearing up to leave Nashville years ago, a savings mecca was setting up shop on West End Ave. Walking into the unassuming storefront, I was just checking out the newest shop in town. With no expectations, I was not exactly floored, but then I started drinking the Kool Aid. What flavor is this Kool Aid you ask? It is United Apparel Liquidators. The purpose of UAL is exactly what their name states. They take excess inventory from department stores and designer boutiques to sell to you for up to 90% off. I was just as shocked at that mark down when I was in the New Orleans location last week. I picked up a pair of thousand dollar Pierre Hardy shoes for about $200; its a shame my feet resemble the ugly step sister's and not Cinderella's. There was also the Thread Social dress that you could have spent $345 on, but at UAL it was available for $60. There are four UAL locations dotting the South East. Not in the South East? The brick and mortar stores are not the only place you can pick up these savings. Available to the rest of the world is the UAL eBay store. Do not worry it was available in every size so it is not like finding a needle in a haystack, you will leave with thousands of dollars worth of clothing by only dropping pennies.
Image via Flickr

Big Easy on the Wallet

After my trip to New Orleans a few weeks ago, I still have the taste of dinner at Boucherie on my lips. My friend who I was visiting had heard great things about this place. He heard the food was on par with some of NYC’s best restaurants, but had the price tag of Chili’s. Fresh off the plane from New York, I needed to enjoy this meal on the time-honored porch in the night’s spring air. The inside of this traditional New Orleans home has plenty of tables to seat you at.

Our adorable waitress greeted us and uncorked the bottle of wine we brought; the night was off to a good start. Sipping the red wine we studied the menu having a hard time deciding what to order. There were too many options for us to pick. For appetizers we settled on traditional dishes from New Orleans. We had the Blackened Shrimp and Grit Cake with Warm House Made Fudge Farms Bacon Vinaigrette ($8) and Boudin Balls with a Garlic Aioli ($5). This was my first experience with Boudin and wasn’t my last of the trip. The first explosion of flavor was with the appetizers, but did not end until the check was paid. Then for our second course I ordered Smoked Black Angus Beef Brisket with Garlicky Parmesan Fries ($13). The brisket I am used to from back home is of a different origin, which my mother cooks to perfection, but this dish was an intense experience. The fries had the right amount of garlic; not too much that I needed to inhale altoids. Anticipating dessert I left a bit over, which my friend swooped in to clean my plate. He started his entrée with Pulled Pork Cake with Potato Confit and Purple Cabbage Cole Slaw ($12) which was far better than our other pulled pork experiences. The crisp slaw was the perfect compliment to the pork. For both dishes the meat was tender, while melting in your mouth. To cap the evening off we finished with House Made Fudge Farms Bacon Brownie ($5) and Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding ($5). Not the biggest donut coinsure I was skeptical about this dish, but it was the perfect desert. It tasted like warm French toast with maple syrup. While the brownie’s concept was interesting, the bacon added the perfect amount of smoke to the chocolate flavor to set it apart from the Betty Crocker mix you make at home.

This dining experience is one that I will remember for a while. The food was absolutely incredible and ridiculously affordable. My 3-course meal was under $30 with tip. I have no idea where else you could have gotten such a great meal for such a low price. The presentation was beautiful, the staff was incredibly friendly and the food was out of this world. So next time you are in New Orleans, put your drink down and pull yourself away from Bourbon St and head to this uptown restaurant for a memorable meal.