It is hard to eat poorly in New Orleans as long as you stay away from fast food (much easier to find than in Paris). We got out of the French Quarter and more out into the neighborhoods of the city. Our server at the superb Gabrielle's in Uptown recommended Paladar 511. It's in the Marigny district. I had to look up the name. It's Spanish for palate or, in Cuba, an owner-operator restaurant. 511 is the street address. Oh wow.
I had my wonderful little Fujifilm X-T30 with me. It is black, small, and with a flip-out screen you can photograph people without being noticed. It was a young, hip scene.
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On Sunday night Mrs. C and I had dinner with our daughter and son in law. We wanted their advice on things to see and do in the place we're going this weekend, a location they have already visited (in no small part due to the wonderful help of one of our CDP colleagues). More about all of that by the weekend.
We wanted to try a newish restaurant in The Grove neighborhood with the odd name of Sanctuaria. Patrons don't get blasted with the Rolling Stones playing Gimme Shelter as they enter. Rather, it's an Americanized tapas place with a beautifully done, lightly applied, Mexican Day of the Dead (El Dia de los Muertos) theme. Very sophisticated. The food was excellent, the prices were moderate and the people were great. Definitely recommended.Things keep going round and round today on Downtown St. Louis 365. 
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If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Eating out in Manhattan can be a financial challenge. A very large gaggle of Crowes, Wilsons, Marks and assorted hangers-on went out to dinner last night at Piccolo Angolo, an Italian restaurant in the West Village. You can spend much more money on a meal in NYC but this place gets fabulous reviews from diners and it can be hard to get a table, especially a really long one. My brother-in-law's secretary's second cousin's nephew's godfather is the owner, or something like that. That opened doors but the transaction was to be in cash. We were happy. Just don't tell the IRS.
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Dvin is a tiny Eastern European restaurant in Webster Groves, the suburb where I live. A mother-daughter team owns the place, cooks the food and serves it. As one review puts it, in Slavic style the walls and tables are decorated within an inch of their lives. So my wife and I had dinner there recently and I'm sitting around waiting for the food with a point-n-shoot in my pocket looking for action. I kept looking at this salt and pepper set, an association barely under my consciousness radar. Then it hit me: cooling towers, a giant palm - a nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia.Locals: if you haven't been there you really should go. The food is delicious and inexpensive. They don't have a liquor license so bring your own wine - they will provide glasses. No need for reservations. We've never seen it full.WHAT'S ON IN STL TODAY: The Loop Ice Carnival. The Loop is a funky dining, shopping and entertainment strip crossing the border between St. Louis and University City. I think the carnival is an excuse for day-long cold-weather drinking and then taking sledgehammers to giant blocks of ice, just to see what happens to your shoulders.
TOMORROW: with luck, something from this event.
