Friday, September 17, 2010

New Orleans Trip – The Last Day, Downtown

I started my day with a quarter of a leftover muffuletta while I was blogging and Bev was still in the rack. As promised by the sales clerk, it was still just as good the next day. We had a big decision to make this morning – where to go for lunch, the famous Mothers downtown or a return to Joey K’s for their onion rings. While I would have liked to go to Mothers, I didn’t want to go downtown until we were ready to head for the Riverwalk, so the onion rings won out and we got a fried oyster Caesar salad to go along with it. The salad was delicious with perfectly cooked oysters atop a bed of crispy greens and a good dressing. The onion rings on the other hand were incredible – they were even better than they looked, maybe the best I ever had.



All in all Joey K’s was a great experience and I’d eat there a few times a week if I lived nearby.

Later in the day we headed for more shopping at the Riverwalk, but upon discovering it was just a mall, Bev soon said lets head across the street to Harrahs. We spent about 3 hours playing slots, made a little contribution to the local economy and headed west. Here’s a shot of the river, a docked riverboat and the bridges to get to the south side – they are impressively lit up at night.


In the west part of town, actually Kenner and Metairie, we went to Fisherman’s Cove and laid in a supply (15#) of fresh shrimp, then went to a local grocery chain for several kinds of Louisiana sausage, Cajun spices, some frozen crawfish tails and alligator meat, and a case each of chocolate and raspberry wine – which we haven’t seen at home.

We went to the Acme Oyster house for supper and I had a half dozen oysters on the half shell and we shared a dozen chargrilled oysters and a sampler appetizer which had fried oysters, shrimp, and catfish. None of it was blow me off the table super but it was all good and I’d go back. Oysters are getting ridiculously expensive. Used to get them on the half shell for 15 cents each – perhaps before many of you were born. Here’s a shot of the two meals – the char-grilled ones were doused with garlic butter and parmesan and served with plenty of bread to soak it up.



In summary, New Orleans was a nice vacation spot, but not being night-life or party animals, jazz lovers (I enjoy Cajun music ala Doug Kershaw), or museum goers, I’m sure we missed out on a lot of what the city has to offer – 30 years ago would have been a different story. We considered a fine dining experience but really weren't prepared with the right clothes and would rather hit the local joints - maybe next time for Comanders Palace or an Emeril or John Besh place. My favorite parts of the trip were the two drives we took out of the city. Now that I know a little more about Nola, I'll definitely go if I'm nearby, but don't know that I'd make a special trip - in large part because I'm a go out into the country rather than a go into the city kind guy. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this little travel log, or at least weren’t terribly bored by it.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry

3 comments:

  1. Those onion rings look amazing, no wonder you came back for them! Nice.

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  2. Bet you were talking about Schwegmann's Grocery.... It was SUPER.... I love Cajun and Creole food also--and miss my years in Nawlins.

    We lived there for 5 yrs. and NEVER went to the typical touristy places like Brennan's for breakfast--or Commander's Palace.... VERY OVER-PRICED.

    Glad you enjoyed a taste of New Orleans. Next time, go when the Jazz Festival is going on.

    Betsy

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  3. Larry, I always enjoy your commentary and foodie feedback. It's what got me into the blogging bit as well! I haven't totally got into the food photo habit yet and I need to in order to improve my food/restaurant related content. You have that routine down and you provide some great food photos! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

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