New Orlean ho!

Since you're hitting up Jackson Square, you should check out a restaurant there called Muriel's & order the redfish fillet wrapped around crab stuffing (I used to work there, the redfish is reeeeaaaallly good, but you can only order it at night). It's one block north of Cafe Du Monde, on the northeast corner of the square. Also, behind Cafe Du Monde you can take a ferry across the river to the West Bank. It's a beautiful view, especially in the evening. Be sure to visit the streetcars too, they run all the way uptown.

When are you coming?

Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop for a drink on Bourbon (one of the oldest bars in America). Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt for a Sazerac.

Look around for location signs and film crews. Let me know when you are coming and I can tell you who is filming. Treme is ongoing right now (they just blocked off 14 blocks in the French Quarter for parking.

Frenchmen Street is still a bit of a NOLA thing, so check it out for night life. Great bars. Snug Harbor and DBA have great live jazz and funk acts.

Jeremy Davenport Lounge at the Ritz is a cool place to see the trumpet player and singer. If you can, try and catch Kermit Ruffins if he is town (another great trumpet player - he is also on Treme a lot). You might also check out Irvin Mayfield Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta for some great music.

The ferry Umami was telling you about will take you to Old Algiers which is a fun place to explore and you can go and try and find where William Burroughs lived when he was here. Also, it is the Ferry they blew up for Deja Vu and which John Goodman's character rode in Treme.

The Coffee Pot on St Peters is a good place for brunch in the Quarter.

Hit up Magazine St for shopping. Oak St is another good place. You can pick up some cool, funky, local t-shirts and gifts at Fleurty Girl, Storyville, and Dirty Coast on Magazine St. My favorite Gumbo in the city is at Gott Gourmet on Magazine St and then you can head to Sucre across the street for great deserts (and possible celeb sightings).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I'll second that. Gott's Gourmet has an AMAZING brunch if you hit it up on Sunday as well. And Sucre is awesome as well.

By the way, the Gambit Bar Guide just dropped.

Gambit is our Weekly paper. Good stuff.

Christmas in the Oaks is going on at City Park right now. Might be something good to do. Also, the Fairgrounds, our horse racing track, is doing Racing Under the Stars if you are into that.

Great timing on this thread, I'm heading that way the first weekend of December. Very excited about the trip--I haven't been to New Orleans since just before Katrina hit and Lady Misfit has never been.

Just a word of thanks for this thread. We just got back and we had a blast. Hit up a lot of the places listed above, including Gott Gourmet, Magazine Street, The Old Coffee Pot, Laffitte's Blacksmith, Frenchmen Street, the ferry over to Algiers and Cafe Du Monde and loved them. A couple of places I'll add to the list:

Coop's Place--On Decatur Street, across from Margaritaville, but don't hold that against it. A total hole in the wall with some of the best food we ate while were there, and the staff was totally cool. I had the best fried chicken of my life there, and we went back for breakfast another day. The Hangman's Fry omelet with oysters in it...(drool).

Drinks at the Napoleon House. I had the best Sazerac of the trip there and there were some cool locals hanging at the bar.

Tujague's--another incredible meal in a 150-year old restaurant. We ate next to a picture of Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney. If that's not class, I don't know what it.

The Jean Laffitte National Park Historical Center on Decatur has a free tour every day at 9:30. Show up at 9 to get a ticket, and the tour takes you down the river and provides a nice overview of the history of the city.

I'm ready to go back.

Glad you had a good time. Wish I could have been here to show you around some.

Glad you ran into some film crew. I know Breaking Dawn will be in the city filming soon. Then things go quiet until January when Looper and Contraband and Piranha 3DD start up (that's just what I can think of of the top of my head).

So Wayward, have your eyes out on the lookout for filming.

There are a lot of places I would love to get rid of on Bourbon. Cat's Meow is at the top of the list.

Glad yall had a great time.

There are a bunch of cheesy bars on Bourbon I could do away with. Razzoo's and Cat's Meow top the list, and then you can just go along and see the cheesy ones that need to be eliminated.

Now, if you went past Oz on Bourbon going away from all the clubs and bars, you get to the house we lived in when I was born (yes, we lived on Bourbon St when I was born).

When we filmed Wolverine on Bourbon Street, every time the stunt guy drove by this one strip club all the girls would holler: WOLVERINE! and shake and jiggle. Funniest thing to watch and hear.

Glad you had a great time.

It is MARDI GRAS SEASON! HAPPY KING'S DAY!

 

You can, and I really suggest you do, order King Cakes online. You can order from Manny Randazzo's, Haydel's, Gambino's, and new kid on the block Sucre.

 

This is the best CD of New Orleans Mardi Gras music:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Orleans-Party-Classics-Various-Artists/dp/B0000032I0

 

Happy Mardi Gras to everyone!

The lineup for the 2011 JazzFest is out. It is a great music festival, but it is also a great chance to sample a ton of great Louisiana food. My favorite time of year in the city. 

 

I would also recommend coming down for the Irish Channel St Patrick's Day Parade. It is a fun time in the city, plus the parade is much more locals and fun than Mardi Gras parades. And what other parade are you going to go to where they throw cabbage, potatoes, and carrots to you?

 

Also, I would recommend French Quarter Fest as a good time to come to the city. The music is free and all around the Quarter. And then of course there will be all the excellent food vendors.