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Sweet lakes of camphor and Isis' teats, we're in New Orleans!
And it's raining. Hard. Complete with flash flood warning and hurricane warning 60 miles
offshore, thanks to Tropical Storm Allison. Should be good. It is a peculiar quality of Elsensohns
in that they invariably affect weather when traveling. We've noticed that NOLA natives usually have
an umbrella hanging from a belt loop.
Our first stop is at Crescent City Books, which is a very organized and well-stocked place with a
disinterested cat named Ali Baba. The prices on old books in New Orleans is wonderful; I picked up
the Collectanea Chemica, a selection of treatises on Alchemy and Hermetic Medicine, and
Expository Notes of the Book of Joshua, 1875 edition. Please repeat after me: Fucking
Sweet.
Stepping in from the rain, we had lunch at
Old Dog New Trick, which is the only
real vegetarian place in New Orleans (Kevin: you MUST eat here. It is L.A. style hip). Not only
was the cheese-veggie burger really really good, but I recommend the buckwheat soba noodles. The
hibiscus iced tea and roasted garlic soup kicks ass (and they have Red Stripe beer!).
What really made the place for us, though, was our waiter. His name is Chad. Let's just say he's
FABulous. When he and the guy in the kitchen started playing the Sound of Music soundtrack in the
background, THAT was classic.
David: Bianca said she was full but could not keep her fork from my glazed
strawberry layer cake.
Wandered down to Decatur Street, where we picked up a couple of Vieux Carre cigars from the
Cigar Factory. Very nice to sit and relax with a smoke. There's a neat statue in the middle of
Decatur, that I would know more about if I was any kind of a decent tourist, but the side of it
with a monk is pretty neato.
David: I think the other side of the statue is of the founder of New
Orleans - just call me Informative Guy.
Shortly before 2:00 we had to run to make it for departure on the paddlewheeler Creole Queen, for
a tour along the Mississippi (muddy waters indeed) and a dropoff at the Chalmette Battlefield, on
which the Battle of New Orleans took place (this is where Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte joined
forces during the War of 1812 to fight off the British attempt to control the mouth of the
Mississippi River). A rainy but fun journey. The Hurricanes aboard the Creole Queen aren't as good
as Patout's, but the jambalaya is good.
| Photos Aboard the Creole Queen and at the
Chalmette Battlefield - Click a Thumbnail to Enlarge |
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Around 7pm the wind is high and it's raining harshly. So, of course, we go out.
We tramp up Decatur in the brutal downfall (learning that our coats are inadequate to the job,
and we're only sharing the one umbrella), and make it to Gov. Nichols Street before turning back
to eat at Cafe Sbisa. It's a rather nice
old place, established in 1899. I recommend the honey garlic roasted chicken; Bianca dug the
blackened redfish. The Hurricanes are good, almost to the quality of Patout's. We finished with a
cafe au lait and a latte before braving the deluge again.
We escaped again from the rain by slipping into Papa Joe's on Bourbon Street, which is a drag queen
cabaret show. The first song and dance act was "Stop! In the Name of Love," which is pretty classic
as far as drag numbers go. The club motto is, "the more you drink, the better we look."
This is Bambi; she jilted me out of ten bucks, but her rendition of Madonna's "Rain" was
worth it. A neat place; no cover charge, but they do fuck you on the drink tab.
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Photos at Papa Joe's - Click a Thumbnail to Enlarge |
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We followed that up by going into Larry Flynt's Hustler Bar for some reason. They have a cover
charge AND fuck you on the drinks (someone please explain how a two-shot-sized Captain Morgan and
Coke and a beer reaches eighteen bucks?). Kind of an expensive dive, mostly with white trashy
blondes with silicone enhancements, asses flat as boards, and a complete lack of dancing ability.
There was only one girl, short-haired and knee-high silver-booted, worth her salt.
We came back and soaked our wartorn feet in a hot bath. They have soft water here....
DAMAGE REPORT: Severely soaked Bear and Bunny.
- Crescent City Books: 204 Chartres Street - 504-524-4997
- Old Dog New Trick: 307 Exchange Alley - 504-522-4569
- Creole Queen: Riverwalk Dock at Canal Street - 504-524-0814 - Tours at 10:30am and 2pm
- Cafe Sbisa: 1011 Decatur Street - 504-522-5565
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