The NOLA Roundup

This is more for me and also for some friends who will be in NOLA in the next few months more than y’all at large.  For me this is something I can look back on next year because I won’t remember a thing.  I present a final roundup of all the highs and lows of the 2023-24 trip.

I am going to put the important stuff right up top.  The best margarita, for a couple of reasons was at Markey’s Bar on Royal and Louisa in the Bywater.  Light, fresh, ample salt.  It was perfect.  The best part, it was $6.25 during happy hour.  Not as classy of joint as the number two spot, which I feel is Cure on Freret and Upperline.  Most of this research, which I point out, I do for the greater good, is just a matter of splitting hairs.  Often, as is the case here Cure’s is also a great margarita.  Maybe even a better taste.  Right proper amount of salt, they roll the whole glass in it!  But Cure is one of those huge-ice-cube bars.  I don’t want a block of ice in my glass.  Hitting me in the nose every time I tip the glass up.  And chewing the lime flavored ice when the drink is gone is half the point!  So Cure gets a few markdowns not the least of which was its $14 price.  About in that same price range you can get the Caddilac margarita at any of the Juan’s Flying Burrito locations.  Those are pretty tasty too.

Lime juice and iceberg spotted at Cure

There are so many better hat shops than Chapel Hats on Jackson Square.  I have gone there several times but only one time have I gotten friendly service.  There is a grumpy old woman who works in there and I have finally had it.  I was shopping for a bowler.  They had three on a lower shelf but the size medium was tight on me.  They had another dozen on an upper shelf.  I asked to have them brought down so I could see if I could find a fit.  She refused.  Anyone who knows anything about hats knows they all fit a little different.  I will not go back.  Instead, there is The Hat Loft on Royal.  Not as big of selection but a much better experience.  Traveling west on Royal there are a couple more in the Quarter worthy of checking.  I think they are called Italy Direct.  …Even though “Scala Milan” hats is an American company and always has been.  I heard on my last day Meyer The Hatter is where I really want to be.  It is about the second or third stop on the St Charles streetcar.  I will check it out next year.

A Central Grocery muffuletta sitting in 
Jackson Square park is a wonderful thing!

My second best muffuletta was at St Roch Market on Saint Claude Ave in the Marigny.  It was a warm muffuletta, made fresh with no wait.  It was ham-ier than others.  Maybe not as good flavor as the fresh one made at the French Market, but I had to wait an hour to get that one.  At St Roch I had it in the amount of time it took me to order a lunchtime margarita from the wonderful bartender back in the corner.  Neither of these can match the original from Central Grocery. Currently only available at Sidney’s Liquor store next-door to the former Central Grocery location.  Central is being rebuilt (maybe) but it has been four year since a hurricane ripped the roof off and it hasn’t progressed too much.  They always seemed more like a bodega than a real grocery store.  Maybe somebody did the math and discovered they can earn more money just making sandwiches.  A good muffuletta needs a little resting time anyway.  Wrapped up in paper and plastic, it is still the best muffuletta in town.

The absolute, hands down, nothing comes even close, best burger in all of New Orleans, I award to the kitchen located in the back of Marie’s Bar on Burgundy just into the Marigny.  I don’t even know the name of the place.  It is a different business from the bar up front and you have to pay separate.  My favorite of the three burgers they make is The OG.  It comes with a ton of diced onions so I usually order it lite.  It has a sauce very much like a Big Mac and I love it.  It is in my top ten lifetime bests.

Muffuletta at St Roch Market

Pasta on The Fly is a good place for a quick meal on Maple street in Carollton.  It doesn’t look like much.  If the weather is bad there is no where to eat.  They only have two tables, both outside. I had a good pasta olio aglio (oil and garlic) served with some pepper flakes on the side.  Noodles were perfect.

The best local art indoors is Zele NOLA at 5th and Magazine Street.  Not the variety of artists and large pieces that are at the outdoor art markets at Jackson Square and Frenchmen St.  But indoor art is nice on a rainy day.  Prices, surprisingly are very comparable to buying direct from the artist.

One of the coolest things you can do in New Orleans is walk around Audubon Park after dark.  The park is about a two mile circumference and technically it closes at sundown.  But I think if you aren’t loitering around waiting to mug someone you won’t get hassled.  There are always joggers. It is incredible seeing the huge oak trees in the dark.  They become almost surreal, being lit from underneath by the trail lights.  But the most amazing part of your walk happens in the northwest corner of the park.  There are Black-bellied Whistling Ducks who are primarily nocturnal and quite chatty.  It takes something like this to make your brain suddenly wake up and say, wait a second, I don’t usually hear birds at night!  There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of them all making noise. As crazy as this sounds, these after dark walks were the high points of my trip.

Things I wish I would have gotten to; 

There is a barbecue place on the upper end of the Bywater at the edge of where the neighborhood looks pretty sketch.  It is called The Joint, Royal and Mazant St.  It sure looks like a Texas OG style place.

It was closed when I was there, but there is a bowtie shop with a huge selection in the mall just outside the door of Brooks Brothers on Canal street.

The avoid list;

Pizza Delicious in the Bywater.  I was served a dry, burned, slice.  I have had some bad pizza, this was the worst.  So bad they have turned off google reviews so it is impossible to warn others.

No matter how much I look there are no good coffee shops on Magazine street in the Garden District.  I need to stop being disappointed.