ULTIMATE Cajun/Creole FOOD TOUR of New Orleans | CAJUN COUNTRY Food Review

Now that the move to Dallas is complete I actually had to head back to New York for a little bit one because I haven't seen my parents in about three months So I gotta go and check in on them. Also. I got a lot of stuff I realized I need to bring back to New York and they're pretty fragile. So figure I just drive also it's crawfish season So on the way i'm gonna pass through new orleans get some cajun creole food Then maybe spend a couple days in atlanta a place. I really never explored before but yeah on the road again They look like like almost peaks and valleys. You see that almost hills in the distance Hope we don't have another dorothy situation on our hands First up lafayette, louisiana, and I do want to say these are some very louisiana looking trees Just place my water dates homey's gonna be a little bit So while we're waiting for the food just a huge shout out to raycon earbuds for sponsoring this video I showed you guys in one of my previous videos my previous pair of earbuds were more than two times the price of this the case was bulky and I would drop them all the Time because it didn't have the little magnetic thing that attaches it to the case and these ones like this never falls out Also, my ears are shaped really weirdly So a lot of times earbuds just kind of fall out when i'm moving around But these I wear these every day when i'm working out when i'm running fits perfectly and I like the compact case I love the color blue. You see me wearing blue shirts all the time. 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I got a Crawfish etouffee. This is one of the most popular Dishes in cajun and creo cooking and they give me on the side some jalapeno grits And then I got oh some some garlic bread. That's always nice and this when you're in louisiana You gotta eat some gator. So fried gator and some ice cream to go with my bread pudding I tried this the last time I was in new orleans. This dish is basically crawfish tails It's cooked in gravy with rice sitting on top of it That is so good little tender pieces of crawfish I missed all that great cajun seasoning and I think this actually would go really well with the fried gator Which pretty much Tastes like chicken if you wouldn't tell me that's gator. I would tell you it's chicken nuggets Oh, yeah, jalapeno grits is something you must get if you're around here I love how the flavor anticipates as you chew i'm trying to speed through these dishes because I got this ice cream That's going to be melting soon that I need to put over my bread pudding. Otherwise, I would never forgive myself How tender the crawfish is also I will highly recommend the fried gator That and the crawfish I don't know which one's more tender I mean gators give off a pretty tough image but in reality at least in this case soft and tender I've got to get to my bread pudding before this ice cream melts. First of all, this is a giant piece of bread pudding They definitely do not skimp on portions in the south. Hello. Look at that scoop of ice cream This is definitely the biggest piece of bread pudding i've ever had in my life And it's one of the best again bread pudding is not something I eat all the time but lord, this is good You taste the sweet cinnamon Just dancing in perfect harmony With that vanilla ice cream and for me bread pudding is all about the texture It can't be too soft for me. I want it to have some chew But this thing 100 delivers the crust is nice because the texture is a little different And when I opened this, you know, I saw how big it was i'm like yo, this doesn't taste good this is gonna be really hard to go down, but Just the most perfect texture with crust on the top and the bottom Just giving off a slightly different bit of texture and that vanilla ice cream just elevates something that's already so incredibly scrumptiously good To even new levels of yum. I can't believe i'm almost done with this I've been sitting here pretty much enjoying every bite of this and you look down it's almost gone time flies when you're having fun Seat belt feels a little tight already which Might not be a great thing because uh down the street from here I don't know if it still exists, but the last popeyes buffet all you can eat popeyes buffet used to be there before You know the whole covid situation forced it to shut down. So I tried calling them. I couldn't get anyone on the phone So i'm actually gonna drive down the street I can see it right now to that popeyes and see if the last popeyes buffet is still alive and well There it is It's mike chen reporting live from lafayette louisiana. The last popeyes buffet is still not yet open They said it's not completely done. It's not completely shut down. So hopefully one day this thing will open back up Thank you So this is the chicken right? There's too much I want right now All right. So this is the place I hear you gotta stop at when you're in lafayette So right behind me is billy's boudin if you don't know what a boudin is basically a stuffed sausage So I got a billy's boudin. I don't know what's in here. It looks like something green Maybe it's the holy trinity. I hope and then I got the crawfish boudin. Let me just uh, yeah Just want to be sanitary about this. Look at this beautifully stuffed sauce. You can see the little bits of crayfish in here This is so freaking good. It tastes like a jambalaya stuffed inside a pork casing You taste all that great cajun spices in here and this thing is burning my tongue right now It's a delicious sauce covered rice. And again, you can see the bits of crawfish all wrapped in such a snappy casing Put that on your must-try