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I'm going to New Orleans for the 1st time in late May with Mrs. BEvans. We'll be there Friday night before Memorial Day and leaving morning of Memorial Day. Wondering about places to stay, good restaurants, sights not to miss.
I know we've got plenty of folks who are from down that way and/or have been there in the past, so hoping you'll share any tips--thanks.
Send a pm to Mick, he has the whole place staked out :). I will send here in a minute the name of a must restaurant, gotta find the name again
One that is a must, Mothers, great po boys.poydras St. About 2 blocks west of Canal and 2 or 3 blocks north of river front
Another is a Royal House Restaurant at z441 Royal St, same block as State Supreme Court, opposite side on the corner just east. Great fried shrimp, outstanding er banana foster cheesecake.
As soon as I can remember where we had the blackened redfish I will put it up.
There is a good Marriott downtown close to everything, wife and daughter and 2 granddaughters stay there every year
Very good Aquarium, WWII museum might be a must if you like history
Must hit the river front and fresh beignets at a Cafe de Mond
Dannie's, fried food, lots of it and boiled crawfish
Be careful where you walk, if you see a street with no one one it, don't go there
I saved this in my email, and it is several years old, but here's an old list of things to do, see, places to eat, etc. WARNING: This was pre-Katrina, so some of the places may no longer be around. I'll update it at some point, or check with my brother-in-law.
* French Quarter, in general
* Cafe Du Monde, for some cafe au lait.
* Jax Brewery, walk outside, look at Mississippi River
* Magazine Street, six miles of shopping, antiquing, restaurants
* New Orleans cemeteries? Be careful, can be very dangerous, but I think they're cool--miniature cities with streets, trees, and those above-ground burials.
* Uptown area in general around Tulane and Loyola, upper garden district, mansions and magnolias, Audubon Park, Audubon Zoo, Camellia Grill. Take the streetcar from downtown to get there via St. Charles Avenue.
* Restaurants in general. Some recommended ones:
Out of downtown (generally garden district)
-Commanders Palace, bring a jacket men, and dress up, lower garden district
-Delmonico's, same, on St. Charles, lower garden district
- Pascale's Manale, more informal, but the shrimp are a-waiting. (I'm allergic to shellfish, so count me out. But when I lived there, I wasn't)
-Casamento's, very informal, on Magazine Street, greatest oysters you'll ever eat, what fun place
-Upperline - terrific restaurant right off Magazine Street, great food
Downtown
-you name it, hard to go wrong
-K-Paul's, Chef Paul Prudhomme's, will have to share table with somebody you don't know, but isn't that fun?
-Galatoire's-upscale, great dining
-Brennan's (go there for breakfast, "Breakfast at Brennan's" is special). Upscale, too.
-Court of Two sisters - another one of those famous jazz brunch places, can't go wrong there either, another upscale one.
-Arnaud's - upscale, fine dining
-Antoine's-see above, rinse and repeat
-Mother's -- this one will get mixed reviews, I loved it, food reasonably priced, mixed crowd. VERY casual, might get bikers and businessmen, get your red beans and rice type food here, maybe a po-boy. Some don't like it and have heard mixed reviews on food. So many years ago since I lived there, but I never remembered getting a bad meal.
-Deanie's-like fried seafood, this is the place, and not too expensive. My favorite of non-famous restaurants
-Cafe Maspero-go there for a cold adult beverage and a muffaletta, or shrimp or oyster po-boy, can't go wrong there, casual
q. **Cafe Maspero. It's on the outskirts of the French Quarter, closer to the river (Decatur Street). Has great sandwiches (mufalettas, po-boys, etc.) Super place to enjoy a cold beverage (whether adult or non adult) of your choice and one of those kind of sandwiches you just can't get anywhere here in Birmingham.
2. **Central Grocery. Same type thing, line will probably be on the street. Also on Decatur Street. World famous mufalettas. Big one will run around $7, but it'll stuff you. I'd either go to Cafe Maspero or Central Grocery, but probably not both--although each is very good, they are similar in what they serve.
3. Mother's Restaurant. It's a "red beans and rice" kinda thing; the atmosphere is ...mixed. I personally wouldn't go there late, but it's a great place to get an authentic New Orleans family kinda meal at a great price. It's on Poydras Street.
