klynnmommy

My family will be visiting New Orleans for five nights later this month. I was hoping you might be able to help in planning our trip.

We are taking our three children, ages 12, 6 1/2, and 4 1/2. Our 4 1/2 year old is a special needs child, so think a bit younger than her chronological age.

We have a place to stay already.

For dining, we are looking for somewhat child friendly, doesn't require dressing up, and offers tradional food.

For dinners, we are thinking of going to:

Michaul's
The RedFish Grill
Jacques-Imo's
Tacqueria Corona
We are unsure of where to eat the other meal, Mike Anderson's possibly, but we're open to any and all suggestions.

For lunches, we are thinking of going to:

Central Grocery (for muffalettas)
Mother's (for po'boys)
Zydecue Bayou Barbecue
possibly Crabby Jack's
and not sure of the other lunch. Someone recently recommended Cafe Maspero and Sid-Mar's. What do you think of them? Again, any and all feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Also, two of our three children will not want to eat muffalettas. Does anyone know if there's anything of fast foodish or kid foodish nature very close by to Central Grocery where we could get something for them?

We were going to eat at Dick and jenny's for dinner and Uglesich's for lunch, but both will be closed when we go. (I think I heard somewhere that Uglesich's is closed for good.) We also plan on eating breakfast one morning at Elizabeth's and going to Cafe du Monde sometime for beignets.

For entertainment,

DH and son are going on a swamp air boat tour.
The girls and I will go to the zoo and aquarium (most probably with the cruise).
DH wants to go on the literary tour (he's a high school English teacher), and I'll probably take the kids to either the Children's Museum, Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, or Storyland in City Park (at least I think that's what it's called; I don't have my book handy right now).
We plan on taking the park service walking tour of the French Quarter.
We're going to take a ride on the streetcar to see the houses in the Garden District. We'll be buying the multi-day passes for our visit.
We will most likely go on a cemetary/voodoo tour. I know to be very cautious about not visiting the cemetaries unless on a tour and not to St. Louis #2 at all.
We also want to go to Preservation Hall one night.

We have also heard to use cabs at night or to places off the beaten path, and we were told that United Cabs are the ones to call.

A few people also recommended having one dollar bills handy for tipping the street entertainers.

Any feedback anyone has on any restaurants or attractions/entertainment would be greatly appreciated.

Kelly

gyppielou

Heading out the door, but fondly remember walking to Mothers for a couple of poboys to go, which we savored by the pool at our hotel! I'll check back.....

DownSouth

Kelly,

I can tell that you have done lots of research. I have a few suggestions but would like first to know where you are staying. Also let us know if you are used to our extreme heat and humidity. I assume that you will not have a car. (I have a very picky 9 year old so I'm always very aware of menu selections.)

Fairhope

Be sure to walk the market--stuff,souvenirs, food! while you are in the Central Grocery area--Cafe DuMonde nearby too. Central Grocery is a legit grocery so there will be other food there.
Please understand that your kids will see T shirts that display the worst of us in this area. That said my kids chose to notice the pigeons and not the garbage.

NO_Native

I hope you are making reservations for a party your size. Otherwise, expect some long and frustrating waits with kids (maybe not, since you are coming in a dead time).

Michaul's : Probably a good kid-friendly spot...for the music and Cajun theme. Food is not better than a Joe's Crab Shack or any other chain place, but kids like those too.

The RedFish Grill: Great food, and somewhat kid friendly.

Jacques-Imo's: as much as I like Jacques-Imos, you might want to re-think this one. It's very noisy, cramped, and lots of people rushing around. Not very kid friendly. Good fried chicken, but not in the fast-food style that kids will like. Not many things on the menu that kids will like.

Tacqueria Corona: Hmmm... interesting choice. Will you be stayin near there?

Mike Anderson's: Good choice with kids. You might check out Deanie's as well.

Central Grocery: Keep in mind that Central has a full deli and makes other sandwiches other than Muffs.

Mother's: Others will disagree, but I htink MOther's is the most over-rated, over-priced tourist trap on your list. Their 'ferdie special' cannot hold a classic New Orleans Roast Beef po-boy's jock. Where's the GRAVY? (and I don't mean that thin, bitter, greasy stuff they toss on there with the 'debris' ... give me a break). Go to Johnny's for a real po-boy.

Zydecue Bayou Barbecue: OK BBQ joint, but New Orelans is not a great BBQ town.

