We drove out to Jefferson and went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. We all got several things. On the way back, we went over to The Joint and had BBQ sandwiches, potato salad and mac and cheese. Plus Zack had a piece of key lime pie that was homemade. He said it was good, but he didn't offer us a bite, so I can't say for sure! He said it was so good, he wasn't going to offer us any unless we asked.
After we left The Joint, we rode to see the "Make It Right" houses that Brad Pitt was having built.
On the way back we stopped at a Nursery on St. Claude in the Bywater - Harolds. Our friends John and Karl had told us about this place. It looked small from the street...but once you got around back, it was huge and was just filled with plants.
Then we made it back to the FQ and got a fairly good parking spot. Zack went out be-boping the FQ and I had a short rest. Peggy said she could use something sweet and we decided to go to The Palace and get some white chocolate bread pudding. Between 5-7 weekdays, you can sit in the bar and order from a special 5.00 menu. The bartender has to wait the tables in the bar and he seemed a little put out with that fact. However, he did get a little more friendly toward the end of our snack.....of course that probaby has something to do with the fact that he knew tip time was approaching.
We tried to go to DBA, but they were packed....and I mean packed in...so we just shopped around in the FQ and we were in luck, since the Dragon Master Showcase...the acrobatic comedy dance troupe was performing on Bourbon Street. We further entertained ourselves by checking out The Hustler Store and watching a little of the brass band, on the corner of Canal and Bourbon.
Our plan was to eat at Acme, but the line was huge, even though it was getting a little later in the evening. We changed our plans to Remoulade. Peggy and I had our usual - Meat Pies and Boudin. Zack had stuffed crab with crab boiled potatoes.
On the way back to the apartment, we decided to make a detour to Cafe Du Monde for cafe au laits. Plus Zack and I did some water shots....I believe he won this round.
We drove out to Magazine Street and checked out Funky Monkey and Fun Rockin' and then we drove over to Williams Plum Street Snoballs, whose actual address is on Burdette St (they are on the corner of Plum St and you actually enter on Plum). Peggy had a nectar cream and I had a strawberry shortcake cream, both were tasty. We then headed back into the FQ.
We went to DBA to see Paul Sanchez. Tonight he was accompanied by Jason Butler. Very talented and as always a great night of entertainment.
After we left DBA, we went to La Peniche. Zack had eggs, bacon, grits and toast. I had a roast beef sandwich (they have great tasting sliced roast beef) and Peggy was able to get her banana, peanut butter waffle.
Back to the FQ and hunting down a parking spot. Finally found one that I was semi-comfortable with and made it in around 11:30. Peggy and I finished out the night with cakes that we bought at Dorignac's the other day.
Peggy got the Louisiana Blue Crab Melt (Lump crabmeat, “due latte” robiola bosina cheese, ciabatta) and it was super good.
Zack had the Louisiana Bangers and Mash (Marciante’s duck sausage over mashed Louisiana sweet potatoes, finished with Steen’s cane syrup) which was also super good.
We walked around some and got a couple of strawberry lemonades at the French Market.
We tried to go to El Gato Negro, but they were still busy, so we went back to Mona Lisa, since it is close and we had to leave for The Bingo Show shortly. Zack and Peggy split a Spinach Pizza (spinach, tomato, mozzarella, onion, mushroom, feta cheese) and I had a meatball sub, which was huge.
The doors for the Bingo Show opened at 9, show was supposed to start at 10. We got there a little after 9 and found that seating was limited. The show finally got started around 10:45 and of course it was worth the wait. You know if you can keep an old guy on his feet for almost 2 hours, it's has to be good. We got to stand pretty close to the stage and Peggy and I got to dance a little with Ron. The show lasted until about 12:30 am. The Bingo Show cannot really be described, it has to be experienced. Our friend Ron is in the photo below.
We then walked back to the apartment and walked Hank and after a very brief rest, we walked back to Louisiana Music Factory again and caught the last part of Preservation Hall Jazz Band. They put on a great show.
We went down to the river and saw a little bit of Rockin Dopsie, but the crowd was large and we didn't stay for very long.
After a nap.....HEY, I was tired from walking.....we sat out for dinner. We first went to El Gato Negro, but they had several large groups and we decided to try somewhere else. Since it was Saturday, I like to go to Mona Lisa and get the white pizza and a couple of salads. I didn't go there at first, since I had just been there last night and didn't want to go to the same restaurant two nights in row. But it was just what I wanted. With two sodas - 21.00.
