Mena's Palace Cafe in the French Quarter

OK in the last few weeks I have gone into the Quarter and overdone it in terms of walking. I have a heel spur, as well as having to deal with the "pristine" condition of the sidewalks, I have left myself in a very painful condition on a few occasions. So I was try to go easy, like the BIG EASY. So I strolled up Canal trying to figure out what to have for breakfast.

I know, I had seen this place that was obviously very popular on Iberville, down a few blocks from Deanie's. I remembered it was on the corner somewhere. After a bit of a look 'round, I saw it... Mena's Palace Cafe. It's not a flashy place, a little dark looking from the outside, but inside it has an old fashioned, homey feel to it, a nice little place to go read the paper and have a bit of breakfast. That's just what I did.

I was greeted by a lovely waitress name Anne Marie, who turns out to be from Northern Ireland (don't know how I picked up on that accent), she was very friendly and helpful. We talked about Irish music, which is one of my other passions, specifically the Uilleann Pipes. We also talked about "the Troubles" as well as Ireland being overrun by illegal immigrants very much as we are here in the States. The first part getting better and the last part getting worse.

Back to breakfast. I got the andouille omelette with grits and toast. Everything was great, I do like my grits to be salted and buttered, but some place don't do that. I hear some locales around the South where people actually put SUGAR in them. OK, butter, salt, pepper, cheese, possible andouille or other type of sausage, but SUGAR??? Save that for your oatmeal. I really enjoyed the omelette though, everything was tasty and served hot.

Between the ambiance, food, friendly service, and it's location, it is a great place for breakfast. They are also open for lunch, no dinner(or supper). I don't know about their lunch, but the guy down the street at the bookstore said they had great lunch. He was ordering a Po-Boy from Mena's as I was browsing his bookstore. I looked at the menu and it is full of great New Orleans specialties. I scanned it so you can see it HERE!

Mena's is located at 200 Chartres St. I am pretty sure it is the corner of Chartres and Iberville, just a block off Canal Street. If you want to call it is (504) 525-0217. If you are staying in the French Quarter is it an ideal place to order delivery to your hotel. Enjoy Mena's while visiting New Orleans.