Peace, Love, and Hurricanes
National Park Roadtrip – Days 48 - - New Orleans
My best friend went to Tulane University and lived in New Orleans for many years after graduating, so I had the opportunity to go to several Mardi Gras celebrations, and a few other visits before she moved to Phoenix. Many items on “The List” include spots that I have already been, which I love doing. I guess you can say I’m nostalgic I absolutely love reliving great memories from my past, and even more so, I love sharing those memories with G. New Orleans is one of very few places I have been, but G has not, so I had a laundry list of places I wanted to see and do and show him.
We rolled into NOLA on St. Patrick’s Day, and the first item on my NOLA list was “Jacques Imos”, a restaurant famous for their casual friendliness, superb Creole food, and most notably, their incredibly long wait times. I was prepared for a massive wait, but we were seated right away. I guess everyone was already out partying! The Shrimp and Alligator Sausage Cheesecake did not disappoint as well as the Country Fried Venison, Shrimp Etouffee, and “Nawlins’” favorite drink, the Hurricane. I would love to tell you one hurricane led to another which led to another and we partied all St. Patty’s night NOLA style, but truth be told we toasted one drink to my Grandma (as we always do on her St. Patty’s Day birthday) and went to bed.
Cheers Grandma!
I had made a few reservations for our 3 days stay ahead of time, because wait times and/or availability in certain restaurants can be hard to come by. Though not every place I wanted to go takes reservations. In fact, there were a few places on “The List” that are little hole in the wall spots. Domilise’s is one of those spots and it opens up at 10 am. We waited outside for 10 minutes with the dogs to ensure we were the first in line, and we STILL missed out on being first. There was a family already inside waiting at a table already! They must have been regulars. Domilise’s is known for their po-boys, and although I could have ordered many more things on their menu, I had restraint (for once) and ordered a single Shrimp Po-Boy, Dressed. I mentioned to G that I thought New Orleans, like my hometown of Vegas, allows you to carry alcohol. I know, I know, I know! It’s 10 freaking A.M. in the morning. But it’s New Orleans. So…when in Rome, and kindly wipe that ‘judgy wudgy’ look off your face right now. Relax.
As G and I strolled down the street, each with a beer and a half a sandwich in our hands, I fumbled with my camera attempting to take a picture of our goodies. I looked at G, unimpressed with my fumbling, and asked, “how do you capture something like this?”. He responded, “you don’t, you just enjoy the moment.” And how true that is. There are so many things I would love to share with our family and friends and whoever else is reading about our travels, but it is impossible to capture everything. Sometimes you just have to stop, look around, and take it all in. How fortunate we were to be walking down the street in an awesome city eating an awesome sandwich, drinking cold beers and walking our dogs. My own personal idea of heaven.
Heaven’s nice and all, but, it’s only 10 am and we still have our favorite meal of the day, 2nd lunch, to head over to. This day’s 2nd lunch takes place in the Garden District at the iconic Commander’s Palace. On Saturdays and Sundays Commander’s has a jazz brunch. That means they have a roving jazz trio playing songs around the restaurant. Each brunch is served with an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert, well worth the hefty price tag. Everything was absolutely fantastic. Amazing food and amazing ambience. If you go, you also have to order the bacon. We didn’t finish all of ours, took it to go, and ended up adding it to 2 or 3 meals in the following days. Amazin’ bacon. Seriously.
After hanging out with the dogs at the campsite for a while, we got an Uber so we could check out the French Quarter without the worry of drinking and driving. In all my visits, I never actually went to the iconic Jackson Square (that I can remember). We walked around there a little bit, wandered the streets, and went over to my favorite spot from previous visits, Pat O’Briens. Pat O’Briens serves deadly Hurricane drinks, has an awesome piano bar, outside seating areas, and a smaller bar in front. My alma mater, University of Arizona happened to be playing in the NCAA tournament so we stayed to watch that game. Although my personal limit for Hurricane drinks is two, somehow I ended up drinking 3 of these thanks to sneaky purchases from G! Needless to say, I was”‘weaving” the Quarter rather than “walking” it on our way to get a taxi home. But not before I felt the need to get one more daquiri on Bourbon Street. Oh, and also some sandwiches from Cochon Butcher. We had cancelled our reservations at their fancy sister restaurant, Cochon, because…well…2nd lunch happened. But at 10:45 pm we thought it was a good idea to finally get some dinner. Ugh. The decisions one makes after THREE Hurricanes aren’t good ones. Ever. But they sure do make great stories.
