New Orleans, End of March
- Thread starter bballbaby
- Start date
Our schedules are out of synch. I was there for a couple of weeks around Mardi Gras, and I'll be back a couple of weeks after your visit, for French Quarter Fest in mid-April. Let me know if you have any questions about NOLA.
Do the bars have smoking priveldges? What about the gents clubs, can you smoke in there?
I'm big into food and cooking and want to try the real deal authentic foods. you know, crawfish, jambalaya, gumbo, etc. Where's some good places to go?
Muffalatta (spelling) sandwich, and som profiterolls inth efrench Quarter.
PUUUUURE Pleasure!!!
There's 9 dudes going with no women so it's going to be a bunch of dudes benig dudes Nawlins style. It should be a blast.
I love cajun food, i love jazz and blues music; should be a match made in heaven
These days, you can't smoke in restaurants, but you can smoke in just about every bar and gentleman's club. Just about every place that lets you smoke doesn't discriminate against cigars and pipes. Also, remember that it is legal to drink on the street in New Orleans, as long as you have a plastic container. Every bar has go-cups for you, even the most up-scale ones.
New Orleans is one of those places where you really have to work hard at it to find bad food. I'm assuming that you are going to be in the French Quarter. If you have the budget to eat at a fancy restaurant at least once, my favorite is The Pelican Club. Other favorite but pricey restaurants in the
Quarter are the Mister B's and Rib Room at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. Also, The Court of Two Sisters has a great jazz brunch on week-ends.
You will hear a lot of hype about Commander's Palace. It's just hype. It's over-priced and over-rated, and only worth going if you feel a burning need to check it out. If you do go, during the week at lunch time they have 25 cent martinis.
)
For more moderately priced fare, for oysters go to Felix's or the Desire Oyster Bar or Remoulade's. All are on, or just off, Bourbon Street. They all serve good cajun and creole style food, as well. Also, the Gumbo Shop right near Jackson Square is really good, as is Ole Nawlins, and a whole bunch of other places.
You will hear about the Acme Oyster House, across the street from Felix's. It used to be a great local place, but it got "discovered," and now it's really a tourist trap. There are lots of other great, reasonably priced restaurants, and it's hard to go wrong. Stay away from Antoine's. I'm a regular on Friday afternoons at Galatoire's when I'm in town (jacket required), but that's really more for the social scene than the food, so you probably ought to take a pass on Gal's.
For a mufaletta, go to Central Grocery on Decatur and be prepared to wait in line. My wife and I like to get them, and some beer from a store nearby, to go (they are huge, btw, so you should expect to be able to eat only 1/4 or maybe 1/2 at a sitting) and take them to a little park across the street and down a little ways to eat.
You will also want to have coffee and beignets (kind of like donuts) at Cafe DuMonde on Decatur at least once. Wear white or light colored clothes, 'cause there is no way to avoid getting at least a little powdered sugar on you, no matter how careful you are.
If you want to try a Hurricane, don't bother anywhere other than Pat O'Brien's, which is where they were invented. An interesting place for a drink and a smoke is Jean Laffite's Blacksmith Shop down on the 900 block of Bourbon street. Quiet (usually), dark and dripping with authentic atmosphere.
Cigars in the Quarter are usually fairly, but not ridiculously, pricey. I'd bring my own stash, but there are some decent cigar shops in the Quarter, particularly Crescent City Cigar Shop.
For music, just walk around and listen til you hear something you like, then go in. Jazz Preservation Hall is a bit of a rip-off. If you like traditional New Orleans music (closely related to Dixeland), go to Fritzel's on Bourbon St. Also, check out venues like Tipitina's, the House of Blues (both in the Quarter) and Le Bontemps Roulez (you will need to take a cab). Keep your eyes open for a throwaway newspaper called Where Y'at, which tells you all about who is playing where.
When you are in the Quarter, you are safe as long as you are where you see other people, but don't wander into deserted looking areas, especially at night (good advice, no matter what city you are in). At night I would try to stay between Bourbon and the river.
Don't leave New Orleans thinking that the Quarter and New Orleans are the same. That's like thinking that New York City is Times Square. At the very least, you have to see the Garden District. Take the St. Charles Ave. streetcar and ride it out all the way to the end (just past Tulane and Audobon Park), then ride it back. It's $1.25 each way, and it's a great way to see one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in this country.
If you have time, get off anywhere between Jackson and Louisiana and walk around. If you do that, you want to stay in the Garden District, which is bordered by St. Charles and Magazine. I.e., if you are on the streetcar heading away from the Quarter (heading "uptown"), you want to stay on St. Charles or to your left (as you face uptown). Your left is also referred to as river side. Just ask anyone which way Magazine is, and head toward it, wandering around and looking at the houses.
Magazine has a lot of interesting stores, bars and restaurants. Nice cigar store called Mayan Trading Company is there. Across the street is a restaurant called Joey K's, which is a huge local hang-out. If you want to eat home style New Orleans cookin' like the locals, that's the place to go.
