NOLA trip report Feb 1-8

Old Feb 9th, 2014, 06:26 PM
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NOLA trip report Feb 1-8

Back from our first time to NOLA and despite cold weather, had a great time. Plus hard to complain when folks at home were dealing with snow, ice and power outages all over the place, while we were gone!

The day we arrived tho', it was warm. After checking into our hotel, the Dauphine Orleans, and resting a bit, we started our week by wandering in and out of galleries on Royal St. and listening to street musicians. I honestly think I could spend a week just doing that! When we needed a break, we stopped at Cafe Beignet and had our first beignets. I am not a fan of fried dough but these are something else...delicious. If we'd realized it came with 3 tho', we wouldn't have done that quite yet, as dinner was next on the agenda. Had dinner at Gumbo Shop which I know others have loved, but we thought was just o.k. Crashed early that night.

Next day, Sunday, we had reservations for 12:30 at Commander's Palace to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Took the St. Charles streetcar to get there, fun if a little cold. Brunch was WOW. They sure know how to make an occasion feel special, just over the top excellent service, and delicious food too. A terrific experience! It was too cold and drizzly to want to then do a self guided tour of the Garden District as planned, instead we went to the nearby bookstore which being a lover of bookstores, I was very happy to discover. Eventually had to force ourselves to leave tho', to get back to hotel to deal with a need to change rooms for various reasons. Once that was taken care of, after hanging out a little, we decided to walk over to Frenchman St., where we just poked our noses in the various places, and chose to go in to Snug Harbor. Heard guitarist Jimmy Robinson, and had my first Hurricane. Thoroughly enjoyed this venue!! A real highlight.

When the music was over, we walked back, and stopped at Ali Baba to bring some takeout food back to room with us. DH got a gyro and I got a spinach pie, only to discover back at the room, that the spinach pie was fried. Oh yeah, we're in NOLA!

More to come....
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Old Feb 9th, 2014, 06:40 PM
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Looking forward to more!
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Old Feb 9th, 2014, 06:45 PM
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We are going in April so looking forward to reading more of your report.
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Old Feb 10th, 2014, 05:35 PM
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Thanks for the encouragement to continue.

After enjoying the luxury of not having to get up and go anywhere on a cold Monday morning, we did finally head over to Jackson Square for a tour by Free Tours by Foot. Our plan had been to first get a muffaletta at Central Grocery to share, but when we got there we learned they're closed Mondays. Good for them, bad for us. We didn't have much time before the start of the tour so we just went next door to Frank's, where I got my first (and only, as it turned out) po'boy, I forget what dh had. The food at Frank's was fine, nothing to write home about tho'. We then went to whatever shop was next door for our first praline - in retrospect and having had way too many more (more about that very soon), it wasn't that good.

We'd heard great things about these tours but honestly, we were disappointed. We learned a few things but there was way too much we could have just read, and there was a lot of standing in one place several times, rather than covering more ground. In fairness tho', it might be that it was so cold, that our guide wasn't at the top of her game. And nor were we...hard to enjoy when that cold. Our noses were actually red and icy to the touch! Probably should have changed our game plan.

After the tour we went to the French Market, which was supposedly still open but everyone seemed to be closing down early due to the lack of people around. DH found a nice and very cheap tote bag, tho'; he'd forgotten to bring one but since we have a million at home, he hadn't wanted to spend any money. I got an Irish coffee and while not a big drinker, it felt warming and I did enjoy the novelty of being able to walk around with something alcoholic. We then discovered our first (again, of way too many!)truly yummy praline, sold by a guy at the Market. Much more delicious than what we'd tried earlier.

Back home to rest up before the one dinner we'd actually made reservations for, at Bayona. Now that was memorable! I ordered three appetizers instead of an appetizer and entrée, but really two would have been plenty. I had to push myself to eat some of the third; while delicious, it was just too much food for me (and yes, I can hear you thinking, it might not have been if you'd not had a praline an hour before dinner, and you might be right!) For the foodies amongst us - I ate entirely off the daily specials menu, with the artichoke soup, a fried rabbit liver with savory bread pudding and figs (to die for), and a broccoli flan with crostini with some sort of lemon ricotta concoction, and some vegetables. Oh my. DH had a pork dish off the regular menu and he loved his dish as well.

