NOLA is coming back... parts of it anyway.

posted by The Vidiot @ 12:31 PM Permalink

According to Mr. Vidiot, parts of New Orleans was beginning to feel like it did pre-Katrina. We went there this weekend to visit family and, as a perk, go to the Satchmo fest.

We had a good trip. We landed at 11:45 AM on Thursday, by 12:30 we were shoving po-boys down our gullets at Parkway Bakery.
(That's a shrimp and cat po-boy with side of potato salad.) Then, we had a snowball (shaved ice with whatever flavor you want). At about 4pm, we had a muffuletta at Central Grocery on Decatur Street. Then, for dinner (because that wasn't enough) we went to Port of Call for steaks. Then, on Friday, we had another po-boy at Parkway Bakery because they're just that good and that night, went to dinner uptown that was delicious but the place had one of those weird names that I can't remember.

On Saturday, we wandered around the Satchmo Fest.I love brass band music. It was HOT, heat hot, and there were those mist fans blowing. One guy stuck his 9-month old in front of one. Poor kid didn't know if he should breath or suck. The dad was like "get used to it kid. This is a fest in New Orleans and living here means lost of these." Then, we went to Coops for more food.

Now, I'm not crazy about their gumbo (on the left), but the Jambalya (the front bowl) is to die for and and that pasta thing, it's a tasso cream sauce with some sort of ham and crawfish and shrimp and sausage, it's delicious.

We later went to Liuzza's and had a fabulous gumbo.and a fried shrimp plate with red beans and rice.
MMmmmmmmm.

Later, we went to dinner at Cochon's. We didn't take pictures because it was all so delicious, we forgot to stop and take the pictures. (Mr. Vidiot, in keeping with his desire to only eat the flesh of the youngest animals, had the suckling pig with chitlins. In a word, it was "wow.")

Unfortunately, we didn't have time for Mother's this trip. We almost went, but the line was too long.

As for nightlife, we hung around the usual: Molly's, DBAs, (where Mr. Vidiot got to see Lyndsey Zaorisky (sp?) one of his favorites from before Katrina. She's got a weird little voice and sings these 1920s type ballads) and we even got to go to Tipitina's. That was great and such a treat. A similar venue in NYC would've cost an arm and a leg, would've had to be purchased weeks in advance and would've been attended by mostly 20-somethings.

And that's the beauty of NOLA. It's not just for 20-somethings. All ages can play. In NYC, only the 20-somethings go out and have fun and I hate walking into a bar full of 20-somethings. Yuck. In NOLA, we heard lots of good music and I could actually enjoy it. Can't find good music in NYC. They say you can, but I can't seem to find it.

And my favorite thing about NOLA? Time passes so much more slowly there. You can actually get things done. In NYC, it takes 20 minutes to just walk to the subway. In NOLA, you can make a round trip to anywhere in the city in 20 minutes. NYC takes your time away from you and NOLA lets you keep it and do with it what you will.

Of course, I'd have to expand the waistlines of my entire wardrobe if I lived there.

Alright, this isn't a travelblog. Just thought you'd like to know where to go if you ever went there.

Carry on.

Labels: New Orleans, NOLA