Shae and I stayed in New Orleans twice recently. We stayed 8 nights on the outskirts of the city at the start of February, then stayed 5 nights in the French Quarter towards the end of the month for prime Mardi Gras time.
Both of us have to work on the road, so we didn’t get to take advantage of our time there as though it was a two week vacation. We still had a lot of fun though and got to explore the city some, so here’s where we stayed, what we ate, where we drank and what we did.
Where We Stayed
TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie
While staying out in Metairie, we booked a stay at the TownePlace Suites New Orleans Metairie. We had a great stay there as we were upgraded to a one bedroom suite, with every room having a kitchen. Check out our full review here.
Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans
Our stay downtown was at the Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans. This is a wonderful hotel in a fantastic location, just one block from Bourbon Street. Check out our full review here.
Where We Ate
Urban South Brewery
The day after we arrived in Metairie, I went to a meetup with a bunch of other points and miles people. That was at Urban South Brewery and the organizers of the meetup ordered some of the crawfish boil that the brewery had going on. This was my first time having proper crawfish like this and it was really tasty, albeit messy and a lot of work for what little seafood you get from them!
Laksa
Later that evening some of us went to St Roch Market which has a bunch of food vendors. I ordered some kind of noodle dish from Laksa and it was amazing – one of the most flavorful meals I’ve had in a long time. I’d meant to take Shae back there so she could eat there too, but we didn’t end up making it back. If we return to New Orleans in the future, that’s definitely somewhere I want to eat again.
Cafe du Monde
Cafe du Monde is regarded as the quintessential place to visit in New Orleans, with their beignets being world famous. In case you’re not familiar with beignets, they’re fried dough covered in powdered sugar.
Our verdict? Meh. It’s not that their beignets were bad, it just seems like beignets aren’t really our thing. There’s an Italian restaurant near where we used to live in Portsmouth VA called Spaghetti Eddie’s. They have zeppolis as one of their dessert options which are similar to beignets but soooooooo much more amazing.
Cafe Beignet
We’d heard that Cafe Beignet had better beignets than Cafe du Monde, so we stopped by there one evening to check them out.
Our verdict? Maybe it’s just my undiscerning palate, but I didn’t notice a difference between their beignets and the ones from Cafe du Monde. Again, they were somewhat tasty, just not something I feel like I’d need to eat again the next time we’re in New Orleans.
Dat Dog
Shae and I ate at Dat Dog a couple of times because their hot dogs were so tasty. Shae got an alligator sausage both times as it was so good.
The first time we visited I got their Bacon Werewolf hot dog which has smoked bratwurst, bacon, sauerkraut, dill relish, grilled onions, tomatoes and creole mustard. I also ordered a side of the crawfish etouffee tots.
Bayou Beer Garden
We went for a quick drink at Bayou Beer Garden one afternoon and Shae got a snack while we were there. We can’t remember exactly what it was, but it was on their Happy Hour bites menu and was some kind of crostini with goat cheese and olive tapenade. Totally not my kind of thing, but she really enjoyed it.
Pat O’Brien’s
On our final night in New Orleans (and Louisiana) we figured we should have some kind of classic Louisianan fare, so I ordered jambalaya, while Shae got rice and beans with andouille sausage.
Her rice and beans meal was decent enough, but we both agreed my jambalaya was tastier.
Where We Drank
Seeing as we were in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, we went for a drink at a few different places.
Pat O’Brien’s
Pat O’Brien’s is the home of the original Hurricane. We had no idea what was in a Hurricane (turns out it’s rum, lemon juice and passion fruit syrup), but someone suggested we check it out and we’re glad we did. It was so good that we went back there for another one on our final night.
Huge Ass Beers
When someone recommends you drink somewhere called Huge Ass Beers, you drink somewhere called Huge Ass Beers. We didn’t end up getting a huge ass beer, although we did get a huge ass cocktail – a 64oz fishbowl that we couldn’t finish between us (we’d already had a couple of drinks and this thing was not only huge, but incredibly sweet).
The Upper Quarter
The Upper Quarter is a neighborhood bar just around the corner from the Hyatt Centric we were staying at. We walked past it every day to take Truffles to the nearest patch of grass and one afternoon one of the servers was outside and mentioned they were pet-friendly inside and out. All three of us therefore returned the following day for a lunchtime drink to take advantage of its pet-friendliness.
Urban South Brewery
Urban South Brewery is a craft brewery in a huge space – there were at least 200 people there the day we visited. I completely forgot to take a photo of the location (other than the crawfish boil photo from earlier in the post), but I can highly recommend their Shuck Cancer stout which tastes much better than it sounds!
Bayou Beer Garden
We like taking advantage of anything pet-friendly, so with a cute outdoor patio area where dogs are allowed, we enjoyed stopping for a drink at the Bayou Beer Garden with Truffles.
Seven Three Distilling
We visited Seven Three Distilling for a tasting tour on Valentine’s Day.
If you go for a drink at their bar there, Shae would recommend their Shelter In Place which has Black Pearl Rum, house-grenadine, citrus and Caribbean spices.
SLUSH
Vodka gummy bears from SLUSH. Is that food or is it a drink? To be honest, who cares – they were great!
What We Did
Mardi Gras
The main reason we chose to visit Louisiana during February this year was to experience Mardi Gras. We had a fantastic time, so read more about what it was like to find out why both I (an introvert) and Shae (an extrovert) both enjoyed it.
French Quarter
One of our favorite things to do both before and during Mardi Gras was to wander through the French Quarter. Its architecture, its history, its vibe, its bars and restaurants – we loved it all.
Louis Armstrong Park
New Orleans has several parks you can enjoy, with one of them being Louis Armstrong Park, named after the famed musician.
The park is also home to Congo Square, a location where enslaved Africans used to meet on a Sunday to sing, dance and have some minor sense of community.
Mississippi River
If you need to get away from some of the hustle and bustle, the Mississippi River runs through the city and can be a good place to feel a cool breeze on a hot day.
Street Performers
Just across the street from Jackson Square can be a great place to catch street performers, especially at the weekend – even Truffles was curious as to what was going on.
[…] one drink – an Uncle Jon’s Hurricane. She’d loved the hurricanes we’d had in New Orleans at Pat O’Brien’s (where hurricane drinks originated) and she enjoyed the one at Dogfish Head […]