We certainly couldn't go right to bed after a meal like that so off we went to hear some more jazz, this time at the Irving Mayfield Lounge of the Royal Sonesta hotel. Another good venue, enjoyed ourselves.
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Old Feb 10th, 2014, 06:01 PM
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Aiming to get Tuesday done tonight, too.

It was thankfully a little warmer! Still not typical NOLA weather but much better than Monday. We took advantage of that and walked over to and thru the Warehouse District. A highlight was stopping at a gallery/studio and getting to watch someone making something out of glass, an interesting process to watch. A little later we peeked in Cochon Butcher which looked wonderful but we weren't hungry yet. So we walked around some more, I stopped and bought a t-shirt of a tree decorated with Mardi-Gras beads, and then we took a streetcar back to the French Quarter.

By then it was, alas and yes, colder again! I was really craving vegetables, but we also thought this would be a logical time to try Central Grocery again. So we decided to do lunch in halves; we went to a place in the French Market called Meals from the Heart that I'd read about, and shared a healthy dish of brown rice and grilled veggies. Nice guy worked there, and the food was good too. Then went to Central Grocery for Part II of lunch! And yes, that was delicious and worth it!

After lunch, we wandered some more galleries and shops, listened for a while to some jazz musicians playing on the square (delightful), and then went back to our hotel for a rest.

This was the night we'd set aside for Preservation Hall. We were going to pay the extra for the tix ahead, to make sure we'd have seats (this back does not like standing venues anymore, unless it's for dancing; standing for any length of time is painful). But when we stopped by on the way to our hotel to ask advice about what time to get there, dh ended up thinking that on a cold drizzly weekday, we should just take our chances. So we didn't buy tix, which annoyed me at the time, but now I have to fess up about how well it turned out.

We ate dinner at Stanley's which we'd been told had great breakfast all day long, and we were in the mood for that. It was good for what it was; my potatoes were too spicy for me but dh loved them and I was fine with that. Afterward, we realized that it was 9:30, the timing was such that we were too late for the 9:15 PH show but too early for the 10:15 line. So we stopped just to ask what time they thought we should come back to be at the front of the line for the 10:15 show, and were told we could come in and stand at the back for the 9:15 show that had just started 10 minutes ago, and then stay for the 10:15 show as well! I thought we'd heard wrong, and made her repeat that we could stay for the 10:15 show, AND move up to where we could sit. Yes, indeed! So in we went (there were benches in the hall if the standing part got to be too much for me). It was wonderful! DH and I actually danced in the back to half of the 9:15 show. Then, for the next show, I asked the woman if we could sit in reserved seats if no-one showed up, and she said not yet, but that she'd let us know if the time came when we could. And sure enough, just before the 10:15 show was to start, she came and tapped me on the shoulder to tell me we could sit in the two front row seats that people who'd reserved hadn't shown up for. It was terrific sitting that close to the musicians! (we ended up sitting that close twice at Snug Harbor as well).

When it was over we learned the probable reason people who'd paid for reserved seats hadn't shown up - it was pouring out! So we just went next door to Pat O'Briens hoping it would let up, and checking out the dueling pianist thing. I know some people love this; for us it was ok, kind of fun, but not a highlight. Probably we needed to either have had more to drink, or to have been there with more people.

In any case, a fun day and night, and I'll come back in a day or two to post about the next couple days.
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Old Feb 10th, 2014, 06:55 PM
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"So we decided to do lunch in halves..."

Having done a double dinner in New Orleans I completely understand the motivation. Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for reporting back.

