Category: Weekly Updates

The week started out with us picking up Diana’s new ride – a triple black (paint, upholstery, and wheel rims) VW Passat.  She seems to be enjoying it so far but always missing the convertible top.

 

My bachelor party with the boys in New Orleans kicked off on Thursday afternoon.  We had a drink at a brand new bar named the Portside Lounge which had a tiki bar theme and some great beverages.

 

 

 

 

Dinner was at DTB (Down the Bayou) on Oak Street – another newly opened spot – Denny keeps his eyes and ears open for anything new popping up in his city.  DTB is billed as a modern Creole Cajun restaurant and menu choices included crispy duck confit, cornmeal gnocchi, and mushroom boudin balls.  Another great find by Mr. Denny.

The first of four excellent musical experiences followed dinner – we saw Reckless Kelly perform at Tipitina’s.  This was a country rock band with a bit of an Irish flavor that we all enjoyed – including Timmy (a rare moment when he wasn’t complaining about our musical choices being too “esoteric”).  We were able to see the newly awarded Anders Osborne plate on the pavement outside Tipitina’s in recognition of his contributions to New Orleans music.

Jack and Mason (perhaps with prompting and supervision from Anne) like to install obstacles for me when we head out in the evenings.  This time it was a blowup Grinch hanging from the shower rod to greet me as I returned to the cottage.

 

Friday kicked off with lunch at Gallatoire’s on Bourbon Street.  This is an old school New Orleans restaurant with white table cloths and tuxedoed waiters.  Friday lunch is a highlight of the weekly social calendar for NOLA movers and shakers.  The mayor and his entourage were waiting with us in the bar for their table – we posited that they might be celebrating the smooth removal of the last of the confederate statues (General Lee from Lee Circle).  Alex, Gary, and Thom joined the usual quartet of me, Denny, Sean, and Tim.  The food, company, service, and atmosphere were all excellent.

The afternoon was consumed by a ramble through the French Quarter and taking in the local sights.  Sean and I headed over to the Maple Leaf for some excellent late night music while the rest of the boys got some sleep.

Saturday got off to a reasonably slow start.  We had planned to participate in a bicycle pub crawl associated with the Bayou Boogaloo festival that we were going to in the evening but didn’t make it in time.  We did, however, meet up with the cyclists at the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club where we enjoyed the third excellent musical performance.  The Showtime Brass band put on a great early afternoon show.

Next stop was Rosedale for some lunch.  This very unassuming restaurant (looks like a shack from the outside) is part of the Susan Spicer empire and the food was certainly up to her very high standards.

After lunch we headed to the Bayou Beer Garden to relax before heading into the Boogaloo music festival.

Only Sean and I ended up going to the festival and enjoyed a performance from Chris Thomas King before the heavens opened and we headed for the exit and cover.

We decided we were too old to get drenched to see Cracker close out the evening.   Just as we exited, I got a call from Denny saying he was at the Cracker stage and had come out to surprise us.  It didn’t take much to convince him to head home as well and we avoided having to call an Uber.

As always, it’s painful to leave New Orleans to travel back to the “real world”.

This was looking like the first time in several years that we would skip the New Orleans jazzfest. Then Diana suggested going in on the Tuesday between jazzfest weekends to catch some of the night time shows and attend the festival on Thursday (the quietest day of all seven). She checked the cost of flights (much less expensive than anticipated), called Denny to make sure the cottage was available, and we were all set.

New Orleans and Webster St welcomed us on Tuesday afternoon and we settled in Chez Ogan for drinks and an excellent dinner of crab salad and shrimp and goat cheese enchiladas from Chef Denny and Sous Chef Anne.

Wednesday got off to a slow start but quickly picked up speed in the early afternoon with a late lunch at Boucherie on Carrolton St. Look at this amazing soft shell crab – we all agreed it was one of the best we had ever tasted.

While enjoying lunch, Denny did his typical research work and found a unique show happening at 4pm at Bud Rip’s. This is a dive bar in the Marigny and the Morning 40 Federation was performing. The music was like a modern day Iron Maiden – very heavy and very loud with a lot of changing time signatures and keys. Diana enjoyed her Rose wine from a “backpack can”. I found the music sounded best from about a block away outside the bar.