Ping me off-list if you need more details, 'cause I don't want to bore the rest of the gang with all this OT stuff.
Have a ball, yall!
New Orleans is one of those places where you really have to work hard at it to find bad food. I'm assuming that you are going to be in the French Quarter. If you have the budget to eat at a fancy restaurant at least once, my favorite is The Pelican Club. Other favorite but pricey restaurants in the
Quarter are the Mister B's and Rib Room at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. Also, The Court of Two Sisters has a great jazz brunch on week-ends.
You will hear a lot of hype about Commander's Palace. It's just hype. It's over-priced and over-rated, and only worth going if you feel a burning need to check it out. If you do go, during the week at lunch time they have 25 cent martinis.
)For more moderately priced fare, for oysters go to Felix's or the Desire Oyster Bar or Remoulade's. All are on, or just off, Bourbon Street. They all serve good cajun and creole style food, as well. Also, the Gumbo Shop right near Jackson Square is really good, as is Ole Nawlins, and a whole bunch of other places.
You will hear about the Acme Oyster House, across the street from Felix's. It used to be a great local place, but it got "discovered," and now it's really a tourist trap. There are lots of other great, reasonably priced restaurants, and it's hard to go wrong. Stay away from Antoine's. I'm a regular on Friday afternoons at Galatoire's when I'm in town (jacket required), but that's really more for the social scene than the food, so you probably ought to take a pass on Gal's.
For a mufaletta, go to Central Grocery on Decatur and be prepared to wait in line. My wife and I like to get them, and some beer from a store nearby, to go (they are huge, btw, so you should expect to be able to eat only 1/4 or maybe 1/2 at a sitting) and take them to a little park across the street and down a little ways to eat.
You will also want to have coffee and beignets (kind of like donuts) at Cafe DuMonde on Decatur at least once. Wear white or light colored clothes, 'cause there is no way to avoid getting at least a little powdered sugar on you, no matter how careful you are.
If you want to try a Hurricane, don't bother anywhere other than Pat O'Brien's, which is where they were invented. An interesting place for a drink and a smoke is Jean Laffite's Blacksmith Shop down on the 900 block of Bourbon street. Quiet (usually), dark and dripping with authentic atmosphere.
Cigars in the Quarter are usually fairly, but not ridiculously, pricey. I'd bring my own stash, but there are some decent cigar shops in the Quarter, particularly Crescent City Cigar Shop.
For music, just walk around and listen til you hear something you like, then go in. Jazz Preservation Hall is a bit of a rip-off. If you like traditional New Orleans music (closely related to Dixeland), go to Fritzel's on Bourbon St. Also, check out venues like Tipitina's, the House of Blues (both in the Quarter) and Le Bontemps Roulez (you will need to take a cab). Keep your eyes open for a throwaway newspaper called Where Y'at, which tells you all about who is playing where.
When you are in the Quarter, you are safe as long as you are where you see other people, but don't wander into deserted looking areas, especially at night (good advice, no matter what city you are in). At night I would try to stay between Bourbon and the river.
Don't leave New Orleans thinking that the Quarter and New Orleans are the same. That's like thinking that New York City is Times Square. At the very least, you have to see the Garden District. Take the St. Charles Ave. streetcar and ride it out all the way to the end (just past Tulane and Audobon Park), then ride it back. It's $1.25 each way, and it's a great way to see one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in this country.
If you have time, get off anywhere between Jackson and Louisiana and walk around. If you do that, you want to stay in the Garden District, which is bordered by St. Charles and Magazine. I.e., if you are on the streetcar heading away from the Quarter (heading "uptown"), you want to stay on St. Charles or to your left (as you face uptown). Your left is also referred to as river side. Just ask anyone which way Magazine is, and head toward it, wandering around and looking at the houses.
Magazine has a lot of interesting stores, bars and restaurants. Nice cigar store called Mayan Trading Company is there. Across the street is a restaurant called Joey K's, which is a huge local hang-out. If you want to eat home style New Orleans cookin' like the locals, that's the place to go.
Ping me off-list if you need more details, 'cause I don't want to bore the rest of the gang with all this OT stuff.
Have a ball, yall!
OK, i leave tomorrow. Got the traveldor all stocked up with nohting but good sticks and enough to smoke 5 a day. lord help me.
Got a fistfull of one dollar bills for "the ladies" and a roll of 50s for the caseeeno. Been having the wife show me how to "suck da head" to get ready for all those crawfish. And i bought a few white t-shirts to hide all that begneit (sp?) powder from Cafe du Monde.
Looking forward to this trip. I'll try to post some live updates for yall to live vicariously through my shenannigans. No promises though.
Got a fistfull of one dollar bills for "the ladies" and a roll of 50s for the caseeeno. Been having the wife show me how to "suck da head" to get ready for all those crawfish. And i bought a few white t-shirts to hide all that begneit (sp?) powder from Cafe du Monde.
Looking forward to this trip. I'll try to post some live updates for yall to live vicariously through my shenannigans. No promises though.