We arrived in New Orleans to a scene of mentality just in time for rush hour, New years and pre game traffic all combined into one, all heading to the French Quarter and seemingly all in the same direction as us down Canal street. It took about 40 mins to get a few blocks so i could do a U turn and get into the holiday inn car park. Check in took forever, the Queue was out the door. There were Queues to get in the lifts. I grabbed a porter who took us through the people waiting and up the service elevator which may not have been much quicker as it kept stopping on every floor and service people were trying to get on, but could not. Eventually we got to our room on the 15th floor and i gave the porter my last $5.
The Queues did not stop there, every restaurant had people out the door. We wondered would we ever eat. We headed down Bourbon street which is the main street for bars and restaurants.
Eventually after walking down until it got quiet, we walked back up. We went down some nice side streets but everywhere was the same. In the end we went almost to the start of Bourbon and Canal to a place we passed earlier and admired. There was still about 15 people outside but we went up and gave our names. After standing around for 5 mins someone came out and it turned out that the 15 people were actually together and the waiter was slipped a $50 note and in they went. We were sent to the bar to wait and before i got my drinks we had our table so that worked out in the end.
The name of the place was La Bayou and it was excellent. I had Blackened Redfish and my wife had flame grilled Tuna. Both came with a side of Jambalaya. Now Louisiana has a much bigger brewing industry and Alabama, the biggest local brew company is Abita. I had the Abita IPA called Jockamo and it was fantastic, even if it was in a plastic cup. Lots of flavour. It was spicy and hoppy and went down well. I would have liked some more but time was pressing on and i was pretty full. I have to say though, this is one of my favourite beers now.
After eating we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and watched some family guy. We then went back out and headed down to the Mississippi river, by Jackson park and the old Jackson brewery where the fireworks would go off. In new york they drop a crystal ball but here they dropped a flour de lis from the roof of the brewery. Not very exciting, it just slowly goes down a pole and then the fireworks go off behind you. The fireworks display was great, unfortunately it was cold for once. We soon got warm as after the fireworks, we followed the crowd back to bourbon street and mother of God i have never been so squashed in my life. I swear a million people were in that narrow street. It took about 20 minutes to get from the block we entered, to the next block and down a side street and away from the instanity.
We went back to our hotel and family guy was still on tv. I got on the web looking for a brew pub nearby and found the only one in the French Quarter, which is back down near Jackson park.
So after sleeping in we get up and head down to the brewpub for some lunch. The Crescent City Brewhouse is where we went and it was a truly excellent choice, good beer aside the food was fantastic! I had a half rack of Brewhouse ribs which were delicous. More importantly though are the beers. They only have 5 of their own. There are foure regular and one seasonal. They do a sample, so i ordered a sample and also a 22oz Red Stalion which was pretty tasty but would not be among the best beers i have tasted. Still i would not say no to some more of this malty & hoppy brew.
The sample obviously contained the red stallion so i gave that glass to my wife and i took the Weiss Beer (my wife ordered one for herself) which was actually very good.
The Black Forest is a Dark beer, not quite a stout but similar. I liked it a lot but felt something was missing.
The Pilsner was a big surprise though, i have not had many pilsners but they usually end up very similar to me. Maybe its just that i have not had a good one but this was fantastic, it was very crisp and sharp and i thought it was wonderful, i can not wait to get back to Prague (and Germany) this year and try some proper pilsner. Last time i was in that part of the world i did not drink beer very often.
Lastly came the special brew and this turned out to be my favourite and the waiters. I can not think what it was called though, It was like a mix of the weiss beer with the black forest. It was a Dark Weiss beer and it had the best of both brews.
So anyway, If you are ever in new Orleans then this place is a must.
That night we went to the Market Café down at the French Market and it was lovely. We were outside and there was a live Jazz band playing. The food was as usual, excellent and i had a platter of fried food. The fried Catfish was very impressive and i found much nicer than Cod. It was not like Fish and chips back home in that the chips were French fries so pretty boring. I had my first sampling of the Abita Amber which was the only interesting beer they had. The Amber is a nice beer but its pretty mediocre in that i would not go out of my way to get some more, but if i was somewhere that had a choice of that or the usual American watered down beer flavoured water, i would certainly pick the Abita amber.
