We had a fantastic anniversary trip to New Orleans this past weekend. We left Friday morning on a 9am flight. Everything was right on time and we arrived in Nola a few minutes early. What was also amusing was seeing Kiehl James Patrick and Sarah Vickers from
Classy Girls Wear Pearls blogspot in the taxi line at the New Orleans airport. I've often wondered if they dress in the New England preppy style all the time like the do on their blogs. The answer is yes. Those two look like they stepped out of Brooks Brothers catalog 24-7. Kind of amusing and my husband acted like it was a major celebrity sighting (he loves the merchandise from KJP and owns several bracelets and belts).
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| View of Maison de Ville Hotel from the Street |
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| Our room at Maison de Ville - you walk through the window to the balcony |
We checked into our hotel, The Maison de Ville and our room was ready so we unpacked and then walked around to check out the remodeling job on the hotel. They did a great job! The rooms were comfortable, clean but still had that old Nola feel to them. The lady at the front desk even let us check out their Tennessee Williams suite, which was unoccupied at the time. It's a 2 room suite off of their courtyard and Tennessee Williams actually rented the room and stayed there while he finished writing
Streetcar Named Desire. I love the idea of staying someplace with such literary history connected to it. Will try to book that room next time if it's affordable.
Then we were off to start walking the Quarter. We walked down Bourbon Street and popped into The Old Absinthe House for one quick drink. After that it was lunch at Dickie Brennan's steakhouse where we indulged in champagne cocktails, a crab cake and I had the grilled and blackened drum fish while Steve overindulged in their bacon cheeseburger.
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| Champagne cocktail at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse |
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| Steve enjoying a Manhattan |
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| Steakhouse Bacon Cheeseburger |
We then decided to do some extensive walking to work off the lunch and we went down to Jackson Square, the Mississippi River, up and down Bourbon Street and the Quarter as a whole. It started pouring rain so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and take a nap. For dinner we went to Felix's Oyster House on Iberville Street and had raw oysters, chargrilled oysters and then split half a shrimp po-boy with a few beers.
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| HUGE oyster at Felix's |
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| Steve loving oysters and beer |
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| Our shucker for the evening |
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| Flaming up some chargrilled oysters |
We started our first bar crawl that night and stopped into Fritzl's for some live jazz, Harry's Corner Bar for cheap drinks and then ended the night at the bar across the street from our hotel.
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| Mississippi River |
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| Natchez Steamboat |
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| Tanker on the River |
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| Bourbon Street Weirdo! |
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| Enjoying a beer at Molly's Bar |
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| More Bourbon Street Weirdos |
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| Me above Jackson Square |
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| Balcony in the French Quarter |
Woke up the next day (Saturday) feeling a wee bit tired after all the drinks from the night before. Slept in nice and late and then went downstairs for a mini-muffin and some coffee in the hotel lounge. Played with the hotel's insane cat for a bit and then we cleaned up and headed out. We stopped into the Napoleon House for lunch (1/4 muffaletta) and a Pimm's Cup and then we went shopping along Bourbon and Chartres Street in the Quarter - mostly we walked in and out of art galleries and shops.
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| Pimm's Cup at Napoleon House |
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| Outside of Napoleon House |
I saw one art gallery near the end of Royal that really caught my eye with beautiful, vivid paintings but we decided to come back to it the next day as Steve was tired of walking and we had spa appointments at the Ritz to make. We then had massages at the Ritz Carlton that were amazing and just what the doctor ordered to cure my lingering funk (i.e., hangover). Back to the hotel so I could rewash my hair since it got massage oil all in it.
Saturday was also our wedding anniversary so we had dinner reservations at Commander's Palace. Took a cab over to the Garden District and stopped into the bar for a cocktail. We've eaten here once before and it is a gorgeous restaurant. This time we were seated in the garden dining room which was even more beautiful than their upstairs dining room where we ate last time. Had an amazing dinner - I had the "indecision soup" which is a small demitasse tasting of each of their soups (gumbo, turtle soup and soup of the day) and Steve had a spicy shrimp appetizer that was delish. He definitely won the award for best appetizer. I then had the grilled veal with cheese grits and Steve had their steak for our entrees and we split an order of their famous strawberry shortcake, which was to die for. After that we headed back to our hotel and had a nightcap before calling it quits a little earlier this night.
