Posts Tagged ‘catfish’
Middendorfs Review, New Orleans
I love this place. Been in regular attendance for the past two decades. They’ve had their share of troubles, flooded twice cause of storms, but they keep coming back, stronger and better than ever.
Caveat one: this is a New Orleans AREA restaurant, not in the city, it’s about a 30 minute drive north on I-55. It sits perched on the edge of Lake Maurepas, which in turn empties into Lake Ponchartrain. There’s a nice outdoor deck when the weather is nice, which it usually is.
Middendorfs, like a lot of area restaurants, serves tons of local seafood, prepared in all manners and styles, but deep fried is the New Orleans way; you can get giant combo platters of shrimp, oysters, fish, and crab. But most people go for a dish unique to the restaurant, deep fried catfish filets, but they’re cut lengthwise into paper thin slivers. Unique. Crispy. Tasty. Dinners come with fries, slaw and hush puppies. Never had any use for the latter, personally.
You can get a piece of beef or chicken if you insist, and there is an adequate ankle biter menu. You can get raw or BBQ oysters or delicious gumbos as a side or starter.
I only get here once every few years, and I hope they keep on and on. It’s my place for ‘cat’ in the New Orleans area. (Oh and they also serve them whole, bone-in, if you like it that way). I like to bring out of town company here. If I haven’t taken you, it’s because I hate you.
Middendorfs Review
Ponchatoula, LA – And Middendorfs Restaurant
About 40 miles north of New Orleans, Ponchatoula is a city of about 5,000 souls in Tangipahoa Parish. Established in the early 1800s as a logging camp, the town today is a regional commerce center for the Parish, and home to Louisiana’s second largest festival (after Mardi Gras), the Ponchatoula Strawberry Fest, which takes place in early April.
The town also describes itself as “the antique capital of America” and it does seem to have its fair share of shops of that ilk, and prices are very reasonable.
The local produce market sells a wide variety of products grown in the area, including the strawberries, along with preserves and various canned fruits and vegetables.
It’s worth a drive if you’re visiting the Crescent City, and enroute or on the way back, take in a meal at Middendorf’s, 10 miles south of Ponchatoula on I-55. Famous for crispy thin sliced strips of catfish, your lunch of dinner options include a wide variety of local seafood, steaks, and chicken. Start out with a cup of gumbo, turtle soup, or a dozen fresh oysters.
Louisiana seafood is fresher than nearly anything you’ve ever eaten, and enjoying it on the waterside dock overlooking a back bay of Lake Ponchatrain, at Middendorf’s makes it twice as tasty.
Middendorfs Restaurant