4. The Fairmont Hotel is a place downtown in the CBD (Gravier Street) that is a nice blue chip hotel, but it has a "50's style lunch diner" in it. Unless things have changed in 17 years (my wife and I spent our wedding night there), it's a nice, old hotel with good atmosphere.
5. **Cafe du Monde (Decatur Street). You know about getting your beignets and coffee au lait here, but just thought I'd throw this in for completeness.
6. **Deanie's Seafoord (Iberville Street). We're more familiar with the one in Lakeview/Metairie, but it's a great place to go for New Orleans seafood; particularly fried seafood as I recall. Price was very reasonable, although not inexpensive.
7. **Camellia Grill (S. Carrollton Ave.) This one is NOT downtown, but is "uptown," toward Tulane and Loyola. You can take the streetcar (trolley) from downtown/CBD until it reaches S. Carrollton and get out there. Streetcar runs all the time. Superb hamburgers, desserts and "ice cream freezy," etc. . A true taste of "real New Orleans." White jacketed waiters in a diner atmosphere, at diner's prices. Late night this was a popular place for students to take a study break. Has won awards for "best burgers" in New Orleans before. Can get their "nutty waffles" (pecan waffles) or chili cheese omolettes (HUGE) in the morning for breakfast. This is going to sound stupid, but I would go to the bathroom there--requires you to walk through the kitchen to do so. Hey, it's New Orleans -- laissez faire, you know.
8. ** Port Of Call. Esplanade Ave. Another hamburger place; also city winner for "best burger." Hamburger, steak and pizza place.
9. ** Mama Rosa's. If you're in the mood for pizza, this one is great homemade pizza. My roommate and I used to get this at least once a week. Located on N. Rampart St. A few years ago, this pizza restaurant made the "top 10 pizza restaurants in the U.S." It's really good. Just like you're in the middle of Italy.
10. ** Cafe du Monde **. Yeah, everybody knows this -- but it's not just a tourist trap. Great inexpensive place to enjoy cafe au lait and beignets. Nothing special about the place, but great desserty-kinda thing, fun thing to do where you will see locals and tourists alike.
11. ** Pontchartrain Hotel ** and their "Mile High Pie." They have, or used to have, two restaurants--a casual place you could drop in, and a more formal one. It's lower garden district; a short streetcar ride up St. Charles from downtown. I used to live on St. Mary Street, which is a block plus from the Hotel.
If you're looking for family entertainment, here are a couple of highly recommended suggestions.
1. The Aquarium of the Americas. U.S. largest aquarium, has salt-water attractions, etc. A "don't miss" for families. Located on the river. Canal Street. The Aquarium also has an IMAX theater if you just want to get out of the heat.
2. If you can stand the heat, Audubon Zoo is a very good zoo with the entire zoo a "natural setting" for the animals. Has more than 1800 endangered or rare animals.
3, Just strolling in Jackson Square is entertaining. Street artists, street musicians, right behind the St. Louis Cathedral. Lot of quaint shops in the area.
4. Riverwalk (on the River, at Poydras Street). Nice indoor/outdoor mall type place with interesting and different shops, candy stores, etc. Also has restaurants there as well (can't remember any specifically. I'd grab my muffaletta from across the street and eat it on the river while watching the boats go by, myself, then go inside and browse.)
5. Tour the Louisiana Superdome year-round, I think. Interesting (and big) facility. I took the CPA exam in the Superdome in one of their large "banquet" rooms. I didn't think it was much of a banquet at the time. Poydras Street.
6. Louisiana State Museum, Chartres Street. This one everybody would like. It's a complex of 5 different "properties"--the Cabildo, Presbytere, Arsenal and the 1850 House on Jackson Square, in addition to the old U.S. Mint on Esplanade Avenue.
