Recently, my company sent a co-worker and I to New Orleans...er...'scuse me, N' Awlins - for several days of training. The company sponsoring the training scheduled it to be conducted in a hotel in the French Quarter.I love the French Quarter! I've been to N' Awlins 4 times in my life now and visited the Quarter each and every time. I love its culture, its history, its architecture, the music and the food! The Cajuns have a motto of Laissez les bons temps rouler which is French for "Let the good times roll!" That's not hard to do in the Quarter. But while there, we broke no laws, didn't howl at the moon and were actually back to the hotel by 10 PM or so.
After checking into the hotel where the conference was to be held, my co-worker and I immediately took off walking around in the Quarter. Our walking took us by the New Orleans Police Precinct House and down into Jackson Square. The St Louis Cathedral is on one side of the Square and...the wonderful Cafe' DuMonde' is on the other! The DuMonde' serves beignets covered in powdered sugar and hot chocolate 24-7. (Can't do N'Awlins and NOT do the DuMOnde'. Just something really wrong with skipping the DuMonde'). So we stopped there first for a beignet and HC. Check the first item off the "want to eat while in New Orleans" list.
Then we went on the prowl for some dinner!
Day 1 of training, they turned us loose for lunch and we found a great place called the Gumbo Shop. Had a triple combo - etouffee, jambalaya and gumbo and a little warm French bread. Mmm-MMM! Scratch three things off the "want to eat while in New Orleans" list. Of course, we were about to doze off and fall out of our chairs about 3 in the afternoon from all the good food. But! What a way to go!
That night, we we teamed up with another classmate and hit the Quarter for dinner! We ate at the famous Pat O'Brien's, famous for its Hurricane drinks. Tonight we actually ate there, too! Had shrimp and fried grits. Never had that before but I highly recommend it. Good stuff! Here's a link to Pat's website: http://www.patobriens.com/patobriens/neworleans/
Then we wandered around a bit and did our obligatory visit to the Pirate's Alley Cafe' and Absinthe House. http://www.piratesalleycafe.com/home.html As you can see, they play up the pirate theme pretty well and give you a big lesson in the history and chemistry of absinthe as a drink.
From there we called it a night and walked the 6 blocks or so back amongst all the street musicians to our hotel. Again, in by 10 PM or so. Again, I'm convinced getting old just plain sucks. 
Each day's training was in a conference room on the 16th floor of the hotel. A big series of windows in the room look down on the Big Muddy (Mississippi River) only about 3 blocks away. We could see merchant ships, freighters and barge pushers steaming up and downriver all day long each day. Amazingly didn't distract anyone except for on breaks. Guess that's a testimony to the quality of the instruction going on.
After the second day of training, we set out for Dragos the oyster place we'd been told about. We're only a block away from Canal Street. It was maybe 8 blocks down Canal Street (at the end of) by the Mississippi. I'd never in my life have thought I'd intentionally eat oysters. But, they let us sample the charb roiled oysters cooked in garlic, butter and 3 different Parmesan cheeses. After the sample we ordered a plate of 6 to accompany our entrees. Hard to see me type this, but oysters done THAT way are very good!
After that we pretty much called it a night - again around 10 PM. Our training days were very full, saturating our brains with good info. Our nights were fun, informative and delicious - even if they were brought to an end a little earlier each night than my ego would've liked to admit. (Maybe I can just tell myself that our curfew time was based on London time (4 AM) and that we really didn't come in at 10 PM.)
Good food, good music, good fun and good times - the usual rule when it comes to the French Quarter. No wonder I love the place. And lots of history, old world architecture and culture to boot! Doesn't get any better than that!
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Then we went on the prowl for some dinner! Found a really cool more local spot just outside the Quarter called...cleverly enough..."Eat." Mmm-MMM! GOOD Cajun/French cuisine in that little place! We had some red beans and rice with Andouile sausage and chicken. Good stuff! And check another item off the "want to eat while in New Orleans" list.
Then we wandered back up Bourbon Street people watching and jamming to the tunes from the live bands in the clubs along the way. Class would begin early the next day. So we didn't stop in anywhere to listen just kinda soaked up the jazz wafting out towards us in the street as we made our way back up Bourbon Street to the hotel. Leaving Bourbon Street by 10:30 PM. God, I must be getting old.
That night, we we teamed up with another classmate and hit the Quarter for dinner! We ate at the famous Pat O'Brien's, famous for its Hurricane drinks. Tonight we actually ate there, too! Had shrimp and fried grits. Never had that before but I highly recommend it. Good stuff! Here's a link to Pat's website: http://www.patobriens.com/patobriens/neworleans/
Then we wandered around a bit and did our obligatory visit to the Pirate's Alley Cafe' and Absinthe House. http://www.piratesalleycafe.com/home.html As you can see, they play up the pirate theme pretty well and give you a big lesson in the history and chemistry of absinthe as a drink. From there we crossed Jackson Square and paid our homage to the Cafe' DuMonde' for some Begniets! Gots to do the DuMonde anytime I get close! While there a local was telling us that we needed to somewhere in the Quarter have a charbroiled oyster cooked in butter and garlic sauce and covered with 3 kinds of Parmesan cheese. He recommended some place called Dragos down by the casino and the river. I'm not much into oysters, but we may have a mission planned for dinner tomorrow night thanks to this bit of information.
From there we called it a night and walked the 6 blocks or so back amongst all the street musicians to our hotel. Again, in by 10 PM or so. Again, I'm convinced getting old just plain sucks.
After that we pretty much called it a night - again around 10 PM. Our training days were very full, saturating our brains with good info. Our nights were fun, informative and delicious - even if they were brought to an end a little earlier each night than my ego would've liked to admit. (Maybe I can just tell myself that our curfew time was based on London time (4 AM) and that we really didn't come in at 10 PM.)
Good food, good music, good fun and good times - the usual rule when it comes to the French Quarter. No wonder I love the place. And lots of history, old world architecture and culture to boot! Doesn't get any better than that!
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
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