Eating Jambalaya at home tonight but just not the same.
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Old Feb 10th, 2014, 07:09 PM
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I haven't yet made jambalaya at home but will definitely be trying it at some point. I haven't yet gotten to our favorite gumbo and jambalaya of the trip, so stay tuned!

Oh and btw of course I meant Irvin Mayfield, not Irving, that darn auto-correct!
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Old Feb 11th, 2014, 05:11 AM
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Can't wait to read the rest, especially your favorite gumbo! Will be there in March!
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Old Feb 11th, 2014, 06:25 PM
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Not too many responses here but in hope that this will help someone over time as others' trip reports help me...

Wednesday we decided to stick with our plan to take the Canal St. streetcar up to City Park, the weather said sunny and I think it was supposed to hit 50 or so...oops, we forgot the effect the wind can have So we bundled up in the small amount of bundle-worthy clothes we'd brought, and which we wore over and over again, and enjoyed seeing another part of the city. First went rather quickly thru the sculpture garden, which is really lovely and we'd normally spend more time. Then indoors to...no, not the Art Museum, but to Morning Call, where we'd been told by a local that the beignets were better than Café du Monde (I'm sure there's as many varied opinions about this topic as there are here in Philly about cheesesteaks). But first it was lunch time...and dh's jambalaya was delicious, as was my crawfish etouffee - another "first" of a local dish for me. We were surprised by how good the food was here! And fortunately reasonable size portions so we could still have our beignets for dessert, and they were indeed also delicious. So well fortified, we ventured back outdoors, where the wind wasn't quite as bad as it had been, and the sun was brighter, so we decided to go to the botanical gardens. Again, very lovely, and the silver lining of the weather was that we had the whole place to ourselves. I can only imagine what more of a wonderful place this would be when in full bloom. But we still enjoyed the Japanese garden, the enormous train set up, the conservatory, the fruits and vegetables, etc. From there we headed into the Art Museum, but my feet needed a break so I started at the café with a banana foster drink, yum. Eventually did head to the exhibits; but I admit I wasn't in much of a museum mood and I'm spoiled in that I have access to so much in Philly, New York, and D.C. that it wasn't like this was a rare chance for me to enjoy art. So I caught up with dh who by then was taking his turn at the café, and we hung out on a couch planning our next moves.

It was still light out and we decided to take the streetcar to the St. Charles one and just ride it all the way to the end and back, to view what we could from the warmth of the streetcar. Not! Whoever had told us the streetcar would be heated, was wrong! So although at the beginning it was interesting looking out at the houses, by halfway thru I forget the temp but I think it must have been less than forty degrees and all we could think of was wanting to get warm again (sorry for so much emphasis on this but it was a reality of this trip!). We decided to head to ACME Oyster House for dinner, not realizing the kind of line we'd encounter on a very cold weeknight. By the time we got there and saw that line, we said "no way" - my guess is those people waiting had not been outside for hours at that point! So we headed toward hotel to do our plan B, which would have been a diner we'd walked by many times called DejaVu ...but one step in and it was overwhelming cigarette smoke, which we both hate. So the next place we saw that had people in it and looked big enough to be warm, was Deanie's, and in we went. DH's fried food was good, quantities were enormous, our oyster appetizer was ok. I had crabmeat au gratin which I didn't think was the best, but not terrible. We called it a night after that.

Thursday, still cold, snuggled in til 1PM (didn't mention before, breakfast each day was at hotel, just cereal and fruit, fine given all the other eating we were doing!). Given some achey back muscles, I decided to treat myself to a massage mid-afternoon at Spa Aria. Before that, tho', we had lunch at Jager House on Conti St. - surprisingly delicious, again! Didn't eat anything fancy, but everything was very fresh and good, including the side salad, which by then I'd noticed is certainly not NOLA's thing.