7. For the two of you, Nottoway Plantation is a spectacular old plantation, but it is in White Station, La, about an hour drive from downtown New Orleans. Used to be a restaurant where you could eat there as well, but (this is purely my wife's experience) it has been years ago. Served good "home-cooked" food when they did
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I think the couple that asked was asking about relatively inexpensive places to eat, etc. too, which is why it tended to lean toward that. For food, I'd also recommend breakfast at Brennan's, a spectacular breakfast brunch you should be close to, and Pascale's Manale -- it is uptown, rather than downtown, so that would require a drive/streetcar/etc., but it has great local music, or used to, and get the barbeque shrimp, which nobody can beat in New Orleans. Or, sadly, for those people like me who are allergic to shellfish now, their homemade lasagna is special, too.
There's a restaurant not far from downtown--can't remember the name of it--that has a circular dining room that rotates 360 degrees so you can view the city. It was built after my time there, and I've never been, so can't recommend it other than that. Might be something all of you enjoy, though.
By the way, don't let anybody tell you something is a "must do." There's far too much in New Orleans that you have to do anything. You can go there a dozen times, have a full calendar and experience, and never do the same thing twice.
Having said that, here's what I would do out of what I listed above. First, some background:
Uptown and upper garden district, are near Loyola and Tulane, all the way down St. Charles to Carrollton. Enjoy the streetcar ride from downtown to there if you want; then take it back downtown.
Uptown
Camellia Grill, uptown. Go to the bathroom. Get some nutty waffles or a burger.
Pascale's Manale, off Napoleon Ave., which intersects St. Charles. Eat some BBQ shrimp for me.
Downtown
Cafe du Monde. Beignets and chicory coffee.
Cafe Maspero OR Central Grocery; not both. Muffaletta and cold beer.
Mother's. Red beans and rice.
Jackson Square/Riverwalk. Scenery, walking.
French Quarter. Cause, ya gotta.
If you want to stop in between, lower garden district (I lived there for three years), you could stop in at the Pontchartrain Hotel for their mile high pie for dessert (on St. Charles Avenue, the streetcar line). Then get back on and go back to downtown for everything else.
Here's a map and a link to a decent travel guide to New Orleans, how to get around with the streetcar and bus.
http://wikitravel.org/upload/shared/...rleans_map.png
http://wikitravel.org/en/New_Orleans/Uptown
:confused0007:Quote:
Uptown
Camellia Grill, uptown. Go to the bathroom. Get some nutty waffles or a burger.
Pascale's Manale, off Napoleon Ave., which intersects St. Charles. Eat some BBQ shrimp for me.
Ask my son.....
The have an incredible aquarium.
Take the trolley to the Zoo. We enjoyed that quite a bit. Is a pleasant day.
The crawfish, (crawdad around here) etoufee at K-Paul's.
Nice night out for you and the Missus.
A bit off of Bourbon Street.
Ya gotta read above, my man.Quote:
Originally Posted by dan_bgblue
The walk to the bathroom takes you THROUGH the kitchen. Hey, it's New Orleans. Surely a walk to the bathroom through the kitchen is on the top of everyone's tourist list. :)
Kpauls is the great blackened redfish. Mick and I got there at closing and that meal tasted like it was one of the first out that night. Very good
If you like oysters, Dragos has a smokey, psrmession cheeses grilled oysters on the shell that they are famous for
You guys are awesome! Appreciate all the great tips.
One tried and true method, I have used it before, is (1) ask member's of this board for suggestions (thanks to blueboss and catonahottinroff, they come to mind for suggestions in Savannah, Grammy still goes on about the Pecan Crusted Fried Chicken at the Pirate House and I still have dreams over the pralines from the riverfront), and (2) is ask a local where they would go and take their special someone, their family, etc.
Went to Folly Beach, SC and asked the valet attendant at the place we were staying where he goes to unwind, have a couple of cold ones and crab-legs. Hooked us right up. I explained to him I didn't want the COC version, but where he would go.
Good luck to you, safe travels and enjoy!
I'll defer to all the great suggestions already posted, it's been pre-Katrina since I've been through there.
.....Pappy, my man, you cant believe the number of people that I've told about the Pirate House that still throw kudos out for the Pecan Chicken. We're off to just this side of Panama City this year, Seachase is the name of the condo, but I can't remember the actual name of the beach,but I'll be on the hunt for some fine eatery's to add to my recommendation list.
