NOLA VIRGIN (Looking for recommendations)
Cosmo
9,768 Posts
So I'm breaking my New Orleans cherry this coming weekend and would love some advice on what to check out. Basically looking for really fucking cool shit to do. It's Jazzfest weekend and I have VIP passes to the festival but want to do other shit. I have a show of my own on Friday night too.
I have a small apartment right outside of the French quarter so I think I'm kinda located okay. I'll probably rent a car too.
Lifelong dream to go there and I've had this romantic thing in my head about if forever and I wonder if it will live up to that hype.
I want to eat mad crawfish and jambalaya and oysters and shrimp.
I want to see mad brass bands.
I want to see the indians.
What else? I'm afraid I might not ever come back.
Please advise... Thanks!
I have a small apartment right outside of the French quarter so I think I'm kinda located okay. I'll probably rent a car too.
Lifelong dream to go there and I've had this romantic thing in my head about if forever and I wonder if it will live up to that hype.
I want to eat mad crawfish and jambalaya and oysters and shrimp.
I want to see mad brass bands.
I want to see the indians.
What else? I'm afraid I might not ever come back.
Please advise... Thanks!
Comments
-Real men rock umbrellaz
-Beignets
-Hifive Dr John
-Willie Mae's Scotch House
-Congo Square (get your fortune read)
-Go on a riverboat if you can, I didn't get to
-DONT GO TO THE VOODOO MUSEUM, IT SUX
-Drive around and see the city, but be very fucking careful driving, the stoplights and boulevards are made for accidents. Some say people juke you on purpose for lawsuiting.
-If water gets up to your bumper on the road, turn around and go home.
-Drive across Lake Pontchartrain and get your fanboating/alligator spotting on.
HAVE FUN!
^^^Fried Chicken Here Is A Must^^^
Drago's Charbroiled Oysters
Couchon
http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/
Yes! Cochon Butcher is their lunch spot around the corner. Great new spot!
b/w
Mother's is worth the hype, but go for dinner and no one is around. The Crawfish Etouffe and the Bread Pudding will melt faces.
Hole in the wall Po' Boy places abound.... If someone says, "this is my spot," try that one.
Arnaud's French 75 is a nice place to get a drink. Quiet, and just 1 block off of Bourbon St.
local hype is goin on outside of the Fest. Check out The Gambit online for cool shit.
Man, screw a rental unless you want to get out of the city. NOLA is small and compact. Streetcars are a cinch,
Cabs are cheap inside the city. Where you will be, everything you wanna do is within a 15 min. walk, or a 10 minute
streetcar ride uptown for fancy shit.
Gotcha. First morning you wake in NOLA, walk to the head (away from Canal st.) of Royal st. in the Quarter, grab a
Au Lait at the Royal Blend (Best coffeshop courtyard in Da Quarter) and slowly meander up Royal towards Canal st.
This is the romantic picturesque NOLA you seek. Walk slow. Breathe deep. Look up. I'm old and jaded and this
walk gets me all misty every time.
At Jazzfest, get you some Crawfish Bread. GotDAMN.
Oysters are everywhere. Burbon House probably has the best in the Quarter.
For Jambo, get thee to Jacques imo's uptown on Oak. Distrust Quarter Tourist Jambalaya.
No problem. Besides the numerous gigs that weekend, just walk around the Quarter, the
Marigny and Downtown around dusk. During Jazzfest, local restaurants hire bands to
parade the blocks around them to lure customers. Follow one till you have a cocktail
in your hand and are dancing with a strange woman. Boom.
Well, then come back for Mardi Gras. That's really the only time to get down.
I'm sure the 'Fest has some Indian Troupe perfoming, but meh.
Go to the Hotel Monteleone on Royal, saddle up to the revolving carousel bar
and order a mint julep. Sip. Gaze.
Go to a bounce show in the Bywater.
Bluebird Cafe for hangover cure/breakfast.
Apple Barrel bar in the Marigny for local gutter punk and boozy floozy experience.
Evelynes Bar on Decatur in the Quarter for hole-in-the-wall PBR experience and
top-secret-best-gumbo-in-town experience.
Louisiana Music Factory across from HOB on Decatur. Great people. Buy some Rebirth CDs.
Have a blast, but don't try to cram too much in.
It's 'Nawlins, you're supposed to slow down and settle into your shoes.
Strike up convo with folks. You might wind up at a party.
Have fun!
Oh, and where's your gig? Would love to check it out.
I cannot cosign this strongly enough. I had perhaps the best meal I've ever eaten there--so freakin' good.
You think I'm playing when I say I might never leave. I am not playing.
Oh yeah, give me the dirt on that SECRET HOT MINDMELT SHIT too.
One spot that hasn't been mentioned that my wife and I loved is Felix's in the quarter. Real old school place, best oysters and bloody marys I had on my trip.
Co-sign.....I usually tell people to order a dozen as an appetizer but don't order your main entree until you've eaten that dozen....then order another dozen or so as your entree.
When I fianlly snap and go on a murderous rampage, go to Death Row and am about to be executed and I have one last meal request.....it will be these friggin oysters.
Please tell me the things that will make me cancel my return flight.
ALSO, I will be staying in the Uptown area, if that helps for suggestions.
feel free to PM me--can make plenty of specific gig recommendations and/or food recs. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on SS who actually lives in NOLA.
this is important: the best way to drink at Jazz Fest is to bring a flask of rum in your back pocket and mix with a nectar snoball / mango freeze / strawberry lemonade. the best way to close the Fest on Sunday will be either Glen David Andrews in the Gospel Tent or Maze on Congo Square (thousands sliding to "Before I Let Go"). New Orleans LOVES Maze
Sunday night at the Maple Leaf: best non-private crawfish boil in the city. they bring out a batch of perfect crawfish w/crazy meats mixed in, then Joe Krown, Walter Wolfman Washington & Russell Batiste play a first set.
at set break around 11:30 or so they bring out a 2nd batch of crawfish, and the band starts a second set while people are in the middle of eating.
one of the number one things i recommend to visitors.
This will be your only warning.
cosine.
jacque-imo's for some yummy food. right next door to maple leaf.
cafe amelie near the quarter has a really nice courtyard area and is me and g's favorite place to go. nice date spot, if that is something you're looking for.
Don't know I didn't hit you up before, holmes. Yeah, date spot shmate spot... I'm just looking to get my face melted off pretty much #VQ #SensoryOverload
Also, people - VOODOO.
Good looking on the Maze advice. I get in Thursday morning and "leave" Sunday morning. I'm playing Friday night at Dragon's Den in case anyone wants to come see me do my thing.
lookout for my homie Brice Nice
have fun, cos
Nope.
Just moved the fam permanently to 'Nawlins.
Uptown on Atlanta a block from the theatre.
Oh, and I've played the 'Den many times over the years.
Pack that place and it becomes a crazy sweatbox.
Good luck on getting any monitors, tho.
Def. gonna catch your show Cosmo, good looks.
Dude, you can't miss it.
AND, the crawfish have been crazy huge and delicious this year, seriously,
it's being called the best crop in 10 years.
I've never heard the Stooges brass band, but the HiHo lounge is an institution.
A cab from uptown is like maybe 8 bucks.
The city is taking it as a personal challenge to make you miss your flight home.
And Cosmo, if you show proof of a cancelled flight in this thread
I'll hook you up with the super secret facemelt schitt.
Oh, and Sunday Brunch at the Collumns Hotel on St. Charles is a must:
Jazz trio, grits and grillades, mimosas, kudzu, linen suits and mint juleps.