This blog is meant to document and share with you, the travels of Sherry and Rohan Providence. It was inspired by our plan of traveling to the countries of Southeast Asia, a longtime dream of Sherry. Enjoy with us!
What Brings Us Back to New Orleans Again and Again?
After four years, we are finally back to one of our favorite playgrounds, the fabulous New Orleans. Some call it the most Northern Caribbean City. It does have that Caribbean feel to it. The bar scene could be compared to the Rum Shops in the Caribbean, and the street party atmosphere is like a year-long carnival. Bourbon Street is always lively, sometimes overwhelmingly so, with bar hoppers checking out the many competing music venues and street performers.
Bourbon St
An abundant of street music
Amazing power
The Food & Drinks
And of course, there is the amazing food. Nothing beats fresh seafood and crayfish fresh from the river. And you know you can't have such great food without a cocktail or two to wash things down. Come on now! We discovered Sally's Seafood (https://seafoodsallys.com/) on 8400 Oak Street down in the Garden District. It was soooo good, we went twice. The team there work in such harmony you can feel the love in the food.
A bucket of 1lb Crayfish, .5lb Shimps, 2 Crabs, and boiled veggies. Finger licking good. Oh yeah, we topped that off with 1 dozen Raw Oysters.
2 lbs of crayfish
For a more upscale dinner scene, it doesn't get any better than #AugustRestuarant on 301 Tchoupitoulas St. The presentation, ambience makes great tasting food that much better. The folks at August know how to do their thing.
In the mood for some Asian infused cuisine? Head over to Zhang Bistro on Frenchmen. Yes, Frenchmen Street, home of the great joints such as The Spotted Cat, The Blue Nile, Cafe, Nigril, 30/90, Barboulas, and many more. All catering to your music, food, and drink needs. The street food too is amazing, especially for the meat lovers. Then there is the soul food on the outskirts.
Tofu Hot Wok
Tom Yum Soup with Shimps, the best of Southeat Asia
Of course, there are many local eateries that have been around for a very long time. On one of our previous visits, a friend from NOLA took us to the Grapevine Wine and Bar Bistro at 720 Orleans St. This is a small but cozy joint off Bourbon Street with great food. Our favorite place to sit is at the bar. We get to chat and learn a lot from the bartenders. Our bartender at the Grapevine remains you of Johnny Depp's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He was a load of fun constantly moving around the bar talking to himself and everyone else, one direction to next.
In summary, there are no shortage of places to eat, drink, and listen to music in NOLA. However, there is always other things going on. Music events at parks, museums, shopping, and tours. Luckily for us this time, the Von Goug exhibit was in town, so we got to check it out. What an exhilarating experience.
We walk a lot in this city (average 15k steps per day), and of course, the Trally/Street Cars is a cheap and easy way to get around the city. For $3 per day, you can get on and off at any stop and explore. Here are some other things we do.
The board walk on the Mississippee
The Audubon Aquarium
We had our fill of Raw Oysters on the half shell. The trick is to look for happy hour deals.
The New Orleans Jazz Museum
Saw a lot of these narrow houses in Vietnam
Amazing sunset, even in NOLA
These are some of the main attractions within the city center. There are lots more to discover in the Big Easy though, if you are up to exploring, that is. Happy exploring!