Cool art in Jackson Square.
Considering our late night the night before, we actually woke up really early. We didn’t have reservations until 1:30 pm at La Petite Grocery, and we didn’t want to spoil our appetites. So instead of stuffing our faces again, we actually did a 3 or 4 mile bike ride near our RV Park. I guess the late night food did my body some good as I felt pretty energetic the next day! After the ride, we took the dogs to the dog park for a few hours. The other day we had gone to City BARK which was way closer and looked great from outside the fence, but we found out it’s a card access park with annual fees (like a gym, but for dogs). You can pay for access as a visitor, but the offices are only open on the weekdays. La Freniere Dog Park was a great alternative. A little further away from Pontchartrain Landing where we were staying, but it was well worth the drive. Plus, outside the park gates, they have a great sculpture of a dog made out of very oversized Mardi Gras beads. Of course we had to get a picture! The park is well maintained, huge, and our dogs had a wonderful time. So you can’t argue with that.
After dropping the dogs back over at the RV Park we drove over to our late 1st lunch at La Petite Grocery. It was clear walking in there that we could have shown up earlier, because the restaurant was nearly completely empty. It was such a bummer since they forced us to take a 1:30 pm reservation, even though the close at 2 pm between brunch and dinner. The wait time for drinks and also for our server to come around was way too long. I can’t even remember what I ordered, which is generally a bad sign. The entire meal took an hour and a half, which is crazy for 2 people in an empty restaurant. It’s ok, though. You can’t always have a win.
The real winner of the day was 2nd lunch! Our neighbor in Portland recommended we go to Verti Marte in the French Quarter. G and I love sandwiches. I mean, really really love sandwich spots. Verti Marte isn’t your typical sandwich spot. It’s a tiny convenience store that sells all kinds of fun stuff (pictures below). Stuffed into the back of the store is a small deli case and a kitchen/grill behind that. You would never guess from the looks of the place what they’re turning out of their kitchen; salads, pastas, bbq, stuffed veggies, soups, sandwiches, and so much more. Their signature sandwich is the “All That Jazz” which the menu describes as “a medley of Grilled Ham, Turkey and Shrimp, Swiss and American Cheese, accompanied by Grilled Mushrooms, Tomatoes, on Grilled French Bread with Original “Wow” Sauce.” We couldn’t wait to tear into it, but couldn’t find a spot to sit and eat it, so we walked down the street and found a little spot to stand up and eat it right down the street from Verti Marte. wow! This insane sandwich is our most favorite meal of our entire trip. So indulgent, tons of flavor, ooey gooey cheesy goodness on a soft French roll dripping with creamy sauce. I know, it sounds weird, but all of those ingredients work so well together. While stuffing our faces, a tour carriage strolled by and G overheard them say something about Brad and Angie’s house. Sure enough, a quick Google search online turned up a picture of the $4.9 million dollar 1830s row house across the street from where we were devouring this messy sandwich and possibly (or absolutely) had sauce dripping down our chins. Super “klassy”. As always.
The "All That Jazz" Sandwich from Verti Marte
We had a wonderful time in New Orleans, but we ate way too much good food and had too many sugary drinks. I think that’s what New Orleans is all about, though. It’s all about indulging in what you love, in large doses, regretting them, and then doing it again the next day! But you can’t sustain that. It’s fun, but it’s great in short spurts. And that’s why it’s so nice and satisfying to get back on the road and explore everything.