The next day (our last full day) it was lovely and warm so it was shorts and T-shirt weather again. We went for a stroll down to the river again, i had a destination in mind but kept it to myself. We were heading to the ferry that takes you to Algiers point on the other side of the Mississippi. There is only one reason i wanted to go on it, well two to be honest. Firstly, and this is the most important one.... It is FREE for passengers.
Secondly, i like water and i like boats and thought it would be fun to see the city from the other side of the river.
And as always, there was the whole "to get to the other side" thing. Well due to my wifes lack of forward thinking in wearing high heal sandals that reduces her normal slow pace to one that involves me having to drag her, we did not make the ferry at the dock but that was fine as they are every 10 to 15 mins and it was lovely out. We sat down at a bar in the plaza which turned out to be downtowns 3rd mall (they only have 3 and they are not very big). Riverwalk Marketplace is very nice though. I had an Abita amber again and we called Hilary's cousin in frozen chicago to let her know we were sitting in the sun having drinks and we would see her in a couple of days.
We went into the mall, got some PSP games in Gamestop and had some mall sushi! Usually this is a bad idea, and the fact that it was the only eatery that had no Queue might be a sign but in this case it was a simple decision. I hate queues so we had the sushi and as mall sushi goes, it was pretty good stuff. It was made fresh, unlike normal mall sushi which is prepacked and sitting in a fridge all day.
Afterwards we wend out, missed the ferry again and had another drink. This time i tried the local cocktail (hurricane) which was like the last one i had on new years eve. Not worth writing about. We waited by the river, drinking and listening to a live band until I spotted the ferry on the way back and we headed for the ramp.
So Algiers point, what can i say. It seems to be a neighbourhood forgotten somewhat since Katrina hit however it is still a charming place to visit and there are two reasons for this.
When we got off the boat, we saw two places we could go but on the way i saw a shuttle for Mardis gras world. Now without know what this is, other than seeing it while crossing on the ferry, i decided "what the hell" and we jumped on board. Well Mardi Gras world is a warehouse/museum of all the Mardi gras floats. I did not fancy going on a tour and spending money on that so we went into the gift shop and bought overpriced souveniers for my family before getting the shuttle back. This is one reason to go to Algiers point as apart from getting to see the neighbourhood for free, the tour itself is probably very interesting if you are into that sort of thing.
Now we get to the real gem of our trip, the best reason to go to New Orleans let alone Algiers point. The Gem i refer to has the simple name of The Dry Dock Cafe. This turned out to be one of those places that we could have spent all day in and perhaps a few more days at that. When it started to get dark many beers later i asked what time the last ferry was and i was told after midnight so i delightedly ordered more drinks and asked for a menu, but im getting ahead of myself. Lets start with the music, the place was kicking with classic 80's and 90's music and people were singing, the barmaids were joining in with sound effects and the atmosphere was charged and ready to spark. Actually i think it did spark as we lost the music for a while, some cable issue which was resolved later with sticky tape.
They had a good selection of non Piss stle American beer such as Samuel Adams but i tend to only order beers that i can not get back home so i got my 3rd style of Abita which was their Christmas ale. Not as good as the IPA but much better than the Amber. It tastes like Christmas but its not overpowering on cloves and spices and it goes down well, real well as im pretty sure i downed about 7 or 8 pints during the day.
The people were very friendly as is usual in the south, one guy who seemed to be the local know it all when it came time for him to turn his attention on us was a very nice guy. Once we got past how he was the first in his family to be accepted as an actual local in Algiers point, even though his older siblings are still "blow-ins" he got to telling us how he has been to Ireland and has a cousin in Cork on the Island of Cape clear. Now i want to go to Cork, i think the cousins name is Michael and he runs a pub. Being Irish i know how easy it is to track someone down with a name and a general area. Its a small island and cape clear is a Tiny island off the coast of this small island so how hard can it be?
