Going down for a week at the beginning of August. Staying at La Belle Maison near the FQ. This thread is money.
Had an amazing week in NOLA, weather was great contrary to what we were told to expect. Gave quite a few of the recs on here a try.
Peche was probably my favorite meal, I love places with a feel like that. Food was amazing.
We went to
Cochon Butcher twice because it was outstanding (hangover food). I'm salivating right now just thinking about Le Pig Mac and their mac and cheese.
SoBou in the W hotel was a great meal as well, that was one of the most gorgeous restaurants I've ever eaten at.
We didn't venture far from the hotel for breakfast because there was a solid place across the street called
the Ruby Slipper, we ate there twice and had two amazing meals.
We spent one night at
the White Linen Festival and sampled many local places like
Bratz Y'all,
Boucherie,
Seed, and
Reconcile. It was old school style where you buy tickets and purchase your booze and food with them. Hell of a block party.
Our one tourist trap was the Jazz Dinner on the Natchez Steamboat. By far my least favorite meal, and the river tour was meh. I could have hopped on the boat and checked it out and hopped off and been happy.
Bourbon wasn't too crowded but not my cup of tea, however the wife is a partier and had me out there to drunkenly end quite a few nights.
Pat O's was my favorite on Bourbon.
Frenchman was pretty cool, went to
the Blue Nile (my favorite),
the Spotted Cat (best music we heard on Frenchmen), t
he Maison, and
30 degree/-90 degree (best view on Frenchmen).
The one day it rained we got up early and did the Aquarium (it was mediocre) and
the National WW2 Museum which was fantastic, the short 4D film by Tom Hanks is a must see.
Went to the Metropolitan (dance club) one night for some dj that my wife wanted to see, again not really my scene but it wasn't bad.
The French Market was okay, it was like Charleston's open air market but with more gift shop garbage and way too many bars.
Spent a fun night with
Chris Hannah who runs
Arnaud's French 75 Bar. Dude is pretty damn cool (for a State grad) and showed us around to a few of the service industry favorites like
Erin Rose. Didn't realize how big of deal he was until I googled him the next day.
Our last night in town we spent the evening at
Bacchanal. This was my favorite night of the entire trip. Atmosphere was one of a kind, the cheese and chicken liver mush charcuterie plate killed. We ended up staying for dinner and I had to have a second order of the Bacon wrapped dates. This was the best music we heard the entire trip, husband and wife duo called "the Co and Co Traveling Show.' They played acoustic guitar and bass songs from France, Spain, Brazil, and local songs by NOLA greats. They were so good I grabbed a CD.
All in all one of the best trips and coolest cities I've ever been to. The wife wants to move down there, I don't think my waistline or my liver would do well living there. Thanks for the recs guys.