- Three Days in New Orleans : Eating in the Big Easy
- Three Days in New Orleans : The Sights & Sounds
Rather last minute, completely unplanned, my mom and I decided to visit New Orleans. We were still in Key West talking about what to do next, before going to Tucson for the gem show.
The Jin Shin Jyutsu teacher I just did a workshop with in Tampa lives in New Orleans. She’s given us an open invitation and I also wanted a session with her so New Orleans as the next stop materialized.
From Key West, we headed to Fort Lauderdale to fly to New Orleans, another city I had known very little about. It was a city that I discovered I had a sense of ease and familiarity with.
New Orleans is a melting pot, which we can also see in their cuisine. Seafood is big here, as is pork. Crawfish, jambalaya, po-boys, and gumbo are some of New Orleans’ famous fare.
Both mom and I love seafood so we sampled seafood po-boys. Neither one of us is a big meat eater so we skipped the famous muffuletta, a sandwich originally made with Sicilian sesame bread and all kinds of cheese and salami. We also didn’t have any Vietnamese as we have great restaurants for that back home. Vietnamese food is big since so many fled their home in the 1970s after the war. Since the Vietnamese speak French, from being colonized by France for over sixty years, it makes sense that so many would find their way to New Orleans.
We also headed outside of town for a farmers market and had delicious pizza. On the way back to the hotel, we walked through Audubon Park and stopped for some freshly-squeezed juice and macraroons.
Café Du Monde
Sugar-coated fried dough does not begin to describe heaven in New Orleans. Beignets. Across the world are variations. These came to New Orleans from France by way of the Acadians, settlers who created New France in what became Canada and the US. In the late 1700s, thousands came to Louisiana.
The original Café du Monde dates back to 1862, a coffee stand in the New Orleans French Market. Opened 24/7, it is a gathering place that we visited several times. Not once was it empty. My mom and I would share an order of beignets, which came in threes, and enjoyed a cup of coffee au lait each. It was also a great place for people watching and taking a rest from sightseeing. We stayed at Hotel Le Marais in the French Quarter, and it was an easy walk down to Decatur Street for a coffee break.
Arnaud’s
I did a quick internet search for where to eat and Arnaud’s came up. So I booked us a Sunday brunch. The restaurant was completely full, and full of buzz. A quartet was serenading the tables.
Arnaud’s is New Orleans history. Arnaud Leon Cazenave (1876-1948) founded his restaurant in 1918 and continued to expand his real estate holdings to thirteen buildings so the restaurant he named after himself covers so much of the city block that it is the largest restaurant in New Orleans. Its menu also defined French-Creole cuisine for decades. It was the restaurant of the 1930s and 40s. The Prohibition didn’t stop the good times, as the stories go. Arnaud did go to jail and the restaurant closed at one point. Before the end of Prohibition he was acquitted.
The Casbarian family runs it these days. They acquired it first as a lease in 1978, gaining full ownership in 1983. A successful hotelier, Archie Casbarian renovated the premises which had fallen into disrepair. They modernized the restaurant and the menu. Today we still see the original iron columns, cypress wood paneling, chandeliers, and Italian floor tiles.
Germaine Cazenave Wells (1902-1983), Arnaud’s daughter, operated the restaurant for three decades after his death, bringing glamour and growing its reputation as one of the best restaurants in the country. Between 1937 to 1968, Germaine was queen of over twenty Mardi Gras balls. She’s also remembered for her Easter Parades and the Twelfth Night dinner at Arnaud. The National Restaurant Association named Germaine top host in 1957.
We ordered Eggs Benedict, mimosas, strawberry waffles, and New Orlean’s classic dessert, Banana Fosters (here’s Arnaud’s recipe). A waiter prepared the Banana Fosters at our table. My mom and I love brunch and felt okay with the food, though we were weirded out how the jazz quartet completely skipped our table. I also didn’t take the time to check out some of the interesting restaurant details, such as Lovers Lookout, the stoopie bench or the Mardi Gras Museum.
Banana Fosters was originally invented in the 1950s at Brennan’s, another nationally famous restaurant, to take care of surplus bananas. Here’s the Brennan’s Banana Fosters recipe, with a bit of history. Ella Brennan was an influential restaurant pioneer. In 1969, Ella and her family bought New Orleans landmark, the Commander’s Palace. Opened in 1893, this instantly-recognizable restaurant with its turquoise and white awning and exterior is located in the famous Garden District of the city. We did see it on our walking tour. Maybe next time we will book a table to taste what New Haute New Orleans cuisine is. But turtle soup? No thanks.
Arnaud’s 813 Bienville Street | Commander’s Palace 1403 Washington
More Food adventures
Mom and I spent a lot of time walking around in the French Quarter. We also visited the Uptown and Garden District neighbourhoods. At the Crescent City Farmers Market in Uptown we had delicious hand-made pizza and on our way back to the hotel, we stopped along the way for refreshments.
On our last night in New Orleans, we stopped in at Café Pontalba for a drink and a quick bite. I was intrigued by the Pontalba Buildings which form two sides of the famous Jackson Square. Built between 1849 and 1851 by Baroness Pontalba, they cover one block. In the 1930s the rowhouses were converted into rental apartments.
The oldest, in some ways most somberly elegant, apartment houses in America, the Pontalba Buildings.
Truman Capote, Hidden Gardens
