Is there any better intro to New Orleans than this pup?
Jenna and I landed in the evening and found our way to our Airbnb in the French Quarter – which truly ended up being right off of Bourbon Street. Hungry and determined to start our trip with the best po’boys we could find, we dropped off our stuff and hit Bourbon Street. Wandering around, we binged on a couple of fedoras (super random, I know) and grabbed a couple of Hurricanes to tie us over while we Yelped every po’boy joint we passed.
I cannot get over the sights in the French Quarter. From the amazing architecture with its ornate balconies and trimmings, the dripping, verdant plants hanging off of every building, and the wild characters roaming the streets, native and tourist alike – the whole thing was a photographer’s dream.
Somehow, we ended up in a late-night po’boy shop whose name I cannot for the life of me remember anymore. Which is a tragedy because if I could remember, I would warn anyone I could away from this place.
We get to the counter around 9:30pm, half an hour out from closing time. We sit down at the booths in the back of the shop. We wait. A bachelorette party arrives. Things get rowdy. We wait some more. A bachelor party arrives. Rowdiness increases. We keep waiting. 10pm rolls around. Some people start singing, drunken serenades to pass the time. 10:30pm. Something is wrong with the fryolator. People start banging on the table, hangry and belligerent.
We don’t get our po’boys until almost 11pm, an hour and a half after we walked in for some supposedly amazing $8 po’boys. And they were painfully mediocre.
To make up for it, Jenna and I grabbed another couple of Hurricanes and sacked out.
Day 2
A little hungover and rejuvenated from a good night’s sleep, Jenna and I wandered around Bourbon Street the next morning searching for breakfast and some sights. Thankfully, we had better luck with breakfast and had much more timely meal at the Court of the Two Sisters.
Thankfully, New Orleans has no lack of sites or entertainment. Stumbling across the Secondhand Street Band was the perfect way to kill an hour, sitting on the sidewalk stoop, drinking our coffee and swaying to the music.
New Orleans brass band music has become something of a staple in my life – Ben listens to a Spotify station that features it heavily while he’s cooking. But this moment really cemented the genre into my life. Hearing it brings me right back to that warm, sunny stoop.
Of course, being in New Orleans, we had to get some beignets from Cafe Du Monde. Truth: I had never heard of a beignet before Jenna dragged me here. So, thank you, Jenna, for introducing me to these sweet little dough pockets.
And that leads us to a strange little adventure. We were determined, after our first night flop, to REALLY hunt down the best po’ boys in the city. Wandering around some of the galleries on Bourbon Street, we started searching for a place to book an airboat tour (again, doing all the NOLA things). We got talking to the tour guide who convinced us that the best po’ boys were just a ferry ride away in the town of Algiers.
So Jenna and I grabbed a pretty deserted ferry to cross the Mississippi River to Algiers – a ghost town.
But an amazingly beautiful ghost town.
In the hour we spent wandering around the streets of Algiers, we saw a lot of astoundingly colorful and cool architecture, this crazy gas station in the middle of a field, and zero people. We were convinced we were being punked. I’m pretty sure we stayed as long as we did just to see if we could find a living soul. No kids running around, no cars on the streets. It was eerie.
You know what else we didn’t find in Algiers? Po’boys.
Bereft, we took the ferry back to the French Quarters, hit some art galleries, and then sat down and really committed to some serious Yelping. And boy, po’boy, it paid off. Enter Killer Po’boys.
We finally found our perfect po’boys. I think that we ate here another 3 times at least during our trip. And we grabbed a couple extra, because late that night, a Ben arrived!
Day 3
We took a slow morning the next day. Jenna and I wandered around Bourbon Street and picked up our passes for the Endless Night Vampire Ball from the House of Blues.
And then on to air boating! We managed to book a sunset tour, so we got some beautiful light. It’s outside of alligator season I guess, but we did manage to sneak a peek of a tiny guy.
Coming back to the French Quarter, we decided to give Bourbon Street a break. Having sat around in the car and air boat, we took a long, wandering route over to Frenchman Street. The almighty Yelp suggested a place called Mimi’s in the Marigny for dinner – a tapas place that was so amazing, we came back again.
You wander in, and it’s a pool hall and bar – you have to climb up to the second floor to get to the restaurant. We at the bar, as is our way. They have this item on the menu, “Trust Me Tapas,” which is basically a chef’s choice of whatever comes to his brain. It’s nothing that’s already on the menu. And it’s amazing.
After dinner, we meandered down Frenchman Street and found a sweet little outdoor art market.
Last Day
Our last day was a lazy day. We decided to leave behind Bourbon Street and took a trolley out to the Garden District. More art, lots of lush foliage, and a nap in a park under some Spanish moss covered trees.
