Abita Tour 2.0 and Cochon

Even though my fingers were swollen and blistered from grabbing the grate in a successful attempt to save the hamburgers, and my liver was pissed that I drank that stiff rum and coke right before I went to sleep, I knew it was going to be a good Saturday. Why? The 4th greatest movie of all time was on- Jurassic Park. There’s nothing like waking up to a herd of Gallimimus or T-rex trying to eat your head off. I’m sure the neighbors thought I had a hangover from hell with all the racket radiating from the house (like the time our camper door was almost ripped off the hinges by a fellow dinosaur caller).

After a breakfast of Ranch smothered, day old Domino’s, I met up with the rest of the crew for Abita Tour 2.0 at the site of the previous night’s burn incident. The house looked like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters had exploded at a 6 year old birthday party that had been overrun by a bunch of 20 year old fraternity boys. In the mini marshmallow covered yard, an empty kiddie pool, and a deflated Saintsations moon jump laid next to a spent keg and an overturned beer pong table. After a quick assessment of the previous night’s events, we were finally able to gather the living and begin our trek across the world’s third longest bridge to the Abita brewery.

We barely made the start of the final tour of the day, and were greeted at the door with an empty plastic Abita cup and blue booties. I promptly made my way to the eternal fountain of Abita.

Since the free beer buffet, I mean tour, only lasts an hour, I pounded my first Andygator/Purplehaze mix like I was in the NOW Wolfpac. For the remainder of the tour, I stuck to the Abita Select. Select is Abita’s premium line of beers that is brewed in small batches and changes about every month. This month’s rendition of the draft only beer was the Double Kolsch. Abita took the golden colored, German style ale a step further by increasing the malts (and most importantly alcohol). After a few beers and quick tour of the brewery itself, our power hour was over.

Even though my stomach was full of beer, the leftover extra cheese pizza had worn off, and I was getting a little hungry. A pit stop into the Abita Brewpub, the former brewery, allowed us to down massive quantities of even more Abita (the last of this year’s Strawberry) and curb my hunger with one of their blue cheese burgers and sweet potato fries before we made our way back to the south shore.

After an afternoon power nap, I awoke hungry. Seriously, how the hell am I always hungry. I guess I could wake up to something worse. Luckily, Erin made surprise reservations for us for my birthday. The surprise was over when we passed under the 90 overpass on Tchoupitoulas and I saw this.

Cochon, Donald Link’s flagship restaurant, could be best described as a mix of down home Cajun and southern cooking. The rustic Cajun dining room imparted a very laid back and casual ambiance. The menu included a lot of true Cajun and southern dishes as well as a few New Orleans favorites (and no, New Orleans is not Cajun). After a quick glance over at the fried alligator, rabbit liver, boudin, pork cheeks, pork rinds, and fire baked oysters, I knew exactly what I wanted.

Smoked Rabbit and Cornbread Dumplings with Greens. The tender rabbit was surrounded by a bed of seasoned greens, and topped with cornbread dumplings that tasted similar to cornbread dressing that one of my mammaws would make. I cleaned the cast iron skillet and felt like I just finished eating Thanksgiving dinner, but I had to try some of Erin’s brisket.

Slow cooked in Cochon’s wood fired smoker, the taste of smoke resonated throughout the tender beef. The fatty layer that Erin left for me dissolved as soon as it hit my tongue. The juicy meat was accompanied by a southern barbecue staple- potato salad. Cochon spiced theirs up by adding horseradish. The spiciness of the potato salad, the heat of the open kitchen, and the humidity of the July night were finally getting to us. We didn’t even need to think twice about desert. Blueberry cobbler with creole cream cheese ice cream. My phone doesn't do well in low light.

We were going to hit the Magazine Street bars by the house after dinner, but Jimmy Buffet had different plans for us. Before we knew it, we had Zach Brown and Jimmy’s version of Free/Into the Mystic blaring out of my 8 year old, $25 Wal-Mart surround sound.

We felt a little weird dancing in our living room with Gatlin staring at us, but it really got awkward when we realized the blinds were open and everybody on Laurel Street got to see our performance, including Burge and Maddie. I guess we can just attribute that to the Abita Tour 2.0 and the pitchers of Lazy Magnolia Golden Honey Ale at Cochon. Unfortunately, we caught the end of the concert, but it warmed us up for the Starkville road trip to see Bill Cooke.