"New Orleans' reputation for good times, really good music, and really, really good food"

The first thing people ask when they find out you visited New Orleans is: What did you eat? We arrived late on a Saturday night, so our first real Cajun cuisine was breakfast beignets from Cafe du Monde (top left), which we fended off from feathery friends in City Park (top right). It was Easter Sunday, and people were staking out space for BBQs; I don't know how the yoga class could remain in warrior pose with all the savory, smoky smells wafting about (middle). We didn't have any grilled meats, but we did have some fake hot chicken, one of the rotating sandwich selections at Turkey and the Wolf (bottom left). We didn't know the open-till-sellout shop was such a foodie destination, but after eating the grilled cheese with collard greens and coleslaw, we understood why customers were lining up before its doors even opened. Still, I had to satiate my seafood cravings, so I ate shrimp three times during our trip, once in shrimp and grits at Meals from the Heart in the French Market, where Scott ordered some classic red beans and rice.

 

  

We didn't have many people ask: What did you drink? Perhaps because they just assume we had our usual beers, which we did. Our first night, we picked up a six pack from the cooler cave behind the world's first liquor store wedding chapel at Chuck's on the Avenue (top). And of course, we had to pick up some stickers from local craft breweries. We failed miserably at trivia at Urban South but successfully escaped the humidity at Brieux Carre (bottom left). We had a couple of pints and a conversation with a snowbird Ohioan from our neck of central Ohio at The Crown & Anchor (bottom middle). But I did stray from my standard suds by ordering a Sazerac at Old Absinthe House. The Old Fashioned-like cocktail, said to be perhaps the oldest in the country, is made with wormwood-free Herbsaint -- the name absinthe rearranged, with an extra R -- instead of absinthe (bottom right).

  

Once you get past victuals and alcohols, then people ask: What good music did you see? We didn't seek out any specific shows, but we did stumble upon songs a lot of places we went. We had a private piano performance by one of the duelists tuning his keys at My Bar @ 635 (top left). Only a few patrons joined us in jamming to zydeco beats, but then again it was only afternoon, and probably the Krazy Korner lived up to its name later in the evening (top right). By far, the best concert we saw was at Spotted Cat Music Club (bottom), with the innovative jazz stylings of Chris Christy band, no relation to any New Jersey governor past or present. 

  

Perhaps not surprisingly, no one asks: What did you learn about the city's history? But still, most people know that the city has a unique way of life beyond its "bon ton." The region is counter-culture encapsulated, with its residents frequently standing up to the status quo. Our AirBnB was the birthplace of blacklisted playwright Lillian Hellman, as noted in a plaque in the kitchen (top). Jackson Square, where Louisiana became part of U.S. territory in 1803, features a statue of Andrew Jackson, who became a hero for making the British stand down in the Battle of New Orleans, a pivotal confrontation in The War of 1812 (middle left). Two years after that land victory, in 1817, competition moved to the water; today, you can cruise on The Natchez, a 1972-built replica of the steamboats that once sat prominently on the docks of "The Big Muddy" (middle right). The high-water table caused by the Mississippi River contributes to the city cemeteries' fame, with their distinctive above-ground crypts, like those in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 (bottom left). We wandered around the graveyard near City Park because the area's most notable (read: creepiest) Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was closed for repairs (bottom right). 

 

  

New Orleans was literally built on the water, but it was also clearly built on the backs of immigrants, as indicated by the diversity of names carved into headstones. One afternoon, we crossed "Old Man River" by ferry to Algiers Point (top), where French, Spanish, German, Irish, Italian, and Cajun inhabitants combined in commercial interests such as shipping, lumber, iron, wax, and sugar, assisted mightily by the slave trade. Because of its levees, the second-oldest neighborhood fares better in hurricanes than the rest of the city, whose streets regularly flood during the rainy season, per intel from locals (bottom left). Luckily, our downpour day of flash flood warnings came the day after Easter, so the floats for the holiday parades didn't actually have to float (bottom right). As spectators, we scored candy, Zapp's chips, and signature souvenirs. So when inevitably people ask: Did you get any beads? we can say yes.

 

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Schwam, Diana K. “Big Easy Eats.” American Libraries, vol. 49, no. 6, 2018, pp. 70–77. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26494664. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.