Road Trip. New Orleans Celebrates Me.

[jfrenaye]

As to any of the food places in the the Riverwalk (mall) that are "satellites" of real places--skip them entirely. There are several and I have yet to find one that was even close--including Cafe duMonde.

Wait, the frozen dacquiri place was just as good!

[Kairho]

Some superb suggestion. Bring on more!

Because we will be there at the climax of Mardi Gras we will be going against our usual procedure and will actually call this week or next for restaurant reservations. Last thing I want to do is get there and not be able to get in to some fabulous place of choice.

[This is my fourth or fifth trip to NOLA and one of those was for the Superbowl ... so I know how crowded the place can get on a big day.]

JohnF suggested the Maison Dupuy a few months ago and You Heard It Right Here on TT! So we've been booked there for a while. We arrive on Saturday so bodega's suggestion of Arnaud's sounds great. I was thinking of Cafe du Monde but no reason that cannot be pushed back to Monday or Tuesday. I'll follow up on Arnaud's later today (I assume at this time that a rez would be needed for brunch).

I was already thinking Dominique's for Sunday dinner (Valentines Day) so learning he (Dominique?) is Mauritian is great. I'll have to try to get him out and talk about one of my favorite islands. The Big Special Dinner will be on Tuesday evening so no interference with parades, but pre-booking still needed.

I broke another precedent and bought the first guidebook I ever have for a domestic location. Got Frommer's (and Eyewitness) and am quite pleased at how Frommer's has transformed itself from a dumpy book into one which seems to have great value. The restaurant recommendations in particular are way above average with somewhat detailed descriptions and what appear to be honest evaluations. Will be going through them more as the day progresses. (I remember reading last night about some super place, (upper Royal or Chartres area?) which had better filets than the steak houses!)

Will pay particular attention to Irene's, and IIR it got a good review in Frommer's, too, but am not sure we want to get too far away from Cajun/Creole (NOLA style, of course); else why go there? (Plus we have tons of great Italian down here and only one "authentic" NOLA style place.) I will pass the finalists by y'all later today or tomorrow.

Of course, we still have Saturday night and lunches which shall not be preplanned but rather the typical ad hoc decision.

Sorry we will miss seeing you, J225. We will save that for when you come jogging through Florida next year!

[jfrenaye]

Originally Posted by seeemeeego

Local here - Dominique's is no longer - at least not in the Maison Dupuy. The restaurant there now is Le Meritage.

Learn something new every day. Sorry to hear that.

Kairho--Cafe du Monde is best (at least for me) at the crack o dawn. The city is still asleep and hung over, you are far enough away from Bourbon that the street sweepers aren't a bother.

I don;t like it particularly, but for authentic food, try Tujagues on Decatur.

Also, check out the Gallery Rinard on Royal. I know Matt and love his art and I think you woudl too--very whimsical and colorful www.galleryrinard.com for giggles, cross the street and check out George Rodrigue's gallery (he does the Blue Dog stuff) and dream of affording an original! ANy number of antique shops--my kids love posing under chandeliers that cost more than our house.

[Kairho]

Ack! Somehow I missed Dominique's being gone. Le Meritage was even promoted on my confirmation from Maison Dupuy.

Also, JohnF, I did a quick re-check of Irene's and it apparently is not just Italian but Creole-Italian. That makes it worth more than another look...

[mtp51]

I've eaten at Irene's numerous times. It's Italian. It's Creole. It's New Orleans. The entire scene is worth the trip. The food is very good - almost as good as ...well...the scene.

[bodega]

Cafe du Monde is open 24 hours, right? We have use it as a stop in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening . Since it is Mardi Gras in NO, I would highly recommend reservations at Arnauds. We were there during 'the party season' and it was packed.

I have been to NO several times and find something new each visit. This last trip we did an evening Ghost Walking Tour that was interesting and fun. I have taken the cruise down the river to the Battle of New Orleans. Been to the Mardi Gras World, which I thought I wouldn't care for and found it extremely interesting to get up close to the floats. Not use how this would work so close to 'the event'. The Presbytere also has a exhibit on Mardi Gras and when we were there they had a very good exhibit on Katrina.

BTW, look down as you are walking in the quarter. The manhole covers are works of art!

