So, me and my husband made a much needed trip to Nola this past week, and thanks to all of the expert information on this board, we had a wonderful time!
Sunday: We arrived in town at 1:00, and were able to check into our hotel. We stayed at the Prince Conti, which we were happy with. The room was a little on the small side, but it was clean and we got it at a very good price. The best part about the Prince Conti is the location, and we would definitely stay here again as long as the price was reasonable. Since we arrived so early, we were able to enjoy Jazz Brunch at Mr. B%26#39;s. I had the Gumbo Ya-Ya and Eggs and Pork Debris, and my husband had the special, which was spinach salad, corn beef hash and bread pudding. We ate at Mr. B%26#39;s on our last visit, and all of our dishes were just as good as we remembered. Brunch at Mr. B%26#39;s was a perfect kick off to our week in New Orleans! After brunch, we decided to walk around the Quarter. We purchased lottery tickets at a store on Royal Street ( a real treat for us since we live in a state without lotto...) and ended up at Harrahs for a little gambling, where we had no luck whatsoever...
Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to unpack and rest. Then, dinner at Deanies, which was one of me and my husband%26#39;s favorite meals of our trip. We had to wait for a table, but time passed pretty quickly (at the bar...) and we noticed that the dishes coming out of the kitchen were huge! When we were finally seated, we decided to share a Crabmeat Quartet, which was plenty for the two of us. Several tables around us ordered the seafood platter, which looked delicious, but was HUGE! I don%26#39;t think we would have been able to eat a whole platter, but we were tempted to try because it looked so good! Anyway, we really enjoyed what we ordered. My husband especially liked the crabmeat au gratin. We both thought it was an awesome value. After dinner, we were both tired, and decided to turn in early.
Monday: Because we had went to bed so early the previous night, we woke up early Monday morning. We decided to have breakfast at the Coffee Pot, where we split an order of the Calla Cakes. Absolutely delicious! After breakfast, we walked around the Quarter, but most of the stores hadn%26#39;t opened yet. We made our way down to the French Market, where some vendors were setting up their stands. I always like to browse, but hardly ever buy anything. We walked along the river, and enjoyed the nice weather. We booked a cocktail tour for the evening, which I was really looking forward to. We made our way back to the Red Fish Grill for lunch. My husband had the shrimp and bacon club and potato salad, which he loved. I decided to be adventurous, and get a BBQ oyster po-boy (my first time trying oysters..) well, I decided that I didn%26#39;t care for oysters. The sauce was very good, but I just don%26#39;t think oysters are for me. I went to Croissant D%26#39;hor for dessert and had an almond croissant (very good). After lunch, we made our way back to Harrah%26#39;s to lose some more money. We then went to River Walk and walked around the mall. By then, it was time for our cocktail tour. I would highly recommend the cocktail tour. Our tour guide, Joe, has written a book on the famous bars in the French Quarter and the specialty drinks that they serve. This tour does not go to Bourbon St., but to the more low key bars around the French Quarter. This is a history tour, and you learn facts about the city and the evolution of the cocktail...very interesting. Afterwards, we went to Bourbon St., which was not crowded at all. My husband and I tend to shy away from crowds, so this was perfect for us. We found a good band at Bourbon Rocks and sat and enjoyed the 2 for 1 drink special. For a late night snack, we headed to Angeli%26#39;s on Decatur for a wonderful pizza. Highly recommend Angeli for late night munchies (they are open till 4 a.m.) We grabbed some beignets on the way back to our hotel (yum) and crawled into bed at around 2 a.m.
Part 2 to come....
Trip Report March 22-27
We will be there in 4 weeks so I am looking forward to Part 2
Trip Report March 22-27
Great start to the trip report. I%26#39;ve got Angeli%26#39;s on my list of ';to eat'; so glad to hear about the pizza. 9 days to go!!1
Great trip report. I look forward to reading more, too.
I used to eat at Angeli often but the cleanliness factor (of both the staff and the restaurant!) finally drove me away. Perhaps it has improved recently.
hmmm....the almond crossaints..so good. Nice report!
Thanks for posting a really interesting report.We will be there first time in July. Just love reading about the restaurants and food we are so looking forward to our trip you%26#39;ve really made my mouth water.
thanks for a great report and looking for the 2nd part will be going to NO in September and I will know some places to visit
I forgot to add that we had dinner at Coops Monday night. I do have to say that I was really disappointed with this meal. I think it is because I had built Coops up in my head so much... I was really expecting it to be great. We got an order of the crab meat stuffed peppers and a Coops taste plate. I thought the crab stuffed peppers and the fried chicken were great. The red beans and rice had a crust over it, and there were parts of the plate that were cold, and other parts that were scalding hot, like the food had sat out for awhile and then was reheated in the microwave. Coops is sort of a dive bar with food- very laid back atmosphere. There was a cute cat in the bar (I%26#39;m pretty sure he lived there) playing with a large roach underneath the pool table next to us (you probably won%26#39;t see that a Commanders Palace-lol!) Anyway, from reading all of the wonderful reviews here, I think we might have went on an off night, and will probably try again next trip.
Tuesday: Now I have come to the worst part of our entire trip: The Court of Two Sisters! I have read many posts on this site warning visitors not to eat here. I wish I had listened, but we heard about how beautiful the courtyard was, and my husband likes buffets (I usually don%26#39;t) so we decided to give it a try. The best part was the courtyard... it was absolutely beautiful! There is a 100 year old wysteria vine that just happened to be blooming while we were there! Sounds great, but eating under one is a different story. Every time the wind blew, bits of wysteria plant fell into our food and drink and there were bees everywhere! The food was bad... I mean really bad..so bad, that my husband, who will eat anything, hardly touched his plate. There were several items that were advertised as being on the buffet that weren%26#39;t. We only saw our waiter twice- once when he brought us our drinks, and again when he brought us our check. We never got refills on our drinks, and they weren%26#39;t even busy. There was only one other table besides us eating in the restaurant . The worst part was when we got the check....ouch! The courtyard was very beautiful, but if you want to see it, I recommend just getting a drink at the bar and taking a quick look. Save your money for a good meal, such as Commanders Palace.
Afterward, we met our tour guide for the Le Monde Creole tour. I really enjoyed this tour, which is based on the life of Laura Locoul, whose family owned a sugar plantation on River Road. The tour is packed full of history about life in the French Quarter and on the plantation and visits several courtyards as well as the Saint Louis Cemetery #1. After the tour, we went to Deanies and split a fried shrimp po boy and small order of onion rings- which was plenty for the both of us. Next, we toured the Pharmacy Museum on Chartres St. Inside the museum, there is a collection of old medicine bottles, old surgical tools, an old soda fountain and tons of information about the remedies and methods used by early pharmacists.
After a short nap, we ventured out on Bourbon St. for a few drinks. We ended the night at Yo Mamas for a burger. We split the mushroom burger.. and this might have been the best burger I have ever had! My husband is still talking about the burgers for Yo Mamas. We went to bed fairly early....11p.m., eager to start the next day!
Part 3 to come... sorry this is turning out to be so long...
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