Meh … they weren’t coming here (to N.O.) anyway. I’m keeping an eye on convention business, hotel bookings, and such … though the returns won’t be in for some time.
For FANTASTIC ice cream, visit Creole Creamery, in the Garden District. Ride the trolley, take a wee walk. Utterly gorgeous!
For a dinner that’s a bit more upscale, yet totally not super-pricey, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, Chef Paul Prudhomme’s joint. Superb in every way.
Also, do a ghost tour from Haunted History Tours. The French Quarter one is super-fun, and ask for the South African guy as your tour guide (no, really, trust me on this one, he’s like a young Kelsey Grammer and he’s FANTASTIC, except I can’t remember his name).
Just a block away from the ice cream store above (west?) is the St. James Cheese Company. It has an deli, too, that serves sandwiches.
Rather than having meat with cheese, the focus is on cheese with meat. A sandwich is “CHEDDAR with turkey” rather than the reverse. I had the Raclette with pastrami & whole grain mustard and my wife had the Brie with ham. I liked her’s better - just can’t beat the fresh french bread that’s available all over New Orleans.
In retrospect, I should’ve gotten the English Ploughman’s lunch and a beer.
Try the local Abita beer. It’s a nice light amber.
If all goes well, I’ll be there tomorrow. Made reservations at Bayona, plan on taking the kids to the zoo and D-Day Museum, might hit Jacques-Imo’s or Frankie & Johnnie’s, then I’ll see if I can find a place that serves beer*.
If anyone wants to hook up, I’ll be the guy in the hat.
*I’m kidding. I’m pretty sure there’s a bar at the zoo.
We took a paddle boat tour. It wasn’t super exciting but it was nice to sit out on the deck in the sun and the Mississippi is an amazingly powerful river. So if you’re feeling lazy one day, I recommend it.
The Captain of the Creole Queenperformed our wedding ceremony (at Jackson Square, not on the boat).
The next day we went on the boat’s battlefield tour and it was pretty cool. They take you down river to the site of the Battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812. Learned a lot of interesting stuff.