THE TRAVELING EYE LIVE FROM NEW ORLEANS

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by Ja'Vonnein Uncategorized

Hello Fellow World Travelers,

The Traveling Eye is in New Orleans from June 12 – 16, 2008.

Our first day we arrived and took the Airport Shuttle to our hotel, Lagniappe (www.lanyappe.com), a charming bed & breakfast located in the Uptown Historic District. We visited The Fine Arts Center (www.thefineartscenter.com), an historic building that used to be a theater. The Fine Arts Center was purchased and restored by Helen Morgan, an former hotel executive. Helen Morgan is also the proprietor of Lagniappe.

From Lagniappe, we walked about 4 blocks to St. Charles Street to the Street Car and took the Street Car to town. We had dinner at 7 on Fulton, located at 700 Fulton Street and in the Wyndham Hotel. They have the best she-crab soup, the freshest tomato salad (it was the days special and the tomato festival was in town), their own surf and turf with crispy red fish and braised oxtails. It was fabulous.

Our second day, June 13th we took the street car into town again and had breakfast at The Court of Two Sisters. The sweet potato’s are wonderful, the bread pudding with whiskey sauce is delicious and they have one of the best hollandaise sauces I’ve ever tasted.

We walked the French Quarter, people watched, went to the Tomato Festival, listened to a Zydeco band, shopped and had beignets at Cafe Dumonde. It’s still spring and it was hot and humid. I loved the street bands, street performers and the palm readers. We stopped to have our palms read and she was pretty accurate.

This evening we had dinner at Oliviers. Oliviers is a family owned restaurant as are many in New Orleans. Three generations of Armand Oliviers, Armand Olivier, Sr., Armand Olivier, Jr. and Armand Olivier III. Oliviers is a creole restaurant and their signature dish is the Creole Rabbit. They had a wonderful Cajun vinaigrette. The eggplant appetizer was the best.

Our third day we checked into the Bourbon Orleans Hotels (www.bourbonorleans.com) located on Bourbon and Orleans and in the heart of the French Quarter. We will be doing our broadcast from Bourbon Orleans Hotels on Sunday.
We had breakfast at Brennans. Brennans is a beautiful restaurant with a rich history. Their breakfast menu is comprehensive with many selections and as we dined we could see that many people are regulars. The staff is excellent and the service is the best. Bonnie Warren, the public relations representative suggested we order a split of two entrees. they have a pre-fix menu with a starter, entree and dessert. The Eggs Portuguese and the Grillard and Grits are delicious. Their turtle soup is mouth watering.
After breakfast we took the Steamboat Natchez down the Mississippi River. It’s a two hour boat ride with excellent history of New Orleans.
This evening we had dinner at Mr. B’s Bistro. I love Mr. B’s Bistro, it has a steak house feel but they have excellent seafood dishes. The fried oysters on the half shell, french onion soup, seafood gumbo, gumbo ya ya, crab cakes, shrimp & grits and soft shell crab are all excellent choices from the menu.
Our final stop for the evening was Snug Harbor, a jazz bistro, located on Frenchman.
Our final day in New Orleans we started with breakfast at The Palace Cafe, another restaurant with a long history. You must have the Banana Beignets!
We visited the newly opened Audobon Insectarium. If you like bugs make this a stop. They have hands on exhibits and experts to educate you about the insects. Watch out for the toe biter.
Our last restaurant stop was the Upperline, located in the Uptown District. We couldn’t walk but if you get an early enough start you can catch the street car to St. Charles Street and just walk about 2 – 3 blocks to the restaurant. You must go to Upperline. The restaurant has quirky and beautiful art throughout. It’s small and quaint with excellent and soulful food. We had a tasters menu and there wasn’t anything I did not like. My favorites were the roasted duck and the baby drum fish with collard greens.

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