Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

For American Thanksgiving (back in November 2019), my family took a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana, aka The Big Easy, aka NOLA, aka Bayou Country. New Orleans is known for its Cajun and creole food and big live music scene (especially jazz). It’s one of those places that comes alive at night with street performers and bright neon lights. Our family is big on eating and I have just been perpetually full since getting here. Maybe a little too full.

So I took nearly 300 photos on this trip. Good luck. Also sorry this post is SUPER DUPER late. I powered through the food half of the post and then got super discouraged that there was still so much activity post to write left! So I just left it in draft status for months and months before finally getting around to finishing it. So if the activity part feels a bit short and rushed it probably is. I just wanted to get this out and done. I also probably forgot things over the last four months when I’m actually finishing up this post.

Food Everywhere

New Orleans I think is first and foremost known for its Southern comfort food. We spent Thanksgiving week there, which is also a time for food and family.

Tuesday Lunch: Acme Oyster House

Acme Oyster House (724 Iberville Street | New Orleans, LA 70130) was the first place we went to. It opens at 10:30am and you better get there first thing, because the line gets long! And it stays long for pretty much the entire day until closing.

It had a really chill and diner-esque atmosphere with just enough of the New Orleans rowdiness and crowdiness to go with it. It was a great introduction to the city!

Standout dishes was probably the oysters (raw and chargrilled), and the New Orleans medley. The corn lobster bisque (not pictured) was so good we asked for a second order! Hush puppies were surprisingly good, as well (usually when I get them here in NC they’re not fresh so they’re not as fluffy).

Tuesday Afternoon Snack: Café Beignet

New Orleans is known for these desserts called beignets. It’s kind of like the French version of a donut. It’s a deep-fried puffy airy pastry absolutely buried in powdered sugar and they’re really good. We had beignets a couple of times, most notable ones are the ones from Cafe Beignet and Cafe Du Monde.

We got some coffee/hot cocoa and some beignets and had a good old time.

Tuesday Dinner: Restaurant R’Evolution

Our official family Thanksgiving dinner was held on Tuesday because Lucy had to work the actual holiday and wouldn’t be able to spend it with us. We went to Restaurant Revolution (777 Bienville Street | New Orleans, LA 70130), and man, it was the best meal I ate (probably the most expensive, as well)!

I don’t even know where to start with what I thought was the best. To start, there were two breads, one was like a dinner roll and one was a focaccia bread. The spreads were really good, but I especially liked the sweet spread, which I think was made with some brown sugar. Then we got an amuse-bouche that had some sort of pomegranate and saffron paste with a tiny bite of toasted bread. I hadn’t heard of the term “amuse-bouche” before, which is apparently some sort of chef’s welcome. It’s usually like a single-bite portion that is not ordered on its own but rather just some sort of greeting and glimpse into the chef’s culinary style. It was surprisingly good! Unlike anything I had tasted before.

I think that’s something that I’ve really appreciated in these “higher-end” restaurants. Chefs are able to put together combinations that you wouldn’t normally think of—like pomegranate and saffron—but they go really well together. It’s easy to use combinations that people are really accustomed to, but I think it’s another thing to come up with these unique combinations and I really enjoy exploring those.

Something that I think I’ve appreciated more and more is just increased willingness to try stuff even if I’m not sure I’ll like it based on my past tastes or experiences. Things that we got to eat at this meal, like snapping turtle soup, quail, and ricotta based gnocchi are all things I really enjoyed but may have not ordered if I was just browsing a menu and deciding on safer options. It’s something I’ve been trying to be more conscious and aware of doing—trying new things, doing things that are uncomfortable, or taking those kinds of non-risks without being overwhelmed with fear and anxiety of something being wasted or whatever other consequence. Oftentimes there’s no point in being so constrained by your own preconceived notions. And if things don’t go great, you still gain something and learn something from it.

Anyway, highlights include the snapping turtle soup, which was a really rich soup that had some tiny deviled quail eggs in it. We ordered one bowl and shared among six people because it’s so rich it’s hard to finish on your own! It was the perfect size. I got to deeply enjoy a few spoonfuls of it and it was plenty.

The beef tartare was super good, a bit underrated. It’s easy to look over the subtle flavors of it and raw nature of the meat can be a turn off for some, but I really did enjoy it.

Seared scallops is also just my favoritest thing ever. You can’t go wrong with them, but it’s hard to make amazing. We got two orders. So goooooood.

After dinner they gave us a fancy dessert menu that was paper but had a BACKLIGHT ON THE MENU HOLDER what so fancy.

We didn’t order a dessert, but they gave us a jewelry box with tiny little desserts inside like small truffles, pastries, and the like.

Wednesday Brunch: Ruby Slipper

On Wednesday, we went to brunch at a breakfasty place called the Ruby Slipper (200 Magazine Street | New Orleans, LA 70130).