Crabby Jack's: GREAT Po-Boys. A little out-of-the way, though.

Cafe Maspero: Good place. Cheap, and kid-friendly.

Sid-Mar's: WAY out of the way if you don't have a car. Classic New Orelans seafood house. Probably can do just as well at Deanie's or Mike Anderson's or ACME in the Quarter, unless you really want to make the trip to the lake. I like Bruning's (VERY kid-friendly) on the lake better than Sid-Mar's, but to each their own.

Uglesich's is closed for good.

klynnmommy

Downsouth,

We are staying in the Central Business District/Warehouse District.

We are bringing a car. We're driving 18 hours to get there because my husband won't fly. LOL!

We're from PA which actually IS very hot and humid in the summer (often around 90 with high humidity). I'm sure it won't feel as humid as it does there, but it also won't be a complete shock either.

Thanks so much for the reply!

Kelly

klynnmommy

NO_Native,

Thanks for the great post! Because we are a family of five, we are able to make reservations most places.

We picked Michaul's because we thought our six year old daughter would enjoy the music and dance lessons. I read that they are only open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in July. I also read that teachers eat free on Thursdays, and my husband is a teacher.

Happy to hear Red Fish Grill is good as their menu looks great. They also offer kids menu choices that are not on the actual menu which is a nice perk for us.

Thanks for the info on jacques-imo's. They also offer kids menu items that aren't on the actual menu. (I called to check this out.) I will definitely give serious thought though to what you've said.

Tacqueria corona is somewhere my husband wants to eat. He's from San Diego but now lives in PA. It's hard to find good Mexican food at home, so we usually include a place like this on vacation. I think there are several locations.

Good to hear about Mike Anderson's, too. We are tour book junkies, and it hasn't been included in many of the books. I was worried why, but several people have said they enjoyed it.

I'm so glad to hear Central Grocery makes other sandwiches. For some reason, I thought they only made muffalettas. My girls WILL eat other kinds of sandwiches, so that will be good.

I appreciate your comments about Mother's. I picked there because I would like a good po'boy. It also seemed like one of those, "If you go to NO, you need to say you've been here," type of places. Where is Johnny's?

Zydecue Bayou Barbecue was showcased in this month's issue of Chili Pepper magazine. As my husband loves this kind of stuff, that's why we picked there.

Good to hear about Crabby Jack's (I know it's owned or run by the same chef as Jacques-Imo's). How far of a drive do you think it would be?

Also great to hear about Cafe Maspero.

I think we'll just eliminate Sid-Mar's based on your post.

Anyway, thanks again for the great post. I hope no one minds me listing why we thought we'd choose each one. It might help others know if what we're thinking is true or not to help us make good choices.

Kelly

birgator

I'm not usually big on coupons,but used one for a free bottle of wine at Redfish (and it wasn't swill either). Redfish was excellent, by the way.

Since you're going there anyway, here's the link which also has dollars off things like Children's Museum et al. You can print from your computer and pick what you want.

http://www.neworleansonline.com/cpn/couponsheet.html

Such a good request by the way ... really so much easier to help when you have as many details as you do -- especially about the WHYs of what you pick.

Even from hot and humid PA, NO will be unexpectedly uncomfortable. Strongly urge that everyone has hats if walking around a lot -- the morning cemetery tour has no shade, for example.

B/

BuffaloGirl

I have to agree with NO_Native about the Ferdi's special at Mothers. My husband and I ordered it and after one bite just looked at each other and said "what's so good about this?"

However, I did enjoy the "experience" of Mother's.

Definitely go to the market by Central Grocery. The kids (and you)can get lots of inexpensive souveniers!

Have fun!

Lexma90

Here are some additional suggestions. We've been to NO several times with the kids, the most recently this spring; our kids are 10 and 6 1/2 years.

Central Grocery probably does have other food and sandwiches. The muffalettas, however, are prepared ahead of time, so if you want to go in, pick up and pay and get out, then get other sandwiches elsewhere. We picked up a bagel for my daughter at a coffeehouse nearby; sorry I didn't note the name. My kids loved Barq's (red) creme soda, which we can't get where we lived - Central Grocery carries it. We then took our sandwiches and had a picnic lunch in Jackson Park.

The market that's west (upriver) from the French market has lots of cheap stuff, and better prices for the beads than many of the stores.