I have been to the Preservation Jazz hall a couple of times and you want to get there before it opens as it is small and they allow people entry once it fills as people leave. There is an entry fee. O'Brien's is nearby and a hurricane there is also a must. Depending on the weather will depend on if the garden is open. The price of the drink will depend on where you sit or stand to enjoy it.

Of course you must ride the Charles Street trolley. A step back in time! There is a self walking tour of the Garden District that we have done which gives you a chance to see the lovely homes, fences and gardens. I am sure Frommer's has it in the book or it is in the AAA Tour Book.

We picked up a car for a day and drove to Biloxi just to drive along the water. We were there a year and 1/4 after Katrina and what we saw, we will never forget. We also went out to Oak Alley, an old plantation estate, which was used in the movie Primary Colors if you saw that movie. It provided us with another side of life in that area.

Ok, now I am getting jealous of your visit to NO!!

[Kairho]

Update: over the weekend I did a bit of digging and found that many restaurants are already fully booked for much of the week before Mardi Gras.

Fortunately, after prioritizing the restaurants I wanted to visit, we ended up with reservations at #1, #2 and #5, although except for #1 not on the day we wanted. So we ended up with:

• Saturday evening at Irene's
• Sunday jazz brunch at Arnaud's
• Tuesday dinner at Tujacques

Everything else will be as our noses lead us.

[Kairho]

We are back home after an absolutely fantabulous time in NOLA.

Great thanks to John F for recommending Maison Dupuis Hotel. One of the best 4-stars I've ever enjoyed and I will second the recommendation. Absolutely perfect location, clean rooms, friendly staff. Only downsides are valet parking is a touch expensive ($36/nt) and there were a few minor failures in service. Nonetheless, next time we will stay there again.

And yes, John, we did get a coconut at the Zulu parade. And not one of the "ordinary" painted ones, but one of the even higher prized carved ones.

We learned a lot and had more fun that is probably lawful. Never knew that the parades were as much fun as they were. Never thought they would throw as much beads and other stuff from the floats! Laughingly, we found a "Mardi Gras supply store" (!) in Mobile on the drive and to ensure we came back with at least a coule strings of beads we bought two packages of a dozen strings each for only $2.50 a package. We felt quite pleased with ourselves until we got home and I weighed the duffel containing only what we caught at the 5 parades ... 52 pounds worth! The $5 purchase was completely lost in our own personal flood.

Even with 4 full days in town we left a lot of activities "on the table" most missed was time in Marigny. We did see a lot of the French Quarter (we skipped the horrendously crowded Bourbon Street this time although we did have to fight our way across the intersections to get to and from our hotel), took a river cruise (way more interesting than expected), did a superb walking tour of the Garden District, unexpectedly ran into a couple of parades, and had mucho fabulous meals.

Also got well stroked by the fun, and observant, rangers at the NPS Jazz Historical National Park. Went in on Monday (the day before my birthday) to see if they were able to sell me a Senior Pass which, for $10 would get me free lifetime admission to all national parks (me, the car, and any other occupants!). What a deal! Twice they cautioned me that I would have to come back on Wednesday (not a problem) but also that I would have to show definitive proof of age because, as they claimed, I did not look my age. On Wednesday they made a mock fuss once again (two different rangers) over the proper ID thing but I came away with the card. woo hoo

As to eating, as always there is no such thing as a bad meal in NOLA. Although we had advance reservations at three places all other meals were as caught. Sunday Jazz Brunch at Arnaud's was the highlight.

Originally Posted by Ned

While we won't be visiting the FL coast at all, we hope to visit the Alabama coast and the New Orleans area. We hope to firm up our visit within the next 10 days.

Probably too late but the only worthwhile thing we did in Alabama was to visit the USS Alabama battleship in Mobile. Extremely interesting for me although Kairha got bored quickly (too much "old, bumpy steel"). That it was sleeting and snowing at the time probably contributed. I was disappointed that one cannot reach the engine rooms. Also, because of the snow they closed at 11 AM so I did not get to see the USS Drum submarine.

The in-town bar/restaurant/road house, The Blind Mule, in Mobile was excellent for lunch (red beans and rice with andouille ... yum).

A drive to and through Biloxi was a yawn and my guess is Gulfport would be similar.

Originally Posted by jfrenaye

If you are looking for a nighttime parade, I would not schedule your special dinner that night at all. For best viewing and photos, get there early and plan for the parade to last longer than expected.

