I am going to New Orleans!

bump?

a banh mi (or two) from dong phuong bakery in the east. it's the best sandwich in town, it's less than 3 bucks, it's a weird and wonderful drive if you go through the lower ninth and arabi and chalmette and up the 510 over venetian isles and past the NASA assembly plant.

tom fitzmorris is terrible, btw. he is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to super-traditional new orleans food but anything ethnic freaks him the fuck out. also he shills like a motherfucker for any shitty restaurant that gives him money--check out how hard he pimps andrea's in metairie. andrea's is laughably bad, like famously truly awful, yet he swears up and down that's it's one of the premiere NO-style italian joints. which is a damn lie.

however daily reading of his "diner's journal" is recommended as his relationship with his family as described is those columns is hilarious. there's all these passive-aggressive digs at his wife, fitz cluelessly wondering why his daughter is perma-single, some weird euphemistic writing around his son's "creative" west coast lifestyle. i half-think (hope?) it's all a brilliant troll.

also go to mosca's. mosca's is great.

trillin on mosca's

Don't forget this I Love Music thread re New Orleans--

New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

Brett Anderson who used to write for the Washington City paper for a bit way back seems to be still writing restaurant reviews for the Times-Picayune

http://www.nola.com/dining/

Was just reading about Mosca's yesterday, sounds good. Thanks for the rec and Trillin link. Re Fitzmorris, thanks for the heads-up. I'm not taking everything he says as gospel, but the site is a great reference repository to get a general lay of the land. I've been kind of following Anderson's series on finding the best roast beef po-boy in the city.

Bear's Grill in Slidell is on our route into the city, pretty well recommended from what I've seen, so we're probably going to have dinner there on day 1.

A friend's friend is the chef at Cochon, which is in the Warehouse District. It was very good. Pork-focused, obviously.

I am obsessed with burgers from the Clover Grill on Bourbon Street. I'm not sure if they are actually super good or if it's that they have good associations for me. When I lived in NOLA for 6 months I ate there just about every week. It's a small all-night place, the burgers are really thin, and they cook them under hub caps.

Wm, have you been there before?

I know that people turn up their noses at Acme Oyster House b/c it's so touristy or whatever, but GD, the grilled oysters on the half shell are profoundly delicious.

Jesse, that's not the first Clover Grill burger recommendation I've gotten. Hmm,,,

xp -- been to New Orleans? Yeah, a couple of times in the mid 80s. This'll be my first time there in 25 years.

i've never had a bad meal at cochon, they lay the vibe on pretty thick but the food is good and reasonable for fine dining, last time i was there a group of six went buck wild, couldn't see the table for all the food, drunk as fuck, for $360 incl tax/tip.

i also love clover grill burgers. they are straight off the truck sysco pucks but for whatever reason (3am) they taste so good. brett anderson wrote a piece for the oxford american a few years ago on the new orleans hamburger, which he (at least then) posits is as important to our culinary heritage as the po boy (ignore fitzmorris' "poor boy" affectation) or the muffaletta. port of call is the most famous NO burger joint. don't go there. buffa's, across the street, has equally good burgers and is maybe the most depressing bar in the city. it's great. (nb the NO style burger is a huge, loosely packed cheap-meat patty on a disintegrating bun typically served with unmelted shredded cheddar on top and a baked potato on the side. brewster's in chalmette is another good place. clover grill is a more typical diner-style burger. the cheffy burger trend has finally reached us but you can probably already get that stuff where you live.)

as AS important

Clover Grill = yum. I ate there for breakfast years ago when I was there, never forgot it!

Non-food stuff that I enjoyed:

- Swamp tour. We fed alligators hot dogs and marshmallows. It was the second time I had seen people feed alligators marshmallows, which they use b/c they float and are very visible to the gators. The older lady who drove us back to the city in a bus was a terrifying driver and she hated alligators. She said that when she and her husband are driving their RV, they swerve to run over alligators. That wasn't the fun part of the trip, but it was memorable.

