I arrived in New Orleans last Friday, the 26th, at about 12:45pm. It was great to be back! I felt like I was home. While this could be because I was just there last month, I get the idea that New Orleans is the kind of place that feels like coming home even if you have been away from it for years. The great thing about going to a place a second time is that you are no longer a tourist, but a visitor.
Leaving the airport, I was overwhelmed by the heat! I knew it was going to be hot, but I was not ready for that blast of hot air. I mean, it was hotter than the Times Square subway station in mid-July. But you know what? You adjust. Because you're in New Orleans, and you're just happy to be there. We took a cab, which took quite awhile to cool down, to the Quarter. My friend and I checked into the Prince Conti hotel. Our room was ready, which was great since we did some unpacking & settling in. The room was very nice, two double beds for $150/night, clean, although the view of the alley was a bit disappointing! It didn't bother us enough to move, though. A hotel employee showed us our room, but he didn't take my bag!! Nor did my male traveling companion, come to think of it. (chivalry - hmmph). But seriously, no complaints on the staff - everyone was friendly and went out of their way to be helpful. One note, though: their website says they have a pool, and they DO NOT! When I challenged the gentleman at the front desk on this, he said we were more than welcome to use the pool at their sister hotel, the St. Marie, a couple blocks away.
Our first order of business was lunch. We went to the Napoleon House, where we shared a muffeletta in the beautiful courtyard. With the ceiling fans & the shade, it real wasn't that hot at all. The sandwich was great. I had a Pimm's cup as well which was very refreshing. My friend needed to buy some sandals, so we went to Canal Street after lunch. After trying Canal Place with no luck, we went to Riverwalk, where he found two pairs at a store there. I can't remember the name of it, since while he was trying on sandals, I was off at the big bar in the middle of the mall enjoying a frozen margarita. (I'm just not into malls). Afterwards, we just wandered around the Quarter some more. Back to the hotel to cool off before dinner.
I had made 9:30 reservations at Brigtsen's in the Uptown area. We took the St. Charles streetcar there, which I guess took close to 45 minutes. It was a nice ride, though - nice breeze which helped relieve some of the heat. The restaurant is in a residential area, in an old Victorian house - very nice. To start, I had a saute of crabmeat (huge chunks of crab) with popcorn rice, asparagus, and mushrooms. It was excellent. This was followed by paneed rabbit in a mustard sauce. I was a bit disappointed since the breading really masked the flavor of the rabbit. But the sides were great - ratatouille, vegetables, and the best mashed potatoes I ever tasted (please don't tell my mother I said this.) For dessert, I had the pecan pie in caramel sauce, which was wonderful. Our waitress was great - she wasn't a native, but had lived in New Orleans for 30 years, and was happy to impart some of her knowledge on us. Dinner for two with a bottle of wine (Rioja) with tax & tip was about $150.
Since we had an early flight, we were both pretty tired, and ended the night with a nightcap at the Bombay Club. I liked this place a lot - very "clubby" (as the name implies), nice piano music too - and attached to our hotel - can't beat that!
Saturday we had a late breakfast at Poppy's Grill. The food was good, but the service was soooo slow. Then it was off to Lafitte's to meet a fellow Rat, Mike from Alabama. What a cool place! I am convinced that no other place like this exists on earth! It looks like it's going to fall apart at any minute, people are singing & dancing, and just make eye contact with the bartender & he's pouring your next drink...And it's true what they say - these are the best hurricanes. But oh so dangerous. I was happy enough after two to stop & switch to beer, but my friend had a third and then something called a Voodoo, and probably would have kept on going except that I reminded him that it was physically impossible for me to carry him! Many hours and laughs later, we needed sustenance, and Mike (who lives in the Quarter part-time & is an expert) suggested po-boys from the Quarter Master, a few blocks away. I shared a tuna salad po-boy (Mike's recommendation) which was excellent. We popped into Mike's for a little while to check out his apartment (it was fun to see the inside of a house in the Quarter) and look at the pictures he just took with his digital camera...
We went back to our hotel to rest for awhile & had a late dinner at Irene's. This is a very popular & small Italian restaurant, so get there at off-hours to avoid long waits. The food was very good and reasonably priced (dinner for two with drinks was $75.00.) I started with a Caesar salad, and had soft-shell crabs over linguine as my main course. Service was excellent. By the time we were done with our entrees, the afternoon's "festivities" had caught up with us and we went to the hotel to crash for the night. I must be getting old...
Sunday morning, we went to the Presbytere to see the Mardi Gras exhibit. I highly recommend this - I learned a lot! The exhibit was very comprehensive - I couldn't believe how much "stuff" could be collected related to Mardi Gras. And the videos and interviews really make you feel like you've been there. We had 2:00 reservations at Mr. B's for brunch. I had the fixed-price menu which includes an appetizer & dessert for the price of an entree. I started with a potato & bacon soup and then on to the lobster ravioli in cream sauce. For dessert, I had a banana cream pie with whipped cream & white chocolate shavings -very decadent, and good. The jazz trio moves around since the restaurant is so big & loud, so we enjoyed them, but only for a few songs - it was impossible to hear them at the other end of the restaurant.
We had bought the discounted tickets to both the Presbytere & the Cabildo, so it was off to the Cabildo after brunch. I really liked the building itself. The exhibit was good - again, very comprehensive - all about Louisiana's history. When we came out of the museum, Doreen Ketchens and her band were just starting to play so we stayed & listened to them for about an hour. I bought another one of her CD's (picked one up last month which I listen to all the time). We went back to the hotel to take a break before dinner, and picked up a pina colada on the way.