Special night suggestions from me-fancy and romantic upstairs at Galatoires. Res needed, right on Bourbon. Also for a GREAT Italian meal, Irene's Cuisine on St Phillip (?) just a few steps away from Brad and Angie's place. Steak-Dickie Brennans is very good as well.

Although we took your advice, nighttime parades don't really require early arrival. In fact, none of them do. From a timing standpoint, parades scheduled to start around 6 PM don't and moreover they rarely reach the Canal Street area until 8 at the earliest, sometimes not until 9 or 10. We had dinner at 5:30, spent a long time at it, walked to Canal Street and still had to wait about 30 minutes before the Endymion parade came by.

Viewing is excellent from up from and from the back. Throws are made close and far and we got just as much far as close. In fact, probably more if we were 10 - 20 feet back. We found that standing on Canal Street's "neutral zone" was the best ... not crowded for any parade. If doing photos also, anywhere, or simply moving around, is good; too close to the front and the floats are way too wide for the frame (one Orpheus float was about 200 feet long!).

Parades we saw, all in their entirety were Endymion, Thoth, Orpheus, Zulu, Rex, Elks, and myriad walking clubs, impromptu parades, etc.

Originally Posted by bodega

I don't know when you are arriving into the Quarter, but if you are there on a Sunday morning, I can highly recommend Arnaud's Sunday Jazz Brunch. It ain't cheap, but it was one of the best bunch meals we have ever had.

Indeed! I think it ran us about $125 for the brunch (with tax, tip, etc.)!

Originally Posted by seeemeeego

Local here - Dominique's is no longer - at least not in the Maison Dupuy. The restaurant there now is Le Meritage.

We decided against Le Meritage mainly because their gig is wine pairings. As much as we love wine, we are not connoisseurs and their menu is based on pairing the proper wine with the meal. Well, we both are not fond of white wines but love seafood ... we would have expected sneers and jeers from all if we ordered shrimp creole with our malbec.

Originally Posted by jfrenaye

Kairho--Cafe du Monde is best (at least for me) at the crack o dawn. The city is still asleep and hung over, you are far enough away from Bourbon that the street sweepers aren't a bother.

I don;t like it particularly, but for authentic food, try Tujagues on Decatur.

We had breakfast, and snacks (screw the diet in NOLA) at Cafe du Monde. No such thing as crack o' dawn for us, but even at 8 or 9 it was crowded, sometimes with a line.

Tujagues was very old timey traditional and the food was authentic and good.

Originally Posted by mtp51

I've eaten at Irene's numerous times. It's Italian. It's Creole. It's New Orleans. The entire scene is worth the trip. The food is very good - almost as good as ...well...the scene.

Irene's was second only to Arnauds for us. Simply exquisite and a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by bodega

Been to the Mardi Gras World, which I thought I wouldn't care for and found it extremely interesting to get up close to the floats. Not use how this would work so close to 'the event'. The Presbytere also has a exhibit on Mardi Gras and when we were there they had a very good exhibit on Katrina.

Of course you must ride the Charles Street trolley. A step back in time! There is a self walking tour of the Garden District that we have done which gives you a chance to see the lovely homes, fences and gardens. I am sure Frommer's has it in the book or it is in the AAA Tour Book.

MGW was not reached because of time. Also, with all the MG parades I think it would be more interesting at other times of the year. It is on the "next time" list.

Because of closing days we had to get late checkout on Wednesday in order to get to the Presbytere and the Mardi Gras exhibit there (actually, it was all Mardi Gras) is one of the best museum exhibits I've ever seen. Doing it right after experiencing Mardi Gras made it even more pertinent to the experience. Recommended.

The St. Charles Street and Canal Street trollies don't run at least the last week of Carnival although the Riverfront trolley was running. And as mentioned, we did a formal walking tour of the Garden District. It does basically the same places as the Frommer's walk but is a lot more fun and worth the $20. As we were listening to great stories from a terrific guide there were othjers with Frommer's in their hands just walking by and only absorbing a fraction of the interesting information. Later I reviewed the tour in Frommer's and it was but a shadow of the formal tour.

[mtp51]

Sounds like an awesome adventure!! I am meeting my husband in N O for the Easter Parade - it will be our 3rd time. I do think that Chris Owens is made of wax...

[Ned]

Thanks for the wonderful run down. It will help us a lot.

I glad you're back safely and had a great time.