We like to eat and cook and organized our trip around some foodie experiences.
The New Orleans Cooking Experience. This is an amazing cooking school that offers individual classes for locals and tourists as well as multi-day packages. We did the full 4 day package with two lessons and a dinner at Brigstens and a brunch at Commander%26#39;s Palace. We also moved from our French Quarter hotel to stay at their Inn on Bayou Road (just off Esplanade about 12 blocks from the quarter on a beautiful street). I will post about the lovely Inn accommodation later. This cooking school was a first rate travel experience! Every detail was carefully attended to, from the lovely colour co-ordinated recipe envelopes to the very welcoming and attentive staff - no wine or water glasss was ever left unfilled and special dietary needs were accommodated very seriously and gracefully. The venue was beautiful, the food was amazing and the chefs were wonderful teachers and entertainers. I am particularly struck by how remarkably generous the chefs were in sharing their knowledge and their attentiveness to each guest. It was a very personalized and authentic New Orleans experience.
Greyline Cocktail tour (re-posted from my tour reviews). Wonderfully knowledgeable guide took us to several interesting bars and we bought our own drinks following her suggestions (or not). Very interesting local history about the venues and the drinks. We had a Pimms Cup at Muriels and toured their upper one-time bordello rooms, a Hurricane at Tujacques and admired their imported antique mirrored bar, delightful bartender at Court of Two Sisters where most had the Sazerac and I had the Brandy milk punch, another drink at the Bourbon house, and the highlight was a total Absinthe experience at Tony Seville%26#39;s on Pirate%26#39;s Alley.
Culinary History and Tasting Tour (re-posted from my tour reviews). The tour was basically a historical and cultural overview of the French Quarter with snacks. It wasn%26#39;t a significant foodie experience but it was a pleasant way to see the area and the food was tasty. There was a small cooking demo of some local cuisine which was clearly the tour%26#39;s highlight. I would have preferred less time touring restaurants and more time talking about food. There was no time to shop at the little praline store or the local food shop, which I think would have been nice to try and fit in. All food was included in the tour.
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum (located near the foodcourt in the Riverwalk mall that%26#39;s down by the cruse ship terminals) looked wonderful but we were about to get aboard our riverboat so we couldn%26#39;t stay but it looked to be a delightful way to spend a few hours on the history of local food.
New Orleans School of Cooking and Louisiana General Store (St. Louis Street). We didn%26#39;t go to this but we met people who did and they were very happy with the experience. A chef demonstrates several dishes for an hour or so and then everyone eats and gets a discount at the cooking store.
Happy Gumbo Cooking!
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