Desporte and Son's Seafood

Desporte and Son's Seafood is a diamond in the rough in Biloxi. This small restaurant/fish market is located in more of a residential area, away from the beach and casinos in town. If you want more of a local flavor, this is the place to check out. Desporte and Son's is a favorite among the people who live in Biloxi, and I can imagine they have a lot of "regulars". 

As you walk in the door the fish market is to the right, and the restaurant area is to the left. The menu is on the wall, and you order at the counter. I did not count, but there cannot be anymore than 8 tables inside. The menu reflects the local cuisine very well. They offer Po Boys, gumbo, crawfish etouffe, fried crab legs, alligator sausage, fried fish, and various seafood platters. The fish special seems to be the most popular choice. It is a daily special, and the type of fish changes day to day. Cameron and I both had the fish special (not sure what kind of fish) with potato salad, crawfish etouffe, and a side of remoulade. That plus a drink was only $7.95 per person. The meals are served to-go style in Styrofoam containers. 

Before Cameron came to Mississippi, I had never heard of crawfish etouffe. This dish is incredibly common down here, and rightfully so. It is delicious! There are different variations of etouffe, but it generally has a soup-like base made from a roux (flour and butter mixture), creole or bay seasonings, and chopped onions. Desporte and Son's etouffe had a little kick to it, but it was not overwhelmingly spicy. I did not really pick up an onion flavor, nor did I notice any in my etouffe. Other than a more then satisfying amount of crawfish, the etouffe contained mushrooms.The etouffe has the consistency of a thick chowder, and is served over white rice. 

Remoulade is another food I had never heard of before coming to Mississippi. It is what some places in the South use instead of tartar sauce. Remoulade also has different variations. It commonly contains horseradish and paprika and is mayonnaise-based. I am not a huge fan of pickles, and rarely use tartar sauce. Remoulade on the other hand, is a great complement to fried fish! 

I did not look too closely at the fish market section of Desporte and Son's, but I did notice they had extremely fresh looking shrimp, and they will boil crawfish for you on site. If I was in the market for fresh seafood, I would definitely buy from Desporte and Son's. 

Desporte and Son's is located at 1075 Division Street in Biloxi, MS

Fish Market section

 

Restaurant Section

My meal!

If you want to make crawfish etouffe yourself, here is a recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/crawfish-etouffee-recipe/index.html

 

I chose Emeril Lagasse's recipe, because he features the dish at is restaurant NOLA, in New Orleans.

Tatonuts

For the next month, I am staying in Mississippi with Cameron while he finishes his class. Before I got here he told me about the nice gym and running track he has been using regularly, and how being here would be a good opportunity for us to both get in shape. I was/am completely on board with this. I have been considering running outside for a while, but have been procrastinating since August. Since October or so it has been conveniently getting increasingly colder in Maine, so I have had no problem not running outside. I will willingly admit that it being cold outside is an excellent excuse for me not to run. Before coming to Mississippi I have been doing body weight exercises and going on an exercise bike to stay somewhat active (I'm not completely lazy). Now that I am here, I am looking forward to having warm weather to run, and an exercise buddy to help motivate me.

So here I am, all excited to start eating better and exercising more. Then Cameron decides to take me to a local doughnut shop called The TatoNut, knowing full well I have a weakness for doughnuts. He told me about the place back in October or November, and I was pretty jealous that I was not there. I am extremely glad he took me there, but I do not know what he was thinking. Tatonuts makes the best doughnuts I have EVER had, and I have had a lot of doughnuts. I tried the plain glazed doughnut and the cinnamon sugar cake doughnut. Both were delicious. Again, I was too excited to eat to take pictures. It is my understanding that the dougnuts here are gluten-free and are made from potato flour. I intend to do a little more "research" on this and go back to Tatonuts. Often.

Cajun Christmas

This Christmas was a little out of the ordinary. I have always spent Christmas in Maine with my family, but this year my husband and I spent our Christmas in New Orleans. I love the feeling of Christmas in Maine; the cold weather, the snow, the lights, and just the overall cozy, magical feeling. I had no idea what to expect Christmas in New Orleans to be like, except that there would not be any snow, and that it would be warmer then the typical 20 or so degrees.

