Thread: New Orleans, A Food Lover's Paradise - Trip Report

New Orleans Trip report- LAX/MSY and back

“ Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.”
Tennessee Williams

A month out and all was well, six pass travelers planning a trip to New Orleans.
Three weeks out we lost our first two - family members who decided the Delta non-stop on Orbitz was just too good of a deal to pass up. (talk about a lack of loyalty)
Two weeks out we lost the other two, they buckled under the combined pressure of tightening loads and the fear of having to sleep on a cot in DFW - at least they bought tickets on AA.
We, in true nonrev spirit, decided to go all in and take our chances, no matter how far afield we’d have to travel - we were nonreving to New Orleans and back.

I liked it all from the first: I lingered long in that morning walk, liking it more and more…unable to say then or ever since wherein it’s charm lies.
C. Warner writing about New Orleans - 1887

Arrived in New Orleans to hot, humid, sweaty weather. The line at the drive-thru daiquiri shop was really jumping. Our first stop Olivier’s for a little gumbo and the specialty of the house, pecan breaded fried oysters over eggplant covered with a seafood & andouille roux - just a little something to keep the hunger pangs away till dinner. After we stuffed ourselves we headed to the Hilton-Riverside to check-in, oh yeah, we had our NOLA excursion priorities in order - we always eat first!

Traipsing through the Quarter. There’s music pouring out from the clubs, street performers, people roaming around with their "to go" hurricanes from Pat O'Brien's, (it’s legal to drink alcohol in public as long as your drink is in a plastic cup) distinctive architecture, incredible food plus pralines, hot sauce and voodoo shops - a unique American city. It’s an experience just walking around.
The line at Café du Monde’s is always long, we headed straight for the take out counter, got our beignets sat on a bench, started people watching and debated dry heat versus humid heat. By the way, I came down in the hot is hot camp.

They told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields".
Tennessee Williams’ - A Streetcar Named Desire

So we’re walking through the Quarter munching pralines when someone said, lets go over to the cemetery - uh-huh, I travel with a very interesting group.
At any rate we made our way to the cemetery and were walking among the above-ground tombs, (the tombs look like miniature buildings in a miniature city - compete with street signs) looking for the tomb of Marie Laveau - Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. According to our “in group cemetery expert“, the tomb would be easy to find because it’s near the cemetery‘s entrance, is covered with “X’s” (the x’s supposedly bring good luck) and will have offerings to the Queen placed in front of it.
Unfortunately “near the entrance” isn’t a very exact distance and when added to the 95 degree temperature and the “spooky factor” of looking for a voodoo queen’s tomb on the day of a full moon; we quickly gave up the search and told our “expert” he’d be buying the first round of oysters for all our trouble.
Sometimes one doesn’t actually have to put X’s on Marie Laveau’s tomb to have good fortune smile upon them.

“It ain’t burnt Rosemary, it’s blackened.”
B Mathews commenting on New Orleans style coking

New Orleans has hundreds of restaurants, these are a few of my favorites.
Café Du Monde - http://www.cafedumonde.com/main.html for beignets and coffee-
Drago’s - http://www.dragosrestaurant.com/ for charbroiled oysters.
Mother’s - Mother's Restaurant - New Orleans - World' Best Baked Ham - 401 Poydras, New Orleans, LA 70130 Tel: 504-523-9656 for breakfast and the best po’ boys in town
Olivier’s - http://www.olivierscreole.com/ for their specialty Pecan breaded oysters
Ralph & Kacoo’s - http://www.ralphandkacoos.com/ everything is good, especially the crawfish etouffee
Southern Candymakers http://www.southerncandymakers.com/seasonal (334 Decatur St.) all the pralines are good, but for me it’s the original recipe

Just a note about the spill

The oil spill situation has everyone angry, concerned. The people we talked to said things were fine so far, plenty of seafood at a good price and lots of tourists, but were bracing for oyster and shellfish price hikes and tourists not coming down.

Bon Temps Roule