Trip Report Day 3/FQF

Second day of the fest, 3rd day for our being in New Orleans.

Everyone wanted to sleep in, except me - so I went to find a good latte. Ended up at PJ%26#39;s on Camp %26amp; Girod. Grabbed some chocolate muffins for the kids - got there just before the crowd - had to use the back exit to get out-this seems to be a local favorite.

Didn%26#39;t want to go back to the hotel yet - so walked around the warehouse district. I noticed some plants on the sidewalks that I hadn%26#39;t noticed before, and people with dogs! You have to understand, in Napa, you%26#39;d be hard pressed not to see dogs being walked. This was the first time I noticed canines in NO - anyway, I digress, the building with the plants turned out to be a local Farmers Market. Boy, I wish I had a kitchen to use! I could%26#39;ve had my own seafood boil! The only thing I could really buy was honey - my dad has bees, so I thought it would be a fun gift. There was an old couple selling their honey= 16 hives in Algiers. Their honey is a lot darker than ours, am curious to try it, but my dad still hasn%26#39;t opened it :)

I went back to the Renaissance Arts and woke everyone up. My friend was picking us up for lunch. We went to Lil %26#39;Dizzy%26#39;s on Poydras. It%26#39;s the 2nd location, inside the bank. Very cool location. Beautiful building. The service, well, it was just plain bad - and it literally cracked us up, we had a hard time not laughing. The waiter was ';tired'; and wanted to go home. Not sure what time they start serving, but it was only noon. We were being seated at separate tables (there were 8 of us) so we asked them to move tables together, we kind of wanted to eat together. After a hard stare and rolled eyes, we were finally seated. There were two other tables in the place that were full. We noticed our host/server was also the omelette cook. We felt bad ordering one. We could see why he was so tired, not sure why he had chest pains, we all tried to help him determine if he was having a heart attack, turns out he was just tired. Maybe a few people called in sick that morning? When they finally took our order- he asked what kind of dressing for the salad - ';you want ranch!'; We%26#39;ve never been told before what kind of dressing we wanted! MBH asked what other dressing there were, the other choice was Italian. He had Italian, I was afraid the guy would have that attack, so I ordered ranch. My main dish was Shrimp Grillades - it was delicious! S#1 had the french toast (which he said was very good)- and a side of sausage- which they forgot. We mentioned it to several bus boys and our server, and they finally brought him one piece of sausage on a huge plate. Said the rest would be out later. And it was, about 10 minutes they were able to cook the other two pieces. They forgot the toast for an omelette, and not sure what else! We ordered the bread pudding for dessert. You have two choices of bread pudding, two of us ordered Kevin%26#39;s Bread Pudding- it had some sort of a cake inside it? Like a Hostess pie, but I can%26#39;t remember the name as we don%26#39;t have them in California. We were jokingly wondering if they ever go across the street for Hostess if they run out of the other pies. When they served the pudding, I asked to make sure I got Kevin%26#39;s ';no, y%26#39;all have the regular, we%26#39;re out of Kevin%26#39;s.'; I didn%26#39;t want the ';regular'; as it is made with fruit cocktail. However, it was really good :) A memorable meal, to be sure. The fried chicken was good, too. I%26#39;d go again, for the food. Three stars.

After lunch we said our good-bye%26#39;s to our friends and walked the FQF. I loved the kids band that was playing on the stage by the Aquarium. Proud parents all around, people dancing in the middle - what is it with the umbrellas and dancing? That seemed to be a theme throughout. One little kid couldn%26#39;t have been more then 7 - he%26#39;d puff his cheeks out and blow that trumpet like there was no tomorrow! So cute! Just two round half balls on a tiny face.

Listened to some more bands and waited for our Katrina Movie to start at IMAX. I%26#39;ve seen what hurricanes can do, so I opted not to do a 9th ward tour and to watch in on screen instead. Good documentary. I enjoyed seeing the marshes and canals again, it reminded us of our airboat tour yesterday. Seeing the boats plunked on the highway touched the young sons.

After the movie we took the ferry to Algiers - what a cute little neighborhood! My oldest was already there, met us at Dry Dock for drinks. Then we set out for a tour of the beautiful houses, church, park, etc. We decided to stop for a quick bite at Gulf Pizza. I didn%26#39;t want pizza, but S#3 is so picky, I wanted him to eat before our dinner. It was a tiny old gas station turned into a pizza shack. The pizza was ok, thin crust. We walked around some more and caught the ferry back.

Back to the hotel via the riverwalk mall. Ah- this is where the kids discovered the other Cafe du Monde. Their beignets were a little better, according to S#2. I think it%26#39;s because they sift the powdered sugar- so it%26#39;s very fine and there aren%26#39;t huge chunks falling off the beignets.

Went back to the hotel for some rest. By this time it was about 8 pm. MBH wanted to go to Mulates for dinner - he insisted he%26#39;d never been. I tried, to no avail, to remind him of the place, yes, we%26#39;ve been, it%26#39;s not that great! But he was adamant, So we went there. Most expensive meal of the trip. Crazy to pay that much for diner food!. I can%26#39;t even remember what I ordered for the main course, just that it wasn%26#39;t good. And you know what they say! A bad meal in New Orleans means you missed a good one! The service was spotty. We ordered the alligator appetizer - blackened - that was actually very good - so I can%26#39;t say it was all bad, just mostly. We also had the fried crawfish and BBQ%26#39;d Shrimp apps. Come to think of it, the apps were ok, it was the main dishes that were bad. Oh, now I remember- I had the fish, it was not fresh, and the jambalaya they served with it was cold. The baked potato was cold. I think this is mass production food here. The band playing was pretty good. As we%26#39;re walking back to our hotel, I threw some darts at MBH - oh yeah, now he remembers the place!! One star- for the alligator %26amp; band. Will NOT go back again, not matter how bad someones memory is!

All in all, a pretty good day. Had a glass of wine at the hotel to make a good ending :)

Trip Report Day 3/FQF

You haven%26#39;t seen canines in NOLA before? Surely ye jest? NOLA folks love their animals and those of us who have lived here know to clean up after them. Some of the new residents don%26#39;t.

At any rate, one can see canines walking their humans almost any time of day or night in the Quarter. It is even considered appropriate to accompany humans to bars and sit in the doorway to watch tourists, or wait patiently on the sidewalk at Rouse%26#39;s or Croissant D%26#39;Or for ones%26#39; human to come out.

Trip Report Day 3/FQF

After Saturday morning I saw dogs everywhere!- big ones in convertibles, old ones with street people, little ones in the palms of hands. I thought maybe I didn%26#39;t see them before because I was there on weekdays and folks were working? I was happy to see so many out walking their people at the FQF too :)

And don%26#39;t forget about the Blue Dog - a sure testament of the importance of canines in N.O.

Thanks for your report! PJs is a local favorite coffeehouse, and there are branches all over the city, but personally I prefer Rue de la Course and CC%26#39;s - gotta love that coffee with chicory!

Whenever I see a line at the French Market Cafe du Monde, I always head to the Riverwalk branch - usually never crowded and great views of the river.

I haven%26#39;t tried the Lil Dizzy%26#39;s in the downtown area, but I%26#39;ll be wary!

I too was surprised on how many dogs I saw during my trip! All the tourist seem to bring their pooches, and they are all being pushed around in strollers!! After seeing like the 4th or 5th one, I had to take a pix. Toooo cute!!

And locals all seem to have at least 2 dogs. The next time I%26#39;m going to NO, I%26#39;m bringing my sister%26#39;s shih tsu, he%26#39;ll have a blast!!! :)

pets