My usual Saturday night stroll down Bourbon...which wasn't real crowded....back up Royal and back to the apartment and walked Hank. Now my feet are tired again :-)
Tomorrow, we await the arrival of The Man, The Myth, The Legend.....The Lightning Bug.
I had the Da Meatloaf Sandwich (bison and bacon meatloaf dressed with Creole mustard, arugula, tomatoes, and roasted garlic aioli, and Nueske’s bacon).
To drink we had 1 Abita Root Beer and 1 Lychee Ginger Mint “Julep” made with Lychee puree, ginger syrup, ginger beer & muddled mint. Non-alcoholic since Chris has not received his liquor license yet. However, I had a hard time convincing myself that it wasn't alcoholic, since it left a slight burn in your throat.
So the "small plates" were not so small and we were stuffed when we finished. Chef Paul, who works the lunch shift, did an excellent job on both dishes.
We went to DBA and caught Ingrid Lucia's first set and on the way back to the apartment we watched saw Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham and the movie crew for the Expendables. The best thing we saw was Stallone leaving in a fancy red sports car and driving just like you would think Stallone would drive - all out.
After a brief stop at the apartment, we went to Mona Lisa for the Mona Lisa Special Sandwich, with a couple of sodas, our bill was only 13.00. One of the cheapest meals we have eaten.
After dinner, we went back to Esplanade and hung out and watched the movie people some more. Stallone was walking around with his cigar and giving directions. We finally did get to see a little action, when Jason Statham rode a motorcycle up the street a couple of times.
Then it was time for lunch. We swung by River Shack and they looked packed, we drove by Crabby Jack's and their parking lot was full. So we just drove on back into town and went over to The Joint. We had 2 BBQ sandwiches with slaw, sides of baked mac and cheese and potato salad and 2 drinks - 18.00.
It has turned H-O-T today and we hid out in the apartment during the afternoon, waiting for things to cool down.
We left out about 7 and went to Acme for charbroiled oysters, with 2 drinks - 23.00. We got sat at a double two top with a couple from Virginia. They were our age and this was their first visit to New Orleans. They came because it was their anniversary and New Orleans was on the husband's "bucket list". They were nice dining companions.
Desserts were the almond croissants from Haydels:
After an afternoon rest we went to the Wednesday Music at Lafayette Square. We went primarily to get Peggy her Nectar Sno Ball, but once we got there we had white beans with tasso, andouille sausage and rice and a strawberry kiwi tea from Between the Bread. Both of these were really good.
I saw that the restaurant Zoe had fish tacos and I always wanted to try one. Well, now I can say I had one and while it wasn't bad it was just ok, just not really to my taste. But they had fancy plastic plates to serve them on.
Then we got our nectar sno ball and went around front to watch a local cover/party band - Bag of Donuts.They really put on a great show.
After a very brief stop back at the apartment, we went to DBA to check out The Tin Men. I always thought this was going to be some type of all horn jazz band, but when I checked earlier today, I saw that it was Alex McMurray, Washboard Chaz, and Matt Perine. We have seen all of these at one time or the other but never together in one band. They say that they are the #1 sousaphone, washboard, guitar trio in the World :-)
So, not only did I discover another favorite band, but this was a full and fun day in New Orleans.
We went down a block on Bourbon and walked back up Royal most of the way, then cut back over to Bourbon and back to the apartment. Walked Hank, ate some doberge squares and watched Heaven's Prisoners with Alec Baldwin, a New Orleans filmed movie that we found at the book sale just after arriving.
After another very brief rest we sat out to eat....what to eat....what to eat...I finally decided to go to The Napoleon House. I had a meat ball poboy, Peggy had a 1/4 muffuletta and a small Caesar salad and we had 4 amber bocks - 27.00. And it was a good thing we went when we did, because they close at 6 on Monday.
After we ate, we went by The Green Goddess to get a photo of the sign designed by Marrus and this put us into a picture taking frenzy of different sights and restaurants with a stop by Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets.
After all of this we were back in the apartment at 7:30!
Back to the FQ where parking is HELL on the weekends. And this is a long weekend.
After walking Hank and having a brief rest. We both were hungry and since we hadn't eaten any roast beef in a few hours, we decided to go to Acme and try their roast beef poboy plus have some boo fries. Luckily the line was fairly short and since we agreed to sit at the regular bar, we only had to wait a few minutes. They had a great roast beef debris po boy and of course the boo fries were good. with 2 Barq's, our bill was 21.00. Acme had one huge line by time we got out, so we were lucky on our timing.
