NOLA: MARDI GRAS EDITION

After several attempts to gather a crew to go back to New Orleans, 2020 was my time to shine. Along with 5 other friends, we headed down to NOLA from 2/20-2/24.

Day 1:
February 20th 
I started the day bright and early with an 8:00 am direct flight to NOLA. Some of my fellow travelers had unexpected weather related delays and as a result, we ended up arriving around the same time. Our first stop after leaving the airport was to pick up our king's cake. We ordered one ahead of time and quickly picked it up from Laurel Street Bakery on our way to our apartment for the weekend. Given how late we finally found an apartment for the weekend, our location was excellent. The weather was not much in our favor(cold and rainy), but after dropping off our bags we headed to Cafe Beignet! Once we left, we headed over to Nine Roses restaurant for some Vietnamese cuisine. I got the chicken pho for $9. It was a pretty large serving and quite tasty. We left our late lunch and were finally able to check in to our apartment for the weekend. The location was great, however the lack of an elevator for a 3 floor walk up was not. There were two bedrooms, one bathroom, a washer & dryer, a pull out couch with a spacious living room/kitchen layout. One of the rooms had a triple stacked bed and 3 of us stayed in one room, one on the couch and 2 in the second bedroom. Dinner reservations were a must for a group for our size and the time of year. I would recommend utilizing Open Table for reservations and to check restaurant websites to see who is open for Mardi Gras or if they have modified hours. For dinner the first evening, we dined at NOLA (one of Emeril's restaurants). I opted for the crawfish rigatoni, some of my other friends chose the alligator, frog legs, as well as various other menu offerings. Ready to explore and see a bit of NOLA on a Thursday night, we headed to Frenchman Street to see some live music. We stopped in at Blue Nile and ended the night at Cafe Negril. 
​
​Day 2:
February 21st
We ventured to the New Orleans School of Cooking. We opted for the cooking demo with a meal. On our menu that day, we had shrimp and artichoke soup, shrimp and crawfish etouffee with a tasty kings cake bread pudding for dessert. The cost was about $39 with taxes. The price included beverage choices of coffee, tea, water and beer. After the class, we decided to take a stroll over to the French Market. We browsed through a few vendors before heading to Cafe Du Monde for their world famous beignets. In the spirt of the season, we let the good times roll and headed to the French Quarter. Our first stop was Pat O'Brien's for their famous hurricanes followed  by Tropical Isle where my friends tried the specialty hand grenade. I'm personally not a fan of the hand grenades, however the hurricanes were pretty good. We opted to grab some food at Oceana Grill before we went back to the apartment for a bit to re-group before heading to Bourbon Street for the evening. It was even more packed then I remember, but we managed to grab a fishbowl from Fais Deaux Deaux. Fishbowls in hand, we squeezed our way down Bourbon Street and decided on Saints and Sinners for the evening. The music was pretty good and we didn't have to pay a cover charge. All in all, we had a successful Mardi Gras weekend marathon day. 

Day 3:
February 22nd
To begin our Saturday adventures, we headed to Ruby Slipper for brunch. They don't have a reservation option, however there is a yelp waitlist you can be added to. I would recommend taking advantage of that option. If we didn't, we would've had to wait almost two hours. I opted for the southern breakfast($10) which included bacon, a biscuit, eggs, grits and substituted the fried green egg for potatoes. For my beverage, I chose the New Orleans style ice coffee($4). Although, there were also several alcoholic brunch beverages available as well that a few of my friends opted to try. After brunch, we headed back to Bourbon St. and this time with our sights set on Fat Tuesday. We walked around for a bit and headed back to the French Market for a bit, but not without a detour to Big Easy Daiquiri first. Once we had a bit of down time in the apartment, we came up with a game plan to see some parades happening later in the day. Game plan in hand, we headed out to see a few parades going on that evening and took part in more Mardi Gras festivities. 

Day 4:
February 23rd
Sunday Funday began with a brunch at Sobu. The Sunday brunch is usually a Burlesque brunch. Despite booking our reservation a month prior, our table was not in an area where the show could be viewed by our table. As a result, I can't speak to how the show was. However, for their brunch offering there is a 2 course brunch menu. You receive an entree and appetizer for the the price of the entree. My entree choice the Bananas Foster French Toast for $32 and my appetizer was the Rustic Cajun Gumbo. For my brunch beverage, I opted for the bottomless bellinis(there was an option to switch between bellinis and mimosas) for $25. Overall the food was good, however the speed of service and lack of seeing the show was not satisfactory. We were able to speak with someone to have some items comped, however we did specifically chose that location with the show during brunch in mind. After brunch, we attempted to head to the garden district for a few. Due to the parade routes and traffic, it was quite difficult. Eventually, our car made it and we walked around for a bit looking at houses and taking in the sights of the passing parades. Once it started to get late and close to time for our dinner reservation, we all headed back near our apartment to enjoy a wonderful meal at Curio. The food was absolutely delicious! I opted for the salmon and shrimp for $24. Others had the alligator, shrimp boy boy, short rib, or one of the other many offers. Everyone was pretty tired or wanted to pack after dinner, so we headed back to the apartment for a relaxing evening before we all departed the following day. 

Day 5:
Bye Bye NOLA! Until we meet again
The time came again when I had to leave the crescent city and head home. Everyone had staggering flight times and I headed to airport around 11:00 am. Thankfully I breezed through TSA and grabbed a quick bite to eat with ease. Overall, my first trip for Mardi Gras was a success!