New Orleans - Day 2

I posted about our first day in New Orleans here in case you missed it.

On Thursday we decided to take the trolley all over town, since we had walked everywhere the day before. From our location it was a great way to see other parts of the city. And for just $3 each, we got an all day pass so we could hop on and off the trolley everywhere we went. It was the best and cheapest transportation ever. We rode all over the place that day. My favorite was the Garden District - the homes were just gorgeous.

We tried going to lunch at Domilice's - a restaurant Bo had discovered during an episode of Food Wars. Of course this was the one place we did not call before going, and they just happened to be closed on Thursdays and Sundays. So we decided to go back the next day, and went to Superior Grill for a quick lunch since we were starving. My co-worker Lauren suggested this place only for its Margarita's - supposedly the best in New Orleans and they were really good. The food was okay, nothing picture worthy besides the enormous Margarita!

We trolley'ed around some more that afternoon and made our way back to the French Quarter. We stopped in a few more bars on Bourbon Street that afternoon. We couldn't leave without having at least one hand grenade! I also had to pick up some Gator flair along the way :)  We saw a ton of Gator fans which was a lot of fun.

That evening was our favorite part of the whole trip. While doing his research for our trip (i.e. watching numerous shows on the Travel Channel and Food Network), Bo discovered the restaurant Commander's Palace and we just HAD to go. After a nap and a change of clothes, we hopped back on the trolley and headed to dinner. It was packed the night we went so we were really glad he had made reservations. The best part was walking in and saying "Commander, party of two" - they just looked at us with a blank stare and said "Is that really your last name?!" and then they treated us like we owned the place the whole night, even though there is no relation that we know of. (You'd be surprised how many people ask us this question...even when they are looking at our ID's or credit cards. Seriously?!) Anyway - we ate it right up and it was awesome.

Soon after we sat down they gave us complimentary rum shooters - great start to the evening!

The appetizer choices were all pretty creative. We got the buffalo shrimp stuffed with tasso, which was really tasty and had quite a kick to it.

Next came the soups. I got the soup trio - turtle soup, gumbo, and a pumpkin bisque. Neither of us had even heard of turtle soup, and Bo was really anxious to try it so he just got one big bowl of it. They were all great and the turtle soup ended up being our favorite. Too bad I have no idea where to get some turtle meat or I'd try making it myself.

We were blown away by the main course. Bo had veal and I had duck - they were both incredible.

We didn't think we could eat anything else, but of course they tempted us with the dessert menu. So we, of course, gave in and ordered the apple pie ice cream. We are such suckers for desserts. Especially ice cream.

At the end of the night, we got all kinds of souvenirs. I'm telling you, these people loved us. The chef signed the dinner menu for us (we got one in English and another in Spanish - why? I have no idea) and we also got a copy of the dessert menu. We had ordered a bottle of the Commander's Palace Cabernet, and got to keep the (empty) wine bottle - Bo is planning to steam off the label and then I will do something crafty with all of our goodies...TBD.




Dinner Menu (front)



Dinner Menu (back)

Dessert Menu (cover)

wine bottle label

It was such a wonderful night!

New Orleans - Day 1

After our return from the Bama game, we spent two days at home in Atlanta before taking off again. We've been wanting to go to Baton Rouge for the FL/LSU game for about eight years now, and for various reasons have never been able to make it. We booked hotel rooms back in February, and then after we both got new jobs and no longer had quarterly deadlines to meet, we decided to make a vacation out of the trip and spend a few days in New Orleans before heading to Baton Rouge for the game. We wouldn't have been able to do that in any previous years, so I guess some things really are worth waiting for! I've been to both New Orleans and Baton Rouge with my family, but Bo had never been to the state of Louisiana, which meant this was going to be our "new pin" trip on our travel map this year. We were also really looking forward to go on a trip by ourselves for the first time since last Christmas. Even though we've done a ton of traveling this year, it's all been with other people (whom we love of course!) and we were long overdue for a getaway together.

We flew out verrrry early Wednesday morning so that we could have three full days in the city. I am not a morning person, so it was pretty rough...until we got upgraded to first class! Usually Bo gets stuck in coach when I get upgraded, but the flight was so empty that he got to come with me this time. We caught up on some sleep during the flight, and with the time change it wasn't even 9am yet when we got into New Orleans. We headed straight to Cafe Du Monde to have a few beignets for breakfast. They were delicious!

We walked around the French Quarter for a while and hung out in the park at Jackson Square.

From there we headed to Willie Mae's Scotch House for lunch. Despite the name, they do not serve alcohol - they are known to have the best fried chicken in all of America, as claimed by the Food Network and the Travel Channel. And now, by us too. It was sooo good. Unbeknownst to us, it is also located in the ghetto...so next time we will not be walking here. Lesson learned, but at least we went during the daytime.

By then we were tired and full so we decided to go check into the hotel. Our upgraded room (woo!) wasn't ready yet, so we had a few hours to kill. We made our way down to the hotel bar and the guy next to us told us that the Archbishop had passed away the week before, and his funeral march was going to be this afternoon right in front of our hotel. Sure enough, we walked back outside and noticed people starting to gather along the sidewalks. So we camped out for a while and got ourselves a great spot. It was very cool especially since it's not something that happens very often.

After that we walked over to Bourbon Street, a few blocks away. We of course had a few bourbons ourselves, and bar hopped along the street for a few hours. We loved that there was no open container law and could check out a lot of different places all with a drink in hand. That, and the fact that happy hour at every bar was 3-for-1!

Bourbon Street by day

On any given corner it was pretty common to find a random band - and they were all awesome.

Finally we headed back to the hotel. We stayed at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street. Our "upgraded" room itself was really nothing special, but the view was pretty awesome.

That night we had dinner at Acme Oysterhouse, a recommendation from one of Bo's co-workers. We got the "boo" fries (cheese fries with gravy, what a fantastic idea!), and split a dozen raw oysters and a dozen char-grilled oysters, which were excellent.

From there we ventured back to Bourbon Street for a fun night on the town.

 

Our favorite bar - Jean Latiffe's Old Absinthe House

Bourbon Street by night

Zydeco band



Jazz band