Eating our way through New Orleans

Robert and I had a wonderful time in New Orleans even though the temperature went down to 32 degrees and the wind could blow you over!  It was a great visit.
We got to our Bed and Breakfast on Thursday.  It was very nice and right on the Mardi Gras parade route from a few weeks before...there were still beads in all the trees.

This was a door handle if you can believe it!  This door handle was inside the Bed and Breakfast.

I loved the iron work on the gates around town and took some photos of the ones I really liked.

We found a local place to have lunch.  Tracey's Bar and Grill.  We noticed a lot of firefighters and locals eating there so we decided this would be a good place for a bite. I had the Roast Beef Hoagie and Jalapeno and cilantro cole slaw.  It was good. Robert has the oyster Po-Boy shown below, Plenty of local Abita beer on tap too. Don’t go there if you are in a hurry. No one was moving fast at Tracey’s!

After walking around the Garden District, we got ready for dinner. We took the bus but got to our destination a bit early so we had a cocktail at the Roosevelt hotel and watched the jazz trio there. What a grand place! We sat in the lobby awhile just to take in the architecture and to keep out of the cold and wind.

Afterward we walked to Peche for dinner.  It was wonderful.  We had whole Grilled Redfish with salsa verde and roasted brussels sprouts with chili vinegar. AMAZING!

 The next morning we went to Cafe Du Monde for a Cafe Au Lait and a Beignet. A Beignet is a square piece of dough, fried and covered with powdered sugar. Cafe Au Lait is a cup with 1/2 coffee (which is made up of Coffee and Chicory) and 1/2 milk. It's a must when you visit New Orleans.

We visited the Gallier house and then the Hermann-Grima house. James Gallier was an architect and is thought to have brought the beautiful ironworks of New Orleans into popularity in the mid 19th century.  They were a modest family but James Gallier was the first to install indoor plumbing complete with a hot water system.
We walked to the Hermann Grima house and on the way I saw this iron gate and thought it was worth showing you.  I wish they hadn’t painted it but it’s still shows wonderful workmanship.

Lunch was spent in Jackson Square.  First we went to Central Grocery and Deli home of the original muffaletta.  We ordered a half muffaletta with some Zapps Voodoo style Potato Stixs. The muffaletta was good but would have been better served hot.

The Hermann Grima house is fancier. Samuel Hermann made his money in the cotton market. After an economic downturn the Hermanns lost the property to their lawyer Felix Grima. Felix and his wife raised 9 children there. Here is the gate to the front door. Many homes have gates protecting the front door and I think it’s a nice touch.

 We got back to the Bed and Breakfast just to put our feet up for a while.  It was nice sitting on the porch and watching the traffic and people go by. 
Next we made our way to Coquette’s.  A nice neighborhood restaurant where I had duck with  smoked peanut, baby carrots, Mexican coke and Robert had  red snapper charred sunchokes, coffee crème friache.  It was a nice place and if you can’t get a reservation you can always sit at small tables the bar area.

The next day we went on a Garden District Walking Tour. It was really interesting. Especially knowing that so many famous people live there,  Here is Anne Rice’s house.  The one she staged her “The Witching Hour” book in.

 

Here is Sandra Bullocks house and John Goodman lives here.  That thing in front of John Goodman's  house is a POD. 

We walked by Archie Manning’s house on the tour as well.
Then we went to the Lafayette Cemetery. Everyone is above ground and is only in a coffin for a year.  After that you are brushed aside so a new family member can join the crowd.  That’s why you can have several names on a two occupancy tomb.

After that it was time for lunch.  We took a chance and walked up (even though the reservation list is booked over two months in advance we were able to eat at Commanders Palace. We both had the pecan crusted drum fish. Superior!

Then because it was our anniversary we got a special surprise.

It was a fun afternoon of riding the trolly back and forth.  It’s a great way to site see the Garden District area. We took the trolley all the way to the zoo and back, passing Loyola and Tulane Universities.

Photo Credit: The New Orleans Tourism Board

We went back to the Bed and Breakfast and crashed for a while. Later that night we took the trolley to Canal Street where we went to Galatoire’s for our 28th anniversary.  It was wonderful as usual.  They don’t take reservations so you have to just try your luck. It’s on Bourbon Street so you’ll have to walk through all the mayhem before entering into the well-run, beautiful dining area inside.

We started with Galatoire Goute which is crabmeat  maison, shrimp remoulade and crawfish maison.
 
 Then we had Pomme Frites  or Potato Souffle which is little fried potato puffs of air. Each one is just a thin slice of potatoe cooked three ways to make it hollow inside. Very cool.

Then we had Lemon Fish with crabmeat and because it was our anniversary we finished our meal off with champagne complements of the house.  We couldn’t of done dessert if we wanted to but the bread pudding is amazing.

Sunday we were off to the airport via taxi.  Taxi drivers can only charge 33 dollars for rides from and to the airport so there isn’t any haggling  over the fair.  We got to the airport in plenty of time and had an easy flight home.
I love our anniversary trips and I especially love how my husband plans everything out so we don’t miss a thing we were planning on doing. Another successful journey and a fun time.