In light of my medical scare this past year, my wife splurged for an "experience" Christmas present rather than a material one.
She is taking me to NOLA to see a reunion show of my favorite live band, the Radiators, at their original stomping grounds, Tipitinas.
We have an AirBnB in the quarter and we are staying from Wed the 15th until the 18th, with the show being late on the 17th.
I have never been there and am looking for must eat, must see, must hear recommendations....
Getting Greasy in the Big Easy
- goIftdibrad
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brunch at commanders palace
bengiets at Cafe dumonde
urban south for beer, or courtyard
it's hard to be disappointed with tourist shit in nola
bengiets at Cafe dumonde
urban south for beer, or courtyard
it's hard to be disappointed with tourist shit in nola
brain go brrrrrr
- stripethree
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Dinner @ Cochon - https://cochonrestaurant.com/
If you like happy hour oysters and a bar outside the Quarter that won't kick you out even after 8 hours with all your friends: The Blind Pelican on St. Charles Ave
Also on St. Charles Ave - the Avenue Pub has a really good beer selection
My two big don'ts from my experience:
- Don't bother with food at places directly on Bourbon Street
- Don't bother with the death museum
If you like happy hour oysters and a bar outside the Quarter that won't kick you out even after 8 hours with all your friends: The Blind Pelican on St. Charles Ave
Also on St. Charles Ave - the Avenue Pub has a really good beer selection
My two big don'ts from my experience:
- Don't bother with food at places directly on Bourbon Street
- Don't bother with the death museum
The man speaks the truth.stripethree wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2019 12:59 pm Dinner @ Cochon - https://cochonrestaurant.com/
If you like happy hour oysters and a bar outside the Quarter that won't kick you out even after 8 hours with all your friends: The Blind Pelican on St. Charles Ave
Also on St. Charles Ave - the Avenue Pub has a really good beer selection
My two big don'ts from my experience:
- Don't bother with food at places directly on Bourbon Street
- Don't bother with the death museum
with enough heads up I can prolly grab a beer with ya. My boat is still there.
Best Burger = Port of Call. They have steaks as well. Its one of a kind.
https://portofcallnola.com/
my fav modern seafood eatery is Peche, but it isnt "nola" food. Just fantastic with a flair. Similar to Cochon.
https://www.pecherestaurant.com/
- Irish
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Thanks fellahs...keep the suggestions coming. I am 14 years sober so drinking is out but eating, listening, seeing, experiencing is what this trip is about.....
- Desertbreh
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GW Fins has consistently produced some of the best meals I have ever consumed anywhere in America. Pound for pound, the best restaurant in NOLA, imho. For NOLA atmosphere Arnauds across the street from GW Fins is awesome, as is the food. I routinely get shitty at the attached Arnaud's 75, but that's because I am still defiling myself. Also consider Luke near Lafayette square for brunch or dinner, always enjoy that. Like Brad said, if you have not Commander's palaced, it is a must do, but get a reservation NOW. You can walk around the Garden District/Magazine Street after and check out some nice architecture. DO check out Frenchman street.....Spotted Cat Music Club or Snug Harbor Music Club, which has a better burger than Port of Call, but, that's just like my opinion man. My POC burger was underdone and meh. POC is famous for their Typhoons, a run laden red beverage that is hurricanesque but more lethal. I would try their steaks. Also Acme Oyster House is kind of must do tourism, but a lot of time the line is too disneylandish.....try Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar Across the street.
