New Orleans is hot! If asked to summarize my experience in NOLA so far in one sentence, I might reply with that. I might also reply with what I’ve been told is a local saying: “In New Orleans there are two times of day: Mealtimes, and the times in-between them.” Needless to say, my kind of place.
I was a little worried about coming here. I hadn’t traveled anywhere in “the south” except to various beaches and resorts, which surely do not count. On top of that, it’s New Orleans, which has a unique culture even within Louisiana (seriously-- I had a tour guide who made a distinction!), not to mention the south at large. Feeling foreign in Italy was one thing, but it’s a strange feeling to be seen foreign when you’re still in the borders of your own nation. Luckily, it’s mostly true what they say about southern hospitality. People are very friendly, especially here in the French Quarter, which couldn’t exist without bajillions of tourists.
I arrived late at night. The next morning I got up and walked to Brunch. This trip has been planned pretty much solely via yelp, plus what I hear from people once I’m here. I’m finding that it works quite well. You end up at authentic and awesome places, the touristy places nowhere in sight.
My first New Orleans meal was at Elizabeth’s Restaurant, two miles away from my hotel in the middle of nowhere. I google streetviewed to make sure the neighborhood didn’t look dangerous and set off. Tourist-land ended about a mile in, after which I had the streets to myself. After arriving seemingly to the middle of nowhere, I finally arrived to Elizabeth’s restaurant, which was half-full on a Saturday morning. I was pretty hungry after my walk.
Praline Bacon – Amazingly good. Juicy yet firm, with a little sweetness. Great bacon.
Fried Boudin Balls with Creole Mustard Sauce. Pork good. Mustard goooooooood.
“Eggs Florentine” with Fried oysters. Sadly, the greatness ended here. This is easily as disgusting to eat as it is to look at, and probably even more so. The creamed spinach tasted like garbage. The fried oysters had a sour taste that was gross- I wondered if they weren’t very fresh. The lack of any kind of bread meant that the yummy yolk oozed into the disgusting spinach, and the coating on the egg was very thick and unappetizing. I only managed a handful of bites before giving up. I even left the potatoes there. It was pretty disappointing.
Even with that failure of an entrée, I was satisfied with my breakfast. It was a good step, and I knew I would have many more meals in this city.
I had a food and walking tour scheduled for 2pm, so spent some time exploring the touristy parts of the French quarter- bourbon st, cananal st, Decatur st, etc. Let me take a moment to emphasize- New Orleans is HOT. And humid. Weather.com said that yesterday “feels like” 94 degrees. The sweat is pouring off of everyone; it is crazy. So, I was taking a little bit of a beating for sure, from walking 5+ miles. After walking past a monotonous parade of tourist shop / crummy bar / tourist shop / cummy bar / tourist shop / questionable seafood place / tourist shop / crummy bar etc etc etc, I smashed into something truly remarkable: The annual New Orleans Oyster Festival.
A distance away from it, I heard music. I looked up blearily. A sea of white tents! That can only be a good thing. I got closer and saw that there was live jazz music! And cold drinks! And food! My mood picked up substantially.
I couldn’t shake that sour taste from the morning’s breakfast from my memory, so instead I got a Sno-ball, which is basically very cold finely crushed ice with a little flavor. Man oh man, was it good. I ate it slowly while listening to the music.
Finally, the French quarter cuisine food & walking tour! This was a pretty great thing. The tour guide was a bit hard to understand, but what made up for it was the depth of his knowledge- he is a retired chef who worked for years at some very high profile places around here, including Commander’s Palace. So it was very much a tour not only about food, but about restaurants and cooking. It was most excellent. I got to eat turtle soup (surprisingly unexciting), gumbo (surprisingly delicious), shrimp in Cajun mustard (gooood), pralines (butter cookies—goooooooood), and a ton of other stuff. At the end a woman gave us a cooking demonstration while we ate her gumbo: she showed us how to make a roux, the basis of many New Orleans dishes.
Our guide was full of character, whether it was an unasked for rant against Emeril Lagasse, intimate knowledge of the many back rooms of Antoine’s, or picking up Brisket for his ex-wife. I learned a lot about the food here. Well, enough not to be a total fool, anyway. As a result of this tour, I made two restaurant reservations for the following weekend.
The evening rolled around, which meant it was time for Commander’s Palace! I think I made this reservation before I booked a plane ticket. For better or worse, I couldn’t come to this city for 9 days without coming here.