The Ruby Slipper is a reference to the ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz, where you click them together and say, “there’s no place like home.” New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, which was a deadly category 5 hurricane during a particularly active hurricane season in 2005. The Ruby Slipper was opened during the recovery period as a place for people to gather and rebuild their home, because there’s really no place like home.

The food was good but I ordered something with goat cheese which is a bit too strong for my tastes. It’s okay though, because this meal taught me that I do not eat things made with goat cheese. The stuffed french toast was really good, though!

Wednesday Dinner: Cochon

We went to a pork BBQ place called Cochon (930 Tchoupitoulas Street, Suite B | New Orleans, LA 701) for dinner on Wednesday.

Good cajun grill that specialized in pork (cochon is French for pig or pork). The pork belly was massive and so, so good. The shrimp was also really good! Also, why is everyone’s butter so amazing here?!

Thursday Lunch is lost forever

I mysteriously don’t have any photos on my camera from between Wednesday night and Thursday night. I don’t know what happened on Thanksgiving day and I have no recollection of what we might have done. I think we stayed home and snacked on stuff that we bought earlier from Whole Foods, so maybe that’s why I don’t have any photos? Nothing was really open on Thanksgiving day. I honestly just have no memory of anything from this day except…

Thursday Dinner: Bourbon House

Not many places were open on Thanksgiving, but this place called Bourbon House (144 Bourbon Street | New Orleans, LA 70130) was open and it has good steaks (and bourbon, but I’m not much of a big bourbon drinker). One of their many bourbon cabinets greets you right as you walk into the restaurant.

They also had a not-really-open kitchen, but there was this big old window that peeked into the kitchen right behind our table so here’s that view.

There’s only two food pics from this meal. Salad (which I ate, thank you very much), and meat.

Friday Lunch: The Kingfish

The morning after Thanksgiving we went to this bar called The Kingfish (337 Chartres Street | New Orleans, LA 70125). It was really good! The whipped cream on my French toast was super on point.

By really strange coincidence of the placement of a movie poster with an interesting quote on it led me down this deep dive into Wikipedia and learned that the restaurant is named after a controversial 1920s-1930s Louisiana governor and senator, Huey Long who was eventually assassinated. I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article on him, because his political life was really fascinating and thought-provoking. A champion of the poor and disillusioned, he was known for his (literal) strong-arm handling of opposition and dictatorial methods to get his policy pushed through, in ways that would be considered extremely unethical in today’s political arena (such as requiring all people who relied on his office for a job to contribute a portion of their salary to his personal, unregulated political fund). He was an extreme Robin Hood, and it’s crazy to wonder if using such brutish methods to achieve such amazing progress for equality in a time where so many were disenfranchised was something you could ever call right or wrong.

Friday Dinner: Killer PoBoys

So I also don’t have photos of Friday dinner because we took out poboys from this well known place called Killer PoBoys (219 Dauphine Street | New Orleans, LA 70112). We went to the Bayou Classic battle of the bands and Greek show that night so we just had them for when we got home to eat.

Saturday Lunch: Pho Noi Viet

Saturday we went to a Pho place called Pho Noi Viet (2005 Magazine Street | New Orleans, LA 70130). It was a little disappointing I have to say, so I wouldn’t recommend it. It had a lot of good reviews so we thought to give it a try, but the soup was a bit bland, and they gave you cabbage instead of bean sprouts on the plate of veggies. Instead of cilantro in the soup you get green onion… Come on guys. Maybe it was a bad day or something, but the whole fam was a bit disappointed and left with the feeling of something to be desired.

Saturday Night: Domenica

Saturday night we had a final hurrah at Domenica, a restaurant inside the Hotel Roosevelt (123 Baronne Street | New Orleans, LA 70112)

The squid ink was probably my favorite in terms of taste. It looks weird, but the squid ink actually adds a subtle “fresh from the sea” taste since it’s sea-salty. Add the lemon and herbs and it’s really amazing. Though I have to say the roasted cauliflower really took me by surprise. Like I said earlier, I’m not a huge fan of stronger cheeses, and I already had tried feta enough times to know I wasn’t a huge fan. But the way they made the whipped feta made it feel really light so you didn’t get the really heavy cheesy musk that I’m not a big fan of. Over time when I ate enough I could taste it, so I couldn’t eat a whole lot but it was definitely a lot tastier than I imagined. My brother was like slathering on the feta.

The desserts both were really good, as well. Remember when I was talking about how fancy places can put together flavors you wouldn’t normally think of to go together? Yeah this was one of those places. I really liked both desserts! I usually pick creamy or chocolatey desserts, but these were both pretty fresh and fruity, and I loved them.

And that’s everything food wise! If you’re interested in some actual things other than eating, here’s that:

Big, easy activities

There’s a lot to do around New Orleans! We mostly capitalized on the Audubon Institutes around as well as the touristy things around the French Quarter and good ol’ rowdy Bourbon Street.