- goIftdibrad
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another plus one for Like, food was quite good but our drinks were meh
brain go brrrrrr
Desertbreh wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:09 pm GW Fins has consistently produced some of the best meals I have ever consumed anywhere in America. Pound for pound, the best restaurant in NOLA, imho. For NOLA atmosphere Arnauds across the street from GW Fins is awesome, as is the food. I routinely get shitty at the attached Arnaud's 75, but that's because I am still defiling myself. Also consider Luke near Lafayette square for brunch or dinner, always enjoy that. Like Brad said, if you have not Commander's palaced, it is a must do, but get a reservation NOW. You can walk around the Garden District/Magazine Street after and check out some nice architecture. DO check out Frenchman street.....Spotted Cat Music Club or Snug Harbor Music Club, which has a better burger than Port of Call, but, that's just like my opinion man. My POC burger was underdone and meh. POC is famous for their Typhoons, a run laden red beverage that is hurricanesque but more lethal. I would try their steaks. Also Acme Oyster House is kind of must do tourism, but a lot of time the line is too disneylandish.....try Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar Across the street.
youve done more cool shit than myself. And nola is in my backyard.
- Desertbreh
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I've been there 8 or 9 times. In terms of Adult R&R I put it head and shoulders above Las Vegas. A week in the FQ is a bit more than my body can take these days, but maybe some day I'll go there and not abuse myself.dubshow wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2020 1:39 pmDesertbreh wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:09 pm GW Fins has consistently produced some of the best meals I have ever consumed anywhere in America. Pound for pound, the best restaurant in NOLA, imho. For NOLA atmosphere Arnauds across the street from GW Fins is awesome, as is the food. I routinely get shitty at the attached Arnaud's 75, but that's because I am still defiling myself. Also consider Luke near Lafayette square for brunch or dinner, always enjoy that. Like Brad said, if you have not Commander's palaced, it is a must do, but get a reservation NOW. You can walk around the Garden District/Magazine Street after and check out some nice architecture. DO check out Frenchman street.....Spotted Cat Music Club or Snug Harbor Music Club, which has a better burger than Port of Call, but, that's just like my opinion man. My POC burger was underdone and meh. POC is famous for their Typhoons, a run laden red beverage that is hurricanesque but more lethal. I would try their steaks. Also Acme Oyster House is kind of must do tourism, but a lot of time the line is too disneylandish.....try Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar Across the street.
youve done more cool shit than myself. And nola is in my backyard.
- stripethree
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I've been to Vegas 3 times and NOLA I think 4 or 5. Absolutely agree.Desertbreh wrote:I've been there 8 or 9 times. In terms of Adult R&R I put it head and shoulders above Las Vegas. A week in the FQ is a bit more than my body can take these days, but maybe some day I'll go there and not abuse myself.
The last time I was in Vegas we ended up in some club that our friends got us into. Proceeded to get extremely shit faced. Upon leaving, no cabs. "Let's get a limo." Valet says, "you want a limo? We'll get you a limo. This is Las Vegas." No no no. We get in a town car and get dropped off. I unload the contents of my stomach about 10 feet from our ground floor hotel door. Whew, at least I didn't do that in the car. Pass out as soon as we are inside.
Next morning (or afternoon?) I wake up to the sound of what sounds like a car wash outside. Wtf. Stumble out of the bedroom and ask my hungover gf at the time what the hell the noise is.
"They're power washing your vomit off the fake rocks outside."
I go check my outfit from the night before, 100% clean. Nice. I can project!
Then it took 3 hours to get some shitty food delivered to help fix the hangover.
I don't need to go back.
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- Desertbreh
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Never good.stripethree wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2020 7:46 pmI've been to Vegas 3 times and NOLA I think 4 or 5. Absolutely agree.Desertbreh wrote:I've been there 8 or 9 times. In terms of Adult R&R I put it head and shoulders above Las Vegas. A week in the FQ is a bit more than my body can take these days, but maybe some day I'll go there and not abuse myself.
The last time I was in Vegas we ended up in some club that our friends got us into. Proceeded to get extremely shit faced. Upon leaving, no cabs. "Let's get a limo." Valet says, "you want a limo? We'll get you a limo. This is Las Vegas." No no no. We get in a town car and get dropped off. I unload the contents of my stomach about 10 feet from our ground floor hotel door. Whew, at least I didn't do that in the car. Pass out as soon as we are inside.
Next morning (or afternoon?) I wake up to the sound of what sounds like a car wash outside. Wtf. Stumble out of the bedroom and ask my hungover gf at the time what the hell the noise is.
