LONG! New Orleans Trip Review July 13th-July20th)

Well I finally got around to making my trip review. Several people have asked about it so here goes. Sorry for the length but I wanted to make sure to give enough information, as some reviews are just too short. Let me start off saying I am a 25 year old male who is about to be married, just so you know my perspective.

We arrived in NO on July 13th (Friday) around 5:00 p.m, so after getting settled at

Club La Pension, we started wandering down Decatur. After getting to the end of Decatur we decided it was time to eat. I don鈥檛 remember the restaurant name, but it is the one in the middle of the street where Decatur splits and is located right behind the Joan of Arc figure. The people I was there with (Fianc茅 %26amp; her parents) generally enjoyed my dinner; I however did not have a happy experience. I ordered the catfish for $17.00 (For catfish? Ouch!) and it was absolutely the worst I have ever had. The breading was just flour no flavor whatsoever and terribly dry. To make matters worse there were bones in it (Catfish is easy to debone.) Needless to say I was not happy.

July 14th (Saturday)

This was our big day! We were running a bit late in the morning so we just ran to

Mickey D%26#39;s for breakfast (ugh). After that we headed over to gray line tours for our Katrina Tour. This absolutely is a must do while in the city. Out guide and driver were absolutely amazing, the amount of detail they went into and their personal stories made the trip. The tragedy this city suffered was amazing. To see a large portion of the homes in the Lower 9th still abandoned was shocking and to see the amount of destruction still easily seen after 2 years just made you step back and think.

After our Katrina tour we had some free time so we did some shopping and then we hit up Acme%26#39;s for lunch and all I can say is AMAZING! I had the roast beef po boy and it was probably the best sandwich i%26#39;ve ever had. All 4 of us there loved our lunch. This is the place to go to if you鈥檙e hungry for some great sandwiches! Shortly after lunch we had to make a bee line back to the gray line tour area for our cocktail tour. This again is something I highly recommend and my favorite part of my trip. Our guide was awesome I believe his name was Joe. He defiantly made the point to give us the history of the cocktail in NO, but his tidbits about the city made the trip. I couldn鈥檛 believe some of the information he gave us. I got to try the Pimms Cup (not my thing, but worth it to try) the woodland punch (light fruity drink I liked it) and found out about a drink I tried the next morning (believe it was coconut punch)? We had to leave a bit earlier then we would have liked, but we had reservations at Mr. B%26#39;s and the tour ran over.

Now the 4 of us all had our own opinions of our favorite dinner or restaurant and Mr. B%26#39;s was my favorite. With our reservation we walked right in on a Saturday night in a relatively packed restaurant. My fianc茅 and I decided to try their scallop appetizer and wow, it tasted great. With a few more scallops this would be a fantastic dinner. Probably my favorite single meal of the week which is saying a lot for 3 scallops and some salad. I had the gulf fish with lemon butter sauce for dinner which was fantastic as well. Between the food and the casual environment this was my favorite restaurant. This is a must do restaurant while in Nawlins.

July 15th (Sunday)

This morning we had reservations for Court of 2 Sisters for breakfast, and Ill make this short but brief. Was it good? Sure, but extremely expensive id say this is the first and only time in my life that I will pay $27.00 for breakfast. Not worth the money IMO, but maybe its not my kind of place as I cant stand buffets.

After breakfast we did some wandering around the city because we had some free time before our next venture. At 2:00 we had our boat tour on the steamboat Natchez. While I do recommend this, our time was a bit ruined by the constant rain. I did enjoy it but the joy was dampened by the rain. It is fun to sail up the Mississippi on a steam boat like they did in the old days.

Now my days may get confused on when we did what, but the reviews stay the same. I ';believe'; this is the night we went to Tujagues. I was a bit scared going it as it鈥檚 a set menu but it was mighty good! Their brisket and chowder were amazing, I didn鈥檛 care much for the shrimp remoulade salad it was a bit to spicy and I just didn鈥檛 care for the sauce. I had the shrimp dinner with some rice and garlic and I liked it, not anything special but just good. Everybody enjoyed dinner and desert I believe it was bread pudding.

I believe this the night we had some free time afterwards so we walked down bourbon and I got a hand grenade which was pretty good. My fianc茅 got a hor** gator which was absolutely terrible. Bourbon Street for the most part was what I expected, saw some dirty things happen out in public with a woman and the guy in the hand grenade costume. A lot of hawking locals trying desperately to get money for the silliest things, but I understood. Not my kind of place but cool to see.

July 16th (Monday)

This was our travel day as we traveled to the plantations. For breakfast we went to Betsy鈥檚 Pancake house ';place down on canal not in the FQ'; I really enjoyed this place, it felt local. Breakfast was great and cheap ($4.95) for eggs, hash browns bacon and pancakes.

After this we traveled out to Laura and Oak Alley plantation. They were completely different and I highly recommend you hit both as their very close to each other. If you only have time for one, go to Laura not as pretty but the tour is fantastic and our guide was a relative of the current owners. The Laura plantation gave you a great idea of how the creoles lived in the area and how they wanted to be different from the ';Americans';. Learned a lot of great info from Laura plantation and oak alley had the sights. Oak alley has got to be one of the greatest sights to run across of, we took the tour and walking out of the 2nd floor balcony and looking down through the row of trees is awesome!

That night we were looking for something easy so we went to the cresent city brew house. I tired all 4 of their beers and they were pretty good, something to try. Their food was good, the other 3 in my group had their BLT and they loved it. I had a chicken sandwich and it was a chicken sandwich. We got out of here pretty early so we decided to go to Pat O Briens; this was the true test to how unbusy the city is. We walked in at 9:00 p.m. and there were barely 4 tables full. We had the mandatory hurricane and enjoyed the night. It finally got busy around 11:00 so we left at that point.

July 17th (Tuesday)

Today was kind of ';my day'; my grandfather was at D Day on the beaches so it was a mandatory trip to the D Day museum. This is an absolute must see, if you have even a tiny bit of interest in WWII it鈥檚 a must see. I absolutely loved it, we stayed for over 3 hours and that was mostly in the European theater. I had to rush through the pacific theater which was kind of sad. Basically if your in NO this is a must see.

We did some more shopping and we called it a bit early to get ready for our dinner tonight. Tonight was COMMANDERS!

What can I say that you guys don鈥檛 know about commanders? If your in NO and looking for the classiest and nicest restaurant in town this is it. The service was amazing. I live in Tampa, fl and the end all be all restaurant is Berns; it is world renowned or their steaks and service. IMO Commanders beats them for service. If you go to commanders, the turtle soup is a must. My dinner included a sezerac ';very good I might add'; turtle soup ';fantastic'; and a spicy drum fish to dinner which was great as well. My highlight though was the desert, we had some bread pudding souffl茅 and it was great!

At this point, i%26#39;m a bit tired of typing :) our next few days (Wends, Thurs) included NOLA, K-Paul鈥檚 (Half recommend), the zoo %26amp; aquarium and brennans for desert. If you have any questions please let me know. I may finish the detailed review, if there are questions.

LONG! New Orleans Trip Review July 13th-July20th)

NIce report..awaiting the next installment. I would not have recommended that restaurant at the Joan of Arc statue and I always have trouble with remembering the name..french market cafe? Good place for a live band to listen to but not to eat the food.

LONG! New Orleans Trip Review July 13th-July20th)

French market cafe sounds about right. I didnt pick it :) but I was hating life after eating that friday night and mickey d%26#39;s saturday. Mr. B%26#39;s and the like saved me though