The Couscous Chronicles

Upon entering Slim Goodies Diner, my buddy the good Doctor and I were greeted by a purple and gold clad waitress who greeted us with a pleasant smile and “welcome” and then looked past us shouting to no one in particular, “hey and no Buckeye fans are allowed here”!   I thought her comment appropriate given we were in the “city that care forgot” on the day the two biggest college football powerhouses were scheduled to square off in the BCS national championship.  And it was no surprise once the good Doctor and I were seated their was not a single person wearing the scarlet and gray of the OSU buckeyes.  Of course that was no concern to us, all we cared for was lining our stomachs with a good breakfast ahead of a planned day of libations and two tickets to the BCS National Championship.I love a food place with lots of character and warm friendly faces.  Slim Goodies on Magazine St. in New Orleans is just that kind of place.  Its also a place that has made a come back following Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita and was one of the first places open to feed the relief workers and folks returning to the city to re-build.  What you won’t find at Slim Goodies is pretension.  Instead you get a sort of kind of” “greasy spoon” with a lot of home cooking made with love and soul. Slim Goodies motto is “still cooking with love”.  Unfortunately my appetite was only worthy of a pecan waffle, but I must say it easily ranks in my top five of waffle houses.   Slim Goodies waffle is purely of a New Orleans/southern waffle pedigree.  That is don’t expect a thick Belgium type waffle that sticks to the roof of your mouth, no this is more on the lines of what you find at a Waffle House, which by the way they are one of the only chains with waffles I love.  Yes the Slim Goodies waffle is a thin waffle that is light enough to float off your plate but good enough to soothe and satisfy the palate as this one did for me for the remainder of the day until I had a cup of tail gate Jambalaya at about 2pm.  And it was at approximately 2pm that the good Doctor and I found ourselves in the largest Tiger tail gate on Poydras street across from the Superdome. Here next to a large purple and gold painted school bus conversion we picked up our tickets from several of the good Doctors Interns and of course we partook of the libations and entertainment at this satisfying venue for the rest of the afternoon.  The school bus was something out of the Animal House movie replete with large flat screen TVs and dancer poles inside and a DJ sound system and large flat screen mounted to the outside.  There were plenty  of kegs and hot and spicy jambalaya.  I felt like I had died and gone to Tiger heaven!The link below sums up what it means to be an LSU Fan all in one pint sized Tiger tike named Anna.  You gotta love it…Geaux Tigers!LSU NECK Anna Style (as in the LSU Tiger band playing Cameo’s “Talking out the side of your neck”) <