If you only have one meal out, make it Jazz Brunch at Commander's Palace. Book reservation early and ask for the Garden Room. Jazz band will come by your table and take requests. The helium filled balloons give the place a festive atmosphere. And the food...yes the food....is incredible. The menu changes, but always go for something with egg and seafood or egg and fish. The fish and seafood in New Orleans is just beyond compare.
I am partial to John Besh's Audubon Restaurant on Tchoupitoulas St. in the warehouse district. He is part of a new wave of New Orleans' restauranteurs. Also in the warehouse district is Emeril's. if you go to Emeri's make reservations now and ask for seating at the chef's counter. You can order a drink and watch all the entrees as they are prepared. I garontee the you will choose something different than you would by just picking from a menu.
Years ago I would never have recommended KPaul's, however, on a visit to NOLA a couple of years ago, I had the best piece of fish I have ever put in my mouth. It was delicate and blackened to perfection. What was more incredible was it was at 9:30 on a Sunday night a half hour before closing. That's not normally the hour you get the best food and service. Mine experience was incredible.
Picking up on Jazy's comment about Royal House. I would stop in there for a light mid-afternoon repast. Wait for seating on the upstairs balcony. Get coffee and dessert. The bananas foster cheesecake is out of this world. I can't begin to describe how good it is, but it is one of my very favorites and worth the drive to NOLA just to get some. Just order those two items.
As for sites. Well, just take the St. Charles Av streetcar. It is about a 45 min. trip to the end of the line. Get off right after the car turns onto Carrollton off of St. Charles and there is a place called the Camellia Grill which is great for lunch. You can take the return trip back downtown. St. Charles takes you past Lee Circle, through the Garden District and past the colleges. Near Tulane University is Audubon Park which is where the Zoo is located.
Also, in New Orleans you want to stroll or jog along the River Walk in the French Quarter. In NOLA you walk UP to the river. You will generally see a lot of river traffic.
The Westin Canal Place Hotel is one of my very favorites, but you might also spend some time looking on line at the boutique hotels in the Quarter. One I have stayed in and enjoyed is Maison Dupuy. Also Hotel Monteleone is outstanding It is the hotel the locals use for entertaining. Have fun!
Brian
Take Micks advice, period
Grrrr!!!! It's a streetcar. Not a trolley. Don't make that mistake in NOLA.Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc
One or two more thoughts. Before you go get a copy of Streetcar Named Desire or if you can find it watch the movie version with the Mrs. It will get you both in the mood for New Orleans.
Also you may wish to get off the streetcar at Napoleon Av and walk south, please not north, for about 6 or so blocks. The homes in this section were mostly build post Civil War. We rented a house in this neighborhood for Sec tournament several years ago and enjoyed the area. Napoleon generally separates Uptown from the Garden District. Also if you go to Commanders it is in the Garden Dist at Washington and Coliseum. You may want to plan on taking a brief walk after Sunday Brunch and look at some of the homes. Also you can take the St Charles car and get off at Washington and walk the couple of blocks to Coliseum.
I go to the big easy for work quite bit. Dragos oysters are an every time visit for me.
If you want something a little more decadent...this is what I'd really like to do to relive my "away from home/college (law school)" days, just for kicks. Wouldn't even have to drink anything. Much.
Head to Cooter Browns off Carrollton. First place I ever ate raw oysters. I had some liquid courage to spur this naive boy to eat those oysters the first time. I've only done it ten thousand times since then, but the first time I thought it was disgusting. That night, nothing would've been disgusting. Fortunately, I had good friends with me :).
Then head over to AT (Audubon Tavern) II's. Much the same. I know, I'd feel like the old, creepy guy watching all the college kids, but it would bring back some fond memories. Cheap. Decadent. Greasy. All the good stuff.
I doubt the Rathskeller is still on campus, but the dark, dingy place was perfect after intramural basketball games. I had to keep my roommate from headed to a night class falling down drunk off the $4 pitchers he drank before class one night. He still made it to school, to the bathroom right inside the door, where he threw up. Last I heard he was a prosecuting attorney in Brooklyn.
