Days 23-24 (May 25-26): New Orleans, LA.

I got to New Orleans around 3 PM on Saturday, the 25th, and met up with some friends of mine, who had been here for a few days. We (kind of) promptly headed to the French Quarter for drinks, food (oysters and jambalaya), more drinks, music, some drinks, music and drinks and more food (crab cakes). So, that took care of Saturday. We did, however, end up on Frenchmen Street, north-east of the French Quarter, which had evidently been recommended to my buddies. More on that later.

Sunday

I spent the day exploring the French Quarter (aka, Le Vieux Carré). To say that I was shocked at its size would not be an understatement; I was expecting a few blocks commercial and maybe residential blocks on two or three streets. The Quarter is roughly 13 blocks deep x 6 blocks wide; it is a mix of commercial, entertainment and residential buildings. The neighbourhood has been protected since the 1930s, so that the outwards appearance of the Carré's buildings, many (most?) of which date to the 1700s and 1800s, is maintained. The architecture is a mix of French and Spanish influences, with evidently some West African thrown in for good measure. One of the key elements are long, gorgeous, wrought-iron second-floor balconies. With the number of restaurants, bars and shops, one could easily spend days in the Quarter, without seeing anything else in NO. I almost did.
In the evening, I went back to Frenchmen Street. Evidently, Frenchmen Street is a much better bet to hear good live music than the bars and clubs in the Quarter itself. I was not disappointed.

I had dinner at Three Muses, another eater.com recommendation. Not a big place, they have a small plate menu, in a variety of styles, an extremely well-stocked bar, with a signature cocktail menu which seemed very popular and a good selection of local beers (NOLA Breweries and Abita on tap). To boot, they have live music; a 6-piece (plus singer) very good jazz ensemble was playing (stand-up (double) bass [you know what to do]; accordion; sax; two guitars; trumpet). I had a salad of romaine hearts, fried tuscan kale and fennel and kurobuta pork belly braised with apple cider and served with apple chutney and scallion pancakes, both of which were excellent. I also had one of their more popular dishes, the lobster egg rolls, which left a lot to be desired, as all I could taste was the fried wrapper. So, two-thirds of a great meal, with great music.

Afterwards, I checked out two music clubs in the area; first, BMC on Decatur, which had been recommended to a friend of mine as a great music place. On this evening, it was not, as it featured what appeared to be a house New Orleans-style R&B band (from what I can gather) which seemed to me to just be going through the motions.

However, the next club, Blue Nile on Frenchmen Street more than made up for it. TBC, a young 8 or 9 piece funky brass band, just electrified the place. I dragged my sorry ass out of there around 2 AM, and they were still at it. Also, they had over 20 taps, including a bunch of local flavours; I drank an IPA from NOLA Breweries called 'Mechahopzilla', which is an awfully cool name.

The highlight of the evening: a (somewhat) inebriated, (very) cute, (very) young woman repeatedly asking me if I was Dr. John. The only answer to that, of course, is 'You can call me Mac.'

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