While the rain storm held off we decided to check out Chazfest. This is a very small festival held in a couple of back yards and designed as an antidote to the large and expensive jazz festival. It’s named after Washboard Chaz who we did see performing there. The highlight was the Valparaiso Men’s Chorus doing their sea shanty sing along routine. This is always one of Denny’s favorites as you can tell. A completely unique and unexpected afternoon treat for sure.

Chazfest was followed by a quick stop at Kebab for falafels and sandwiches. Then home to regroup before the Piano Summit show at Snug Harbor.

The heavens opened on the drive to Snug Harbor and our Uber driver did a great job of navigating the flooding streets. Snug Harbor is a tiny jazz club on Frenchmen Street in the Marigny. It was one of the first venues on this street which used to be an out of the tourist area music area. Sadly it has recently become more and more of a known attraction for tourists. We got great seats in the upstairs balcony where we were able to see Joe Crown’s fingers floating across the keys as he presented a beautifully varied set of New Orleans piano classics. Tom McDermott followed him and while he was technically amazing I didn’t enjoy his set as much. Marcia Ball gave her usual excellent performance of boogie woogie piano with the highlight being her rendition of our favorite Delbert McClinton song, “Sending Me Angels”. The finale was all 6 hands on the piano at the same time as the three performers took turns sitting on the piano stool, playing the bass line, and playing the soprano part – very entertaining and fun.

Thursday was jazzfest day and we had agreed on a late start around 1pm. I had an interesting experience putting on my Crocs to head out to the muddy field – apparently they can shrink up to 2 sizes when left out wet in the sun – sure enough they had been rinsed off and left in the sun prior to packing. This meant a trip to the shoe store on the way to the festival and a lot of hilarity about “did you put them in the dryer?”. We rendezvoused with Alex, Tom, Gary and the crew at Liuza’s by the track and then headed in. Each year there is a guest country at the fest that shares their music, culture, and traditions. This year was Cuba.

The best days at the festival are those when you really have no agenda – nobody you really must see and have to fight in early to box out a space. We saw the Iguanas at Fais Do Dos, New Orleans Nightcrawlers (my highlight) at the Heritage stage, Herb Alpert in the Jazz tent, 10 mins or so of Widespread Panic on the Acura stage, a couple of minutes of Tower of Power on the Congo Square stage and then finished up with Darius Rucker on the Gentilly Stage (Diana’s highlight as evidenced by her happy music face).

 

The girls managed to work in oysters at the paddock and trips into the CD/Vinyl tent for better champagne than was on sale at the normal booths.

The food tents are equally as impressive as the music.  We like to go back to the “trio” of offerings that we had at our first jazzfest.  It’s hard to choose the most delicious between the crawfish sack, beignet, or oyster pattie.

We finished the evening off at a new place called the Beer Garden on Freret street – delicious food all around.

On Friday we had our typical leaving day brunch with Denny and Anne. This time at a new restaurant for all of us called “Cavan”. This was inside an old house with antique fixtures and décor. Again the food and drinks were delicious. So many fantastic and unique restaurants in this town and so little time. Back to McKinney and the ongoing home repairs from the hail storm. We had hoped they would be mostly complete while we visited New Orleans but a storm on Wednesday slowed things down by a couple of days. I woke on Saturday to nail guns on the roof above my head and then a generator right outside the bedroom window.

Wednesday, February 8th, was a big day in our home.  I cooked a close replica of the first meal I made for Diana, catfish with orange and rosemary sauce and green beans.  That was followed with me playing and singing (if the word stretches that far) a poorly rehearsed, but well received, version of Marc Cohn’s beautiful song, “True Companion”.  Then I dropped down to one knee and proposed to Diana – and she said “Yes”.  I believe that I was able to completely surprise her.