There was a bar on Broadway that I always said was "on" campus, but I guess technically, it wasn't on campus property, "The Boot." They used to have $0.10 draft beer. That was our "ballgame watching" place. My roommate and I would meet there before our legal philosophy class at night, too. It somehow helped that class to "drop some dimes" in the way we used to -- not too much, but just a couple at most, maybe one. OK, two.
I don't even know if these bars still exist, but headed home to the lower garden district, you might get off the streetcar at Fat Harry's. Fat Harry's was the first bar I ever went to in New Orleans. I rented a dump of an apartment my freshman year (I was 21, legal drinking age then 18), and the only thing was, two guys had rented the apartment for the summer, and there was a two or three week overlap. So they agreed to let me come in and sleep on the sofa until they were ready to move. They took me out the first night to Fat Harry's. The 3 guys--they were engineering students there from another school, for the summer--and I struck up a conversation with three girls we found there. Before long, I was in my full-out smooth pick-up line mode, where I was in law school (little did I know at the time how poor a line that was!), and asked them what year they were in school. They all 3 were juniors. In high school. Yeah, Fat Harry's didn't check I.D.'s much.
I skipped one bar that was a real dump (read--excellent hangout) off Carrollton, near Camellia Grill, too--Broadway Bar. Dump, smoky, couldn't breath, perfect bar for those days when that was just right.
Anyway, back down St. Charles toward the lower garden district, and I have two more bars to hit--Que Sera, which I am pretty sure is out of business, but did a booming business back then. Hit it every. Single. Wednesday. Afternoon. Every one. Why? They had 3-for-1 drink specials. You ordered 1 drink--they handed you 3. You had to be careful, because if you were there with friends, and accidentally ordered 2 or 3 drinks, you got 6 or 9. And I remember--barely--back in the day ordering 2, one for a friend, getting 6, and my friend disappearing. I won't go into any more details because I can't remember any.
For you high falutin' types, you can go to 4141 on the other side of Que Sera and Fat Harry's, and it's a little more upscale. Had drinks there after the Barrister's Brawl each year. Technically first place I ever took my wife. But I would skip it on this trail of decadence; just thought I'd mention it in my stream of consciousness.
Tipitina's is another one, off Napoleon, I should not forget to hit. It's more of a destination, music place, good bands kinda thing. Most of the others, well, you went to drink and "socialize." Tip's is a little more presentable, but not high falutin'. You'd enjoy it.
The final destination has to be Igor's, right around the corner from where I lived my last three years (St. Mary's Street, and later, Jackson Avenue). Igor's is a great place to go after 2 a.m. if you're hungry or dirty. Because it was a laundromat in addition to being a bar and a restaurant (of sorts). Their drink specials began at 4 or 5 a.m. Some scenes from The Pelican Brief were filmed there. You could drink, eat, wash clothes, and stumble home.
And be ready for class the next morning at 8.
Ahh, New Orleans. And I left out many, but those were the ones most commonly frequented by all of my drunkard friends. Thank goodness there was one of us that kept the rest of them in line.
Thanks so much to everybody for the incredible info. It's been invaluable as we plan our trip.
We're leaving on Wednesday. Staying overnight in Vicksburg--hoping to see some of the park either that evening or the next morning. Then on to Mangham, LA where my father-in-law grew up and Mrs. BEvans wants me to see the town and meet some family. Staying in Baton Rouge Thursday night, then doing some genealogy research there on Friday. I hope to get a chance to go in the Capitol Building and see some of LSU's campus.
Moving on to New Orleans Friday night. We're staying at a hotel about a block west of Canal at Carondolet, and we'll be there Saturday-Tuesday. Very excited.
Park at Vicksburg is good, interesting if you love Civil War history. When in BR, if you like Italian there is a really good restaurant there..about 3 blocks south of I-10 on College street, 1 block east of college st. Can't remember the name but anyone there can tell you. I know you turn left at a lite...there is a drugstore chain on right at the lite if I remember, restaurant on right. Local place. Ate there when we went to see Cats okay LSU in 2010. Ate there when I was a sales rep and traveled that area. As good as North End in Boston
^Good stuff, Jazy, thanks!
