This past weekend, I had the privilege of eating at the Velvet Cactus, a hot, new Mexican restaurant on Harrison Avenue in Lakeview. If you’re entertaining the idea of going, I have a few recommendations. The first is car pool; there is absolutely nowhere to park. Apparently, they thought twelve spots would be enough for a restaurant with 35 tables and an open air bar and patio. A few less palm trees and a few more parking spaces would be appreciated. I had to park in a faded handicapped space in front of a building located behind the dumpsters of the restaurant.
Secondly you should arrive somewhere between one to two hours before you think you’ll be hungry. It takes anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour to sit depending on how many people are in your party. They have giant fans outside, so at least you don’t have to sweat while you wait.
During my last visit, I waited over an hour for a party of eight. That same night, I utilized my mandatory ‘free time’ and took in the place a bit. It had a medium to small size open-air bar with two flat screen TVs, pretty good margaritas, and a mob of people four rows deep all attempting to order them. You might as well take your time ordering because you’ll have a lot of it. However, there is some eye candy there which serves as a minor distraction from the wait. The patio had nine tables reserved for bar service only and about fifteen other tables reserved for full service. There were small trees lining the middle of the patio and a fountain with the water spewing out of tequila bottles against the wall backing up the parking lot.
Once you are finally seated, you’ll notice that contrary to all other Mexican restaurants the salsa is served hot. I don’t know whether it grew on me or if by the time I sat I was so hungry I didn’t care what I was eating but it’s different to say the least. A good alternative to the salsa is the “dip trio”, a combination of bean dip, queso blanco, and guacamole. Not being a huge bean dip fan myself, it was surprisingly good and the queso blanco and guacamole were also up to par. You’ll encounter another twenty five or thirty minute wait from the time you order and it’s almost inevitable that you’ll fill up on chips before it gets there. If you somehow defy fate, the quesadillas are decent, the fajitas are pretty good, but how do you mess those up? and the first and last bite of the burritos consists of mainly tortilla but otherwise they are pretty fat and pretty tasty.
All in all the Velvet Cactus has it going on; decent food, an overflowing crowd, and a long wait. If you do find yourself there, I suggest you wear comfortable shoes and forget your watch at home because checking the time is not part of the art of waiting.
917 Harrison Ave., New Orleans, LA 70124
504-301-2083
http://thevelvetcactus.com
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Lawrence Trunk is a native New Orleanian. He attended St. Martin’s Episcopal School and is currently entering his junior year at Spring Hill College. He first became interested in creative writing his senior year of high school and he credits his English teacher, Jessica Deckard, for sparkling that interest.
