gyppielou

It was fantastic, it was terrible, it was my post Katrina journey to New Orleans.

Thank you to one and all who gave me advice. With only 3 nights, we had to cut and choose, but I am so happy to have returned to the city like no other city, New Orleans.

So many offered hotel recommendations. Many were full or overpriced or too local. On easygoers homework we chose Loews.

It was perfect for us. With only 3 nights, I cut to the chase and booked a Grand Lux King with a river view for a few dollars more. That landed us on the top floor with a full sofa next to a window to watch the boats and barges go by, as well as the BIG rains and on top of you thunder and next to you lightning show upon our arrival. This hotel was perfect for our needs, well minus the outdoor pool.

It was good to walk all the way up Magazine street to Upperline and back down Charles Ave.......exhausted we jumped on the trolley car half way home! I began to see effects of Katrina in the state of the streets and sidewalks and the peeling paint and for sale signs. A very good walk indeed.

Riverwalk was wonderful. It truly showcases the area of the city. Beware walking the parks of Jackson Square - Church park........just 20 feet from the bridal party, I was attacked by a fleet of red ants---TORTURE!!! A truly bad memory, in which, in great pain I kept repeating , 'thank god I found that nest instead of the bride!!" As I was spraying my ankles of at least 2 dozen bites with something from Walgreens, the bride drove by in a horsedriven buggy and I said amen to my pain.....better me then her......but oh red ants are a bain of mankind.......

Did the Imax Hurricane on the Bayou.....it was OK, but I had hoped for more. But I realize that they are going for a wider audience then me! It is certainly worthy of the 40 minutes in AC and the visuals and story and music.

I will do a bit of restaurant ranting, but before that I must say......

From the moments before Katrina hit, I knew I must return to this city in the aftermath. I felt it a personal responsibility as an American to give back even as superficially as tourism dollars.

I witnessed the best and worst of mankind on this trip. I am thankful for the opportunity to make this little journey. I am thankful for the mostly bluecollar lower income people whom I interacted with. They showed me the true spirit and heartbeat of this place.

I was shown more respect from the down on their luck street people.

Before I got in a cab to the airport this morning I
met a homeless man. He pointed towards the 9th
district and told me about his neighborhood and
Katrina. Not once did he ask for a penny. He simply
asked to shake my hand for coming to his fair city and
walked away with a smile and a wave.

There is something very important in that last paragraph I wrote.

Thank you friend for welcoming me to your fair city and offering me your hand, not for a hand out, but for a human connection.

Good times indeed..........

gyppie

Scarlett

Wonderful!
I have had a painful meeting with red ants once or twice and I understand your pain and admire your thoughts regarding the Bride

I cannot imagine what it is like and how sad / bittersweet it is to go back and see it now .. but how wonderful that you did.

Happy Anniversary !!

iamq

More, more, more, please!

Welcome home and Happy Anniversary!

iceeu2

Happy Anniversary to you and Mr. Lou.

Like Scarlett, I have had the fire ant attack. Mean little suckers.

Thanks for the beginnings of a great report...now, carry on.

bkluvsNola

gyppielou,

Great trip report! Can't wait for Part II.

Sorry about the red ants - need to look down when walking in grass.

gyppielou

Ruutttrowwww.......

I have nothing more to add. ( insert frowning emoticon here.)

Well other than after I was attacked by killer ants, I was brave enough to make mrlou believe that I really
meant it when I said he had to pee on my ankles. He
got a bit nervous.

No he didn't pee on my ankles - but he would have. You don't make it thru 16 years of marrital bliss without enduring a few awkward moments!

So, in memory of John Lennon this memorial day, I say

"All we are saying, is give pee a chance"

And since we are on the subject of mrlou - I sent him to the barber to cleanup the surfer, long haired olde man look. Nice place on Fulton, next to Harrah's hotel - men's cut and shave. Anyway, the poor man was afraid to go for broke, so he asked not to be traumatized and just a trim. Well mrslou was traumatized!!! He came out looking like an 80's band rendition of Flock of Seagull meets Duran Duran with a bit of Stray Cat Strut........back to the barber he went while I perused Frenchman Street.

mrlou now looks very very handsome with his twice cut hair! veddy veddy sexy handsome - LOL.....the barbress laughed at my description as she cut away the 80's she unintentionally put into our oldiemoon.