Brian, don't know where you are staying in Vicksburg but got 3 places to eat that were recommended
A good friend plays poker there every week and he said restaurant on third floor of Ameristar has good food, he loves the prime rib.
Also a local said Rustys on Washington St
Downtown...has good food..good crab cakes and fried green tomatoes.
Also Walnut Hill is good
Best wY to Vicksburg is down I-65 through Birmingham to I-20 thst will take you straight to Vicksburg. It splits with I-59 in Meridian, Ms. When you come in to Birmingham when you see the I-20 sign get in right lane right away, doesn't give you much notice or room. Same going back if you come through Miss to Ala. I-65 is a left lane exit going north and iX quick and one lane
My cell is 601-832-4397, would love to meet if you have time or if you need anything
That Italian restaurant is Geno's on Bennington
Just got back from our NOLA trip, and it was a lot of fun, thanks to the great recommendations here. (Jazy, sorry we couldn't meet in MS--we were late getting into Vicksburg and had to leave early the next day for Louisiana.)
Our hotel was the Hampton Inn, just a couple blocks west of Canal on Carondolet, which we learned is the same street as Bourbon, just west of Canal (and a lot tamer). So we were pretty well situated to visit Bourbon Street, Royal Street, take the Canal streetcar down to the river or take the St. Charles streetcar west to the Garden District (and beyond). I guess it was because it was a holiday weekend, but it seemed crowded for Saturday/Sunday, but was much less so Monday. Mrs. BEvans and I invited my MIL, who lived in Louisiana with her Louisiana husband/my late FIL for many years. She's in her 80s but has great energy and was a great traveling companion, willing to go anywhere and do anything.
Friday:
We arrived Friday evening and walked over to Felix's on Iberville & Bourbon and got some charbroiled oysters and a sampler of jambalaya, red beans & rice and crawfish etoufee. We had to wait outside for a few minutes, but we were serenaded by this cool brass band (the To Be Continued Brass Band, perhaps?) playing some rocking jazz while we waited. I ate some good meals on our trip, but this was probably the best. Highly recommend this old diner-style restaurant.
Saturday:
We rose early and walked down to Jackson Square, where we had the obligatory coffee & beignets at Cafe du Monde. Great atmosphere, great people watching, awesome food (a recurring comment!). Mrs. BEvans and I then took a walk along the riverfront down to the Aquarium and back, just enjoying the river view and breeze. We then walked down to French Market, visiting the shops and Farmer's Market. We walked around part of Jackson Square, visited St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo. What history! I love that they know where the city came from and work hard to keep that heritage.
On Jazy and Mick's recommendation we went to Royal House for a late lunch/early dinner. Unfortunately we couldn't get a balcony seating, but we did have the Bananas Foster cheesecake, and that's about the best dessert I've ever put in my mouth. Thanks guys for that one. Mrs. BEvans was ready to get her shopping on, so we visited the shops on Royal Street and caught some of the street acts, which were funny, talented, or both. We also got to see a couple of wedding parties parading down Royal Street accompanied by a band (second lines?)
We walked the MIL back to the hotel and then went down to Pat O'Brien's for the obligatory Hurricane and revelry with the piano bar. A good time was being had by all, and we did, too. We got in line for the show at Preservation Hall, but just missed the cut. Mrs. BEvans was pooped & didn't want to wait around for the next show, so that's one I'm sorry we missed. Definitely want to catch it next time. We walked back via Bourbon Street and it was an experience just to see all the revelry getting started. Completely different feel in the daytime vs. night.
Sunday:
I had tried to get reservations for Commander's Palace back in March, but unfortunately they were already booked, so on Darrell's recommendation we booked a reservation at Court of Two Sisters on Royal. That was definitely a highlight. The food was fantastic (had my first crawfish ever there--I'm now a fan!), but the courtyard setting with the intertwining vines providing an umbrella for the entire (large) courtyard and jazz ensemble playing: we couldn't have asked for a better atmosphere. Highly recommend.
After that we walked around the Historic New Orleans Museum next door: they had a Huey Long exhibit and my MIL wanted to see it because my late FIL's family had Long connections. It was really neat.
