We try to get to New Orleans at least every couple of years. Here are a few things I love about the Crescent City, in no particular order:
Glitz: feathers and sequins and fake fur look better here. Tonight’s lift driver, Dominique, picked us up after our dinner at N7, a trendy French restaurant in a rough neighborhood.. She drove a 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage with the steering wheel and both front seats wrapped in hot pink fur. It was too dark for a picture, but I admired it, quite sincerely. And the costumes on the parade bands! And even the beads hanging from the trees. It just would not work anywhere except New Orleans.
Street names: I walked from lunch at my favorite lunch spot, Cochon, on Tchopitoulas to the French Quarter. All of the streets change their names at Canal Street. Carondelet becomes Bourbon, St. Charles becomes Royal. Camp becomes Chartres (pronounced ‘Charters’) where I visited my favorite French Quarter shop, Wise Buys) and Magazine becomes Decatur.. “That’s because the Americans had to name their own streets in the American Sector, they could not use the French Quarter street names. The French and Spanish could live together, but they would not be forced to live with the Americans or the English. They wanted the division of Canal Street to be obvious.”
While riding in a Lyft back to a shop on Prytania, I saw the classically names streets: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Euterpe. While I”m not moving to NOLA anytime soon, I am rather envious of those addresses.
Restaurants including Cochon where I ordered my usual oyster and bacon sandwich. But especially restaurants that are not in the guidebooks: On Sunday we finally made it to Rosedale, owned by Susan Spicer, whose Bayona is on all the lists. We drove by Rosedale twice before we found it. But I had the best Bloody Mary ever.
Sunday evening we returned to Paladar, on Marigny Street, since we wanted to end up on Frenchmen Street for the music. The setting was elegant, the pasta was delicious, and we recognized the waitress from last year’s visit by her gorgeous tatoos.
Paladar
Quirky things that seem to make no sense. Why, on a block where bars and restaurants crowd up against hotels and massage joints, is there a Pharmacy Museum?
We didn’t get much music on this visit. Arriving on Sunday and leaving on Tuesday narrowed our options. On past visits we’ve enjoyed music in bars, restaurants, hotels, churches, and on the street.
Before we leave we’ll explore history with a visit to the Cabildo to learn more about the Baroness de Pontalba . A short visit, but I plan to return.