- Ghost tour. The guide was kind of a douche, but it was still fun. I would probably do a non-ghost tour next time. It was funny how the was virtually a Nicholas Cage's New Orleans tour. He bought a lot of the French Quarter, and he had a pyramid-shaped tomb built for himself in St. Louis cemetery #1.

- Just walking around. The Marigny, where you're staying, is gorgeous, and has pretty places around every corner.

- Drinks at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. At night they have a piano player and singer. It's mostly lit by candles.

- There are two gay guys who own mini ponies that they take for walks in the Quarter. I have seen them in front of the Clover Grill and in other touristy areas, collecting tips in garters around the horses' necks. Those horses are so AWESOME <3. Your kids would love them, though you would have to take them in somewhat racy parts of Bourbon Street. Not sure how sensitive you are about that kind of thing, but it's not THAT shocking (no naked men hung up by their ankles being whipped), and some people bring their kids down there.

Lafitte's: http://s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/eTvsHTq5hTI1aB6ahaBYiw/l.jpg

xps -- Good to hear that others love Clover Grill! I thought I might just be loving them b/c of the vibe. They definitely are totally cheap-o pucks, but delicious regardless.

Oops! Mini HORSES, not ponies. They are very clear on that point. They are HORSES, not PONIES. They live in the Marigny, so maybe you might see them around.

Racy parts of Bourbon St not a problem -- our daughter is 23.

Who knows, the guys with the horses might be the owners of the B&B we're staying at. They say they're NO tour guides as well as B&B owners.

Oh. OK, your daughter can probably handle seeing some "sexy" t-shirts and sad strippers.

Can I be a nerd & recommend the D-Day Museum? Really terrific museum, even if you're not much of a WW2 buff.

Also Museum of Confederacy had a great array of civil war artifacts, worth a peek if youre into that kinda thing.

new orleans pharmacy museum! right next to napoleon house, cheap, weird.

oh and hey be cautious wandering around bywater and the marigny, armed robberies are through the roof. i've lived in new orleans a long time and shit is for real right now. eg the chick i hired to watch my dogs while i was on vacation the other week got grabbed, thrown into a car and driven to an atm. a block from my house (on the marigny/bywater border basically). at 9pm. there were 4 unrelated armed robberies within a 4 block radius that same night. not trying to rain on yr vacation but sometimes b&b owners forget to mention this stuff.

Yikes! Thanks, we'll be super careful. Pharmacy museum is on the short list, btw.

I'm a big fan of Dick and Jenny's on Tchoupitoulas. Their fried green tomatoes appetizer is out of this world. If you're gonna do tourist charbroiled oysters I'd take Drago's over Acme. Sylvain on chartres near jackson square has great cocktails if you're into that. It feels sort of too cool for school to me, but my SF gf feels quite at home there.

Also, it's a hideous tourist bar, but Pirate's Alley right by Jackson Square always gives me the eeriest feeling at night and is the only place I've ever been where I might actually concede that a place's history could leave it with some kind of supernatural aura. It almost feels like the ground is shifting or something.

WmC I just saw on another thread that you're in NOLA now. I hope you find the miniature horses.

Also I hope you will post many pictures! Would like you to make this thread your journal of this trip, but I know that's asking a lot.

Going to Jazzfest first weekend, first time in New Orleans since 2006.

Best food value for the dollar: lunch at K-Paul's
Overrated: breakfast at Brennan's
Sheer heart attack: chargrilled oysters at Drago's

Thanks. Heading down Thursday and flying home Monday.

So neither Broadview nor Slim Goodie's are open late?

meant to post this on here earlier. it's my wonderful friend jennifer's site. all things NOLA food. restaurants and recipes abound. browse for ideas!

http://www.foodorleans.com/

I see Jazzfest scheduled Pancho Sanchez/Terence Blanchard and The Texas Tornados at the same time. I'd opt for the latter since they're not in a tent.

