Visit The French Quarter Without Leaving Cherry St. BY: TIM LANDES
A
h yes, the month of March. It’s one of the best months of the year. College basketball goes mad. People wear green and drink matching stale beer for a day. Baseballs are being thrown around parks across America. But before all that we try to party like our brothers and sisters in the Big Easy on Fat Tuesday, which is the culmination of Mardi Gras. This year, Tulsans can celebrate by doing lunch or dinner at Nola’s located at the corner of 15th and Peoria. For them it will be business as usual. If you’re reading this before March 5, you might still have time to make an evening reservation. This is a monthly magazine, which means it will be available long after Fat Tuesday, and that’s cool because you can still celebrate New Orleans culture any time by enjoying a sazerac or hurricane with a po boy or gumbo at Nola’s. It was a cold dreary February Friday afternoon when I visited with Nola’s staff over lunch inside the restaurant’s Prohibition Room, which is often used for private dining events of up to 50 people. A collection of antique liquor bottles are displayed in the walls. The 24 CRAFT MAGAZINE OK | MARCH 2019
room has a dark, warm intimate feeling. To get there I had to go down stairs from the entrance and walk through the main dining area. It was as if I was transported to a French Quarter restaurant rich with tradition. “Everybody is blown away the first time they come in here,” says Emilia Hudson, who is is the private events and catering manager. “They always say they feel like they’re stepping back in time.” I ordered a bowl of crawfish gumbo, a side of red beans and rice, and a pair of crab cakes. I went with my gut. And I love gumbo. I didn’t even open a menu. While I waited for lunch, Hudson discussed the wide variety of options you’d expect to find in a restaurant of its kind. She talked me through a culinary journey that included everything from crawfish, oysters and turtle soup to baguettes then on to pastas, steaks and then to the beignets before finally gushing about their bread pudding. Hudson noted many recipes came from owner Brett Rehorn’s previous popular Tulsa Cajun endeavor: Bourbon Street Cafe.