Happenings

Each of these spots really deserves their own post, but for one reason or another, I didn’t really take pictures of the food.  With that in mind, I figured I’d lump them together.

Port of Call was the perfect spot for a burger and a baked potato.   I dug the ambiance inside, with rope netting spanning the ceiling and a fishtank behind the bar.  We hadn’t heard of this place at all before the trip, it was recommended to us by some very nice locals while we were waiting in line for Stanley.  This wasn’t a huge restaurant – we actually tried to go here with the full group after the race but didn’t want to wait; when Nick and I went back alone a day later – on a weekday at an off peak time I may add, we elected to sit at the bar rather than wait for a table.  But the food – oh the food.  For a strait up burger and loaded baked potato, you can’t go wrong!  Go there – or to their sister locale (Snug Harbor on Frenchman Street, which boasts the same menu but with live jazz).

Cafe Du Monde was an opposite experience in the sense that before the trip, we heard a LOT about it and their signature beignets.  A beignet is basically a sort-of doughnut coated in powdered sugar.  All of the pre-trip hype was on target – these beignets were GOOD!  So good that we did this once with the group, and once late night on our own for one last taste.  The one tip that I found on this place before we went was to utilize the take-out line which is in the back towards the fence rather than waiting for the table.  At peak times, while the take out line was still long, it did cut some time out of the wait – and you can head up to eat on the riverfront.  Late night, we walked right in with no wait at all.

One final loose end dish at a restaurant that shall remain nameless (because overall, I found the food rather mediocre) – Nick and I split a Cajun-spiced alligator appetizer which was pretty good.  Just wanted to share.  🙂

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As a continuation to restaurants that deserve a special shout out for impressing us during our time in New Orleans, Irene’s Cuisine did not disappoint.

Prior to our trip, I’d heard of Irene’s mentioned multiple times as “a hidden gem”, and on our last night in town – a culmination of some great times with friends, our first half marathon race, and overall a wonderful trip – we headed to Irene’s without a reservation for one final celebration.

Our time at Irene’s feels almost like two different, yet wonderful, experiences.  We walked in on a rainy Monday night without a reservation and were told that the wait would be about an hour.  We were then lead to a small table in a candlelit room with a live dixie-jazz piano player and told that someone would be over to take our drink orders shortly.  The music and ambiance were wonderful – it felt almost as if we’d gone to a jazz bar and were slowly meandering into a bottle of wine.  I wasn’t really hungry when we arrived, and an hour and a half (!) flew by before we were seated, though it didn’t feel nearly as long.

This was the only time we heard a version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" during our entire stay in Louisiana - about time!

When we were seated, the music changed to more of an Ella Fitzgerald/Frank Sinatra type mix (with a bit of Cake – perhaps accidentally? – thrown in) and the service was impeccable.  After a 1.5 hour wait and almost a full bottle of wine gone, our appetites kicked into high gear.  We both had scoped out the menu before we first entered and were very excited about a seafood mix and ribeye entrees, with ricotta & spinach (homemade) ravioli starter and potato/leek soup or mixed salad first courses.

Irene’s Cuisine was the perfect final dinner of our trip.  Highly recommended if you’re looking for a special meal with great food and service – and they do take reservations if you don’t want to fully embrace the wait.

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New Orleans was a really enjoyable city to visit, and this post-trip recap is probably going to get quite long with all of the pictures I’m planning to add.  Overall, between the style of cooking, the accents and terminology, and the overall mentality – this felt to both Nick and I like visiting a foreign country.  We were excited to try the foods, look at the architecture, talk to the locals, and to learn about the history – things we don’t necessarily think when visiting Colorado for example.

A few things stand out as highlights of the touristy part of the trip (food aside, as the amazing meals we ate warrant separate posts; nightlife aside to protect the innocent).

• We met a few locals that were just very enjoyable to talk to.  From hearing about the history and geography of their city, where not to miss for food/drinks/sights, and how they felt during and post-Katrina, the locals made us feel welcome and like we wanted to explore and learn more.  The two that we met outside Stanley on our first full day in town – thank you thank you thank you to both of them, as I found myself thinking back to what they had said multiple times during our stay.
• Another highlight to the trip was a private horse drawn carriage ride.  Yes, one of the touristy ones, and that is exactly what we went into the experience thinking it would be.  Our tour guide had other ideas, and he gave us quite a bit of fun city knowledge (including voodoo, murder, where to go out, historical anecdotes –  to where Nicolas Cage lives and why his house is haunted) – I found that I wasn’t the only one referring back to his commentary in the days to come.  Without that horse tour, none of our group would know what Romeo spikes are or have probably even noticed them everywhere around the city.
• A big thanks to our friends that made the trip.  We never sent out any emails soliciting you to join us, but those of you that heard we were going and came along for the ride – the trip would have been a lot different without you and we are really glad for all of the shared NOLA memories!

