Part III: New Orleans, LA Jazz Fest 2015 {Travelogue} - Muffulettas, St. Louis Cemetery #1, & French Market, Arnaud's, Jacques Imos

In Elk Grove, CA there's a sandwich place that used to sell muffulettas. I thought it was pretty good. Prior to that, I had never heard of a muffuletta so the first one I had was good. I couldn't wait to try the real thing in New Orleans though! If you have never heard of a muffuleta, it's a sandwich unique to New Orleans and has ham, salami, provolone cheese, and their house made olive salad smushed deliciously between a Sicilian sesame loaf. Don't settle for anything less! The bread makes all the difference!

Note: I am spelling it the way they do at Central Grocery, although I have seen it spelled muffaletta. I am trusting the creators of this sandwich to spell it correctly.

Another Note: You can order the sandwiches ready to eat from their website (linked below). 

Central Grocery
923 Decatur St
New Orleans, LA 70116

Saint Louis Cemetery #1
300 N Claiborne Ave
New Orleans, LA 70112

I didn't know until I arrived in New Orleans that the cemeteries require a tour guide. This is why I have become quite the planner before my trips - to prevent this from happening. The first few tour groups I placed calls with were booked solid. Luckily, I was able to find one that had a tour guide available and it ended up just being him taking the two of us around. We started with a walking tour of the French Quarter that ended up at Saint Louis Cemetery #1. 

Saint Louis Cemetery #1 was high on my list because it is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and it has the final resting place of Marie Laveau. Maybe you know about her because you're interested in witchy things, maybe you're interested because you saw her portrayed by Angela Bassett in American Horror Story: Coven, or maybe you just really like history - either way, this cemetery is worth coming to. Not only is Marie Laveau here, but Homer Plessy of Plessy v. Fergusen 1896 which gave us the idea of "separate but equal" (it wasn't until Brown v. Board of Education 1954  that segregation was legally ended though).

You could tell it was a fresh coat of paint. When searching for her tomb, I was looking for one covered in xxx's like I had seen online. Hopefully it can stay clean as the xxx markings were actually just vandalism and not conducive to anything useful. I'm told though, that if you do visit her tomb, make a wish, and it comes true, that you are supposed to come back and leave a gift for her in thanks.

New paint, but the xxx's are still there.

Our guide said that this was the first grave in this cemetery, and that they were all built like this originally.

Homer Plessy.

 

Didn't come here for this monstrosity, but since we're here, might as well snap a quick shot of it. I read that some graves were actually moved to accommodate his big head. And that he paid $250,000 for this thing.

People mentioned feeling spirits all around. I felt calm here. If you want creepy, hang out next to the Mississippi. I had a high school teacher scar me for life by telling us all about the people who were murdered and tossed in during the days of Al Capone and Bugsy Malone... and how they were never found, and that if you were to trawl the bottom at any given time you would catch some bones or dead bodies.

Anyway, tour over. We headed back to the Quarter to relax some more by sitting on the Cathedral steps and listening to some live music.

I never realized how wide the Mississippi was. Learning about it in school, you hear it's big. But in person? It's a huge river!

French Market
1008 N Peters St
New Orleans, LA 70116

Didn't really plan for this. It was more of, we asked our tour guide where to get some good fried chicken (he said Treme was not safe to walk around and to skip Dooky Chase... I am still a little bitter about that. Thankfully they have another location in the airport) and he said to walk through the French Market to get to Fiorella's Cafe. Not a bad way to spend some time though!

Lots of food and trinkets in here, in case you need even more options of what to eat or drink!

Fiorella's Cafe
1136 Decatur Street
New Orleans, LA 70116

Closed in 2016 due to a fire (yes, I am blogging this trip two years late!), it's re-opened so I am going to include it in my New Orleans travelogue. Our tour guide for the cemetery tour said that this was the best fried chicken in town, and that it's where the locals go. The jaded part of me wonders if when people say that, they do it to keep the tourists and wanderers away from the true local haunts, or if they really are that nice and mean it. It's a part of getting old, I suppose. But he's not wrong. The fried chicken here really is good! I would pass next time on the fried green tomatoes though, they were too salty. And can I just say, I love being in a city that appreciates hot sauce and has it readily available in every restaurant!

Extra crispy fried chicken with a side of mash.

Fried green tomatoes - a bit too heavily breaded for me.

Just across the street from Fiorella's.

Arnaud's French 75 Bar
813 Bienville St
New Orleans, LA 70112

Fun fact - Arnaud's used to be "gentlemen" only, back in the early 1900's. 

On the tremendous list of things to see and do in New Orleans is also the list of cocktails created in New Orleans. So having already been to the Sazerac Bar, one of the other big hitters was Arnaud's (which is also famous for their food). 

Their namesake - the French 75 ($13.75) - Courvoisier, sugar, lemon juice, and Moet and Chandon Champagne. Refreshing and light!

I think I like this quote more than I should.

Pat O'Brien's

718 St Peter St

New Orleans, LA 70116

Next stop, Pat O'Brien's for their signature drink, the hurricane! Supposedly the drink was created by Pat O'Brien himself when his bar was a speakeasy. And, the creation only happened because he needed a way to get rid of unwanted rums. With the theme of "Have Fun!" it's worth making a pit stop here, even if you don't feel like having such a potent drink. It's a nice place to sit for a minute if you need to cool down on a summer night, and a stone's throw away from a fun piano bar (one of many, but hey, this one has dueling pianos!).

La Boca
870 Tchoupitoulas St
New Orleans, LA 70130

It never ceases to amaze me at just how many food options there are in this fantastic city! There's delicious Cajun and Creole food (of which there is a difference!), and then there are the restaurants that serve foods from different countries. And they all manage to be amazing!

One of the appetizers - a bruschetta with goat cheese and squash.

Ñoqui “La Boca” - potato dumplings with pancetta, cream, and peas

Heart of Palm Salad - hearts of palm, romaine lettuce, avocado, golf sauce, and heart of palm. Don't be fooled by how simple this salad looks. It's pretty amazing! The palm was very similar to an artichoke heart, but less gristly.

I guess if we're at an Argentinian restaurant we should get Argentinian wine, right?

Centro de Entraña - organic hanger steak from Painted Hills, OR

Dessert - we ordered one of each - 

L to R: Flourless chocolate cake with an almond brittle crust

Coconut and Amaretto ice cream cake with coconut

Panqueques de Dulce de Leche (crepes with condensed milk)

Jacques Imo's Cafe
8324 Oak St
New Orleans, LA 70118

Complimentary cornbread muffins

My beer of choice in NOLA.

Jambalaya

Gator pie. Get this!

Fried oyster salad

Jacque's famous fried chicken. I didn't realize until much later that Bourdain had an episode where he ate this here. And while I don't always agree with what Bourdain says is good, this fried chicken is really good!

Bread pudding

One final walk before packing up our stuff and heading out...

Sometimes it's more fortune tellers than artists.

Thank you, New Orleans, for the lovely stay. I look forward to my next trip out there!