For dinner we called Mona Lisa and ordered a sandwich called the Mona Lisa Special - Pepperoni, ham, bacon, mozzarella cheese with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mustard and mayo. It also came with black olives and mushrooms, but we asked to leave them off, since we are fans of neither. It was a huge sandwich with a side of pasta salad. Below is a photo of 1/2 of the sandwich. It was super good. It was 9.00 and we actually had 1/4 of it left over.
We finished out the night with a chocolate mousse dome and a raspberry croissant that we had gotten earlier from Croissant D'or.
Next Peggy had a strawberry daiquiri and we walked around deciding if we should eat dessert next, or maybe something else before dessert. We decided to go back to where we got the crab cakes, since they had bread pudding. But on the way, we passed by the boudin stand again and had to stop for one more link, it was just that good.
We finished off with some bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Everything we ate was good and I think our total was around 21.00.
For dinner we went to Mona Lisa to avoid the weekend crowds...I hate tourists :-)
We had our normal meal there - 2 salads, white garlic pizza, couple of sodas - 20.00.
After dinner, I told Peggy let's take a stroll, so we walked down Royal until we heard the church bells ringing at St. Louis Cathedral. We thought they must have had a wedding and went to check out the wedding procession (aka parade in NOLA) but it had already started. We went around the block the opposite way and caught back up with them on Royal and then we continued on down Royal with a swing down Canal (got to see the new huge CVS). Then Peggy figured out she had gotten conned into walking back to the apartment via Bourbon....Hey, it's Saturday night and I can do lots of people watching!
For a late night snack we had small lemon and cherry pies we picked up from Loretta's at the French Market.
A final miscellaneous: the other night when I was buying cigarettes at Walgreens, the clerk said " Can I see your ID", then he glanced up at me and just said "Oh"....I think I got the message :-)
On the way back to the apartment after lunch, I heard the following between two older guys. "Those horses pulling the carriages are odd looking, they have such long ears". The second guy tells him - "They're mules". Hard to believe someone could get as old as me and not know what a mule looks like!
Later in the afternoon, we set out for Southern Candymakers to get some evening snacks. Along the way, we popped into the bottom of the French Market complex and purchased a fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade made with fresh Ponchatoula strawberries....it was like drinking the strawberries with just a slight tart aftertaste. It was mighty tasty.
Since we had had such a large lunch, we went smaller for dinner and went to El Gato Negro. We each had a pork taco with sides of sour cream, pico de gallo, and guacamole, with 2 Mexican Cokes, our bill was 17.00.
After dinner we took a stroll down Decatur and back up Bourbon.....or since directions are screwed up here, we actually walked up Decatur and down Bourbon!!!
We both had chopped pork sandwiches with slaw, plus I had a side of bake macaroni. Peggy had the Green Salad with smoked tomato & onion dressing. With a coke and a tea, our bill was 18.00. The Joint has bbq that is like what we have back home and finding good bbq in New Orleans is not easy. The Joint is the only place we have ever found in New Orleans that has good bbq.
We went back to the Napoleon House for dinner and split a 1/2 of muffuletta, plus their tap was working, so we had 3 amber bocks - 18.00
We went to DBA to see Paul Sanchez. He had Matt Perrine (tuba player) and Alex McMurray (sort of like Randy Newman but with guitar instead of piano) with him.
We finished out the night with the rest of the doberge squares from Dorignac's.
I think everything must be good here, since everything we have had is great, but the catfish is our favorite. I had a catfish poboy with potato salad and Peggy had catfish with garlic mashed potatoes and mac and cheese.
We wanted the bananas foster bread pudding for dessert, but they had already run out of it. We'll have to go earlier next time. We had the strawberry shortcake instead and it was super tasty, plus Peggy said it was real shortcake and got to school me on what shortcake was. With 2 drinks, our bill was only 21.00. This is a super bargain.
After an afternoon rest we headed to music on the square and it was packed. We tried a pulled pork sandwich from Pull My Pork and it was just fair. But we did get a nectar snoball from Williams Plum Street Snoball stand.
Since we had had such a good lunch, for supper we just got a pepperoni pizza delivered from Rotolo's. It wasn't quite as good as the one we ate in their restaurant. Funniest thing was when I placed the order, I had to spell out Bourbon for whoever was on the other side of the phone. Since they are only 2 streets over from Bourbon, you would think that they night have heard of Bourbon Street!
We finished our meal off with a couple of the doberge squares we got from Dorignac's yesterday, splitting them in half so we could both have lemon and chocolate.
