Remembering New Orleans

Thank god there's a place left in America where a guy can get have a few drinks and find comfort in the arms of a stranger. In that respect, New Orleans hasn't changed.

Walking down Bourbon Street Saturday afternoon brought a lot of things home. First, there's the smell. There ain't nothing like the smell of sour garbage. No siree, nothing like it. I'm here with an old friend who now lives in Monroe, Louisiana. We made it to several of the old haunts.

We went to dinner at Cochon's on Tchoupitoulas Street. If we'd have stopped at the first round of appetizers, we probably would have called it one of the best meals we ever had, but we didn't. We started with crawfish pie, barbequed ribs with pickled watermelon rind, chicken livers on toast, smeared with pepper jelly, and something else. Then we had boudin balls which to my taste were way too salty. Lee wanted to try their potato salad which was spiked with horseradish. Tasted just like potato salad spiked with horseradish which was pedestrian at best.

Faithful readers know I'm not much of a restaurant critic. I either like a place or don't. Cochon was alright. Not great, just okay. I won't remember much about it next week. I make better boudin balls, but I did like the use of pepper jelley with the chicken livers. I'll incorporate that one into my repetoire.

I did make it over to the Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets this morning--for old times sake. Maybe it's just me, but the beignets used to be smaller and tastier. I was underwhelmed by the memory. I guess when you go back to a whore house you first tried when you were young, you shouldn't expect the whores to be as fresh as they were when you were first there fifty years before.

The unexpected pleasure last night was the trio performing at the bar at the Royal Sonesta. Betty something or another sang Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans and had me in tears. She was a class act.

We're off today for Alabama to see my cousins. I'll fill in the blanks later when the coffee kicks in.

Comments

[Crys]

sounds like a good time was had by all, despite the subpar beignets.

[Peter]

Hey, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, could you see if my old carriage house is there? It's 1109 Lyons Street, which is a little street that branches off Upper Line at Prytania. I'd be surprised if it's still standing, unless Uptown was spared serious flooding.

[ellen]

How does New Orleans seem to you, generally, after all the devastation of Katrina? Seems hard to imagine it could ever fully rebound, never mind after such a short time.

BTW, would you please tell Crystal (maybe she'll see this) that I'd like to email her but I can't get past the sign-in thingy because I'm stupid and can't remember my user name/password for Blogger, it's been so long. Or maybe if you have her email addy, you could send it to me. Please and thank you.

[oldwhitelady]

I'm glad some of it is reopening. Hopefully, more will do the same. It sounds like you're having a great time.

[Lab Kat]

Sounds like heaven