Not so much "the best of New Orleans" as "the best representation of how I think of my time in New Orleans (1/2013-6/2013)" (As customized for a 30 year-old midwestern female vegetarian professional making a brief visit primarily for business)
10. Country Club. Clothing optional gay friendly outdoor saltwater pool, hot tub & tiki bar. Unbelievable on a tepid (bc pool warm), clear (Bc stars beautiful) evening. Also full bar & restaurant inside. Decent food but not the best of new orleans. Highlight is weekend (I think both days? Maybe just Sunday, call to confirm) brunch with bottomless mimosas (and the cranberry version) for $10. Once a month it is drag queen brunch (no extra charge, just extra fun.) If it is drag queen brunch this jumps up several spots from number 10 to almost don't miss for any reason.
9. Bacchanal. Same neighborhood as Country Club. Grab dinner before going to the pool or have brunch then wander around for a bit before stopping in to Bacchanal for some wine and free music. Outdoor and some indoor seating but it's officially more of a wine shop than a bar or restaurant. (With the idea that you buy offsale wine and consume it on site). At this point, though, I think the bar and food are available almost all of the time. Limited menu but super delicious and always some vegetarian options. Wonderful cheese plate situation where you buy some cheese at the wine shop then for $5 they plate it up with bread, olives, pickles, etc.
8. City park and sculpture garden. (Also art museum but that doesn't make top 10). Think Loring Park/Walker/Sculpture garden but. 1. More drunks and fewer gays (but not gross at all). 2. Art museum not too special or interesting. 3. No spoon and cherry but a really cool east asian sculpture of people emerging in succession from each other's shoulders in a long arch that gets smaller as it gets taller. Other sculptures vary slightly from Mpls, also. City park is also the big park in New Orleans, obvs unlike Loring at this point...
7. Hotel Monteleone's Carousel Bar. Get a "[Ramos] Gin Fizz." Only when you have tasted one will you understand how a drink involving gin and raw eggs can be so delicious and labor intensive that a (not insanely large) bar in New Orleans once had 20 bartenders on at a time mixing them non-stop.
6. Take a tour. Ghost tour, vampire tour (Both walking in French Quarter). Swamp tour, alligator tour, plantation tour (arrange easily online or in person). I've only done a ghost/vampire combo, but it was super fun and interesting. I have literally never heard anyone lament paying for any of the types of tour listed above. Not that I hang out with tourists or complainers...
5. "______ Monkey" and river walk. In the French Market there is a pretty large space taken up by an outfit (Drunken Monkey?) that basically just makes scrumptious boozy (btw, everything in NOLA is boozy - be explicit you don't want it in any coffee or other mixer you might order at any time of day or you just might be surprised: "Oh, yeah, coffee has rum in it unless you specify virgin" for an extreme example. Option B would be just roll with it: "I sure didn't order booze but it does taste a bit funny...") milkshakes. Get one and then walk over to the river and stroll along while you refresh yourself.
4. Jackson Square. In getting to and from the French Quarter if you're not staying there, you will see some of the stuff to see, and in a few days you won't see all of it. The one thing to not miss in my opinion is Jackson square, where the largest collection of psychics, musicians, artists and other weirdos gather to sell their wares/services. More than Bourbon Street (a trashy tourist trap, more or less) Jackson Square is where you need to spend some time (maybe a beer and snack - perfectly legal to wander around NOLA with alcohol) if you want to say you truly have a sense of what New Orleans is about.
3. Lost Love Lounge. Around the river toward Country Club and Bacchanal (and my previous home and Axxx B-Sxxxx's current.) Dive bar with surprisingly good Vietnamese food. I almost always got a pork Bahn Mi, but 95% sure they have vegetarian, and def. they have other veg options.) One night is movie night, sometimes there is music. The write-up may not express the spot this has in our hearts, and "objectively" it's probably not the best food in town, but we ate there more than anywhere else.
2. Frenchmen Street. One off Bourbon? Maybe runs into it, but the pertinent part of Frenchmen is not near that of Bourbon. But, I digress. You are here to see fun NOLA stuff, get some food and a cocktail, and most of all see some music. If you feel like dancing because "When in Rome..." start at the Spotted Cat (no food.) Otherwise maybe 3 muses?
0A. Get down to Bourbon Street ASAP on Ash Wednesday with your camera and make a coffee table book all about pink (from the "beverage" "hurricane") vomit and what life is like for the sidewalks of the French Quarter at the height of "parade season."
0B. Just eat smoked, barbecued meats and seafood. They are delicious and nutritious. When in Rome...
0C. Sometimes you wish to drink a coca-cola or a dr. pepper. Some places a debate rages as to whether these are generically referred to as "soda" or "pop." In New Orleans this debate is settled, it is called "cold drink."
0C. Sometimes you wish to drink a coca-cola or a dr. pepper. Some places a debate rages as to whether these are generically referred to as "soda" or "pop." In New Orleans this debate is settled, it is called "cold drink."
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