I just penned that!

OLDIEMOON

Ya think it will catch on as well as that babymoon cukka????



Anyhoo.......so much for wanting more trip reports

On with the FOOD.........

Who knew you could lose weight in New Orleans?

Upon check in we ducked in and out of torrential showers looking for lunch. Nola's was closed. House of Blues was closed. So we decided to knock Drago off my list

DRAGO: Lot's of people love the original, and we went to the Hilton branch to try our first local oysters, both raw and chargrilled. I have read about people eating dozens of these babies and was so looking forward to the experience. We started slow. Ordered a half dozen of each. What can I say? I am a cold atlantic ocean oyster girl. After forcing one raw down each, and then two overly seasoned chargrilled we paid the tariff and called the oyster adventure a day. Not that they are not fabulous to some people, but our tastes go to the briny coldwater oysters of the northeast.

Ducking torrential rains, we headed to Nola. Earlier we were told they were full, but called to see if they could seat us in an hour, so at 8:30 we arrived.

NOLA the restaurant was a HUGE dissappointment. Our third visit, and the food and service were terrible. Really terrible, which was a shock since I remember thinking Emeril should write a book on training staff. Our pre Katrina visits were amazing. Katrina is not excuse for the mediocre food and dismal service. The house made angel hair pasta with scallops was worse than chef boy ardee. The $38 filet was flavourless with an embarrassing side of stuffed mushroom which looked horrible. $150 later we thought - fu#k Emeril.

HERBSAINT wins the most arrogant restaurant award. We had reservations last night for 8:30 indoors. Arrived at 8:20 and were sent to the bar as it would be a wait. With two visits to the EXTREMELY unapologetic hostess and an hour later we chose to spend our money elsewhere. I cannot remember ever being treated so dismissively by a restaurant of this caliber EVER. I have emailed the owner/chef as well as the Tribune regarding this.

When we left Herbsaint, we walked over to

TOMMY"'S CUISINE: Tommy's which has its roots from the reknowned Irene's which we have enjoyed on our previous trip. The food was fine- just fine - but every member of the staff was fantastic!

TOMMY'S WINE BAR: We hit this place the previous night and had the most amazing service from our cocktail waitress Jamie and got some great jazz trio to enjoy. Nice sofas and lounging chair atmosphere, mere blocks from your hotel and a refuge to the FQ/Bourbon.

LILLETE was HEAVEN! Over two visits we had 4 apps, 2 entrees and 1 dessert. Everything was a homerun and the service was perfect, gracious and friendly. On our long walk we stopped in for gnocchi and duck confit with a peach tatatin finish. Fantastic. For our anniversayr dinner, we decided to return to the grand slam of Beet and Goat cheese app, a truffled parm toast that was very decadent finished with marrow and veal reduction. Entrees were steak frites, with perfect frites and Muscovy Duck with creamy polenta. It was a wonderful dinner with topnotch kind and gracious and friendly service. GO TO LILLETE!!!

(We wish we had taken the staff recommendation at Lillettes to go to Iris, a former sous chef of theres. Looks like a great place to try uptown.)

We also had a repeat visit excellent turkey burger at HOUSE OF BLUES.

Cafe Dumonde - never liked donuts, but an iced coffee and order of beignets is heaven.

Due to torrential lightning storm we never made it to Vaughns. Alas it was not meant to be.

So that's about it. Hope it is helpful to someone, whether for a laugh or a restaurant suggestion.

For me: My greatest memory will be that friend pointing in the direction of his olde neighborhood with hand outsretched.

Thank you friend for welcoming me to your fair city and offering me your hand, not for a hand out, but for a human connection.

Mahalo
gyppie

bkluvsNola

gyppielou,

I forgot to put the emoticon after my post about the red ants...

Anyway, you write:

"DRAGO: Lot's of people love the original, and we went to the Hilton branch to try our first local oysters, both raw and chargrilled. I have read about people eating dozens of these babies and was so looking forward to the experience. We started slow. Ordered a half dozen of each. What can I say? I am a cold atlantic ocean oyster girl. After forcing one raw down each, and then two overly seasoned chargrilled we paid the tariff and called the oyster adventure a day. Not that they are not fabulous to some people, but our tastes go to the briny coldwater oysters of the northeast."

