New Orleans Day 2: Thanksgiving in NOLA

Our first full day in New Orleans was on Thanksgiving, when most attractions are closed. As such, we were able to enjoy a leisurely day in the Quarter. I was actually surprised at how many shops and restaurants were open. It was another chilly unseasonably cool day in New Orleans, with a high of 47 and low of 36.

We started with complimentary breakfast at the hotel (your standard fare - expanded continental style), and then started wandering the French Quarter.

Can you believe this is the only photo i have of the architecture in the French Quarter? FAIL!

 We ended up in Jackson Square, and jumped in the long line for the famous Cafe du Monde. It was packed, so we decided to get it to go and enjoy it in the square. Even then, the "to go" line around back was long. Café du Monde is famous for its beignets (deep fried pastry square) and café au lait made with chicory coffee. We each got a 3 pack of beignets, and I had the café au lait, while Adam had just a regular chicory coffee. He didn't like it so much.

We found a quiet park bench and enjoyed our goodies.

After our snack, we took some photos in the lovely Jackson Square with Saint Louis Cathedral in the background.

 

Next, we walked down the Moonwalk to take in some views of the Mississippi River.

 

By then it was lunch time, so we tried to find somewhere open to eat. All 3 of our choices (Acme Oyster, Johnny's Po'boys and Central Grocery) were closed. We only discovered this after traipsing back and forth through the Quarter. We then headed to Bourbon Street where many of the restaurants were open. We stopped at the first place where the menu looked good - Olde Nola Cookery.

Adam ordered a fried shrimp po'boy with fries and an Abita Amber, while I went for the BBQ shrimp + bread. It was an appetizer, but it was the perfect amount for me. In New Orleans, BBQ shrimp is not what you would think - it's sauteed shrimp in a spicy brown butter sauce. It was amazing. These came "dressed" so I had to take them out of the shells (fine by me!).

After lunch, we headed back to the room to relax and watch the end of the Packers-Lions game.

Then we ventured out for a bit of souvenir shopping. It was nice to get that out of the way so we didn't have to carry around our haul the other days. We found a little grocery store, where Adam picked up a few beers and I found Barq's Red Cream Soda (my fav since discovering it in Kansas City) to enjoy in the room. I was quite excited!

 

At 5:45, we left the room and walked to Harrah's for dinner at Besh Steakhouse. John Besh is a New Orleans celebrity chef, so we were really excited for this meal. It was very disappointing. The service and food were pretty mediocre.

They advertised a "special 3-course Southern style menu featuring Shrimp & Mirliton Salad, Turducken, and Warm Praline Tart."

The salad was good.

 

The Turducken was not. I didn't realize it would be served with stuffing. Basically my whole plate was soggy stuffing drowned in gravy with two small pieces of turducken. One of these pieces was 90% fat. Interestingly, Adam's plate had barely any gravy. I should have taken a photo. The plating was shameful.

 

I asked the waitress, "My piece was all fat, is it supposed to be like this?" She says, "Let me check with chef." Uhhh what? Wrong answer chick.

She comes back and says, "Chef said the duck was more fatty so you must have had a piece with more duck. Do you want one that's more turkey?"

I'm like "yeah, sure." But what I'm really thinking is "I thought this was TURDUCKEN? Shouldn't it have some of each?"

She brought out a new plate with two large slices of turkey. At least I could get full off of this.

 

The dessert was good, but by the time our plates arrived the ice cream was half melted.

 

It was a really disappointing experience, especially considering how expensive it was. Maybe one of his other restaurants would have been better?

After dinner, we decided to play penny slots with $5 each since we were at a casino. It was almost like last Thanksgiving in Vegas! I quickly lost all mine, but Adam won $10! He decided that was as good as it was going to get and cashed out.

 

 

 

It was still relatively early, so we strolled back to the Quarter for a drink at Pat O'Brien's. This time, we bought our drinks out on the patio so we could get them in the cool Hurricane glasses. Adam even had a Hurricane! They were delightful.

 

We capped off another fun Thanksgiving by sharing what we were most grateful for - each other, Chester, our family, friends, jobs, health, home, and being able to travel.

 

Favorites:

Adam - Winning $10, drinks at Pat O's

Stef - BBQ shrimp, Jackson Square, finding Barq's Red Cream Soda, Hurricanes at Pat O's