New Orleans: So Hot My Forehead Needs an Oil Change

So, day two in New Orleans, and we are hungover. See picture of Mike below for details.

We were told to go to Voo Doo Cafe on Bienville St. for the best diner breakfast in the French Quarter. Its the place the locals go late at night and on Tuesdays for $6.99 steak dinner.

We completely ignored this suggestion and did what every camera-toting, Teva-wearing, fannie-pack-sporting tourist does in New Orleans: we went to Cafe Du Monde. Now, I've been talking about beniegts and cafe au lait since this trip's conception, so I didn't really care how cheesy it is to do this.

Okay, so here's the scoop. You sit down. One of a small army of tiny Asian women comes to your table and "takes your order." "Takes your order" is in quotes because the menu is the following: Beniegts, cafe au lait, milk.

Let me explain how good beniegts are after a night drinking copious amounts of alcohol:

Yeah. Screw the Voo Doo whatever.

We felt, like many tourists do, a sort of obligation to walk around and see the landmarks and neighborhoods that make New Orleans famous. But you know what? Its effin hot in Louisiana in June! Yeah, its 98 degrees but the humidity is at 107% so it feels like you're walking around in beef stew.

Smells similar too.

Anyway, we walk around New Orleans and go to Louis Armstrong Park, which is super cool because its extremely modern, with little canals running below bridges lined with carnival lights. Ducks and geese are everywhere, including this one, which got really pissed at Mike and put his head down and hissed at him until Mike ran away.

I laughed. Actually, its still funny.

Aaron, I know you can relate.

Later that night we actually did make it to uptown. But hold on! First you must meet Tim:

Tim is one of the nicest people on the planet. His girlfriend Jenny wins second place. Tim knew we were going to the Dungeon when we left the absinthe bar, so when Jenny the bartender realized we left our card, Tim came running after us.



Of course, we went the wrong way in search of said bar (see earlier post) so Tim searched in vain.

Thanks, Tim. You are a great ambassador of New Orleans -- even if you do live in Baton Rouge.

Anyway, we retrieved our card from Jenny and headed out to Uptown to a restaurant Tim suggested to us, Coquette, which was opened by Mike Stolzfus, a former sous chef at John Besh's restaurant, August. Its located on Magazine St., in the Garden District, which is not too unlike Carytown. Its filled with boutiques, cafes and yuppies.





The food was amazing, but the service was even better. We felt so taken care of that both of us relaxed and sat for over 2 hours enjoying the ambience of the high ceilings and our window seat.

You're going to think we're nerds (and you're right), but after that, we watched the end of the Arkansas/UVA game at the bar across the street, took a few to go, and sat on our balcony the rest of the night.

Now, you need to understand that our balcony overlooked Bourbon St., so this is actually a really cool way to spend a night. We sat and drank and people watched and talked.

And it was awesome.