Jackson in New Orleans

Jackson
1910 Magazine St.
New Orleans, LA

the front

While I was waiting for the rest of my party to arrive, I had a pleasant conversation at the bar with the proprietor. Apparently the internal architecture had been preserved from the original building (an apartment) in the 1800s, they even still had the original outhouse intact (it’s a closet now). She showed me all the wood beams and such that showed the heritage of the building (as I pulled my camera out).

bar as you walk in

stairs that lead to upstairs and the balcony

original outhouse from the 1800s

downstairs eating area

eating on the balcony

I was a little surprised to see that their menu was more expansive than the “new version” posted on their website. I was also surprised to see how much more expensive everything was (how can only 2 entrees be under $30!). Fear not, I have a restaurant.com coupon! By the end of the night, my meal (including tax and tip) cost me a grand total of  $12.50.  Although the portions were a little small, having a cute waiter with intense eye contact definitely made up for it (by cute, I mean very cute). My party sat outside on the balcony because we figured we might as well enjoy the cool October evening (and I spend the majority of my day indoors anyway, so its good to go outside and remind myself that I’m not some robot stuck in the basement of a library all day).

We ordered 2 appetizers and an entree, and boy, one of the appetizers was big enough to be an entree and the one entree was tiny enough to be an appetizer. Isn’t life funny like that? (rich restaurants seem to think so).  We had the Oysters Jackson (can’t begin to describe what came out, definitely didn’t resemble oysters at first), Mussels with truffle fries (Thank you God!) and duck and wild mushroom tortellini (I think my jaw hit the table when I saw the plate come out that was big enough for Barbie). The oysters jackson was definitely beautiful in presentation, especially the 2 shrimps on top and the filo dough surrounding the base. It did present as a challenge though to split among three people. It had a unique spicy kick to it, wasn’t prepared for that. Seriously, Thank God we ordered the mussels ( i was hesitant because we had ordered oysters) but this definitely helped fill us up. The mussels had a very strong fennel flavor, I’m not a big fan of that licorice taste. But the quality of the mussels was great. I LOVED the wild mushroom and duck tortellini, the duck was juicy and oh so tender. And the wild mushroom gravy was a nice refuge for my palette, and the tortellini was cooked to soft perfection (very nice dough composition). All in all, the night was worth what I had paid for.

duck and wild mushroom tortellini

mussels

truffle fries (my eternal weakness)

oysters jackson

really enjoying the mussels (to protect the identity of this diner, I purposefully took the picture to block his face)

I had the opportunity to come back for brunch with a groupon (spend $10 to get $20)

crepe forestierre

the crepe was quite disappointing. it was like taking a bite of garlic alfredo cream sauce (didn’t pick up a hint of truffle at all). it was stuffed with chicken (the frozen kind that is pre-cooked…….) mozarella and a few mushrooms. I couldn’t taste anything besides the cream though. and the jalapeno cheddar grits were disappointing since the only thing you could taste was the jalapenos.

fried green tomatos and shrimp benedict

my friend liked her dish a lot. we were really surprised when our groupon was rejected. the waiter said that since we didn’t make a reservation, they wouldn’t honor our groupon. Now I know all these groupons say in the fineprint that you need a reservation, but this was the first time that a restaurant was denying the groupon! I let the waiter know that I was there reviewing the place and would have to mention this incident in my write-up. The next thing I know, the manager came up to the table to apologize and said he would accept the groupon and explained that the last time they did the groupon, a bunch of ppl came in the day before it expired to use their groupon and he was upset over the lost money (hello! it’s $10! the majority of your appetizers are over $10! I’m pretty sure the groups of diners coming in at all was more business than the $10 you had lost for each groupon used at your establishment! if you don’t like patrons using the groupon, how about you don’t host it anymore? why trick diners into coming in, hoping to use their groupons, only to deny them at the end when they have to pay the bill?) I really did appreciate the fact that the manager was willing to let us use our groupon without having made a reservation, but seriously? that was your excuse? cuz you’re trying to find ways to not accept them……how disappointing. no wonder why we were the only ppl in here for sunday brunch