Well eventually after some food (more fired catfish for me) and some more beer, we got on the ferry back and walked to our hotel as we left very early in the morning. Our flight was about 7am or so.
Our flight would bring us back to Chicago and a 9 hour layover. Thankfully we could get the Blue line EL straight to Bucktown where My wife's cousin lives and kill a few hours.... more on that to come.
The Queues did not stop there, every restaurant had people out the door. We wondered would we ever eat. We headed down Bourbon street which is the main street for bars and restaurants.
Eventually after walking down until it got quiet, we walked back up. We went down some nice side streets but everywhere was the same. In the end we went almost to the start of Bourbon and Canal to a place we passed earlier and admired. There was still about 15 people outside but we went up and gave our names. After standing around for 5 mins someone came out and it turned out that the 15 people were actually together and the waiter was slipped a $50 note and in they went. We were sent to the bar to wait and before i got my drinks we had our table so that worked out in the end.
The name of the place was La Bayou and it was excellent. I had Blackened Redfish and my wife had flame grilled Tuna. Both came with a side of Jambalaya. Now Louisiana has a much bigger brewing industry and Alabama, the biggest local brew company is Abita. I had the Abita IPA called Jockamo and it was fantastic, even if it was in a plastic cup. Lots of flavour. It was spicy and hoppy and went down well. I would have liked some more but time was pressing on and i was pretty full. I have to say though, this is one of my favourite beers now.
After eating we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and watched some family guy. We then went back out and headed down to the Mississippi river, by Jackson park and the old Jackson brewery where the fireworks would go off. In new york they drop a crystal ball but here they dropped a flour de lis from the roof of the brewery. Not very exciting, it just slowly goes down a pole and then the fireworks go off behind you. The fireworks display was great, unfortunately it was cold for once. We soon got warm as after the fireworks, we followed the crowd back to bourbon street and mother of God i have never been so squashed in my life. I swear a million people were in that narrow street. It took about 20 minutes to get from the block we entered, to the next block and down a side street and away from the instanity.
We went back to our hotel and family guy was still on tv. I got on the web looking for a brew pub nearby and found the only one in the French Quarter, which is back down near Jackson park.
So after sleeping in we get up and head down to the brewpub for some lunch. The Crescent City Brewhouse is where we went and it was a truly excellent choice, good beer aside the food was fantastic! I had a half rack of Brewhouse ribs which were delicous. More importantly though are the beers. They only have 5 of their own. There are foure regular and one seasonal. They do a sample, so i ordered a sample and also a 22oz Red Stalion which was pretty tasty but would not be among the best beers i have tasted. Still i would not say no to some more of this malty & hoppy brew.
The sample obviously contained the red stallion so i gave that glass to my wife and i took the Weiss Beer (my wife ordered one for herself) which was actually very good.
The Black Forest is a Dark beer, not quite a stout but similar. I liked it a lot but felt something was missing.
The Pilsner was a big surprise though, i have not had many pilsners but they usually end up very similar to me. Maybe its just that i have not had a good one but this was fantastic, it was very crisp and sharp and i thought it was wonderful, i can not wait to get back to Prague (and Germany) this year and try some proper pilsner. Last time i was in that part of the world i did not drink beer very often.
Lastly came the special brew and this turned out to be my favourite and the waiters. I can not think what it was called though, It was like a mix of the weiss beer with the black forest. It was a Dark Weiss beer and it had the best of both brews.
So anyway, If you are ever in new Orleans then this place is a must.
That night we went to the Market Café down at the French Market and it was lovely. We were outside and there was a live Jazz band playing. The food was as usual, excellent and i had a platter of fried food. The fried Catfish was very impressive and i found much nicer than Cod. It was not like Fish and chips back home in that the chips were French fries so pretty boring. I had my first sampling of the Abita Amber which was the only interesting beer they had. The Amber is a nice beer but its pretty mediocre in that i would not go out of my way to get some more, but if i was somewhere that had a choice of that or the usual American watered down beer flavoured water, i would certainly pick the Abita amber.