On Thursday we flew down to New Orleans for a long weekend.  First stop was “Avery’s” – a Denny approved hole in the wall restaurant with outstanding barbecued shrimp po’boys.  Then to the local French wine shop to pick up some nice champagne to celebrate our engagement with the Ogans.  The gentleman who owns the store was quite a character and full of stories.  Dinner was at “Meril”, a new restaurant from Emeril Lagasse named after his daughter.  The food was great and very reasonably priced.  Diana had Korean short ribs and I tried the saffron tagliatelle with roasted lamb – both delicious.  Dessert was a selection of cheeses from the St. James cheese shop – another of our favourite New Orleans destinations.  We always laugh when we think of Anne’s Mum, Carolyn, telling Diana that Jack Bauer was paying when we went there with her because he had just received a big bonus for saving the President’s life.

After dinner Denny consulted the extensive listing of concerts happening in New Orleans that night and we decided on Marc Stone at the Columns hotel.  He was playing in the front room and at one point there were just the four of us listening to him.  Denny had a good chat with Marc and didn’t forget to slip in some “Wash Dat” marketing activity.  I thoroughly enjoyed his show.  So much fantastic music is happening all over New Orleans every night.  We headed to Dos Jefes cigar bar next to listen to a Japanese trombone player with what appeared to be a band composed of local music students – a great finish to our first night in New Orleans.  We’re always amazed at how much ground we cover in a day when there.

Friday began with a trip to SOFAB (Southern Food and Beverage Museum).  Toups meatery has a restaurant inside and I loved the goat tacos that I had for lunch.   There were lots of interesting exhibits on food and cocktails over the years.  Next we had a coffee at “Morning Call” – a 24 hour coffee and beignet shop close to City Park and also to the restaurant where Denny had last left his credit card.  Next to the coffee shop was the outdoor sculpture garden and we had a pleasant wander through it while enjoying the beautiful weather.  Here’s a picture of my favorite sculpture – it seems to represent the evolution of man but I can’t remember the official name.

Friday dinner was at “Petit Lion” in the new Troubadour hotel.  Another lovely meal with delicious appetizers and then steak au poivre.  That was followed by a refreshing walk to the Smoothie King center to see a concert by Billy Joel.

None of us had seen him perform before and were all very impressed with the showmanship and musicians.  His saxophone player is a real star and his solo on “New York State of Mind” was a real treat.  I particularly liked that Joel included a number of New Orleans songs in his show.  Here’s his version of “House of the Rising Sun” done with a tone that really conveys the song’s message well.

Cocktails at the Cellar Door finished the evening as we waited for the crowd to disperse.

Saturday started with a Jack and Mason soccer game accompanied by champagne and King cake (as only happens in New Orleans).

The boys always enjoy torturing “Miss Diana” when she comes to town.  She’s in the middle of some kind of protest here.  I see the boys play about once a year and am amazed at how much they progress – the team played really well.

Soccer was followed by a unique experience – a visit to the “batture”.  The batture is the inside of the levee on the Mississippi – so right up against the water on stilts and right beside all the busy boat traffic.

Our host was Macon, a very interesting local character.  His girlfriend was celebrating her 50th birthday and so Denny and Frank shucked over 300 oysters which Bruce barbecued on the upstairs deck with Denny’s yummy blue cheese sauce.  Macon is a great story teller and well connected with the local musicians.  He was telling us a story about a friend who was in Los Angeles because the band he plays in was nominated for a Grammy award.  I asked him if the music they played was like Tommy Malone’s band – the name of which I couldn’t remember.  Denny said, “it’s the Subdudes” and then Macon said, “Tommy Malone’s right upstairs”.  You can’t make things like that up.

We left the batture and meandered to the French Quarter to watch the Krewe de Vieux mardi gras parade – pronounced “Crew de Voo” in New Orleans.  This was the first parade of the season to roll and featured very irreverent political satire – if only Trump could have watched.  The floats were smaller since they had to be non-motorized and drawn by donkeys.  What a hoot the parade was – with excellent local brass bands throughout.  We finished up the evening with cocktails at Broussard’s from Pete the world renowned bartender.

Another amazing trip to New Orleans wound down with brunch at Paladar 511 in the Bywater area.  Denny and I tortured Diana with discussion about wedding plans and options.  I love this restaurant’s decor and food – it’s by a family that owns a small but famous pizza restaurant in San Francisco.

And so it’s back to boring McKinney.  We’d love to live in New Orleans but it’s probably just as well we don’t have all that decadent food, music, and cocktails at our fingertips.