Now, Drago is not my favorite restaurant, but don't be dissing my Gulf oysters. IMO they are far better than anything from the East or especially the West Coast.

One time I was in Seattle and decided to have an oyster sampler of Pacific Northwest oysters. They were very fishy smelling/tasting not smooth and salty like the Gulf oysters. Also, the PNW oysters were very small compared to the Gulf ones.

I also sampled East Coast oysters in Baltimore on one occasion, and I found the oysters inedible from the East Coast.

However, for Gulf oysters, I can make a meal of all you can eat oysters and beer! I prefer Acme because they get right down to the business of shucking oysters and the patrons are mainly there for that one thing!

Different strokes for different folks, huh???

gyppielou

bk, where were you when I needed you to eat those 8 untouched oysters? The bartender was certainly confused!

Grcxx3

h gyppielou - my DH would have taken care of those oysters!!!!!

The only 2 things that has made my DH "happy" about moving back to Houston -

1. it's a short plane or a decent car ride to New Orleans

2. he's found a source of fresh seafood in Houston that for just a little more ....will deliver!!

Callaloo

Thanks for the great report.

Interesting that you had such a disappointing experience at Herbsaint. One of the chefs there (Donald Link) is also responsible for the restaurant Cochon. When we were in N.O. a few weeks ago, we managed a 9:15 reservation at Cochon. Mind you, our bodies were on Eastern time, so that felt like 10:15, which is later than we usually go to bed. Recognizing that it was Jazz Fest, we gave them a little leeway, even as we were dissed by the hostess when we arrived at the appointed time and sent to the tiny bar area. I gave them until 10 to seat us, and that's just what happened; that would not be acceptable during normal times, and barely tolerable during Jazz Fest.

Mercifully, our server was wonderful and prompt (and the food great), making the long wait worthwhile. But the waitstaff was clearly overwhelmed, and the front of the house seemed unconcerned. Really now, why do they allow reservations they can't possibly live up to? As was said in a famous episode of "Seinfeld": "They can make the reservation, but they can't KEEP the reservation."

Glad to hear you enjoyed Lillette -- I've heard friends rave about it. I can't wait to go back to N.O. to try it. And I will be back!!!!

bkluvsNola

gyppielou,

Pack them oysters on ice and ship to me

Don't want any oysters going to waste now do we ???

gyppielou

not my oysters, nor your oysters!!! bk!

gr3, wished I could have given those precious oysters to you husband. As far a fresh seafood - I have flown in hundreds of dollars to get the best freshest sushi quality for family get togethers, so your man and I respect the value of fresh wonderful seafood!

Callaloo, Thank you for sharing your experience. I don't like to shut a restaurant or person down like I did on this report, but we were truly insulted. The place must have great food to have survived, and that is why I felt it necessary to report true feelings and email the chef/owner and news as well. Before I ever critisize an employee, I take the responsibility of how that may affect the employee. In this case, I feel either the hostess or the restaurant is at fault and whomever changes is a win win. She is truly not working her life calling, and the owner is not serving his public.

If I hear back from the restaurant, I will report back.

Thanks for reading my missives!

Gyppie

gyppielou

thought of youze guyz tonight! Had the most delectable Duxbury MA oysters.....so perfectly plump, cold and briny!!! Oh yeah! Now we're talking. You have my Nola leftovers and I'll have your coldwater atlantic gems from the sea!

Update: I did get a nice email from Donald Link the chef and owner of Herbsaint. He was not in the kitchen that night and He graciously apologized and offered us a return as their treat. We won't be in NOLA anytime soon, but acknowledging that the restaurant broke down that night and offering us a complimentary night goes a long way.

gyppielou

Praying for the people on the gulf.

I am now even more thankful than ever to have made the opportunity to visit this fair city.

Although I wasn't a fan of the Imax movie, one thing rang true. Mankinds decimation of the bayou and failure to maintain the levees are to be blamed.

Malama Pono - Take Care

Everyone in Gustav's path. Scary indeed.

gyppielou

Perhaps this could be added to my profile as it is updated