The service at Commander’s was pretty unique. I’ve had excellent service before- Alinea comes to mind- but nothing quite like this. At commanders, you are escorted from your taxi to the door, 10 feet away. You are ushered into the door, and with practiced warmth every service person who sees you before you reach your table will “Welcome to Commander’s Palace” you. Keep in mind that’s at least a dozen people. They smile with a practiced warmth, keep the water full, and shmooze you for awhile when they present you the bill. I’m a bit uncomfortable, frankly, being paid that much attention to. At Alinea you are taken care of just as well, but there is a coolness and detachment. Here it is pretty different. As always I think the execution is important- in this case- it’s difficult to be genuinely friendly all night long, and some people were better at it than others, such as the Sommelier, and the woman who brought the breads. The funniest part was my waiter. But more on him later. Sheesh, this is an awful lot of space about people and not about FOOD!
Amuse: Garlic Toast. I’m putting this picture because of what it is not. Hey, Bob Chinn’s lovers? Yes Dave I’m talking to you. That greasy bread they bring is a sad, sad tribute to THIS masterpiece. This is how it is supposed to be done. It is firm on the edge and soft on top, with juice that fills your mouth, not staining your fingers! So, so good.
Soups, from the top going clockwise: Crawfish, Turtle with sherry, Gumbo. Naturally as soon as they dropped it off I forgot which was which, but I’m proud to say that based on my earlier culinary adventure in the city, I was able to identify them. Commander’s turtle soup is famous, but I didn’t care for it much. There was very little meat in it, whereas the turtle soup I had had earlier in the day was meatier with better flavor. The gumbo was pretty good. Crawfish, fyi, is delicious.
Crawfish and corn bisque with pork boudin ball and crawfish ontop! I disassembled the little bugger ontop as best I could, got some meat out, and put him to the side. I don’t mind seeing where my good comes from, but I probably would have preferred the dish without him. But regardless, this was very good. It was what my tour guide recommended. It was very filling, and the consistency of the crawfish, that was in the soup, was very good.
The famous Bread Pudding Souffle with whiskey sauce! Complete with chocolate Congratulations writing. When it comes to your table, it is all popped up like a muffin. It is pretty incredible. Your waiter will puncture the top and pour in whiskey sauce, making a bit of a mess. For me, the whiskey sauce was pretty bad. I didn’t like the flavor at all and pushed off as much as I could. I was fairly successful in this, and the rest of the sizable portion was very very good! Why congratulations, you might ask?
“I had the kitchen do this writing for you. It’s your first time at commander’s palace?”
“Yes.”
“And your first time in New Orleans?”
“Yes… Is it that obvious?”
“Very!”
Heh. I certainly would never be mistaken for a native, but to be that green is a little embarrassing. He was an odd dude. Solo dining can be quite an adventure-but the meal was very delicious.
Today has been quite good as well. I woke up and walked to Café Du Monde for their famous beignets.
See that beneath the mound of powdered sugar? It’s actually a very yummy pastry, with a fantastic chewy consistency. This is the only food they serve! It’s a very well known place and something I had to try.
Afterwards, I went and got a free Mississipi River walking tour from the parks service. It was 45 minutes, and not-so-great, but hey it was free, and I learned a little more about this area. Beforehand I also got explore their little museum, which was interesting, but best of all, Air Conditioned!! Someone told me that air conditioning was invented here. I am not even a little surprised. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Next I checked out of my hotel. The conference starts tomorrow. So, last night I stayed on my own at a cheaper place, and tonight I’m staying at the nice hotel that Allstate is paying for. The room is normally $300+, but Microsoft is somehow reserved a block of them for much cheaper. The room is kind of amazing. I took a small video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puEghv78NBcYeah. I know. Incredible. And that’s just the start. This next week is going to be amazing. Rides from the hotel to the conference on special Microsoft busses, traveling with Air Conditioning all the way. Supposedly spectacular gourmet lunches and breakfasts, with a number of different cuisine options. Incredible sessions where I can talk to the people who created the software I use. A gorgeous convention center. I’m looking forward to it. I stopped by the conference this afternoon to get my badge, get some swag, and go to a “Tech Ed 101” section, where an amusing microsoftie told us all the tips and tricks. The conference starts tomorrow.
Swag obtained so far:
After riding back in a coach bus to my hotel, I ate at Mother’s, an old and delicious place with a good New Orleans menu.
The service was pretty bad- but the food great. My first authentic Po Boy sandwich!
It tastes a lot better than it looks. Amazing texture from the coleslaw on the bottom and good-tasting meat. It’s only a block away, so I could certainly be back at some point.
Finishing up this blog, and will probably do a short post on my blog that I am doing for my work audience: http://AaronAtTechEd.blogspot.com . Please do not comment on that one- you can write comments here, instead. After I finish up all this blogging, I’m hoping to see some nightlife! You know, once that sun goes away…