It's a tough call though. Also at that time reggae band Steel Pulse, Buckwheat Zydeco, Bon Iver, Beach Boys and Real Untouchables Brass Band (don't know this last group).

Jazzfest friends of mine coined the disease name FOMS: Fear Of Missing Something. Generally at any point in the day there are 2-3 (or more) great options. I've become kind of a (self-described) expert at balancing acts I can't miss, acts have seen before but would gladly see again, stuff new to me I've only read about... I often see half of one show and half of another, but figuring out which to start with vs. end with is another trick.

Rule #1: don't leave a show you're enjoying to see something else.

Rule #2: don't over-schedule (hard one for me.) Leave yourself open to the serendipitous moment.

Rule #3: stop in to the gospel tent, jazz tent and Economy Hall often, even if you have no idea who's playing.

only been there once, but I could have easily spent the whole weekend following Rule 3

Okay, jazzfest stream on youtube is cool. Sound is a little glitchy, and Marcia Ball's voice is pretty ragged today, but this is better than work. Nice that they have two stage channel choices.

Will check that out later.
I moved around a fair amount for weekend 1 this year, although I decided to stay put and just see Dr. John and Springsteen at the end of Sunday afternoon.

In non-fest stuff--

Ate at Dooky Chase's one night and it was better than some yelpers and others have said. Had that "Jewish C______" at Slim Goodies one morning. My meal at Meauxbar was fairly good, but gf's was just ok.

I thought the food at Dooky's was pretty good when I was there, maybe not excellent, but the atmosphere and vibe of the place was super nice.

I put my youtube comment here rather than Jordan's brass band thread because at the moment the viewing choice is between Marcia Ball and Bruce Hornsby. They're focusing on the big stages, because I assume they're using the jumbotron feeds for this, so no brass bands or Indians.

we went to willie mae's one morning, couple blocks away from dooky chase. good fried chicken but i probably didn't need to eat so much of it for breakfast.

Ha. Saw Willie Mae's, and thought I need to stop here next time.

I wonder which brass band I heard/(saw through the fencing) practicing early evening last Thursday in Armstrong Park as we were on our way to Meauxbar?

Yeah, Willie Mae's is another place where the chicken wasn't quite the ZOMG best in the world that foodies started obsessing about, but the vibe was great.

I think my alltime A+ food plus ambience was Eddie's on Law Street, long gone.

broadview is still first in my heart

Jordan, have you been to L'il Dizzy's? Eddie's son Wayne runs it, but I haven't been.

lil dizzy's is the best! benny jones took us there for the first time after we played a funeral w/treme bb a number of years back.

Cool, it's on my bucket list.

Voice of the Wetlands Allstars: mostly too jambandy for me, and too much noodly blues harp, but Big Chief Monk is out there now, and Johnny Vidacovich is just killin' it.

Going back to NOLA in September with my wife. During our visit last year we heard live music at Vaughan's, Howlin' Wolf, d.b.a., Spotted Cat and Preservation Hall — and of course on Royal Street and the corner of Canal and Bourbon. We also checked out the Carousel Bar, Sazerac Bar, Cochon, Mother’s, Lafitte’s, Central Grocery, Napoleon House and some other spots, touristy and otherwise.
Places we didn’t get to visit that we’d like to check out this time around: Tipitina’s, Maple Leaf Bar, Bullet's, Mimi’s in the Marigny, Snug Harbor. Where else?
And does anyone know the current status of K-Doe's Mother in Law Lounge? I keep reading conflicting reports.

i'm going soon too - recommendations of places to stay?

I've only been once, so I'm not a good person to ask. Last year we actually won a raffle for a four-day stay at a Marriott in the Business District. Awesome place with a courtyard pool and an amazing buffet breakfast that had everything — alligator and andouille included. This year we're using my mother-in-law's time share at the Quarter House, on Chartres Street.

http://www.nola.com/food/index.ssf/2012/07/hubigs_pie_are_more_than_a_des.html

Hubig's pies bakery burns down

http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2012/07/5-alarm_fire_breaks_out_at_hub.html