Well I'm back. Unfortunately our trip was cut short because of Hurricane Nate. We didn't want to risk having flights cancelled so we rented a car and made the drive back on Saturday. Oh well.
Our Itinerary:
Thursday:
Landed around 8, $33 Uber to the warehouse district to our VRBO ( Rental 453971)
Walked to Cochon - 45 minute wait so we went next door to Cochon Butcher for drinks and a charcuterie platter (really good). Had a couple Abitda Ambers and then our table was ready.
Our table ordered the chargrilled oysters, mac n cheese, twice baked potatoes,alligator appetizer, gulf fish (redfish), gumbo soup and meat pie. It was all great but I wouldn't order the meat pie again. The oysters were phenomenal and the alligator was excellent as well. The alligator was basically bang bang shrimp from Bonefish but with alligator. More Abitas were consumed.
Next we walked to Bourban street. It's fun, just not exactly my gig. Basically a Duval St on steroids. We went to a few bars. Famous Door had a good band playing which was fun. Not sure the names of the others places we went to but it's your standard loud music/crowded smelly people type stuff. Eventually we ended up at Pat O'briens. That place was cool, tried the Hurricane (way too sweet) and then ended up at the Piano Bar which was fun. After that we ended up at Cafe Du Monde and had way too many beignets. Around 2 am we called it a night.
Friday
Next day we had brunch at Atchafalaya. This place was excellent.
I had the Eggs Treme which was delicious but the Duck Hash and Chicken n Biscuits were even better.
https://www.atchafalayarestaurant.com/
After that we walked to Lafayette Cemetary and showed ourselves around. We were cutting through the smaller paths when for absolutely no reason I noticed one mausoleum which looked brighter than the others tucked away around 20 yards from us. Not really sure why but I was drawn to it so we walked over there. I didn't notice it at first but we were just standing around plotting our next course of action when one of my friends was like "wholly smokes Keven, look!". Turns out that Mausoleum had my last name on it (Rayne). Kinda strange and we decided to get on out of there.
We did a self guided tour of the Garden District and then were on our way back to the French Quarter. In the FQ we just walked around listening to the artists on the street and checking the place out. We had a late lunch at Napoleon House (recommend) and had more drinks, the bruschetta and a shrimp po boy. Excellent service and the food was great. Cheaper than the other places we've been so far. Sat in the courtyard and just relaxed after a busy day.
Had another drink at the Carousel Bar and met up with more friends before heading over to Preservation Hall for a live music session which was excellent. $20 a person, mostly standing room but we were able to sit up front with some cushions. Trombone guy almost hit me in the head a few times we were so close. I would definitely recommend Preservation Hall but get in line relatively early if you want a good spot. After that we learned the wedding was pushed to that night instead of Saturday so we rushed home to get ready. After the wedding we went back to Bourban and went to more places I wouldnt recommend. Called it a night around 3:30.
The wedding was awesome, kinda bummed we didn't get the whole shebang with it being kinda a shot gun wedding but it gives me a good reason to return. The next morning we made the 10 hour drive back while NOLA barely had any rain. Our flight didnt end up getting canceled but some of the others did.
Good times NOLA, we will return.