The carriages rides are a pretty good deal. It was $60 for 1/2 hour for a single-family carriage ($120 for an hour, but 1/2 hour was good for us); and for a group carriage, it's $12/adult and $6/kid for a half-hour tour. My daughter loves anything that's like a horse (donkeys pull the carriages), so we actually rode them twice (she and I did, hubby and son went to the wax museum).

One of our dinners was at the Gumbo Shop. The food's not stellar, but pretty good, and I had the best bread pudding of our trip here. They do have a children's menu.

FYI on Redfish Grill; we stopped in, and they also have a childrens' menu, but the place seemed like any corporate restaurant that we could go to anywhere in our home town, so we took a pass.

We had two lunches at Acme Oyster House; we all enjoyed the food, and my son (the 10-year-old) loved the broiled crawfish. We had one lunch at Felix's, which the kids liked ok, but my oyster po'boy was inferior to that at Acme. They're open for dinner too.

Our kids LOVE Cafe du Monde. We ate there almost every morning. You can also get beinets, chocolate milk, coffee etc. to go and eat it on the Moonwalk, overlooking the Mississippi.

Cafe Beignet has several locations, one right on Bourbon street (it's primarily a breakfast place, but serves drinks too). It's an outdoor place with a nice courtyard and fountain; I kept thinking it would be a great place for the grownups to get a drink and the kids to run around, but we never had the time.

Mardi Gras World is great fun for kids, and I liked it too. You have the added benefit of also getting to take the free ferry ride across the Mississippi.

We went to Storyland. I had described it to my kids ahead of time, and they wanted to go, but after going, they felt it wasn't very interesting and more for younger kids (there were many toddlers there). Next door to Storyland is a small kind-of amusement park; you pay $2/pp to get in, and then use $1 tickets (1, 2 or 3 per ride) for the rides - mostly focused on younger kids, but my son liked them too. There were only about 7 rides in that section. My kids had just as much fun playing in the regular playground there - there are several live oaks that the kids can climb on - where we live, there aren't many trees for climbing! It's a bit of a walk from the streetcar to Storyland, so be forewarned.

Everybody liked the swamp boat tour, though we didn't take an air boat (I have heard they're noisy and bad for the animals and the environment.) We saw the biggest alligator I have ever seen, and it was an awesome sight.

My older kid is easily scared, and my younger one wouldn't be interested, so we did not take a cemetary/voodoo tour.

One night, my husband and son went to a jazz club that we've been to before, and our son said it was his favorite part of the trip. It's called Snug Harbor, it's a bit outside the French Quarter (not dangerously so), and they do allow kids. My son was the only kid at the show, but he really enjoyed the music.

We made a quest of pralines - trying to decide which ones were our favorites. We finally settled on Loretta's, in the French Market, with Southern Candymaker's a close second. All the candy makers offer free samples (if they're not right out there, just ask), and it was fun to spot a new place, and critique their pralines.

Have a good trip!

BigJim

Yes, Cafe Beignet is good. I say the beignets are just as good as Cafe Du Monde. So if you want to avoid the crowds, go to Cafe Beignet. If you really want to experience Cafe Du Monde, go there maybe once, and then go to Cafe Beignet during the rest of your stay in N.O.

jimmyk64

Chrystal, on Bourbon, a 1/2 block south of Canal; Bubba Gump's on Decatur; Port 'O Call on Esplanade--great burgers.

SAnParis

I ALWAYS go to Cafe Beignet as well, a great suggestion.

klynnmommy

birgator,

Thanks for the coupons link. That's always nice to have. We bought the Entertainment book and found Mike Anderson's in there with a buy one, get one free entree offer. We usually buy an Entertainment book for whatever city we're visiting then leave it as part of our tip to housekeeping on our last day.

Also, thanks for the tip about no shade on the cemetary tour. I think I'll be sure to pack hats for my girls.

We're still working on our restaurant list. I found out that Cafe Maspero doesn't have high chairs, a must for us with our youngest.

Thanks again for your tips,

Kelly

klynnmommy

Lexma90,

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

We will definitely do the picnic lunch with muffalettas and Barq's.

The carriage rides sound fun. We will definitely look into doing that. I think my 6 year old would really enjoy that. (I would, too, though.)

We will try the market for beads. I've read not to let the kids wear them when it's not Mardi Gras time. It will be fun to look for inexpensive souvenirs.

The Gumbo shop is actually a place we discussed and may add now in place of Cafe Maspero (since they don't have high chairs). We talked about Acme also, but we don't like oysters.

