New Orleans - 29/1/13

Up late(ish) for breakfast, which had been laid out for us by David. While having breakfast (provided by the owners, which included a delicious fresh blueberry loaf), David came in to tell us of some things that were going on in and around NO in the next few days. Whilst B was chatting to him, he told how Katrina had affected them - 4 feet of water in their bottom floor, so they moved somewhere else for 6 months while the house was getting sorted and upon return, chose to live upstairs. The house had originally been 2 apartments, so there were 2 kitchens, bathrooms, living spaces etc so it was easy to do; once they'd realised that they could live upstairs with no problems, it was a small step to use the bottom floor for AirB'n'B - great for guests!

After breakfast we headed for the French Quarter. This was no more than 15 minutes walk away down St. Philip's street through Treme. On the way we stopped at a house that had a plaque outside; the house it was referring to was the first one to be owned by a 'Free Man of Colour' (f.m.c.) in NO, meaning that that person wasn't a slave. As we were reading, the owner of the house, Alvin Jackson, noticed and came to talk to us about what we were reading on the plaque. He then invited us into his house before giving us an informal history lesson about the neighbourhood and the free people of colour, explained through paintings on his dining room wall that he had commissioned for the purpose. It turned out that Al had travelled a lot, and lived in Europe while in the army & his German was pretty good! We spent about an hour there, and just before we left, he suggested that we visit the 'Candle Light Lounge' just around the corner which hosted the Treme Brass Band on the Wednesday (David had suggested it as well).

Saying goodbye, we resumed the walk to the FQ. Soon after crossing the boundary into the FQ, we passed Lafitte's, a bar that Ory had said was the oldest in NO. Certainly looked that way as well, since it was made of brick (unusual around here) and leaning at a crazy angle. Next up was Bourbon Street - the most famous in NO with tons of bars, and then found Royal Street. This was more of an 'art' street - every other shop seemed to be a gallery. B purchased a lovely Mardi Gras print, which had been painted by a local artist called Mousie, it was a limited print numbered out of 200. At this point we felt the first hunger pangs and enquiries directed us to 'The Praline Connection'. This was on Frenchman Street where most of the non-touristy Jazz bars were located (if that is at all possible).

First up: Gumbo! This is effectively a thick soup with a 'Roux' base. The roux is made from flour, water and spices. Then pretty much anything else is chucked in, depending on what you want - spicy sausage, seafood, veg, rice etc. B had an 'Etouffe' - a stew with chicken and rice and I had a shrimp 'Po-Boys'. A po-boys is a sandwich made with crispy bread, similar to a baguette. I was expecting something light, but no. It was huge. Fully half a baguette with battered prawns, veg and fries. I asked for a sweet tea, but asked for the sweetness to be toned down a bit - the lady said she did, but it was still eye-wincingly sweet. It would have been undrinkable (for me) in it's fully sweetened form. All in all, perfect for our first taste of NO cuisine.

Suitably fed (actually, completely stuffed). Moseyed back into the centre of the FQ via 'Decatour Street' to the tourist info and booked a swamp tour ($49), then back to Royal for more window shopping. Arriving back at the house around 6 to take some time planning for the next day. It was supposed to rain so were looking for indoors-y things to do. Found a NO cooking school - offering cooking demonstrations (and tastings obviously!) which had spaces. After booking this we got a cab to Frenchman Street (still being unsure of the the neighbourhood after dark) and ended up in a place called Cafe Negril ('Open 363 days per year'). This was a great place - food at the back (tacos), stage in the centre and the bar against the back wall. Shortly after we arrived there was a band change, John Lisi and the Delta Funk. These guys were awesome. Good enough, in fact, for me to buy 3 albums after a short negotiation for bulk purchase.

Still being pretty full from lunch, we had a couple of tacos just to top us off, freshly made, hot and delicious. Made it home around midnight. Got the impression that the bar was only just getting going.