Hard Rock Hotel Collapse

Back in October, the Hard Rock Hotel building was under construction when it collapsed, killing 20 people and injuring several more. The whole surrounding block was evacuated and it’s been fenced off and patrolled by police because it’s so unsafe. The crane has been cut in half and kinda precariously laid on the side of the building.

It’s kind of become its own little tourist attraction. Every day I’d see somebody passing by who would stop and take a photo of the wreckage. I think the plan is to demolish it but the engineering feat of doing that safely in the middle of a crowded city center is probably what’s taking a while for them to do anything yet.

French Quarter

A popular place to go walk around and be a tourist is the French Quarter, the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. It’s got a lot of cute antique shopes and holes in the wall, and it comes alive at night, especially Bourbon Street.

Bourbon Street

Bourbon Street is like the party town central with a bunch of bars and live music stuff at night. Police presence is pretty heavy to prevent too much debauchery from going on, but it’s usually a good time.

Live Music

New Orleans is really known for its live music scene. Often with roots in jazz and R&B, a lot of extraordinarily talented musicians do gigs all along Bourbon Street as well as various places throughout the French Quarter. I heard the most incredible lady who completely rocked a clarinet doing some improv jazz just randomly in the middle of the street with the help of some drums and others. It was so amazing my whole family was floored and just had to stop and listen (and tip!) and we could not stop talking about it. It’s so crazy the talent that is in New Orleans and just how hard people work on their craft and the best stage to witness it is a street corner in the French Quarter.

St. Louis Cathedral

St. Louis Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the United States. Located in front of Jackson Square, where a lot of local artists will set up shop or stage to perform for the public. A lot of donkey drawn carriages patrol the area and give tours to tourists. A ton of street performers doing dance, music, balloon animals, psychic readings, you name it, also set up their little stages around also.

You know how in some places there are those people who pretend to be statues and if you’re impressed you give them a tip or something? Anyway so there was a guy who we saw setting up an act and he had like a mannequin LOL so it would be super still. He sat it on top of something with a tip bucket and then just walked away. Clever.

Audubon Insectarium

If you don’t like bugs, then maybe skip this part.

As the name suggests, it’s just like a zoo, but it’s only bugs… It’s a bit unsettling but fascinating at the same time. They also had other non-arthropods, like tiny alligators and toads and things.

Leaf cutter ants were one of my favorite things! They work so hard and snip snip snip cut the little leaves and transport them back to their little nest. :)

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Audubon Aquarium

Just like how the insectarium had like birds and alligators and things that aren’t insects, the aquarium also had things that were not marine life!

The coolest part was actually this aviary filled with parakeets that you could walk into. The cheeky buggers were all up in your business and in your bags looking for seeds to eat. A couple even made their way into my dad’s pocket hahahaha.

Steamboat Calliope

So there’s this steamboat that regularly docks in New Orleans called the Steamboat Natchez, and it has an onboard calliope (kuh-lai-oh-pee), which is a keyboard instrument which is more or less a steam organ. Because of the variation in the temperature and the pressure of the steam, it’s not possible to keep a consistent pitch for the same notes, so a lot of the notes sound off-key. It’s part of the charm and personality of the instrument. Anyway, during our stay we got to be the audience of a couple performances; you’re kind of an audience member if you’re anywhere within a few miles of the boat when it starts singing.

Celebration in the Oaks

There was also some like light display thing in a small theme park with a small train model thing that showed the various neighborhoods of NOLA. It had a little train that would run around a track with “coal” fire engine and everything.

Bayou Classic Step Show & Battle of the Bands

So every year at Thanksgiving there’s this big event called the Bayou Classic, which is a annual football game between two HBCUs (historically black college/university), Grambling State University and Southern University. The night before the football game, there’s a huge Battle of the Bands event and Greek step show. It was actually incredible, check out some YouTube videos or something.

I’m not well-educated enough to explain the origins and cultural significance of stepping in Greek culture (Greek = Greek letter organizations: sororities/fraternities, not like Greek from Greece), so please read about it here from Wikipedia. In short, it’s a style of percussive dance that often tells some sort of story that also is a way for the Greek letter organizations to show the pride for their organization and chapter.

The video below is of one of my favorite routines from the competition. It won 1st place among the sororities.

Afterwards was the Battle of the Bands. The two schools’ marching bands and color guard are both rather well known in their area for their musical and marching abilities, and was the inspiration for the 2002 movie, Drumline. The night before the football game, they do a bit of a battle (but now while marching), but the real battle happens during the halftime show the next day. I very much enjoyed it! It was definitely a cultural experience.

What else

There’s a lot more stuff that happened in the last like four months but I really didn’t spend a lot of effort documenting a lot of it. I went to Houston to visit my brother and his fianceé and it was a really great weekend trip in December. Then the novel coronavirus happened and things are getting a bit crazy. Maybe if I get quarantined I’ll write another post or something. The rest of my family is already having to work from home! I’m sure things will be okay…

Jasmin