Hot dogs or turducken?

Open 24 hours a day

There is no more beautiful sight than Bud's Broiler, especially in the wee, small hours of the morning.  Located up by City Park, about a half hour from my humble abode by bicycle, this is the place that robbed me of my chance to meet President Obama.  I didn't really mind.  While I'm not a hamburger fan, Bud's serves a hot dog unlike any other in the Crescent City.  Cut in quarters with barbeque sauce on a hamburger bun, it a treat.

Not having any family in New Orleans we are looking for a place to have Thanksgiving dinner.  I figure Bud's is a good choice if they are open Thanksgiving Day.  I'll have to make a trip after work; their website doesn't say.

Not that I think a hot dog meal will go down well with the lady of the house.  She's got something else in mind....

That is what they call turducken in Louisiana.  It's quartered to we can gaze in awe at its glorious insides.  It is a stuffed chicken stuffed into a duck which is stuffed into a turkey.  All bones have been removed for convenience.  Traditional stuffing, or dressing as I would call it, consists of andouille sausage.  There is no mention of cranberries.

Thinking about it makes both my head and stomach hurt but I tend to be easy-going and I am not as strict a vegetarian as I used to be.  I do go to the Parkway Tavern after all and I have left it smelling like meat.

The food in New Orleans is like nothing else.  I've been mixing gumbo file (pronounced "fee-lay" I believe) in my soup.  It's ground sassafras leaves.  Oyster bars are more common than pizza joints if not exactly food on the hand.   You can buy a drink any our of the day and drink it on foot.  The Chinese food has never been what I expect.

I can't say that New England has the best Chinese restaurants overall, but there are enough people of Chinese descent that I assume the food is authentic.  I can't vouch for the all-you-can-eat buffets which would lead one to believe Chinese people eat whatever is put in front of them, but the eateries in Boston's Chinatown are very good.  I assume that because southern New England is bracketed by the Chinatowns in Boston and New York, there is a certain expectation in the hinterlands.  The food always seemed the same, excellent and as expected, in Pomfret, Conn. or Woonsocket, RI.  It's always a surprise in New Orleans.  It is like when I ordered Chinese food in Wewoka, OK.  Kinda weird.  Not bad, just weird and not like any Chinese food I've ever had before.

We're not having Chinese for Thanksgiving.  Maybe for X-mas.