Enough of the mushy stuff and on to the sights.  🙂

I was excited about our hotel, which was old style in the French Quarter.   The hotel delivered – gorgeous building in the French Quarter, elegant old fashioned accents, huge patio off of our room – we were 2 blocks away from Bourbon Street, maybe a 5 minute walk from Jackson Square, and all of the ‘good’ restaurants that we had heard about turned out to be a hop, skip and jump away.

Le Richelieu in the French Quarter

The Lobby

Balcony outside our room

Alternate views from the balcony

Just walking around the French Quarter, I fell in love with the building style – all of the balconies with the iron fences.  We later learned that the balconies are as high as they are to avoid mosquitoes (which apparently can’t fly above 13′), and that all of the iron was original, brought from Spain/France.  There were also random horse posts around the city, which we *think* are from back in the horse and buggy days.  A sighting of some of them in the shop for original NOLA iron seems to back up that theory.

During the sunny days, Jackson Square was hopping with artists, musicians, and vendors, providing a soundtrack to our restaurant waits.  At night, the view of the church was pretty from Cafe Du Monde.  The musicians on all of the random streets were quite enjoyable actually, and we got a kick out of the shopping on Royal Street and the galleries – especially that of Blue Dog.

Walking around, I loved the St. Charles Streetcars and keeping an eye out for exceptional Romeo spikes, such as the one below made out of chard’s of glass.  (Romeo spikes are found above most courtyard doorways as a way to prevent suitors from jumping over the tops  to get to the daughters inside – a la Romeo.)

Ouch!

I also enjoyed the story of the (iron) corn fence – apparently back in the day, this guy married this girl from Iowa and moved her down to NOLA – and then he put up this fence around the house to make her feel less homesick.  Cute.  Also was loving beinets on the riverfront, watching the boats on the Mississippi.

The sights and sounds of Bourbon Street lived fully up to expectations and made for some great nights.

I adored the entire experience.  If and when we go back, I may throw in a couple of touristy swamp tours, and a bit more time to explore Frenchman Street (the Bourbon Street for locals – when we went it wasn’t jazz night), but overall – stick me in the French Quarter and happy I will be.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Our experience at the Rock & Roll Half Marathon in New Orleans has created a couple of monsters.  I think we both rather enjoyed this whole ‘racing’ phenomenon – though I’m using the term ‘racing’ to mean finishing the distance and not caring about the time (much) – enjoyed to the point where we just may want to keep doing these in the future.  But that’s a story for another time.

Pre-race, we went home sadly/excitedly after a pasta dinner on Saturday night – sad because most of our group had just arrived and we wanted to hang out, but excited because this race that I’ve been drilling into our heads since last July was finally about to happen.  Throw a bit of nerves into the mix too, based on (my lack of motivation to run at all in the week leading up to the race) and (Nick’s less than enjoyable long run the weekend before).  We got home around 11PM, fully laid everything out for the next morning, and went to bed not really expecting to get much sleep.

I think we were actually lucky in how well everything was run on race morning.  The race officially started at 7AM, but had a wave start, so our official start time was more towards 7:30.  I wanted to get to the race start early to sort of ‘get into the mood’ and to ’embrace the ambiance’ (yes, I think both were actually uttered and Nick did/does think I’m a bit of a nut)…  long story short, we aimed to get there at about 6.  I was really glad that we could just walk the 1.5 miles from our hotel – in hearing some stories about other races where you arrive 3-4 hours pre-race just due to the bus system and whatnot – eigh.  This was much more enjoyable, and everything pre-race seemed to be set up fairly well. We grabbed half a bagel, a banana, some water and some sports drink, packed up our gear bag, stretched – all sorts of pre-race fun stuff.

Following the crowds to the starting line

Before dropping off our gear bag

Around 6:50 or so, we headed to our corral to wait for our wave to start.  At this point, the announcers at the start line were going pretty loud on the speakers, music was playing (a lot of Journey if you’d believe it), and overall, we were starting to get pumped!  After the first wave started at 7, we moved closer and closer to the starting line as corrals were released in waves about 2 minutes apart.

Our Corral with the starting line in the distance

A much closer view of the start line!

The race itself seemed to go by very…. fast.  The Rock & Roll series signature thing is to have a band every mile or so along the course, though there was some pre-race debate in this from people we’ve spoken to that have run these in the past.  Our first band was at mile 0.44, and did get us pumped up – after that it was more sporadic.  (I love my GPS watch!)    We added about 2 minutes to our time at mile 4 as we both took a quick pit stop, but after that point, it was easy sailing.   There wasn’t a lot of crowd support for the majority of the race route, but there were a variety of mardi gras floats and beads hung from trees and things like that.  It was a nice way to see the city – from the garden district to the french quarter and up to the park, we thought we got a very nice snapshot of places we’d already been and had yet to go.  Luckily for us, the 2nd half of the race was more interesting to look at than the first half, so our nerves and excitement got us through to the point where we were fully loving the scenery – and looking forward to the finish line!

We weren’t expecting to see our friends up that early to cheer us on, but we were surprised at the 8 mile mark which was nice!  🙂   A couple of other notables along the course were the college guys with a big sign reading “Show us your TEETH!” which made both of us smile, and the random hippie dude that was attempting to give out cups of beer around mile 6.  (There was also the lady at mile 5 that yelled “You’re almost there!” which was silly because really, we weren’t even halfway almost there.  Aaah well.)