When we arrived at our hotel, (Hotel Monteleone), I got a little bit of the Christmasy vibe. The lobby was beautiful and featured a Christmas tree display. The hallways were lined with lights and decorations, and there were cute plants outside with red bows and lights on them. I will admit that I was a little nervous about staying at the Hotel Monteleone. My husband told me it was a beautiful, historic hotel in the heart of the French Quarter, but it also said to be haunted. I do not do well with haunted things, scary movies, etc. After huffing and puffing about not wanting to see a ghost I did some research on the hauntings. I did not learn much, just that floors 7 and 14 are where the most "paranomal activity" takes place. I was more than happy to be staying on the 8th floor. 
http://hotelmonteleone.com/

Shortly after settling into the room we went straight to Bourbon Street. I was bound and determined to try a Hurricane. Cameron had a place in mind, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar. The building was built in the 1700s and is said to be the oldest building in the U.S. to be used as a bar. We stayed there long enough for Cameron to finish his drink, but since you are allowed to have open containers on the street, I took mine to go. 
http://www.lafittesblacksmithshop.com/Homepage.html 

As a big-time food lover, one thing I was really looking forward to trying was the New Orleans French Reveillon dinner. There were a lot of restaurants that offered these meals, so it was not easy to choose where to go. We chose the Court of Two Sisters, partially because the courtyard was decorated with lights and caught our eye. My meal consisted of turtle soup au sherry, a salad with fried green tomatoes, lump crabmeat and shrimp remoulade, trout almondine, and egg nog creme brulee with a sugar cookie. I had no idea what to expect the turtle soup and fried green tomatoes to taste like, but I loved them both. For some reason I pictured the fried green tomatoes to basically be pan fried green cherry tomatoes. Instead, they were deep fried slices of green tomatoes (I was very pleasantly surprised). 
http://www.courtoftwosisters.com/?nav=home

We spent most of Christmas day exploring the French Quarter, and enjoying looking at the Christmas decorations. Cameron and I were both looking forward to eating as much Cajun food as possible while in New Orleans, so lunch time could not come soon enough. After looking at menu after menu trying where to decide to have lunch (when given several options I am a horrible decision maker) we finally decided on a place. I was glad we chose that restuarant, because I finally got to try crawfish and it was excellent! 

For Christmas dinner, we made the mistake of not making a dinner reservation. We failed miserably at our attempt to find a restaurant where we did not need a reservation or where we would not have to wait an hour. After searching around for about an hour and a half, we decided to do room service. Room service is one of my favorite parts of staying at a fancy hotel, so I was happy with the decision. When the food arrived, I was even happier. I had no choice but to eat my chocolate lava cake first, because I did not want the white chocolate gelato that it came with to melt. For my meal I ordered off of the appetizer menu. I had charbroiled shrimp and scallops with garlic Parmesan risotto. It was amazing.

The next morning, we had the breakfast that I had been not so patiently waiting for....beignets! A beignet is like a cross between a doughnut and a doughboy. As a lover of both, I am sure you can imagine my excitement. To get our beignet fix we went to Cafe du Monde, one of the most popular places to get beignets in New Orleans. The place was packed, and there was a long line outside, but we did not have to wait very long. The beignets were everything I had hoped for, and I cannot wait to eat them again!
http://www.cafedumonde.com/history.html 


Overall, I really enjoyed New Orleans. It did not really feel like Christmas at all, and it was busier than I expected, but it is a beautiful city full of history, and I look forward to going back. Below are a few pictures of the trip. I wish I had taken pictures of all of my meals, but I guess I was too excited to eat and was not thinking clearly. Sorry. 

Welcome!

Welcome to the FareForage blog! 

Fare: n. a range of food, especially of a particular type; the food and drink that are regularly served or consumed 
Forage: n. food for animals especially when taken by browsing or grazing; the act of foraging

In other words, the search for food. I created this blog, because I am constantly searching for things concerning food, whether it be new foods to try, current events, or to continue my knowledge in nutrition. This blog is my creative outlet to express my opinions on nutrition issues, give healthy eating and lifestyle tips, share recipes, post happenings of the nutrition world, and to share my love of food! By sharing my thoughts and ideas I hope to spark an interest in nutrition and healthy living onto others.