For the 5th year in a row,
Carlos and I spent a long weekend (the first weekend in October) playing
tourist in the New Orleans French Quarter.
This year's theme was Live
Music, though we ignored the theme once we arrived.
As we have the
past three years, we stayed at my parent’s bed and breakfast. I keep lobbying
for us to stay at a proper hotel as we did the first year, but Carlos likes the
family aspect.
I live
strolling through the French Market. Carlos loves taking the streetcar. We both love eating out and movies.
I am definitely not a
food writer and I have forgotten most of what
we actually ate, but I do remember my general feeling about the food and the restaurant - so here's a description of our weekend guided by our food choices.
Friday Lunch
C+
I had the
Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo to see if it was better than what I cook. It
wasn’t. We have traditionally started off our Tourist Weekend here,
but I think we’ll find a new tradition. If I can cook gumbo better than a place called The Gumbo Shop, it's time for us to move on.
Friday Dinner
B+
Better than we
thought it would be. I think we pre-judged the place because it has changed
names so many times over the years. The outside courtyard was packed, with
everyone listening to the band. We ended up inside, which was sparsely
filled. Very nice.
Saturday Breakfast
B
We arrived a
little before 9 am. By 9:15, there was a serious line out the door – and
limited seating. If you want to eat here, go early. Carlos, Jason, Brandon and I are going to Paris for a week for Thanksgiving. When I return, I'll re-judge this place against the best Patisseries in the world.
Saturday Lunch
A
Saturday Dinner
Charbroiled
Oysters: A+
Everything else
in our meal: C-
Carlos had the
Shrimp and Grits with Tasso. I had the Shuckee Duckee: "Blackened duck breast over linguini
pasta with oysters and cream sauce". We both ate about 1/4 of our main
dishes and later on tossing the To Go boxes. This is
another Tourist Weekend tradition that we’re going to change next year.
Sunday Breakfast
A
A wonderful new tradition. The rating is
for the El Gato Negro in the French Quarter, not the one on
Harrison Avenue. I have heard that location is
terrible.
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Our Other
Activities
B+
Though I
thought it would be more of a comedy. Carlos’s response: “It’s
about a guy getting cancer. How funny did you think it would be?”
My thinking is a bit shallow, but I don't follow Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an actor because I don't think he's cute.
I have to respect his talent, however, because he's starred in some of my favorite movies:
Brick (still one of my all-time favorite movies - I sat Jason and Carlos through it one New Year's Eve a few years ago during our night of "Everyone bring the best movie/TV show right now you want to share".) I still agree with my decision.
Latter Days (one of the best ever gay-themed movies)
A+
A huge
selection of spices and teas.
I bought:
Black Chocolate Tea (my favorite)
Plus the sales guy was cute.
A+
This was Carlos's idea. We both museums. He saw the promotion for this exhibit during last year's trip.
Of course, we both lived through Katrina so it was very moving.We spent nearly three hours watching the videos and looking at the photos. It's definitely a must see!
A
I bought Purple, Green
and Gold ornaments for two people on my Christmas list. This business has been around since the 1980's. With such a niche marketing idea, I don't understand how, but if you're in New Orleans - no matter what season - it's definitely worth the stop.
--------------------------
We also stopped at numerous art galleries on Royal Street. I'm always looking for wall art. But none of their wares struck me. Maybe next year.
We also spent a couple of hours perusing the French Market along Decatur Street - both on Saturday afternoon, before waiting for the Riverfront Streetcar to go to Drago's and then again Sunday morning after breakfast. I bought presents for my cousin Casie - I picked her name in this year's family gift giving - and my brother-in-law Jeff. Casie lives in Austin and Jeff lives in Atlanta. I bought them gifts to remind them of New Orleans.
By the time Carlos and I left Sunday afternoon, our stomachs were full and our wallets were empty.
I feel that's a great way to give back to my city.
New Orleans. Proud To Call It Home.
Carlos wants to move our Tourist Town weekends to the spring so we're going to skip October 2012 and have Tourist In Own Town VI in March 2013.
Stay tuned.
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