This restaurant is located on Decatur Street not far from Jackson Square and the Café Du Monde.

Like so many spaces in New Orleans, this restaurant has a very small front space. But it has a large, long interior space, and even a courtyard.

I had just decided to walk around the French quarter, looking for a restaurant that I enjoyed it very much during my last visit in 2008. I was unsuccessful. And, now hungry, I began the long walk back to my hotel. My journey was interrupted by the sound of Irish music coming from the pub. I went in and ordered a Guinness, but found out that they were not serving any food. The bartender recommended the place next-door, Evangeline. The most impressive thing about Evangeline is the atmosphere. Wait staff in almost every New Orleans restaurant is very professional. The difference here was that the patronne was very attentive, and welcoming. By itself, this is wonderful. In this case, however, the spirit of the welcome carried over into every transaction of my entire visit.

I decided on a pasta dish, cold pasta Evangeline. This is a linguine served with an delicious olive oil, shrimp, of course, a few grape tomatoes, some mushrooms, and a few slices of Parmesan. It was a beautifully balanced meal, and the patronne was also able to guide me to a very nice Chardonnay to go with it.

There were not very many people in the place by that time of night. So it's not surprising that the waitstaff was able to talk with me and pay attention to my needs. I can't say what it would be like if they were very busy. All in all, I was very impressed with the sense of welcome, the sense of local spirit, and, of course, excellent excellent cooking.