In our recent travels to visit our "southern family" we took our regular route through Tennessee but decided to end our trip with a stop in New Orleans. Neither of us had ever been to the Crescent City and thought it would be fun to explore a new place. I've always wanted to visit New Orleans, explore the old architecture, eat some delicious gumbo and drink myself silly on Bourbon Street. We checked all of the above and much more from our to-do list during our visit.
We stayed in the French Quarter in the centrally located Bourbon Orleans. The Quarter, also known as "Vieux Carre," is the oldest neighborhood in the city, and also the only area in new Orleans above sea level, thus incurring little to no Katrina related damage. The vibe of the quarter is lively, even in January, when the season is slow.
Our first meal was at the excellent Green Goddess, a small space that creates inventive and fresh dishes with a changing menu. We shared an order of the "duck fat" French Fries, which were intensely flavorful yet not as rich as they sound. I then enjoyed the Mofongo de Camarones, a grilled, mashed plantain cake topped with honey-lime shrimp and guacamole. Joe ordered the Crab Cake sandwich, the daily special and also a great choice.
Our first night on Bourbon Street was a Hurricane madness, not the storm kind, but the unpredictable drink kind. We started at Pat O'Briens for the "classic", headed over to Lafitte's Blacksmith shop for the "legitimate", and later had a frozen concoction, the "tourist trap." We enjoyed the scene of Bourbon but decided to head over to the Blue Nile Live for some legit brass music.
On the morning of day two, we headed over to Cafe du Monde for the acclaimed Beignets. Neither of us care for doughnuts or sugary morning pastries, but we believe in giving credit where credit is due, and those Beignets blew us away. We nearly argued over who would get the third Beignet in our order... you see they come in three's, but I think most people get their own order of three! They were so warm, fresh and not at all greasy. Touristy? Yes. Overrated? Hell No!
After Cafe du Monde we strolled around the waterfront and checked out the new French Farmer's Market. It's a really nice market with food stands, fresh produce, and crafts. One of the things on my to-do list was to try Alligator and voila, one of the food stands had Alligator on a Stick on his menu. I went for it as Joe stared at me (and took this picture). It was basically a gator sausage, but it was juicy, salty, and delicious.
We also rode a trolley far uptown in search of the city's best Po'Boy, at Guys. It was worth the ride!
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