Down Like Cooter Brown

With the exception of having three fried oysters on my seafood plate when we went to Joey K's not long ago, until Sunday, I had yet to go out and have an oyster since moving to the Crescent City. A raw one I mean. Am I or am I not the only one here who thinks that's an absolute travesty? Show of hands.

So, when an awesome couple from Dustin's work asked us if we wanted to go bite some bivalves together, the answer was a resounding Yes! We had planned on going to a fancier oyster bar, but they were closed. Dustin and I were already en route, and when we found out we'd be meeting them at Cooter Brown's, I felt a bit overdressed. I mean, heels at a place named after the drunk from the Dukes of Hazard didn't exactly have me stoked (not as used to wearing them as much as I once was, I gotta pick my nights, ya know?). But the place turned out to be awesome. Having been a hang out and drunk-food haven for the college crowd for 20 years has definetly seasoned it well. And it's pretty dark in there, good for when you've been out throwing 'em back all night and your lipstick is smudged on your racoon-like face. They have a very impressive beer list, so if you choose to cut out the middle man and do your drinking and have your fourth meal all in the same place, you're good to go. We had a great time drinking Abita Mardis Gras (I am seriously going to cry when they stop making it after the season is over) and slurping down some ice cold shuckers. Don't order 4 dozen oysters if you're in a hurry, though, because it's not a fast order. But we didn't care, and enjoyed the atmosphere, the company, and the crazy Jets fan whom I thought was going to have a stroke (everything was great, except for the awesomely bad joke the guys played on me; I'm not telling, but you guys are going to h-e-double hockey sticks for real, just so you know! ;) ). I will offer a warning though for future patrons: Their horseradish is seriously not kidding and it will assault your sinuses like a fireball of sterno and fury. No matter how little we mixed with our ketchup, we couldn't get the ratio right, so finally decided to take teeny little pinches with our mini forks to add to the mouthfulls. Have a head cold? Go to Cooter's. For two pitchers of Mardis Gras, 2 Irish Car Bombs for the boys and 48 raw oysters, it came to $75. Having waited this long for oysters, I didn't even care.

After we left there, we weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet. So we went down to the Avenue. It was a quiet night, a bit rare from my experience, so in addition to the huge gin and tonics Al hooked us up with, we tasted a few of the local beers we hadn't yet tried. The Sweet Potato ale wasn't bad, but I've seen people order it and have to wait a while as the bartender has to wait for the head to go down to resume pulling. I'm personally not sure if it's worth all the effort. The Southern Pecan, however, was delicious. I don't like southern/buttered pecan flavored anything, but that stuff was good. We also tried something strawberry flavored (Dustin loved it, but if I want that much strawberry taste, I'll get a smoothie) and something with a white horse on it that started with a C. Hey.... After that much tasting, you might not remember either. I can't remember the tab, either, but I do remember it wasn't much for the drinks, the tastes, and the pint we each ordered afterwards.

After all that, I kinda wanted to go back to Cooter Brown's and have some cheese fries....