Thanks to you and BigJim and SAnParis for the tip on Cafe Beignet. We'll definitely try there, too.

Thanks for the information about Storyland, too. We're still very up in the air about that. I am leaning more toward Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras world. I agree; the ferry ride would be a bonus.

Snug Harbor sounds fun. I may just take my son there a night.

I've never tried a praline before. LOL! I will make a point to do so!

Anyway, thanks again for your post!

Kelly

DownSouth

Kelly, you've received some great feedback and suggestions. I think with young children who will be extra tired because of heat/humidity, your focus on activities/restaurants near your hotel and in the French Quarter is the best. If possible, plan to end each day with a swim at the hotel.

We live in Baton Rouge and have brought our children many times to New Orleans. They love the Children's Museum which is in the Warehouse District as well as the Aquarium/Imax. Zoo is great but will be very hot (there is a McDonald's on site). I would definitely skip Jacques-Imo's and Storyland.

One morning you may want to take the streetcar up St. Charles to see the houses in the Garden District and eat at Camillia Grill, a New Orleans institution. I don't think you will need to buy multiday passes for the street car since you are concentrating in the Quarter.

One afternoon you may want to take the car out and visit Magazine Street. I think there is a Tacqueria Corona located there. There are lots of fun neighborhood restaurants around the 2800 block (Joey K's, Cafe Rani, etc.) Semolina's is a good pasta restaurant a little further out. The Zoo is located at the end of Magazine near Audubon Park/Tulane University. You may want to consider driving to the Zoo instead of the boat which would give you more flexibility. (You can get a feel of the River when you take the Ferry to Blaine Kern's.)

Mike Anderson's originated here in Baton Rouge and is great! It is very kid-friendly - be sure to get the stuffed potato!

Your children will have fun buying beads, voodoo dolls, alligator heads and other souvenirs. I've never seen anything about not wearing beads. Do let them. It's fun and you'll see many tourists wearing them even though it's not Carnival time.

New Orleans is a special place that you all will love. Do pace yourselves and be sure to bring a backpack for water bottles and snacks. Enjoy!

BigJim

Downsouth has some good suggestions too.
Yes, I would say that Mother's is a place you have to go to, just to say you've been there. If you're staying in the Central Business District, you're very close to it. We've never had the po boys there, but if you're looking for good ones, there are tons of other places that have good ones as well. Johnny's being one of them. Acme has good ones too, and not just oyster ones.
I forgot to mention that another kid friendly place that's pretty good is the Trolley Stop in the Garden District. Very casual place.

Lexma90

Kelly -

Don't let not liking oysters keep you away from Acme Oyster House. Despite its name, it's good at lots of other stuff too. We don't like raw oysters, but we do like them fried, so I had a fried oyster po'boy; they have many other kinds of po'boys. My daughter had the "oyster sushi," or something like that. It was fried oysters on top of pressed rice - she thought it was really great and loved the pressed rice (?). My husband had crawfish gumbo, which was so good I didn't have time to try a bite of it.

I never heard that the kids shouldn't wear the beads when it's not Mardi Gras, either. We bought bags of plain beads for the kids at at school ($3-4 for 12), then each kid got to choose one with special beads - you'll see what I mean. My son got one with little alligator heads; my daughter chose one with dolphins. But you can find them with everything - dolls, cars, shoes, coffee cups, violins, dice, X-rated items, and on and on.

Snug Harbor's schedule is at http://www.snugjazz.com/calendar.html. My husband and son saw Astral Project, and my husband and I went separately to hear Delfeayo Marsalis (Winton's and Branford's brother; Delfeayo's son also played with him that night. It was a real treat). Charmaine Neville is also really fun.

The carriage rides were fun for both my daughter and me - she enjoyed the carriage and donkey part; I enjoyed looking at the beautiful French Quarter buildings and listening to the guide.

At least when we were there, Gumbo Shop filled early (by 7:15 on a nice May weekedn evening), and they don't take reservations.

Each day, we gave each of the kids $1. They got to choose which street performer/balloon maker to give it too - it lessened the whining!

Fairhope

http://www.ideafactoryneworleans.com/toys.htm
On Chartres St there is the Idea Factory which has handmade toys. Its a good visit place too because of the unusal carved items--like an alligator

BigJim

That's true. Acme does have a good selection of po boys. I think we had the fried shrimp one. Their gumbo is good too as well as their etouffe and their red beans and rice.