“Residency Week 1”
Our first full week in New Orleans began with a pleasant run in Audubon park – we’re really going to enjoy having the 1.8 mile loop so close by. We did a couple of laps and were amazed at the thousands of ducks around the lake. I did some research and found this article about them – don’t remember seeing anywhere near so many on prior visits.
Retired D played tennis in the afternoon with Anne, while working K attended the quarterly Board Audit Committee meeting. Hmmm – interesting juxtaposition.
We ordered takeout from Saj, the Mediterranean restaurant downstairs. While not at the superb level of Shaya, this is a very good option. After dinner, we made the short drive to Dos Jefes cigar bar to listen to the excellent John Fohl play guitar. He’s been playing here every Monday night for over 20 years, and was a member of the Dr. John band at their most popular. I really enjoyed the show and Dos Jefes is a great, low hassle location.
Dos Jefes is located on a street shown in the sign below. Can you pronounce that? The locals just say “Chop.”
Tuesday started with another two laps around Audubon park – finishing just before the rain came. We drove from there to Fresh Market, a local grocery store, and then to Nola Wine, where Diana was added to the database so that they can learn which champagnes she likes. We’re starting to get settled in to the area, and with much better service than we experience in McKinney.
After shopping, we tried Undergrowth coffee (a couple of blocks from the condo), a Denny recommendation with very good coffee.
In the afternoon, Diana went shopping with Anne for Mardi Gras outfits – specifically something to wear to Commander’s Palace for our fancy Lundi Gras brunch with Campbell and Molly. She came back with a flapper dress and all the accessories from the store across the street (Buffalo Exchange). A whale of a deal that includes wig, pearls, feather headband, stockings, handbag, cigarette holder, gloves etc.
Undergrowth coffee provided a good start on Wednesday. They make a great cappuccino. Fred and Denny came over for happy hour and then we met Kenny and Kara at Miel brewing. Kenny had alerted us to a very good lobster roll food truck that was setting up there. A line started an hour or more before the truck was scheduled to open. We thought that was silly and didn’t feel the need to stand in line that long. By opening time, the line snaked back and forward down the street – we decided that wasn’t worth it, and made the short walk to NOLA brewing for pizza. Very tasty and accompanied by the US vs Honduras World Cup qualifying match.
Thursday was a heavy work day, with a break for a late lunch at Shaya, the amazing James Beard winning Israeli restaurant across the street. The octopus hummus was ridiculously good – turns out they cook it sous vide for 5 hours to make it so tender. We also split a lamb burger that was fantastic. The brick oven bread is also amazing – fresh, light and so tasty.
Diana was still hungry and so met her girlfriends for oyster happy hour at Pascal’s Manale. She wasn’t really hungry – had just pre-arranged the session around Laura’s teaching and research schedule. They always have such a good time at these events.
Denny and I collected the girls at Pascal’s and drove to Snug Harbor jazz club for a show by Sansone, Krown, and Fohl. This is a venue like the Kessler – small cocktail tables and a “listening room” experience. I had been looking to see where we could see Joe Krown, my favourite New Orleans piano wizard, and noticed that he was out of town for the majority of our residency. So we needed to jump on this show to see him. I talked about John Fohl earlier – and was able to tell him how much we had enjoyed his Dos Jefes show on Monday night. These three together in such a wonderfully sounding room were excellent from start to finish. Just an excellent show and experience. They recorded an album around 20 years ago that still sounds great and I’ll include that in the music section below.
And, as if Thursday hadn’t been busy enough, Denny and Anne suggested a late dinner at Mister Mao’s. This is a new place, close to the condo, with very creative Asian food. The kale pakora, chili verde, and pancake were all very interesting, if not just a wee bit too spicy for my late night palate.
Saturday was spent exploring the Magazine St neighborhood – we walked a couple of miles in each direction from the condo, checking out stores and restaurants along the way – so many great places.
I really enjoyed exploring Octavia Books – a very well curated local bookstore – something that really doesn’t exist in many places.
On our walk back from Octavia, we stopped for lunch at Tito’s Pisco and Ceviche. It was cold outside, but felt great sitting outside in the sun. Diana had a delicious ceviche and I enjoyed a scallop special – also delicious. And of course the refreshing pisco sours.
We laughed at this sign outside a very creative furniture store:
After a few hours of exploration, we feel really pleased with the location we chose for the residency condo. And happy that we got some good walking done.
Now it was time to regroup and prepare for our first parade of the season – Chewbacchus. Or more correctly, The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus. This is mostly a walking parade and doesn’t have the huge floats of some others. The krewes are mostly formed around science fiction, 
nerdy topics – a lot of Star Wars and the like. Kara was walking in the Wonder Woman group. The parade was a couple of hours late in starting, we believe because the lead off float couldn’t make the turn on the new route (changed at the last minute because of lack of police manpower.) We used the time to enjoy delicious empanadas and pupusas at R bar (one of Denny’s favourites.) The parade was very entertaining when it did start – and a good taster for all those to come over the next few weeks. Here are some of the sights (Kenny was a red shirt – responsible for keeping the crowds back so that the groups can walk past):
We finished out the night listening to a very good band at the Balcony Music Club (BMC) next to the parade route.
Here’s the Chewbacchus flag on Kenny’s porch:
What a busy and enjoyable Saturday – not the type of day one typically experiences in McKinney.
Things got even more interesting on Sunday – we attended a drag brunch at the Country Club restaurant with Denny, Anne, Kenny, and Kara. The food was delicious and the drag performances very entertaining. Why do they always pick on Mr. Denny?
What an eclectic and fun first week in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, in McKinney temperatures were very cold, with some snow. Our neighbors helped to keep an eye on the pool and did a walk through of the house to make sure we didn’t have any burst pipes.
I forgot to mention the lovely retirement gift box that Diana received from my colleague, April. She has been making good use of the soft blanket and socks, and I think the cookies are all gone.
I’m skipping the book section this week – too busy and making slow progress on my Douglas Kennedy book.
Here’s my favourite John Fohl song, as promised earlier. After I listen, I can’t get the opening guitar riff out of my mind:
And here’s a couple from Sansone, Krown, and Fohl’s original album.
This one shows Joe Krown’s piano skills:
And this one is all about Magazine Street:
Stay safe, kind and calm!