There was so much to do and see that we really didn't know where to start. With food on the brain, we headed off to Jackson Square, where there were a few restaurants that were recommended to us.
We walked along St. Peter Street, which was lined with shops and eateries. Behind St. Peter Street was the Mississippi River. We got to Jackson Square and it was beautiful. There are some stairs you can walk up with a great view of the square. Horse drawn carriages and street artists lined the street, Cafe du Monde sat on the corner, and beautiful St. Louis Cathedral was visible from anywhere on the square. Now it felt like we were in New Orleans!
The restaurants coming with recommendations had long waits, and we were starving. We walked around forever and finally towards the French Market in a search for lunch. We sat outside at a cafe that overlooked the market. Sadly, the cafe did not live up to all the great things we had heard about the food in New Orleans. Granted this was a random cafe in a touristy area, but it was kind of gross.
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| New Orleans food at the French Market |
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| French Market |
We decided to go back to Jackson Square since we didn't see much of it, as food was our first priority. We noticed there was no line at Cafe du Monde, so we decided it was time for our first beignet experience. I was worried there was too much hype around these and thought I might be disappointed. Nope. They are all the rage because they are that amazing. Warm fried goodness drenched in powdered sugar. We sat at a small table soaking in the yumminess and listening to a street band place some jazz.
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| Beingets! |
We took a long walk down Royal Street popping into shops here and there. We ended up back on Bourbon, and decided to stay in the area since we had a Cocktail Tour lined up a little later. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was in the first round, so we took a rest (the first of many visits) at Tropical Isle, to watch some of the games and have a beer. They had two people singing some covers which was fun.
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| Balconies & Horsies |
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| Jackson Square |
Scandalous Cocktail Tour
What's not to love about this concept? A little bit of history and exploring the city AND drinks! I mean, it sounded perfect. We chose the Scandalous Cocktail Tour ($25 and starts at Pat O'Briens). (Danielle did another cocktail tour with her co-workers, so I will have to find out which she thought was better.) Rebecca was our tour guide and she was really knowledgeable about some of the scandalous past of New Orleans. We visited six locations on our 2.5 hour tour, four of which were bars where Rebecca recommended a cocktail and told us some history about it. Here is where we went and what we drank:
1) Hotel Monteleone- Carousel Bar
This historic hotel is owned by a Sicilian family (who still lives in the penthouse of the hotel), who had ties to the Mafia and Lee Harvey Oswald. They are famous for their carousel bar, which is made from a real carousel and slowly spins.
Cocktail: Sazerak
2) Royal Sonesta Hotel- Irvin Mayfield Jazz Club
Irvin Mayfield is a grammy-winning jazz artist and owns a jazz club in the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Free live jazz every night, but sadly we never made it back.
Cocktail: Gin Fizz
3) May Bailey's
May Bailey's is a former brothel. We learned some interesting information on the role of prostitution in the history of New Orleans.
Cocktail: Pimms Cup
4) Omni Royal Hotel
Rebecca told us a tragic (and more recent) story of a man who killed his girlfriend, cooked her, and then committed suicide by jumping from the hotel's balcony bar. There is a book about the story called Shake the Devil Off.
No cocktail at this stop
5) Pirate's Alley Cafe and Absinthe House
We learned all about Absinthe and how to prepare it. Then we went inside where we got to watch the bartender make the drinks. It is an interesting process involving absinthe, sugar, and cold water. Too bad it tastes like black licorice.
Cocktail: Absinthe
6) Fritzel's
All I can say is THANK YOU to Rebecca for bringing us to this place, as it became one of our favorite places to visit throughout our trip! It's a small hole-in-the-wall type place with live jazz every night. More on Fritzel's later though.
No cocktail on this stop
Overall, we really enjoyed the tour! We tried three of the four drinks (we skipped the Pimms Cup) and learned a lot of scandalous info! I would recommend this tour (but I noticed the other guide had lots of negative reviews--be sure to go in Rebecca's group, not Glenn's).
After all these drinks, we were ready for some dinner. We had walked past a restaurant that was giving out free samples of yummy sausage, so we decided to go back there for dinner. We got a cute table outside at Cafe Soule on St. Louis St. The kitchen seemed to have some issues, which put a damper on our meal. My sausage po' boy was pretty good (although missing the sauce when it came out), Danielle's fried oyster crepe had some issues (weird crepe consistency), and our crab cakes never came (apparently they ran out and didn't tell our server). Pretty disappointing, but this place could have some potential if the kitchen could get it together.
It had been a long day, so we wandered back to our hotel and called it a night.
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