list. Wow, my mouth is on fire. I love it. It's not just like burning It's just so happy because there's so much seasoning and spices in there. And this is the billy boudin. I don't know what's in here Seriously you pass by lafayette you don't get one of these It's like you never been here I love this so much. I think it has some liver in here strands of meat. I definitely taste some celery So maybe the holy trinity is in here One of the best things i've had in louisiana Oh, so this is the crackling you can see how red it is on the outside They do not mess around when it comes to spices here in louisiana So I wasn't gonna get this the lady behind the counter she basically was like just try one try one try one I try one Had to order a bag right away, but check this out. This is a boulding ball I think this is chicken, but it's a baseball sized piece of what looks like crackling, but i'm sure there's stuff inside Oh my god Inside there's rice there's celery there pieces of ground meat all stuffed inside this crispy delicious fried outer shell How could I have not known something like this existed You can see here a nice blend of fatty and lean meat with the holy trinity makes this whole thing angelic Last thing I got this is a pepper jack cheese egg roll Beyond is ultra crispy outer shell stuffed with cheese and meat It's cheesy fatty crunchy in every single bite. I'm taking up any one of these food items Just makes me want to prick myself for not having this last time I was here This is a cannot miss food item If you're in this part of the country if you're going to new orleans take the two and a half hour drive over here It's worth it Had to go get another two bags of crackling and what's different about crackling than just fried pork rinds or something Is that crackling also has a bit of the fat bit of the meat with it? Which means Much more flavor. Oh my god. You gotta get the chicken ones covered in chilies. You got a lot of that fat in here, too I got a half pound bag. I don't think it's enough Good morning This is the only place open right now I thought a lot more food places would actually be open this early Ah, this city is definitely more of a nice city. I always look forward to starting my day off with some of this hot stuff The aguaro hot stuff For some reason way doughier than I remembered a little hard to swallow Still not bad. Today's my main food day. New Orleans leaving early tomorrow morning. I got my day planned out, you know As soon as restaurants actually open we're gonna start off with some crawfish because it's crawfish season Super excited about that. That's in about four hours. Then definitely some grilled oysters. I'm going to a po'boy place I heard is amazing and a hundred percent going back for butter shrimp. That's one of my favorite things to eat here but i'm thinking right now just eat this and maybe go back and Sleep some more because nothing was really open till around 11 I've been looking forward to a big plate of crawfish as soon as I got it There's a number of people around new orleans who invited me to a real backyard authentic crawfish boil And I really really want to go but given the current situation probably still not good to be around a group of people. So Uh, here I am. That's uh, sider seafood haven't been here before but heard good things. This is my appetizer It's called a volcano and this thing is pretty crazy. It's an upside down taco shell covered in here crab meat Cheese sesame seeds some kind of dressing and then on the bottom you have these beautiful slices of seared tuna i'm thinking just Break this down and kind of make a little combination platter out of this. Wow Oh my gosh, there's crab meat in here as well inside the volcano. That must have been a sacrifice, you know before it erupted Oh, there's shrimp as well. This is like the most elaborate seafood salad That's pretty good salad. I mean, it's mainly just crab and tuna and shrimp So a big emphasis on the seafood part of the seafood salad, which I got no problems with Tuna is good. Shrimp is nice and plump. You're definitely getting a lot of seafood with this salad My crawfish is ready Of course you get your crawfish boil by the pounds So right now it's $4.99 a pound and to eat this pretty simple twist the tail comes right off suck the head Oh, that's delicious twist the tail the nasty stuff comes out you can pretty much just suck the meat out That's so good anytime i'm here never have a bad crawfish session I was actually gonna eat a crawfish in lafayette just didn't have enough time. But these oh my goodness Oh, this is a good one. Look at it I always contend flavor wise The head is the best part really where all the flavors reside. You see that right in there that that yellow stuff That's the miso Oh, yeah, that's good this place right here. The crawfish is spicy after about 10 of them I'm starting to feel my tongue burn and it comes with a great burst of citrus flavor Because they added all these orange peels when they're boiling the crawfish and I didn't really used to like eating crawfish I think the first time I really enjoyed it was my last time here in new orleans because folks here are serious about their Spices and they're serious about the heat. I don't even think you get to choose like a non-spicy version of this It's always just gonna be spicy The other thing I love about this is that i'm eating like a five pound plate right now Don't be intimidated by this because these crawfish, you know, it's not that much meat But after eating a big plate like this, you do feel a sense of accomplishment great scent from the garlic Look at this. Look at this. It's basically chili oil like natural chili oil formed