209 Bourbon St. (French Quarter) 504.525.2021. Credit Cards. Closed Monday. Tuesday through Saturday: 11am to 'til. Sunday: 11:30am to 'til. Delusion and a new credit card are your passports to Galatoire's, one of our favorite restaurants in New Orleans. Expensive, completely ridiculous, contradictory, backward, over the top -- it's all the things we love and hate about New Orleans rolled into one drunken, creamy sauce. Tradition says that men wear jackets (and ties) and women wear fancy dresses. Tradition also calls for getting very drunk. Drunkenness is achieved with a three pronged strategy: One, a "no reservation" policy that keeps scores of people waiting (and drinking) at the upstairs bar. (They do take reservations for the second floor dining room where -- tradition states -- no one wants to eat.) Two, drinks are relatively cheap for fine dining ($6.50 or so). Three, cocktails are poured with the delicacy of a wrecking ball. On a recent visit a friend was served a tub of tequila that lasted the whole three hour lunch. Yes, three hours. Tables are not turned at Galatoire's, they are squatted -- for hours -- used as home base for a manic, rolling, table-hopping party. Laughing, drinking, carousing with high pitched theatricality, the regulars (white shoe lawyers and jobless upper-crusters) treat Galatoire's like their own private club. Depending on your mood and your intake of whiskey and your views on social justice this can seem amusing or stupid or a combination of the two. We find the passion for drinking and socializing admirable, but try to stay away from Galatoire's on Fridays when the restaurant becomes Galatoire's concentrate, overflowing with women in silly hats, men in bow ties and waits that push the three hour mark. Our favorite time to go (out of the one or two times we visit in a year) is on Sunday afternoon, after the brunch crowd has left and the bright, white tiled dining room becomes a little slow and wistful and you can feel the faded joy of a city that has no business celebrating this hard. Service is incredibly warm and casual. Food is hit or miss. The Creole menu hasn't changed much over the last 100 or so years. We love anything that has crab meat and heavy sauce. The appetizer sampler is a real treat. Cafe Brulot.
