The Velvet Cactus, New Orleans, LA Report #363

This is one of those places that you go to and wonder why you haven’t been there in so long. I love the place. If you miss their sign and you’re looking for the restaurant, the second picture is about all you’ll see. It’s tucked in under a bunch of trees of pretty much invisible.

There’s a lot more seating for outside dining than inside. And even if you sit inside, which we did, you pretty much feel like you’re outside with the big garage type doors open. Today was a beautiful day for it.

Once you sit down you’re greeted by a bottle of hand sanitizer and one of those things to scan with the reader on your smartphone to see the menu. No paper menus due to the pandemic. Once scanned, the following menu pops up.

We decided on the Dip Trio, Crawfish Banditos, Taco Plate and the combination Enchiladas plate.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE FOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The service was unbelievable! As our waiter was taking our order he was typing it into a little handheld computer tablet thing. Before he was finished, the Dip Trio came out! And it’s not like he was slow, like a mental patient or something. They were just that efficient!

They start you off with chips and salsa, of course. The chips were very fresh, and thick. You need that to stand up to dips. And the salsa was incredible. I hate watery salsas. I had to take an extra picture to show how a chip could easily stand up in the least chunky part of it.

The Dip Trio was outstanding. Good guac, queso and refried beans.

The Crawfish Banditos are a must get appetizer as far as I’m concerned. Or you could make a meal out of them! They’re like crawfish and cheese Chimichangas. Very good.

My dinning partner got the Deep South (fried chicken strips) and The Gringo (ground beef) tacos on her taco plate. She had soft four tortillas with the chicken one and hard corn shell for the beef. Her sides were the Mexican Street Corn on the cob and yellow rice. She said everything was utterly delicious!

I had the Combination Enchilada plate. I chose a cheese, smoked brisket and shrimp enchilada, along with yellow rice and Chipotle cheese grits as my sides. Same with my entrée . Everything was utterly delicious, but I’ve got to give special mention to that smoked brisket enchilada. The beef was ridiculously tender, and it had a fantastic smoky flavor. What you’d expect in the best BBQ joint. Seriously yummy!

I highly recommend this place to scratch your Mexican food itch!

6300 Argonne Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70124 Ph: 504-301-2083

Blaine 3-7-2021

SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT:

Back today for lunch. And a delicious one it was! We ordered:

***** THE FOOD *****

I’m happy to report the Crawfish Banditos are still utterly delicious!

The nachos are great. And a lot! You could make a meal out of these or share between a few people.

The shrimp and grits were fantastic. The grits were cooked perfectly and the grilled shrimp were really well seasoned.

Another great lunch here.

6300 Argonne Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70124 Ph: 504-301-2083

Blaine 4-23-2022