from the crawfish Also, you get a sense that this is really not a touristy place Everyone that's sitting down right now. It looks like they're just going on a lunch break I said this last time I was here and i'll double down on a cajun country louisiana best most unique most Flavorful native local food you'll find in the country. This is the kind of stuff you won't get anywhere else I mean you can go to a crawfish boil in new york and whatever Your crawfish is frozen. It costs like 12 a pound This stuff goes from a fishing boat to the restaurant every single day and then it's on your table 4.99 a pound Oh, this is so cool. They just sent me out. This is the totem pole Look at this soft shell crab in between a couple fried eggplant pieces I'm, not exactly sure how to even begin to eat this shine crab cake sitting on top Of a soft shell crab i'll take a little break from my crawfish and eat a totem pole 100 come and get this. This is bomb As the kids will say nowadays Super crunchy soft shell crab. This is your first crunch. The second subtle crunch is from the eggplant and just put this all together This is ridiculously good i'm so glad they brought this over because this is not something I ordered I would have missed out on telling you guys how good this is. So you might have missed out But no, none of us would miss out. Oh, this is so good There's a layer of cheesy creamy sauce on the bottom too. Oh my gosh I'm, like totally negating my crawfish right now whole ginormous soft shell crab. Look at all that great tamale so this is what my plate of crawfish looks like now and See I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Oh, thanks. Thanks Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I feel like I did something useful today My hands are a little raw tongues on fire, but That's a good feeling Yeah feeling good. That's all that matters. It's just so real to eat that much crawfish and get your check Which is only 20 something dollars. Oh, by the way, if you're gonna do this next time get something like a poncho I got crawfish guts all over me. Although I smell pretty good After a huge seafood breakfast and five pounds of crawfish, I know what everyone's thinking There's really only one thing to do after all that Go get a po' boy. Okay. Can I get one six-inch shrimp and one six-inch roast beef? This way I get best of both worlds. I've been hearing good things about this place for so long. Whoa Whoa, whoa. Whoa. Whoa This is a six-inch either this place is awesome where Subway's been lying to me my whole life. This is two six-inch subs What these are extremely big and heavy and hefty and it's just Making me so happy right now. So I got the two most popular po' boys The first is the fried shrimp feel like i'm rolling out like a red carpet right now There it is fully loaded fried shrimp po' boy Definitely not a six inch. It's way bigger than that. Oh my gosh. Look at this It's loaded with fried shrimp tomatoes lettuce mayonnaise pickles as well. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness Please do yourselves a favor when you're in new orleans come and try this words Won't do this justice I will try first of all, this thing is loaded with fried shrimp. You're not just tasting the batter Look how big and plump and juicy the shrimp is Shrimp itself is so juicy. It's seasoned perfectly crunchy outer shell just Accented by the sweet tomato the sour crunchy pickles and this bread. Oh my god this bread Please come and try this One bite I can feel my heart start to race and that's not just because i'm eating fried food There's real emotions here. I've had a lot of roast beef sandwiches in my life I'm sure you've had a lot of roast beef sandwiches in your life. Have you seen roast beef this Freaking juicy before. Okay, so the bread is just loaded I mean they needed a forklift to lift all this meat onto this bread. This is gonna be a messy one Hang on a second. Sorry. I need a I bit into it I chewed it. I took multiple bites. I still can't believe how tender that beef is. This is the most fall apart Melt in your mouth tender cuts of beef maybe to ever make an appearance inside a roast beef sandwich It's a bite you never want to end gravy soaked into this delicious Chewy loaf of bread. I had a piece in my mouth and just because of gravity the rest of it just fell into the wrapper But this is one of my favorite cities to visit not just because of the food because of the haunted houses, too You know like everywhere Take a little break with some affogato It's a cool little place. They got like six different flavors of avocado one of the most popular desserts in new orleans for nola Every time I say nola to someone people always ask me. What's nola? Banana foster is one of the most popular Desserts in new orleans and this is in an affogato That's delicious so I started loving affogato when I was hosting this Ice cream show for complex and I did this episode with jada that was like dream come true And she told me italians would eat just like every single day in the afternoon as a pick-me-up So I started doing that i'm not a big coffee person but coffee with ice cream that I like So these Hopefully are the bayonets i've been looking for. I just want to say first of all These are flaky and the middle is emptied out and they shoved pralines in there powdered sugar Of course on top I predict get ready for some crunch Wow Mind-blowingly good. It's so flaky on the outside. It tastes like a little crispy croissant on the outside inside It's just warm and flaky and sweet with this deliciously buttery like a praline cream Do yourselves a favor come here and get these things It just tastes like a warm loving hug. So incredibly