"They're power washing your vomit off the fake rocks outside."
I go check my outfit from the night before, 100% clean. Nice. I can project!
Then it took 3 hours to get some shitty food delivered to help fix the hangover.
I don't need to go back.
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- stripethree
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My brother was back in NOLA right before the new year and was sad to report that The Blind Pelican is permanently closed.
RIP.
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RIP.
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- Irish
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Ended up going to Port of Call last night because it was in walking distance of our Air Bnb..... very good burger and baked potato....
Heading to Frenchman Street tonight to catch some music .....any restaurant suggestions over that way?
Heading to Frenchman Street tonight to catch some music .....any restaurant suggestions over that way?
- Irish
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Thanks for all the great suggestions guise. I wasn't able to to fit most of them in because reasons but there is always next time.
Suffice to say, we fell in love with the city. (at least the cool parts that we saw).
Our Air BnB on the outskirts of the French Quarter was tre cool.....
We were able to walk to the French Market section down by the Mississippi on Decatur Street where we had the famous Chicory Coffee and Beignets at Cafe Du Monde
First Day we took a a walking tour of the French Quarter including St Louis Cemetery Number 1
where Madam Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen, is interred (portrayed here by Angela Bassett in AHS Coven)
and where Nicolas Cage has controversially constructed a mausoleum for himself on the advice of another voodoo practitioner because he is supposedly cursed and needs ro be buried near Marie Laveau ...Gotta love Nicky Cage....... https://notebookofghosts.com/2018/07/30 ... olas-cage/
The entire tour was very neat.
We also took the St Charles Line of the Trolley/Streetcar system..... (funfact: the guy in the blue shirt and leather jacket at the front of the car looks remarkably like a heavy version of me)
over to the Garden District
for Lunch at Joey Ks.
I had a sample type plate with Creole Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee and Red Beans and Rice....was delish
Commanders Palace will have to wait until next trip (though we did use their restroom)..... I didn't book it because I wasn't sure what we would be doing or what my wife had planned as a surprise...looked and smelled divine doe
The trolley system was cheap and pretty cool but there was supposed to be a line that ran right near our Air BnB but it was down due to the Hard Rock Hotel Collapse.....
Sorry for the downer....back to the fun......
We spent one evening over on Frenchmen Street.
Caught some great music and Fried Boudin Balls (sausage) at Club 30 by 90.....
Was less impressed with the music and food at Three Muses. A cold front hit and The temp dropped from 75 (which was pretty much the median the whole trip for us) to below 50 in the time it took us to eat dinner. Even after only being there a few days, that swing from warm and swampy to dryer and brisk made us call it a night a bit early.
The Final night we ate at Dick & Jenny's on Tchoupitoulas St ...... was quite good....
App = Crawfish Biegnets
She = Crab Cake over Fried Green Tomato topped with crabmeat
Me = Duck Confit in a sweet and Sour sauce
Then we walked down to Tipitinas to see the band we went to NOLA for, the Radiators!
Was super cool seeing them together again for the first time since they "retired" in 2011....after having seen them 30 times or so over a 9 year period from 2002.
Made cooler by it being in their backyard and the club that they got started at back in 1978. (They were the backing band for the legendary Earl King back then and Reggie, the bassist, had played with Professor Longhair, James Booker, Snooks Eaglin and Eddie Bo.)
Made even cooler by being surrounded by hundreds of die hard fans who have flown in from all over the country (think deadheads but cleaner, more educated and upwardly mobile). I am blocked by someone's hand just to the left of the right most pillar (about 6th row).
We actually call ourselves fishheads, because of a ton of band iconography being fish based).
Made the coolest by bumping into the guy Kevin who turned me onto the band back in 2002....Kevin and I drank together almost everyday back then and he was like a dysfunctional brother to me back in those days of wine and song....
It truly was a magical night, capping off a phenomenal trip....
I believe this will become an annual pilgrimage for me..... Yeah you rite.....