I found time and time again that I’m still not able to drink water or sports drink or anything for that matter while running, even if it’s at a really slow pace.  I manage to get the beverage everywhere expect in my mouth, so finally around mile 9 we started walking through the water stops.  This helped quite a bit actually – all of our training lately has been in the 30 degree temperature range, and the 50s on race day in the sun (gorgeous!) was actually a bit hot.  We both got a bit sunburned without realizing it from the run.

About mile 12 I started asking where on earth the finish line was already.  Not because my legs were tired, but because I was getting antsy to finish!  Nick grabbed my hand and we crossed the finish line together.  (Insert big AW here.  🙂  It was really motivating to me and I adored it!)  I guess I should mention that we beat the time we were shooting for, despite walking through the water stops and ect.  Getting those race medals wasn’t something that I was all about before the run, but I became all about after the race – Nick on the other hand ran the whole race just for the medal, so he was pretty happy too.  🙂

Bling Bling!

Post race, with the sun shining and no rain in sight, we gathered up some grass to listen to one of my favorites – Sister Hazel – that happened to be playing the post-race concert. We also drank, I think, 4 bottles of water and 2 bottles of cytomax between the two of us.  Tasty.

Were we tired once we crossed the finish line?  Yes….but….

Did we like this experience enough to want to do this again?  Yes!

Did I feel at all guilty for everything I consumed on Bourbon Street post race?  Absolutely not!

Now – the next distance to conquer is to be continued….

Popularity: 8% [?]

When people talk about going to New Orleans, the subject of eating a lot of good food invariably comes up.  Hearing all of this, and loving to try new places, we were really excited about all that the city had to offer – from the po’boys and muffalettas, to hurricanes and pimms cup, to anything creole and cajun spiced.  Research before our trip kept bringing up the same restaurants as places to try, but with over 800 restaurants, it did seem a bit silly at first to wait to get into a handful of them.

It didn’t take us long to realize that the restaurants with all the hype and the restaurants that come highly recommended by the locals are completely worth the wait.  Of all of the meals we had over our 5 day excursion, I can honestly say that those we just wandered into were not spectacular.  That isn’t to say that they were completely terrible, but that I don’t like leaving a restaurant feeling that I could have done better on my own.  I prefer to leave the restaurant striving to make something that was as good as what we just ate!

With that in mind, there were a few places in New Orleans that really stood out as having absolutely terrific food.  Restaurants that we would seek out to go back to during future trips.  Rather than posting about all of these in one post, I’m going to divide them up by restaurant over the next week or so.

The first restaurant rave goes to Stanley.  Stanley, the restaurant that I was personally a bit wary of at first due to it’s location in a prime tourist spot on Jackson Square (especially after the previous nights dinner nearby which I found less than stellar).  My mind changed once the locals that we were waiting with at a prime time on Saturday afternoon assured us that the wait was worth it, and later by the food!  Oh the food!  The food was so good in fact, that we got up early on our last morning in town just to go back to this place one more time for breakfast.

I was a big fan of the decor inside the restaurant – it accentuated the feeling we got from New Orleans in general of being in a foreign country.  The place felt like it belonged somewhere in Europe, with the large plated windows and simple yet clean brown and white decor.  I had a bit of fun playing with the shutter priority settings on the camera to get this shot of the ceiling fan which was at the time spinning full force.

Our entree options ranged mostly from breakfast fair (blueberry banana pancakes, the mixed breakfast plate, and an eggs benedict po’boy) to lunch in the form of a Rueben sandwich, fries and side salad.  Absolutely everything that we ate was phenominal, and every plate was completely cleared.  (Including that of my husbands, who ordered two entrees.)

Eggs Benedict Po'Boy

Breakfast Sampler Plate

Rueben Sandwich

Blueberry Banana Pancakes topped with.... ICE CREAM (the best idea I never had, but will use from this day forward)

Our excursion back to the restaurant two days later did not disappoint  – you may have been wondering if all of that great looking food tasted as good as it did because we were really hungry, but you would be wrong.  The selection of the blueberry banana pancakes topped with ice cream and cane syrup and the po’boy benedict held us over the entire flight back, and have inspired Nick and I to try to recreate both at home on the weekends.

In short – if you are heading to NOLA, make some time for Stanley.

Stanley also has a sister restaurant (Stella!), and while we were inspired to go for dinner based on our brunch experiences, the lack of semi formal attire prevented that this trip.

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It is nice that, for a change, race day is the only day we are here that isn’t slated to rain:)

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I spent a lot of time earlier this week scoping out reviews on fun places to eat, drink and visit in New Orleans – which we are heading to tomorrow for the Mardi Gras Half Marathon race on Sunday morning!   Between Tripadvisor and recommendations from folks on other blogs that I read, this is shaping up to be quite the weekend – and with all this food, it’s a good thing to be running some of it off on Sunday!
View New Orleans in a larger map

Popularity: 5% [?]