light and again that subtle crunch. Listen, listen, listen That just tastes like a gentle lullaby Three easily down and I wish I had some more Cannot leave new orleans without some grilled oysters and barbecue shrimp. This is the most outrageous plate of grilled oysters I've ever seen there is something just fundamentally unholy or extremely heavenly about this garlic parsley cheese Bubbling on these fresh oysters and look at this Crazy looking garlic bread and this is my barbecue shrimp You guys do this differently than most other people. Usually you get barbecue shrimp It's you got a side of baguette. This thing is they dug a hole in the baguette and they put the shrimp in good god Oh my god It's like making out with the flames When you take a bite of this, I can't believe I've never been to this place before a little lemon juice as well Juicy plump oysters grilled to absolute freaking perfection as cheesy as garlicky I found a pearl. There it is. Can I can I pay off this meal with this? That's a hundred thousand dollars Oh, yeah, at least a hundred thousand dollars I'm done with this little youtube thing this Retiring off this dip the baguette into that great butter Heck to the yes Wow These are delicious grilled oysters Just be careful when you bite Because you get a pearl yourself It can retire like me barbecue shrimp again. Never had it like this before sauce everything inside this bread bolt Oh, that's so good. Oh, man, I don't even know what i'd like more just shrimp with a sauce This thing is so rich and buttery. But at the same time, it's not overly anything. So you just like continue to want more of it That sauce is amazing. This is a great place I feel like this time in new orleans been to like a lot of new places. I've never been before and each one of them just Shined so much just outstanding places. I went to this time Great food, you know million dollar pearl not a bad day in new orleans I'm gonna pass this down to my kid. All right, get ready for the mike chen ghost tour of new orleans Abbreviated edition because i'm not walking up much. So the first place i'm going to is called the andrew jackson hotel Which is down the street over yonder i've actually been uh thinking whether I should have done this ghost tour because my check for the oyster place came out to be exactly 48 dollars and 48 cents. Now if you're chinese, uh, you know why that's bad and chinese is So, yeah, that was my check and now i'm going on a ghost tour I don't make the best decisions in life. That is the infamous hotel Of andrew jackson, you know what though? Like there's a bunch of hotels on this road one looking more haunted than the next i'm sure all these ghosts love every one of these Places like seriously, look at this 905 royal hotel. Even the sign looks haunted, but this is it the andrew jackson hotel so originally it was built in the 18th century and that was when like yellow fever were sweeping through new orleans and a lot of People were dying so they needed a boarding school for all the kids who were left without parents Of course yellow fever means something completely different nowadays anyway, so this place was originally a boarding school and apparently a fire swept through new orleans in the 1890s and this place burned down and some of the kids died in the fire and the ghost of those kids are said to haunt the hotel to this day, especially In room 208 like one guy woke up his tv was on He swore he turned it off before he went to bed And when he got up and looked over at the tv A boy was sitting there watching the television. I don't know how a boy from like, you know, the 1800s know how to operate a remote i'm not I don't know but that's what happened when he screamed of course The boy disappeared. There's also sounds of giggling Um, I think somebody got pushed out of their bed and besides the ghost of the boys There's also a ghost of an innkeeper. There's the ghost of apparently andrew jackson as well But even just looking at this, you know something going on in there So i've been standing out here for like 10 minutes or so I've been waiting for uh, maybe someone to come out of the hotel so I could perhaps get a personal Interview of if they felt any chills or experiences in there But no one has come out at least no one that I could see so i'm gonna head out to the next location The next place we're going to oh right here. I was walking underneath it without even realizing. This is the infamous lilory Mansion This is not only one of the most haunted buildings in new orleans one of the most haunted buildings in the country So story goes there was this woman called delphine lilory and she was basically Tormenting and killing her servants in the house torturing them to death Until eventually people found out because one of one of the people she was torturing escaped and jumped off the balcony Attracting attention and the police went in but she somehow escaped and was never seen again And to this day people who lived in there they hear footsteps they hear screams moans Nicholas k.jong the one so that just kind of added to the curse. But yeah, there it is This kind of exudes creepiness All right. Anyway that concludes the mike chen ghost tour of new orleans the only edition See in this video I was able to put food and scary story in at the same time Anyway, the wind's picking up the clouds gathering. It should be raining Soon, so i'm gonna go back to my hotel hit the gym and uh Leaving for atlanta tomorrow morning Hope you all enjoyed this food tour of cajun country as much as I loved eating it as always I'll place a win to list it down below for you. Thank you all so much for watching until we eat again See you later