The massage was terrific. I went to the one in the FQ, not the CBD one which has been there longer and might be nicer atmosphere. This was basically a hair salon on bottom floor, and then I was brought upstairs for my massage. But the quality of that massage way trumped anything about the surroundings. After the massage found us a music-themed Christmas ornament to bring home as a memento of our trip. Then had all of 10 minutes to rest, I think, and it was time to head out for what proved to be, along with some of the jazz performances, one of our top highlights of our trip. I'd signed us up for a cooking class with Chef Frank Brigsten, with the New Orleans Cooking Experience. This is different from the one in the FQ, I think called N.O. School of Cooking. This one limits class to a dozen people max, and you sit around a counter right behind where he's cooking. The meal this night was oyster soup with bacon and fennel, roasted duck with tart cherry sauce, dirty rice, and sweet potato bread pudding. Chef Frank in addition to being such a talented chef, was full of stories, history, Katrina tales, culture, humor, and willingness to answer as many questions as we wanted to ask - and I asked many, taking full advantage of the opportunity! At the end we sat down in the dining room to the meal. What an unforgettable experience. It was quite a financial splurge, but well worth it. I highly recommend to anyone with the slightest interest in food and cooking.

To then cap off a wonderful day, we went back to Snug Harbor. It was 11PM by the time we got there and he wasn't even going to charge us, saying the band only had about a half hr. of playing left. But actually they went on for 50 minutes, and even tho' this time there were more people than when we'd last been there, it was the seats up front that were left open, so we went right up there! I'm so envious of music like that being available every single night! We did make a contribution as we left, that was certainly a place we're happy to support.

I thought I'd get to our last day and a half and wrap this up, but I need to move on to other things now, so I guess there will be one more installment. Topeater, sorry I misspoke, it was the Morning Call jambalaya I referred to, but we didn't have gumbo again, it was other foods I was thinking more of.
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Old Feb 11th, 2014, 06:38 PM
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Glad you are continuing. I have found that most trip reports don't get a big following, for the most part. However, it is a bit like journaling and you will enjoy being able to go back and read this to remind yourself about the trip.
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 04:38 AM
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Agree with DebitNM. I also find myself reading trip reports much later when I begin trip planning to a new place. I want to see what others have done on their trips.

I am excited to check out the NOCE on my next NOLA trip. Hmmm, next trip to New Orleans, more beignets and gumbo...must plan something soon.
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 07:01 AM
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A lot os people will read your report and not comment, so don't worry about the number of comments...

Sorry it was cold and wet, but it does sound like a very good time! NO Food and jazz, it doesn't get much better than that.
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 09:36 AM
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the other great park is Audubon Park, which has a great zoo with rides for kids. besides that, it has a long public park along the river where the locals play soccer and picnic.
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 11:52 AM
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Btw, on the last two trips we have also been unsuccessful at getting into Acme. Same at Felix's , line waytoo long. Bourbon House, at the corner just up from Acme and directly across the st. From Felix, has been good both times. They have big flavorful oysters at the bar for $1 each at happy hr., and other great HH food and drink specials at the bar.
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 12:00 PM
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IMO the best things on the menu at Deanie's are their non-fried foods, esp. the apps. Their crab claws and boiled crawfish are gumbo really good, esp with a cold Abita on draft.
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 01:11 PM
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Thanks for your wonderful report! We are renting a place inthe Bywater in late March for a week and can't wait to eat our way through NOLA! Hope the weather warms up by them-can't believe how the cold is hitting the south this year!
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Old Feb 12th, 2014, 08:25 PM
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Thanks, all. I do plan to finish the report, not too much to go now, but I work in a hospital and am riding out the big snow storm here at work, might be here tomorrow night too, and my notes are at home. Stay tuned!
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Old Feb 13th, 2014, 08:05 AM
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...and what DebitNM and emd3 said.
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Old Feb 13th, 2014, 04:40 PM
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Absolutely staying tuned, you are providing loads of tips for our mid-March trip, can't wait. Thanks!
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Old Feb 13th, 2014, 07:00 PM
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Great trip report! So glad you had some really memorable meals and experiences in Nola. One of our favorite places. Your description of the meal at Commanders Palace makes me want to go back...
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