We had 9:30 reservations at NOLA tonight. It was packed - lots of large parties & celebrations going on. I like the space here - funky is how I'd describe it. We waited about ten minutes, and rode up the exposed elevator to our table. We munched on some jalapeno corn bread while making our menu choices. I started with an endive salad with apples, toasted pistachios and apples in a creamy blue cheese dressing. For my main course, I had the shrimp & barbecued beef with sticky rice. Both dishes were excellent. The portions are HUGE here - we would have shared an appetizer had we known...for dessert, we shared an amazing chocolate peanut butter pie - very subtle, peanutty flavor. The wine list is pricey, but we found a reasonably priced Caymus (California) Sauvignon Blanc that was excellent. Dinner for two was about $150. Service was very attentive, but not overbearing.
After dinner, we went to Bourbon Street & "shopped" for clubs: stood outside & listened to the music to see if we liked it. We went into a place with a large courtyard called "Rhythms" to listen to a Blues band (the Blues Krewes, I think) who played a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughn. They closed at about 2:00am so we wandered around some more & ended up at an R&B place, and listened to another band. Bourbon Street never ceases to amaze me: bar after bar, music upon music, and people dancing in the street. A non-stop party.
Monday, I became ill. Now my stomach had been out of whack all week-end, (I have no idea why since I was fine when I was here last month) but in the wee hours of Monday morning, it pretty much told me that it had had enough. I was very sick & barely slept - this was no hangover... So our last day was spent with me trying to make the blandest food choices possible (not easy in NOLA) and alcohol-free. (incidentally discovering that you really don't have to drink to enjoy N'awlins.) We went to the Coffee Pot for a late breakfast where I had the lost bread - without syrup - probably not the wisest choice, but I just couldn't bring myself to order tea & dry toast!! My friend had the Eggs Sardou, which looked great. We went to Pirates Alley where I picked up "A Confederacy of Dunces" for a friend of mine who is coming here in a few weeks at the Faulkner House book shop. What a great little store - so nice to see an old-fashioned bookstore with all the Barnes & Nobles & Amazons out there....Afterwards, we went to the cafe next door, where we sipped Bloody Marys (my friend) & iced teas (me) for well over an hour....just enjoying the breeze & the lovely garden behind the cathedral & occasional people-watching. Next stop was at the French Market restaurant, where we sat outdoors upstairs, listening to the band playing at the French Market cafe across the street. We had asked when we walked in if we could sit outside & just have drinks - they said it was ok, and they meant it! We sat there for hours, just enjoying the music & the outdoors & watching some experts next to us eat crawfish(!) - it was hot, but by no means unbearable, and we were in the shade & there was a nice breeze. We went to the French Market next and then walked around that area. We passed by Le Richelieu and the Chateau Hotel, and I decided that I want to stay at one of these two places next time I'm here. I love this area - beautiful homes, so quiet & tucked away, yet close enough to everything. I think I would rather go to the action, rather than having the action right in my lap.
We went back to the hotel to rest, and headed to the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen later for dinner. While my stomach was holding up ok, I didn't think it was wise to eat pizza, but it did look great. My friend ordered the gumbo pizza (crawfish, shrimp, okra, sausage) which he enjoyed. I ordered some pocket bread (a flat pita-like bread, cooked in the oven with some olive oil & pesto) and some penne pasta with grilled chicken in a tomato sauce. It was good. Dinner for two with drinks was just under $50.
We had made reservations at the Snug Harbor Bistro in Marigny for Charmaine Neville's 11:00pm show ($10 cover). It was a short - and pretty deserted - walk from the Pizza Kitchen. We got a table in the back of the main room. Between the seating in the small main room & the tables upstairs overlooking the stage, there doesn't appear to be many bad seats in the house. Her band played a few songs initially and then Charmaine came out. I just loved her! What a fabulous voice she has - and she's very personable - you feel like you're one of her pals and she's singing for you in your living room! She brought up 4 young ladies from the crowd, who danced and played various musical apparatus for her during one of her songs. Another woman came up to sing some back -up for her - it was really a lot of fun - a very interactive show; I picked up one of her CDs after the show.
We left at about 1:00am and walked back to the Quarter all the way along Royal Street. - ok, locals, help me out here, should we not have done this? I couldn't tell if it was just a quiet residential area and the locals were off visiting family for the holiday, or if no one was around for a reason! Anyway Vernon, boy was my head on a swivel - in fact, my friend was laughing at me - he thought I was being much too paranoid. But it was very quiet - not a soul on the street - almost spooky.
I would have loved to stay out longer, but being sick earlier in the day had really wiped me out and we had a 7:00am flight back to New York, so we opted for a few hours of sleep over a few hours of partying. Our cab picked us up at about 5:45. Dawn in the Quarter. All was quiet & calm. And I couldn't believe that Bourbon Street had been cleaned up already - it was only a few hours ago that we walked through, past all the cups & garbage along the curbs. An amazing transformation.
Just a quick note on the weather for those who are heading to New Orleans soon: it was very hot and humid the first two days, but Sunday & Monday were much less humid - still hot, though - and we did get some lovely breezes, especially in the evening. I asked Mike what the difference is between the weather now & in August, and he said "Do you feel that breeze?" "Yes", I said; "Well, there is none in August." Ah ha.
I'm happy to report that there are still some things on my to-do list that I didn't get to. I mean, I haven't even been to Cafe du Monde yet - can you believe that?!? Nor did I have red beans & rice on Monday....Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back....
Last but not least, thanks to everyone on the board for their helpful tips, comments, and advice. You really provide a great service, and as I get to know (& love) New Orleans more & more, I hope to do the same.