EGGPLANT

Eggplant is the slice of life in many local dishes. At Vega Tapas Café, the Eggplant Napoleon presents baby eggplant layered with fresh mozzarella, arugula and oven-dried tomatoes, drizzled with sun-dried tomato and basil pestos. At Petunia's, it's eggplant for breakfast in the Eggs Melanzana dish featuring eggplant rounds breaded with Italian breadcrumbs and deep fried, covered with grilled tomato and grilled sliced ham, topped with homemade hollandaise and a shake of Parmesan. Byblos eggplant and crab cake appetizer comes lightly fried, topped with lump crabmeat and a creamy Parmesan sauce. Seither's Eggplant Harahan comes fried with stuffed crab in a seafood cream sauce. Austin's serves fried eggplant and sautéed shrimp drizzled with a Creole remoulade for their eggplant and shrimp Napoleon. Panasia offers a spicy eggplant dish of sautéed eggplant, mushrooms, bamboo, onions and bell pepper with basil. Thai Pot Authentic Thai Cuisine in Covington combines Thai eggplant with chicken, pork or beef, coconut milk, basil leaves, bamboo shoots and bell pepper.

The eggplant sandwich at Mona's is fried eggplant topped with onions, tomato, lettuce and feta cheese served on fresh sesame breed. Abita Brew Pub's Seafood Stuffed Eggplant Pireau is stuffed and baked eggplant topped with their shrimp herb cream sauce and comes with smashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables. The purple plant finds it way into pasta at Brick Oven Café in their rigatoni with eggplant that comes topped with a light, fresh marinara sauce and Parmesan cheese. Donnell's fried eggplant medallions are topped with a shrimp, tasso and sweet pepper cream served with angel hair pasta and vegetables. TeCoRo's Eggplant Plicato is paneed eggplant layered in a creamy sauce of sun dried tomatoes, artichoke, mushrooms and green onions topped with melted mozzarella cheese served over linguini pasta. Eggplant is baked with meat in the classic Greek dish Mousaka at Mr. Gyros in Matairie.

Harbor Seafood and Oyster Bar in Kenner puts eggplant front and center in their stuffed eggplant pirogue, which is a fried eggplant half stuffed with eggplant and crabmeat dressing, topped with crawfish cream sauce. Venezia's Eggplant Vatican is their own interpretation of a fried eggplant shell filled with crawfish and shrimp in a crabmeat cream sauce. Nasu Yaki is the Sake Café's version of baked eggplant. Jezz's Kitchen at Dorignac's Food Center offers seafood eggplant: eggplant combined with lump crabmeat, shrimp and crawfish tails. Coscino's Pizza cooks eggplant Parmesan with an old fashioned deck oven. The eggplant Napoleon at Anselmo's layers fried eggplant medallions with provolone cheese, mushroom and crawfish sauce atop angel hair pasta.