The next day (our last full day) it was lovely and warm so it was shorts and T-shirt weather again. We went for a stroll down to the river again, i had a destination in mind but kept it to myself. We were heading to the ferry that takes you to Algiers point on the other side of the Mississippi. There is only one reason i wanted to go on it, well two to be honest. Firstly, and this is the most important one.... It is FREE for passengers.
Secondly, i like water and i like boats and thought it would be fun to see the city from the other side of the river.
And as always, there was the whole "to get to the other side" thing. Well due to my wifes lack of forward thinking in wearing high heal sandals that reduces her normal slow pace to one that involves me having to drag her, we did not make the ferry at the dock but that was fine as they are every 10 to 15 mins and it was lovely out. We sat down at a bar in the plaza which turned out to be downtowns 3rd mall (they only have 3 and they are not very big). Riverwalk Marketplace is very nice though. I had an Abita amber again and we called Hilary's cousin in frozen chicago to let her know we were sitting in the sun having drinks and we would see her in a couple of days.
We went into the mall, got some PSP games in Gamestop and had some mall sushi! Usually this is a bad idea, and the fact that it was the only eatery that had no Queue might be a sign but in this case it was a simple decision. I hate queues so we had the sushi and as mall sushi goes, it was pretty good stuff. It was made fresh, unlike normal mall sushi which is prepacked and sitting in a fridge all day.
Afterwards we wend out, missed the ferry again and had another drink. This time i tried the local cocktail (hurricane) which was like the last one i had on new years eve. Not worth writing about. We waited by the river, drinking and listening to a live band until I spotted the ferry on the way back and we headed for the ramp.
So Algiers point, what can i say. It seems to be a neighbourhood forgotten somewhat since Katrina hit however it is still a charming place to visit and there are two reasons for this.
When we got off the boat, we saw two places we could go but on the way i saw a shuttle for Mardis gras world. Now without know what this is, other than seeing it while crossing on the ferry, i decided "what the hell" and we jumped on board. Well Mardi Gras world is a warehouse/museum of all the Mardi gras floats. I did not fancy going on a tour and spending money on that so we went into the gift shop and bought overpriced souveniers for my family before getting the shuttle back. This is one reason to go to Algiers point as apart from getting to see the neighbourhood for free, the tour itself is probably very interesting if you are into that sort of thing.
Now we get to the real gem of our trip, the best reason to go to New Orleans let alone Algiers point. The Gem i refer to has the simple name of The Dry Dock Cafe. This turned out to be one of those places that we could have spent all day in and perhaps a few more days at that. When it started to get dark many beers later i asked what time the last ferry was and i was told after midnight so i delightedly ordered more drinks and asked for a menu, but im getting ahead of myself. Lets start with the music, the place was kicking with classic 80's and 90's music and people were singing, the barmaids were joining in with sound effects and the atmosphere was charged and ready to spark. Actually i think it did spark as we lost the music for a while, some cable issue which was resolved later with sticky tape.
They had a good selection of non Piss stle American beer such as Samuel Adams but i tend to only order beers that i can not get back home so i got my 3rd style of Abita which was their Christmas ale. Not as good as the IPA but much better than the Amber. It tastes like Christmas but its not overpowering on cloves and spices and it goes down well, real well as im pretty sure i downed about 7 or 8 pints during the day.
The people were very friendly as is usual in the south, one guy who seemed to be the local know it all when it came time for him to turn his attention on us was a very nice guy. Once we got past how he was the first in his family to be accepted as an actual local in Algiers point, even though his older siblings are still "blow-ins" he got to telling us how he has been to Ireland and has a cousin in Cork on the Island of Cape clear. Now i want to go to Cork, i think the cousins name is Michael and he runs a pub. Being Irish i know how easy it is to track someone down with a name and a general area. Its a small island and cape clear is a Tiny island off the coast of this small island so how hard can it be?
Well eventually after some food (more fired catfish for me) and some more beer, we got on the ferry back and walked to our hotel as we left very early in the morning. Our flight was about 7am or so.
Our flight would bring us back to Chicago and a 9 hour layover. Thankfully we could get the Blue line EL straight to Bucktown where My wife's cousin lives and kill a few hours.... more on that to come.
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