We then took the St. Charles streetcar and got off at the Washington Avenue stop and walked through the Garden District. We were following a self-guided tour plan Mrs. BEvans got out of a guide book she bought: we walked about a 12-block grid bounded by Washington Avenue on the west, First Street on the east, Prytania Street on the north and Camp Street on the south. We were all blown away by the beauty and history of the District and the homes (estates? palaces?) there. We started to look around Lafayette Cemetery but got there just a couple of minutes before it closed so we didn't see as much as we wanted. After spending the afternoon there, we rode back and had dinner at Acme Oyster House. Gumbo, more chargrilled oysters and adult beverages. Yum.
Monday:
Again we rose early and made our way down to Jackson Square for more Cafe du Monde and shopping at French Market. We tried to get into the 1850 House and were surprised to learn that Louisiana parks and museums are closed on federal holidays, so we missed that one. Also wanted to get into Central Grocery and have a muffuletta, but they're closed on Monday. We looked around Jackson Square some more and had a late lunch at a cafe close to French Market, where I did get a muffuletta, and loved the olive salad on it.
At this point the weather, which had been so great all weekend, turned bad--lots of storms that afternoon and evening. We had a dinner reservation at Emeril's but the consensus was we didn't want to brave the weather, so we went to Deanie's Seafood at the corner of Iberville and Dauphine. Really good fried seafood joint in a diner atmosphere. (Deanie's Tip: don't order the Giant Seafood Platter unless there's at least 4 of you who are eating on it. The 3 of us ate maybe half. We packed the rest for our trip home and ate 2 meals on the leftovers.)
So that's the trip report in a nutshell. Just a few of the things I wanted to do that we couldn't get to:
Preservation Hall
Music clubs on Frenchmen Street
WWII Museum
Audubon Park
1850 House
Cemetery Tour
The Presbytere
Harrah's Casino
Audubon Aquarium
Jax Brewery
Magazine Street
Commander's Palace
Drago's
Mother's
and so many others recommended by all of you.
I know I'm probably not saying anything those of you who have visited/lived there already know, but I was so impressed by the atmosphere and the people there. Everyone was unfailingly gracious and friendly, with just a couple of exceptions (notable only because of so many other people being so wonderful). Everyone, including the street people, called my MIL "Momma" in a friendly, respectful way and asked how she was, made sure she was making her way on and off the streetcars OK, etc. It was just a treat to be part of that, moreso than any big city I've visited.
We can't wait to go back. I'd love to see the SEC tournament return there, but apparently that isn't happening anytime soon. Oh, well--have to think about a trip back on our own.
Have you weighed yet:)
Let me know when you are ready for étouffée recipe, easy to fix
Not ready to face the music yet. I was just happy I didn't have to retreat a notch on my belt. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by jazyd
I'm not sure if I posted this before, but one of the very best visits to NOLA was when we were there last autumn for the LSU v. Kentucky football game. On Friday the 17th, we were having breakfast on Decatur. There was a loud commotion outside and our waiter let us know it was the "Half way to St. Patrick's Day Parade". He said it was a good time and we should join in the parade. We had other commitments, so we let it pass. A couple of hours later, we are standing outside Pat O'Briens and the same parade float with a very loud jam box was parked outside. We took a moment to watch the street dancing and were given a beer off of the float. Five or ten minutes later the float started to move. A guy grabbed me around the shoulder and told me to come along. Our whole group went. We stopped at every Irish bar in the quarter (at least 8 to 10 that we visited). At every bar we were given a beer. In one bar we got Jameson and Beer. And when the distance between bars was too long, they had coolers of beer to get us to the next Oasis. I mentioned to one of the guys hosting the parade that half way to St. Patrick's Day should have been Sept.17 not October 17. He said, "yeah, we know. It was just too hot that day, so we decided to move it." He said, "but you really need to come back for St. Patrick's Day." I replied, "how do I know you will hold it on St. Patrick's Day?" He said, "Don't worry. St. Patrick's Day starts March 10 and ends on the 19th." Now I've been known to tip a few, but 4 hours of hanging with these guys (mostly in their 70s), left me completely wasted.Quote:
Originally Posted by KSRBEvans
It's always good in New Orleans.
Jealous. Glad y'all had a great time. Hard not to.