St. Roch Market (New Orleans, LA)

St. Roch Market (New Orleans, Louisiana) – Originally constructed in the 1800s, St. Roch was an open air market for vendors. It eventually fell into disuse by the 1990s but was renovated into the modern food hall it is today in 2014. Today, they have a multitude of vendors and local goods inside. It’s near the Bywater/Marigny districts, which I guess you could say is the hipster area of the city. Also, St. Roch look’s small – but it’s bigger on the inside, like the TARDIS. 

After a long day spent walking around the French Quarter, everyone was starving. I did not make it very far into the walking tour (the heat got to me), but I was okay by the time it was lunch, thankfully! 

I really like the clean white columns and lines inside the building – it’s minimal but it does give it that open air feel. The vendors are lined up around the building and there are also local goods available to purchase, like jam, sauces, and wines. There was also a band playing in the middle of the market in the afternoon. 

Because everyone was #teamnosleep, coffee was definitely in order. Some of our group grabbed some iced coffee from this local coffee shop, Coast Roast Coffee, that has a couple of locations outside of St. Roch Market. It was that nice kick you needed in the afternoon to prevent from falling asleep – and we were on our last full day in town, so everyone was getting tired. They have that fancy drip coffee and their own roast for purchase. 

We had been eating a lot of Southern food, so it was nice to see a variety of different cuisines available. I’m not sure what compelled me to T2, but Asian street food sounded really good at that moment. I’ve never had baos, so I was happy to see that they had a variety of options so I wasn’t just stuck with pork, yay! I should’ve ordered two, but I was still feeling sensitive form the heat and didn’t want to take too big of a risk, lol. I ordered one of the Unleashed baos, which has roasted cage free chicken, house slaw, green onions, and sriracha aioli. And it was so good! I loved how thick and fluffy the buns were, the slaw provided the perfect crunch, and I wanted to soak up all of the aioli in each bite. In short, it was the perfect late afternoon lunch or snack!

My sister ordered from La Mezcla, mostly because a lot of the southern food options were pork based. I’m very happy to know that Mexican food is good in New Orleans! She ordered two Smoked Brisket Tacos with onions, cilantro, tomato, cotija cheese, and serrano peppers. That brisket was so tender and flavorful! Tacos also made me feel better – it felt like a little piece of the Bay. ❤

Well after all that food, I needed to end it with – what else? – dessert. There’s a bakery at one end of the market called Bittersweet Confections. I needed ice cream to cool down after being in the blazing heat, so I ordered the Black Ribbon, which was essentially chocolate chip. It was a great, classic flavor that was churned to be really creamy. 

If I ever come back to New Orleans, this would be one of the places I would want to return to. There’s just so many places to eat at and places to see, that I look forward to coming back some day!