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| Steve at Commander's Palace Bar |
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| Me at Commander's Palace Bar |
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| Strawberry Shortcake Dessert - Before |
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| Strawberry Shortcake Dessert - After. We destroyed this. |
Woke up Sunday feeling great. We had brunch reservations at NOLA restaurant, which is an Emeril owned one in the Quarter. Originally we had debated about cancelling them after all these rich meals but decided to keep it and I'm glad we did. NOLA has one of my favorite dishes in the city -- a garlic crusted drum fish which is amazing. We ended up keeping lunch light and we split a house salad and small crab cake and then I had my drum fish and Steve had a grilled fish of the day with 1 glass of house wine each.
After brunch I decided I wanted to head back to that art gallery on Royal I spied the previous day. They were open and we started browsing. I instantly fell in love with two paintings. We talked with the gallery manager for awhile and he was able to cut us a deal (almost 40% off) and after an hour of hemming and hawing about which painting to buy, I finally settled on one. The artists are Caliche & Pao and they are a husband and wife that live in New Orleans but are originally from South America. All of the paint is applied with a knife rather than a brush and has deep layering. Our painting will go in our dining room - the thick paint on it is still drying so I won't get it for about 2 more weeks. It was a big purchase but it's our first piece of original artwork and I'm thrilled it came from artists in our favorite city.
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| Painting that I bought in Nola |
After plonking down my credit card on the painting, I needed a drink so we headed to Harry's Corner Bar. We spent the afternoon having some light beers and talking to each other and some of the locals. We then decided it would be fun to head to Frenchmen Street for some live music and dinner. I had heard about a really cool place called Three Muses on Frenchmen Street that did fun appetizer-size plates and hand crafted cocktails and has live music so we headed down there to find it. Popped in and got a table after about a 15 minute wait. I loved the music! I am a complete francophile and they had 2 guys playing French-style music with a guitar and an accordion. It sounded like the soundtrack to Amelie or Le Divorce. This place was fantastic - one of my favorite experiences in Nola so far. Food was excellent and fun to share (lamb sliders w/ tomato chutney, feta fries, lobster springrolls and spicy tempura shrimp) and I had one of the best cocktails ever. Afterwards we walked down Frenchmen St and stumbled on a small local art fair where I ended up buying a photography print from a local photographer. We also stopped to watch some high school kids that were playing music on the street. Long walk back into the Quarter where we popped into one or two more places and then called it a night.
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| Best cocktail ever at Three Muses - some kind of watermelon, cucumber thing |
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| Feta fries at Three Muses |
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| Local band performing on Frenchmen Street - lots of people dancing and clapping along |
Headed home on Monday and neither of us wanted to leave. Didn't help that the weather was perfect - about 73 degrees, sunny and almost no humidity, which is unheard of for Nola. We spent the morning relaxing with our coffee and magazines in our hotel's courtyard and listening to jazz music that was drifting over from The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant next door. Then we packed our bags, dropped them at the front desk an went to Mr. B's Bistro for our last lunch. Mr. B's was our last chance for decadence so we ended the trip with a bang - BBQ shrimp for me and Pasta Jamabalaya for Steve with 2 glasses of pinot. Man, it was good. So. Much. Butter. It was worth it. Uneventful flight home but we were both so sad to leave. We're definitely planning on another trip to Nola next year!
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| Playing with the hotel's crazy cat |
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| Hotel's courtyard on our last morning |
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| Steve at Mr. B's - the food is so messy that you get a bib. |
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| My BBQ shrimp at Mr. B's |
Can't wait to return!
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| Best city in the U.S. |
