airport gumbo: praline connection

Airport food is generally a black and depressing void in the culinary landscape, but some exceptions exist. One grows tired of pre-fab salads, warmed-over McDonalds fare, and stale bagel-wiches - but the New Orleans airport humanely provides an outpost of the Praline Connection, Frenchman Street's soul-food emporium. It's not fine-dining, but the availability of real Southern food in the airport context is a wonderful thing.



Collard greens with Crystal hot sauce on top. Salty, meaty, pot-likker infused, finely cut. I really enjoy these greens. Even more so in the airport with a bunch of rubes eating Subway sandwiches sitting all around me. Should have grabbed some cornbread to crumble up in these but you can't have it all.



File gumbo. The lady asked me if I wanted a gumbo crab. Oh hell yes, woman, I want me a gumbo crab, perhaps two or three. I messily devoured the gumbo crabs in the dining area, after taking roughly half a roll of paper towels with me: I may or may not have used pretty much all of them. I like the Connection's gumbo because it is funky and because it has Stuff in it, much of it difficult to identify. There's usually bone-in chicken, sausage, shrimp, and meat-bits in this particular gumbo. Zap it with some Crystal and you're good to go. I can think of few better calorie sources prior to a cross-country flight to somewhere far away from good New Orleans food.