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Four fun and food-filled days in the French Quarter

Neither of us had ever been to New Orleans, and we were not sure exactly what to expect. We were a bit skeptical of the room we booked that the hotel clerk described as ‘funky’ on the phone when we booked it, although it seemed to have a good location at Royal and St. Phillip streets, one block off of Bourbon. We expected things to seem a little bit more European and historic than many other places we’d seen in the South, but driving into the French Quarter from the east side down Royal Street totally takes you back in time. It really does look and feel like it must not have seemed all that much different 200 years ago.

Once we arrived at the hotel, the somewhat incompetent-seeming staff figured out where we’d be staying for our four nights (somehow we got upgraded from our ‘funky’ room to a 3rd floor balcony jr. suite due to some confusion). It was a decent-sized room, and while some things were quite nice (the new suede furniture, high quality sheets & towels, newly remodeled marble bathroom), it seemed very thrown together, and was missing a few important items every hotel should have (there was no chest of drawers, no shelves or counters in the bathroom and the towel bar had fallen off the wall and no outlets in the sitting room). However, the great view  from the balcony and perfect location (Royal Street is one of the quaintest streets in the French Quarter) made up for all of the room’s short-comings, even if there were remnants of a broken glass behind the shutter on the balcony (housekeeping cleaned it up right away upon our request).

We wandered around New Orleans for a day and a half until it started raining Tuesday night. We probably walked every block in the French Quarter, and many blocks jut outside the Quarter. East of the French Quarter seems like much more of a ‘locals’ part of town, and reminded us a bit of San Francisco. Once the sun went away we took the quaint, historic St. Charles streetcar on a roundtrip through the Garden District and passed Loyola and Tulane Universities that took us almost two hours, although we couldn’t really see much once it started raining.

We walked around the Garden District, which is the ‘newer’ American-built part of town (most homes are still over 100 years old) one afternoon when it wasn’t raining. In contrast to the Spanish-style architecture of the French Quarter, the buildings in this area are more similar to the antebellum mansions we saw in the rest of the south. While there, we toured Lafayette Cemetery, a good example of one of the old New Orleans cemeteries with above-ground tombs. The following is a conversation we had shortly after entering the cemetery:

Crazy Cemetery Employee (CCE): <shouting, from 100 feet away> “I’m on duty and can answer any questions you have about the cemetery.”

Scott: “Thanks”

CCE: <thinking Scott said “no thanks”, and taking great offense> “I wasn’t asking you a question, I was telling you I’m on duty, so don’t tell me ‘no thanks’!”

Scott: “I said ‘thanks’, not ‘no thanks’”

CCE: “Okay, sorry, I thought you were being rude. Figured maybe we had some people out from California or something. But I guess I was the one being rude.”

We didn’t bother to tell him that we were visiting from California.

Before we arrived in town, Scott found out that our friend Jen Vedock (from Dreyer’s) and a big group of Scott’s other former co-workers were going to be in New Orleans for some training meetings the same week we were there. On Tuesday night, we went over to their hotel in the warehouse district and had some drinks with some of Scott’s old co-workers. Caroline and Jen had awesome chocolate martinis. They had so much alcohol in them that they have a three-drink limit on them, and that’s really sayin’ something for New Orleans! And Jen really sucked hers down like she has a stressful job or something (just kidding Jen!). Thanks to the Dreyer’s Portland profit center (#388) for picking up the tab for Caroline’s best chocolate martini ever and Scott’s wine. Then we went out to dinner with Jen, who some of you will remember as our fabulous hostess from our Lake Tahoe Thanksgiving.

For years, Caroline has been tearing out pages from travel magazines and diligently organizing them into binders, sectioned geographically. This has caused Scott, on more than one occasion, to lift a brow or purse his lips and slowly shake his head, thinking, “what are the odds we’ll ever actually use any of this stuff” or “do we really need to pack and haul all of these binders around the country – or continent?”. New Orleans made it all worthwhile, as we were able to refer to a great article from a 2002 Travel & Leisure with some excellent food recommendations. One of these was Herbsaint, where we ended up going with Jen (thanks again to Dreyer’s and Jen’s expense report for a fabulous meal). We’d almost forgotten what fine dining was all about, after weeks and weeks of fried foods and generally mediocre cuisine. Just about everything we had was wonderful, especially the beef short-rib appetizer, Scott’s gumbo, Caroline’s tomato & shrimp bisque, the duck, and the topper – the Banana Brown Butter Tart with Fleur de Sel Caramel. Truly orgasmic!

Once the clouds rolled in on Tuesday night, we spent a lot of time in cafes and restaurants, but isn’t that what you’re supposed to do in New Orleans anyway? We love the way that the walls of the restaurants in the French Quarter are large shutter doors, which they leave open even when it’s raining. You can sit inside, having your jambalaya, po’boys, muffulettas, gumbo, beignets, croissants and café au laits - we had them all, but feel like you’re outside.

Thursday night was our last night in town, and we had been meaning to go to Preservation Hall to hear some New Orleans jazz. But first, we had to stop by Pat O’Brien’s and try a hurricane. Scott’s Dad had come down to New Orleans with some friends over 35 years ago, and told us that we had to go to Pat O’Brien’s. So we proceed to stop in an hour before the show started at Preservation Hall next door for a quick drink. As soon as we walked in, we were herded to a seat in a room where a woman was playing piano and singing requested songs. The first few songs were not good, the place seemed overly touristy and the drinks were expensive ($9 for a hurricane! But you DO get to keep the souvenir glass – if you didn’t drive there with a Cavalier already filled to the brim and don’t get so drunk you forget to take them with you). We figured we might leave a little early.

After just a few sips of hurricane, however, we were starting to really warm up to the place. After we had finished five hurricanes between us, it magically turned into the most fun bar we’d been to in years! At that point, we figured we had missed the show next door and no longer cared, as we were busily singing along with the now dueling pianists. They really pack ‘em into Pat O’Brien’s, so you end up sitting practically on top of the people next to you. So we got to talk (shout?) with some women next to us who had driven down from the Bronx for the weekend. Then we started talking to the guys in front of us, although we waited until they failed to pick up the girls sitting next to them. We ended up hanging out with these two guys from Iowa until we left.

After stumbling out of Pat O’s, we decided to see what was going on next door at Preservation Hall. As we tried peeking in beyond the guy at the door, he said we could just go on in without cover, since the show was almost over. So we did get to see them perform the last couple of songs of the night. It was fun, but a ‘family friendly’ environment (no smoking OR drinking!). We made a good choice in spending our time at the bar next door. Somehow we made it back to our hotel, and even managed to stop at an all-night diner on the way for grilled cheese and fried egg sandwiches. A good way to finish off our New Orleans vacation.