Suffice to say, we fell in love with the city. (at least the cool parts that we saw).
Our Air BnB on the outskirts of the French Quarter was tre cool.....
We were able to walk to the French Market section down by the Mississippi on Decatur Street where we had the famous Chicory Coffee and Beignets at Cafe Du Monde
First Day we took a a walking tour of the French Quarter including St Louis Cemetery Number 1
where Madam Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen, is interred (portrayed here by Angela Bassett in AHS Coven)
and where Nicolas Cage has controversially constructed a mausoleum for himself on the advice of another voodoo practitioner because he is supposedly cursed and needs ro be buried near Marie Laveau ...Gotta love Nicky Cage....... https://notebookofghosts.com/2018/07/30 ... olas-cage/
The entire tour was very neat.
We also took the St Charles Line of the Trolley/Streetcar system..... (funfact: the guy in the blue shirt and leather jacket at the front of the car looks remarkably like a heavy version of me)
over to the Garden District
for Lunch at Joey Ks.
I had a sample type plate with Creole Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee and Red Beans and Rice....was delish
Commanders Palace will have to wait until next trip (though we did use their restroom)..... I didn't book it because I wasn't sure what we would be doing or what my wife had planned as a surprise...looked and smelled divine doe
The trolley system was cheap and pretty cool but there was supposed to be a line that ran right near our Air BnB but it was down due to the Hard Rock Hotel Collapse.....
Sorry for the downer....back to the fun......
We spent one evening over on Frenchmen Street.
Caught some great music and Fried Boudin Balls (sausage) at Club 30 by 90.....
Was less impressed with the music and food at Three Muses. A cold front hit and The temp dropped from 75 (which was pretty much the median the whole trip for us) to below 50 in the time it took us to eat dinner. Even after only being there a few days, that swing from warm and swampy to dryer and brisk made us call it a night a bit early.
The Final night we ate at Dick & Jenny's on Tchoupitoulas St ...... was quite good....
App = Crawfish Biegnets
She = Crab Cake over Fried Green Tomato topped with crabmeat
Me = Duck Confit in a sweet and Sour sauce
Then we walked down to Tipitinas to see the band we went to NOLA for, the Radiators!
Was super cool seeing them together again for the first time since they "retired" in 2011....after having seen them 30 times or so over a 9 year period from 2002.
Made cooler by it being in their backyard and the club that they got started at back in 1978. (They were the backing band for the legendary Earl King back then and Reggie, the bassist, had played with Professor Longhair, James Booker, Snooks Eaglin and Eddie Bo.)
Made even cooler by being surrounded by hundreds of die hard fans who have flown in from all over the country (think deadheads but cleaner, more educated and upwardly mobile). I am blocked by someone's hand just to the left of the right most pillar (about 6th row).
We actually call ourselves fishheads, because of a ton of band iconography being fish based).
Made the coolest by bumping into the guy Kevin who turned me onto the band back in 2002....Kevin and I drank together almost everyday back then and he was like a dysfunctional brother to me back in those days of wine and song....
It truly was a magical night, capping off a phenomenal trip....
I believe this will become an annual pilgrimage for me..... Yeah you rite.....
Last edited by Irish on Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- Desertbreh
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- Irish
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I felt mostly, cautiously safe...though I took a big chance the first night by walking down Rampart looking for a Walgreens....stupid........ I considered turning around when the neighborhood turned a little sketchy...what sealed it was that there was a little dude that I think was kind of bird dogging me......I believe he may have been sizing me up When he made a call, I decided I didn't want to find out if he was calling in back up....
We did walk a few blocks to Port of Call the first night but the route was fairly well lit.......and then about a half mile to Cafe Du Monde the next morning...... everything else for the most part was Uber......
!
One of mine made the list!
stripethree wrote: ↑Mon Jan 13, 2020 12:26 pm My brother was back in NOLA right before the new year and was sad to report that The Blind Pelican is permanently closed.
RIP.
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that was a fun day spent there. Longest ive ever been at a eatery.