Categories: uncategorized
Date: 30 June 2004 15:48:01
I was in New Orleans for lunch with friends Monday.
I live so close to the city, you'd think I would go more often. But, I go seldom, and then usually for business. Monday, on the other hand, was all pleasure!
I parked at the Hilton. I like a parking garage. There is one open-air parking lot not far from there at the foot of Canal Street, but I hit the Hilton first so I took it.
Then I walked up to the front desk on the second floor, and asked about The Praline Connection on Frenchman, how many blocks? There was a storm coming in from the Gulf & I wasn't relishing getting there and looking like a drowned cat.
The Hilton and the end of Frenchman are only perhaps 15 blocks apart... but I took the streetcar anyway. There is a short line, about 10 stops, between the Riverwalk/Hilton area and the other end of the French Quarter. That was fun, I don't think I ever had reason to take the trolley before.
The wind was really whipping, but the clouds waited until they got a few miles inland before dumping their loads.
Met my friend, a woman I met online, and her family, at The Praline Connection. There's a nice cafe there, a little restaurant beside the praline shop. She had lunch there at Mardi Gras time, she and some other ladies who had been with me one evening for that holiday.
My friend and I had the fried catfish -- nice big filet, cooked perfectly. Her husband had red beans and a beautiful breaded porkchop. Her daughters had a hot sausage po-boy and a nice file gumbo. I also tried their "Gumbo Zaire", made with several types of greens and a hint of crab. The food is great there and the prices not outrageous at all.
The waiter and waitress present wore typical black pants and white tuxedo shirt, but they also wore black fedoras. They were precious. I expected them to whip dark glasses out of their pockets and start playing a jazz version of the Peter Gunn theme, y'know, the theme from the Blues Brothers movie?
One of the street artists nearby was impersonating Michael Jackson as a mime. Being the statue-like, white-faced Michael, with a couple of signature moves. He was good. There was a big man in a sandwich board sign that said "Jokes for Donations". He had a bright green mohawk.
I was reminded, seeing the little apartments for rent in the narrow streets, some upstairs over businesses, and seeing the little glimpses into shady miniature backyard gardens and patios and courtyards... I would like to live there, if I were alone.
My friend found her hotel online, in a roundabout way. I believe they ended up paying in the neighborhood of $150 for the four of them for two nights. Not too shabby! That's in NEW ORLEANS fer goodness' sake!
Shows how the prices fluctuate when Mardi Gras is not in the way. :)