Eating In Translation

Royal Grocery & Deli

(This venue is closed.) After my day at JazzFest, the crawfish boil (offered here Friday through Sunday) found other takers to hunker down at the half-dozen tables inside. Mello Yello (12 fl. oz.; $1) was a mildly carbonated, slightly syrupy citrus soda that I'm sure I must have tried, years back.

On another occasion, at the window on the side street, a toasted coconut sno-ball (small; $1.75) was fine-grained, veering toward slushy. Lots of flavor; Royal Grocery layers its syrup the way better moviehouses add butter to popcorn.

Royal Grocery & Deli
801 Royal St., New Orleans
504-523-4716

Mini Mart

Big Easy beer (12 fl. oz.; $2.75), Marrero, Louisiana. Straw-colored with a foamy white head; lemony malt aroma with slight off-notes that became more apparent with the first sour, hopless mouthful.

Mini Mart
600 Canal St., New Orleans

Stuf Hapn Event Catering

This overstuffed crabmeat po-boy would have been a good deal at $5. As food stalls (but not Springsteen) prepared to call it a day, it was a steal at $3.

Stuf Hapn Event Catering
New Orleans
at JazzFest

Scales

Strawberry lemonade (large; $4) was more strawberry sweet than lemonade tart, and refreshingly so.

Scales
at JazzFest

Ledet & Louque

The top-loading pastry shell of this crawfish puff ($5) gave my plastic fork a rough go of it in the late afternoon. Crawfish, rice, and sauce were fine.

Ledet & Louque
Gramercy, Louisiana
at JazzFest

Fireman Mike's Kitchen

Alligator sauce piquante ($5) sported blackened, fatty, chewy, somewhat gamy chunks of meat in a peppery tomato broth (the "sauce piquante"). With white rice, mushrooms, celery, tomatoes.

Fireman Mike's Kitchen
Metarie, Louisiana
at JazzFest

Cool Brew

An iced café au lait ($5) was just that.

Cool Brew
at JazzFest

Cee Cee's Sno-Balls

In the heart of my finely shaved strawberry sno-ball (small; $2) was a hidey-hole for a half-can of condensed milk (50 cents more). Too much, man.

Cee Cee's Sno-Balls
Slidell, Louisiana
at JazzFest

AJ's Sno-Balls

Spearmint sno-ball (small; $2).

AJ's Sno-Balls
New Orleans
at JazzFest

Papa Ninety Catering

Boudin (one link; $3) is a loosely knit sausage of meat and rice that (in theory) you can squeeze through the nipped-off top like a FrozeFruit; here, the casing proved so thin that I didn't bother with such niceties, even at the possible cost of some style points.

Papa Ninety Catering
Belle Chasse, Louisiana
at JazzFest