Since I can’t be in New Orleans this year, I might as well relive the magic.
Day 1 Saturday
We flew in and made it to Peristyle for our 10pm reservations. I knew their scallops were amazing, so I ordered them as an appetizer. The menu options were exotic, and I knew it would all be good, so I let the server choose. I had duck, with duck bacon and foi gras. Normally I would not order fois gras, but it something to try once in your life. Remember SQUIRT gum? Your entire mouth is flooded with pure fat. It is like meat custard, the richest fattiest thing in the world. The duck was not at all gamey, but cooked medium rare, the flavor was just too “ducky”. Although most people probably prefer that their duck taste like duck, I need it cooked longer and to have some type of fruit sauce to make it palatable.
I had a mission to get a photo of me flashing at “Girls Gone Wild” for the comedic effect. We walked over to their party. They didn’t have banners for me to pose in front of, but I put on one of their hats while Kristina got a photo…mission accomplished. We went over to where their back rooms were and saw a giant, burly guy “escort”, no…, “lead”, no, “strong arm” a young, totally wasted girl into the back room. It made the hair on our necks stand up. We were skeeved out, and left immediately. We walked a few blocks down Bourbon street and soon hated everybody. It was a bad vibe. Withing 10 minutes, I was splashed with beer, Pimm’s cup (mine) and vomit (not mine). I cleaned up at the Napoleon House. I scrubbed up with water hot enough to burn me. I noticed Kristina hadn’t given away any of her beads and she said, “Those people don’t deserve my beads.”
We went to Coop’s, quite a walk away, but by now we needed crab claws and sanity. We sunk into a cozy wooden bench. We feasted on their unbelievable crab claws, and Pasta Opelousas. I bought their cookbook, since that Pasta Opelousas is Bob’s favorite.
Now we were ready to go home, but there were no taxis. NO TAXIS. So we walked over to Hotel Le Richeleau where I knew they have a taxi stand. But there were NO TAXIS. We went into Le Richeleau and the lady called for one. She wouldn’t let us wait outside because she said the driver would get mad if she called them and then we were gone when they arrived. She insisted that we wait in the lobby. We passed through the bar on the way to use the ladies room and there were only two people in the bar, one at a table, and one on a stool, both sound asleep. We went back into the lobby and each took a seat on their two Queen Anne sofas. We slowly slid down in the couches, and Kristina immediately fell asleep. I gave up after trying to wake her up twice. The next thing I knew, I was waking up myself and asked the lady how much time had passed. She said, “Only twenty minutes…I called twice…they’ll come.” So I let myself drift off again. Soon I awoke in a panic. We were in the poppy fields of The Wizard of Oz! As we left, Kristina said, “I don’t think that lady really called a taxi”. We luckily caught one a block away (well, I stood in front of it and it either had to stop or run me over….desperate times…desperate measures).
