& the "Red Dress Run" - http://www.nola.com/society/index.ssf/2011/08/royal_streets_dirty_linen_nigh.html http://noladefender.com/content/dirty-linen-night http://nolareddress.tumblr.com/
For starters we left CLT on a direct flt to MSY 1st thing Friday Morning. We arrived in NOLA w/out incident. Proceeded to the Hotel Monteleone via taxi & were checked in by 11am (w/no problem) to our 'Royal Salon' room which included a nice view of the River & a huge tub w/a separate shower.
Off to Cafe Maspero for the obligatory Muffaletta & Abita Ambers to get things started.
(An aside - My SO had visited NOLA only once before on a 24 hour stopover, so much wandering was done that will require little in the way of specifics.) Also, IMHO, Cafe Maspero has the BEST muffalettas period, bar none. You can have the ones from Central Grocery, these are better. (Cash only, BTW)
From there we ventured on down to the French Market which still contains tons of 'junk' however - the food portion has also been revived since my last visit for the same events 2 years ago.
From there we trundled over to Frenchmen St. to see who was playing where (ironically, we never made it back to Frenchmen St. for the remainder of our visit) then to Crescent City Brewhouse (we had stopped by earlier) & when I was told their seasonal beer was my favorite Kolsch-style brew, we made it a point to stop back by & have a cold one & a few oysters. These were, BTW, the best raw oysters we had during out stay. http://www.crescentcitybrewhouse.com/
Back to the hotel to get changed & showered for a place my friend (a former bartender/singer from O'Flaherty's pre-K.) suggested - http://www.sonesta.com/RoyalNewOrleans/index.cfm?fa=misc.page&pageID=17798
located in the Royal Sonesta. They have a great $5 for drinks & appetizers special on Friday evening & a great piano player. Our faves were the Mojito & the 'gator sliders'. @ Midnight they also have an excellent burlesque show.
After that we did the cursory wander through the Quarter that included a couple of stops on Bourbon for some jazz, as well as some '70s & 80's covers.
After that, off to enjoy a great nights sleep in one of the most comfortable beds ever...
More to come...
Return to NOLA - Featuring "Dirty Linen Night"
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So Saturday begins - The Monteleone has a great little 'continental breakfast' particularly if you are a fruit lover. So a bit to eat + some conversation w/a few 'would-be' Red dress runners & off to the WWII Museum. http://www.ddaymuseum.org/ This is an awesome Museum & don't skimp on the movie (which is about 48 minutes long). I challenge even the most avid WWII buff to not learn something new here. It is loaded w/info, film shorts & tons of info. You could easily spend the day.
Footnote - All along the way we have been sampling pralines hither & yon. It was this day that we stumbled upon this place very near our hotel - https://www.southerncandymakers.com/ The sign outside says simply - 'The best pralines' they ain't lyin'.
Also stopped by here - http://www.cigarfactoryneworleans.com/ Go to the Decatur location, there are always several rollers working. Probably my favorite cigar made outside of Cuba.
After more wandering we headed back to the Hotel for a little R & R some time by the Rooftop pool + my SO had a Pedi @ http://www.spaaria.com/ a great investment which she recommends.
Then back to the room to prepare for "Dirty Linen Night".
While I am thinking of it - The Red Dress run venue has changed. When I was there 2 years ago the 'gathering spot' was in the CBD. Now it is @ Washington Square Park in the Marigny, off of Frenchmen St. (for the 2nd year)
So we're off to "Dirty Linen Night". For starters it seems much busier & more crowded than my last visit in 2009. Some of my favorite galeries/artists include Gallery Orange -
http://gallery-orange.com/ (they also were serving the best drinks, screwdrivers in keeping w/the orange theme). craigtracy.com/gallery.html - Craig does the painting of the semi-nude/live models, this year his model was being painted in a 'tiger-theme'. His work is very cool + he was serving bubbly. One of the busiest places we stopped in at. http://angelakinggallery.com/ We also stumbled across a weaver, right off Jackson Square who does gorgeous rugs & floor coverings, but the name escapes me. That took up the largest part of the evening & provided free drinks & dinner for the most part.
However, dessert was in order - for that we visited http://www.ladivinagelateria.com/ they do have the most awesome gelato...After that, back to the hotel & a much needed bath...
Was trying to decide if we wanted to check out the WWII Museum on our upcoming 3 day trip, you convinced me and hubby wants to eat at a John Besh restaurant so covers both. Thanks for the trip report.
SAnParis2, great trip report! Cafe Maspero was one of the major muffuletta places I didn't try on my trip to NOLA -- supposed to be a good place for them, too. If I'm back, I'm there.
And here's another vote in favor of the World War II Museum. To me, it's one of the best museums in the city and a must-see, rivaled primarily by the art museum in City Park and the two main history museums in the French Quarter, the Cabildo and Presbytere. All four are well worth a visit.
Thanks for the TR - It has been years since we were in NOLA - we were stationed not too far from there (close enough to visit often)and the TR brings back good memories. Two questions - is Royal St. still full of great antique shops? And what is the pronunciation of "praline" nowadays? When we were there it was most often pronounced PRAWLEEN but now I most often hear PRAYLEEN. My cajun DIL still says prawleen.
Royal St. still has lots of antique shops, particularly on the Canal St. end & right across the street from the Monteleone. It seems, however, since Katrina that hours can be varied or by appt. I don't think any participated in Dirty Linen Night, which is too bad.
I have always called them pray-leens, but I am a Yankee by birth...They also put Pee-cans in them, or pa-cons as we would pronounce it.
Sunday we really didn't have much planned except for Brunch @ Mr. B's - http://www.mrbsbistro.com/ The food was outstanding as always. My SO had shrimp & grits, & I had the veal grillades & grits and we shared a molten lava cupcake for dessert (which my SO wanted no part of, until it arrived). It didn't look like much in the way of portion size coming out, but neither of us ate another thing the rest of the day.
The folks @ the Monteleone were kind enough to grant us a late check-out so we had time to change after Brunch and basically just wandered & shopped a bit. Had a drink (finally) @ the Carousel Bar - http://hotelmonteleone.com/dining-entertainment/ While there a group that had been doing a small (about 40 person) 2nd line parade through the Quarter earlier came in & we spent some time chatting w/them prior to our departure.
So, another successful NOLA trip w/no rain, great food, drink & music/entertainment. But of course we only did a fraction of what we had planned, so I guess we'll have to go back !lol Hopefully sooner, rather than later, this time.
bachs - If you do get to Cafe Maspero, sit @ the bar...the closer to the wait stand the better - you will undoubtedly get some free entertainment while there...
ttt for liz