It is really difficult to believe that exactly ten years have passed since my last time in New Orleans. Back in the day…long ago…I spent Halloween weekend 2000 visiting my dear friend Lynne in this beautiful city of soul. The highlight of that trip was the Voodoo Festival - where we bounced around to the live music of an odd yet exciting collection of bands including the Black Eyed Peas, Stone Temple Pilots, Eminem, Ben Harper, Cypress Hill and the Counting Crows. I got my belly button pierced.
Now, a decade on, I returned to New Orleans for a very different reason and with completely different (life and travel) priorities. I’ve changed in ten years. Perhaps, more to the point, New Orleans has changed. And yet, like all great cities, no matter how much time has passed, its spirit remains the same: bursting with spontaneous, beautiful, radiant joy!! I love this city.
New Orleans is undoubtedly a city that tickles your senses. To sum up my brief journey, here are three dimensions and three glimpses of my experience; if you will, a sampling of the sounds, sights and tastes of New Orleans.
***
Sounds of the City
Music in the air…music everywhere. I’m being cliche, but there is truth to this one. Our first night in NOLA we went to a local spot called the HI-HO, where I felt too self-conscious to bust out my camera, but was relaxed enough to enjoy some of the best live brass band music I could have wished for, laid over with live hip-hop vocals and celebrated with some of the most enthusiastic dance moves I’ve ever witnessed. Needless to say it got me moving.
Aside from late nights in divey jazz clubs, the bright bluebird skies of an afternoon in Treme was also filled with the sweet sounds of brass and soulful voices singing in memory of a local musician who had passed away. We had the incredible fortune of coincidentally coming across his jazz funeral, which was nothing short of a parade. We joined the second line and followed it into a the shady bend of a local street and stopped to hear the sounds of mourning like they do it in New Orleans. It was a beautiful, joyful celebration of the life of a man who gave the world his own beautiful, joyful music.
***
Views of the City
Some neighborhoods of NOLA are still in recovery years after Katrina, and yet they thrive. We had the amazing fortune to meet with some great new friends who know the city like the back of their hands.
THE TREME
First, they took us on a walking tour of the Treme neighborhood, famous as the birthplace of American jazz and the stage/star of David Simon’s HBO series of the same name. We learned not only of the history but also about the transformations affecting the neighborhood and surroundings.
A freeway underpass that was once a large lush grove of old trees.
Restored homes boast bright new coats of paint.
Tourism booms in the neighborhood that is now in the spotlight on HBO.
One of Treme’s legendary Indian Chiefs in meticulously handmade Mardi Gras regalia.
THE LOWER NINTH
We also stopped in the lower ninth ward - an area of NOLA that was submerged after the levies broke in the midst of Katrina. It is difficult to imagine what the survivors of the storm and the disgusting aftermath of neglect and corruption have had to endure.
Today, the streets are bursting with construction. Evidence of the storm - the cracked foundations of missing houses overgrown with weeds - is gradually being replaced with brand new houses.
Brad Pitt stepped into the lower ninth and managed to bring together architectural minds from all over the world to “donate” their ultra-modern eco-designs for new green homes that could both sustain future flooding and be worthy of gracing the covers of high-end glossy architectural magazines. It is planned to be the largest “green” neighborhood in America. A fascinating prospect.
Slowly but surely, the new homes are being built and lived in, and in a strange and piecemeal way, the neighborhood is coming back. Sorta. But in a way that no one could have possibly anticipated, where celebrities step up where FEMA completely failed, and where tourists (like us) flock to watch ordinary people rebuild their lives in new homes that look like they belong to an advertisement for a californian-style eco-revolution.
***
Tastes of the City
While in New Orleans I managed to eat a lot…but unfortunately I was so taken in by the food I forgot to photograph most of it! Very unlike me. Well there are four things worth mentioning in this category, so here goes.
1. I’m all in favor of the no-fuss menu at Port of Call which is all about how you want your burger. I had mine smothered in cheese & mushrooms with a side of baked potato with butter & chives. That’s how they do it at POC, instead of the typical side of fries. I had nothing to complain about, and in fact it was one of the best damn burgers I’ve ever tasted. It was in fact worth the hour long wait for a table. (Warning: don’t bring your vegetarian friends unless they really love baked potatoes.)
2. Lil’ Dizzy’s Cafe was a well-earned indulgence after a long day of walking around the city. Most of us sitting down for lunch were not locals, but the place had the atmosphere of a neighborhood diner. That is, not exactly trying to impress anyone with their decor or presentation, but doing a stand-up job of serving crispy fried chicken goodness and a warm bowl of gumbo. Which is exactly what I ordered.
Full and content with my culinary guide Alex after a big satisfying meal at Lil’ Dizzy’s. Notice the outdoor ceiling fan…gotta love the South for that.
3. Any trip to New Orleans deserves at least one posh dinner out. Mine was at Cuchon, the fabulous and swine inspired culinary baby of James Beard award-winning chef Donald Link.
The fact that I don’t eat pork sort of makes the whole idea of me being excited to eat at a place named after a pig sort of funny. But what makes it laugh out loud funny is that the other two lovely ladies dining with me that night don’t eat pork either. Hehe.
That said, there was still plenty to choose from on Link’s very creative menu. All said and done, we each enjoyed our pork-free dishes as much as we’d anticipated them after the long wait for a table. What made my meal unforgettable was the mushroom salad coated in a the best lemony dressing I’ve ever tasted, and dotted with nibble sized pieces of fried beef. I know it sounds strange but trust me it was phenomenal, especially for a mushroom lover like myself!
And the unforgettable finish to the meal was definitely the pecan pumpkin pie, which as you can see from the photo, was gorgeous to look and ever more gorgeous to devour. A perfect sweet to compliment an otherwise very savory meal.
4. Sunday morning brunch happened at the granola-friendly tables of the French Quarter’s Green Goddess - a great foil to the porky indulgence of a place like Cuchon. The Berkeley-looking crowd drew us in and what made us stay were definitely the sweet potato biscuits, which I’d go back for again. The rest of the meal was pretty, meh. But those biscuits certainly satisfied my hunger during those final hours in NOLA.
