Entertaining New Orleans

When our daughters were young, we drove from our home in southern Florida to Texas each year to celebrate Christmas. And we stopped in New Orleans for the beignets at Cafe du Monde. We have a sweet photo of the girls, doused in powdered sugar.

We have not spent any more time in this cajun town on the Gulf, so it was time to dive into a deeper than a cafe visit to devour powdered sugar doughnuts! And New Orleans is so much more than the nefarious Bourbon Street. I would suggest that you don’t even walk Bourbon Street at night. It resembles a red light district on steroids and you will diss the entire city before you even explore this great town on the Bayou.

Here are my favorite secrets of New Orleans. Go and explore!

Cafe du Monde – the original French Market coffee stand that dates from 1862 and is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their specialty is the beignet, which is a square fried doughnut, lavishly dusted in powdered sugar. Chicory coffee is served black or au lait, mixed half and half with milk. It is an iconic New Orleans stop.

800 Decatur Street

 

 

Cafe Beignet – With four locations to visit, this beignet and coffee stop is a treasure. Locals say that these beignets are better than Cafe du Monde, and we may have to agree! The location on Royal is our favorite because its picturesque and quaint and charming. Stop in for the beignets, but enjoy an andouille sausage omelet or crawfish etouffee. We loved their coffee.

334 Royal Street

Justine – From Shrimp & Grits to the perfectly seasoned brussels sprouts, this white table cloth experience is a delight. Justine is a brasserie in the historic French Quarter. Combining the sophistication of Parisian brasseries with the playfulness of the South’s most lively district, this is a wonderful place to enjoy their sazerac, A sazerac is a New Orleans specialty cocktail, made with whiskey, absinthe, a sugar cube, and three dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters. We had to try one and truly enjoyed this spirit!

225 Chartres Street

Daisy Duke’s Cafe – Wandering the streets of the French Quarter, we decided to pop into this cafe for breakfast, and devoured pancakes, eggs, and bacon, and even an omelette. This diner was wonderful, complete with diner mugs, motorcycle riders, and men dressed in suits.

308 St. Charles Avenue

Bon Temps Boulet’s Seafood Company – Crawfish, barbecue, and po’ boys are their mainstay, and we all agreed that their barbecue rivaled our famous Texas barbecue. Even their fried catfish was delicious. A hole in the wall, you can dress casual for this picnic table style eatery.

4701 Airline Drive, Metairie

Ugly Dog Saloon – Located in the New Orleans warehouse district, this bar and picnic table eatery is complete with two pool tables. Featuring Cajun and Creole barbecue for twenty years, this establishment is just more than a bbq joint. It is a perfect stop because it is right by the World War II Museum. We devoured their burnt ends tacos – yum!

401 Andrew Higgins Boulevard

Frenchmen Street – If you’re twenty, you may enjoy the craziness of Bourbon Street. But at our age, we want good music in a classy location, and this street fit the bill.

 

 

Take a gander at these soulful locations on the street:

Cafe Negril – When we arrived, they had open mic night. So Rick hopped up on the drums and beat out some jazz tunes with three other musicians from all over the country. He truly had a special experience.

Royal Frenchmen Hotel & Bar – We sat for an hour listening to the Trumpet Mafia, and then returned the next night to hear Tuba Skinny. Cool purple and blue lights in a chandelier, resplendent with sofas, projected a moody presentation.

30/-90 – Popping in for Ainsley Matich & Broken Blues, we nursed a local beer while we listened to her plaintive vocals.

Bamboulas – Marty Peters & the Party Meters were our favorite band of the week. They were a bit hip and definitely entertaining, asking the crowd to sing along to Mind Your Own Business. They had us clapping and laughing all evening.

J&M Recording Studio – Billed as the official recording studio to give birth to Rock & Roll, this iconic location is where Little Richard recorded Tutti Frutti in 1955. This building, built in 1835, became home to the sound that rocked generations, On a side note, the park where the Cajun music known as Jazz began, sits right across the street. This has become the Louis Armstrong Park.

840 North Rampart Street

CHNO – Comedy House New Orleans was a lively venue for something we had not heard in a couple years – stand up comedians. Unfortunately, there were fourteen entertainers who had 6 minutes to wow their audience. Only ONE gentleman actually lived up to the word “comedy”. But we enjoyed ourselves anyway!

609 Fulton Street

Free Wheelin’ Bike – We took a tour with this fine group called the Original Creole and Crescent New Orleans Bike Tour. We rode through City Park where the 1,000 year old oak grove thrives. The tour is three hours and you ride six miles. We loved the trip.

1025 Bienville

National World War II Museum – Featuring immersive exhibits, multi-media experiences, and an expansive collection of artifacts which detail the story of the war that changed the world. All generations need to understand the price of freedom. It was a deep dive into history and we were mesmerized. We spent four hours in here and barely grazed the surface on the immense library of information.

Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street