“Back Home in New Orleans”
We flew home from San Francisco to New Orleans on Sunday, and enjoyed a typical busy week. Things kicked off with a Happy Hour for Denny’s birthday at The Husky on Monday afternoon. This is a new steak restaurant on Freret street that we’ve been meaning to try.
The ambience, service, and food were all excellent. What a great new place! We tried steak tartare, lamb lollipops and crispy mushroom appetizers. Diana and I split the Happy Hour special burger and fries – very tasty. Denny had his own burger, and Jack had pasta a la vodka.
On Tuesday, we met Kenny for Happy Hour at the Audubon Clubhouse. They had been advertising live music at 4:30pm on Tuesdays. This place has a wonderful setting inside Audubon park and a very inviting porch.
We had a miserable experience and will never return. From hostess, to bartender and ultimately the head waiter – all were horrible. I assume this place makes money on events and folks that don’t know what good service looks like. We left as soon as we finished our drinks and snacks.
We did not do well at trivia. If Diana and I had been our own team, we would have been in a minimum of second place. The team just wouldn’t listen to our suggestions on several questions – particularly mine on the last question that was worth 20 points. Good fun all the same.
We were in the CBD (Central Business District) for a meeting with our estate lawyer on Wednesday afternoon. Diana commented that she didn’t remember the last time she was in a high rise office building – it’s been a while for both of us. After the meeting, we walked to Peche, a restaurant that we’ve been looking to try for a while. Debra recommended it and her recommendations carry some weight, given her job as manager of Jaques-Imo’s.
We loved the small plates that we shared and will return soon. The steak tartare and spicy ground shrimp noodles were very good, but the star of the show was a romaine salad that was grilled over an open wood flame – so much flavour.
On Wednesday evening, we joined Denny, Fred and Kelly at the Broadside for a performance by Lulu and the Broadsides. They had seen Lulu before and raved about her voice. We were both very pleasantly surprised. A great voice and a great band in the Pavillion that has good acoustics. Here is a song she wrote about New Orleans.
Some research revealed that Lulu is really Dayna Kurtz, who has quite an interesting back story. Her songs have been recorded by Norah Jones and Bonnie Raitt, she has opened for many very popular bands, and has won well respected songwriting awards – who knew? The band members are James Singleton (excellent bass player), Carol Nuccio, Robert Mache (unique guitar sound) and Glenn Hartman.
I made a trip over to Metairie on Thursday morning to meet with a health insurance broker. My coverage expires when I retire, and the options and costs are quite daunting. In the evening, Kenny and Thom joined me for the movie “Coastal” – a documentary about Neil Young’s most recent West Coast tour, directed by his wife, Daryl Hannah.
We all enjoyed the movie and forgot how sterile those massive AMC theater complexes feel. We’re spoiled with the neighborhood Prytania and Broad theaters.
Diana met Kara at the Chloe on Friday afternoon, and then they rambled to Superior Seafood and down Magazine Street to the Bouligny Tavern. Seemed like a very fun afternoon.
Kenny was coming over to “spend some time on the porch” with me while the ladies had their afternoon out. That turned into Kenny, Denny, Greg, Alex, Thom, Aidan and Jack. We had a good time catching up.
We got some exercise at the NOAC (New Orleans Athletic Club) on Saturday and then had a quiet day. There were a couple of music opportunities but we needed to rest up a bit.
Easter Sunday brunch was at Elizabeth’s in the Bywater. I had snoozed on making reservations anywhere and this place doesn’t take them – so we got there before 10am to get a table easily.
They always have very tasty specials. Diana had the seafood salad and I had the boudin and eggs – the crawfish etouffee that was part of that dish was amazing. And as usual, we had plenty of leftovers.
We walked off some of brunch in Audubon park in the afternoon.
I circulated this picture of Diana peeking out of an egg as an Easter “yoke.” It was actually a dinosaur egg as part of an advertisement in a shopping mall in Glasgow.
I am increasingly frustrated with all the stuff that is locked up at Walgreens these days – even a stick of deodorant. You have to push a button and wait a while for an employee to come and open it for you. This cartoon from the New Yorker sums it up well:
It’s almost Jazzfest time again – and so I got the flag changed out. As I was putting it up, some guys came by and had a chat about their memories from attending over the last 25 years.
In Las Vegas for the Dead and Company shows at the Sphere, Vince and Lori and friends took some time to drive race cars:
I didn’t spend a lot of time reading this week, and dabbled in three different books. “Infinite Jest” continues to be very slow going, “The Hunter” by Tana French is reasonably light relief to that, and I just started “All Fours” by Miranda July. This last book is described as being “acerbically clever”, and I agree, having laughed out loud several times already.
There is a wonderful new record out this week -“Audience with the Queen” by Galactic and Irma Thomas. Thomas is 84 years old and sounds fantastic on all tracks, especially this one:
The album was recorded in a local studio that was previously a church, and it sounds amazing. Here’s what Keith Spera said about it in the local newspaper:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!