Bartenders at the Sazerac Bar at the Hotel Roosevelt

I had no set expectations of food in New Orleans. Drinks, sure. I thought everyone would be wandering around with Hurricanes. Also, I thought I’d see a lot of women taking their shirts off on balconies. (Do not Google Girls Gone Wild.) And a lot of Ann Rice fans dressed like vampires. Those were my preconceptions.

But actually, New Orleans was a lot better than I imagined. Very good actually. It has this old/new thing going on and I kinda liked that. Here’s where I ate and drank.

Sylvain, 625 Chartres St, French Quarter. Mary on Twitter recommended this dark and romantic little gastropub and we were glad she did. Great, personal service and nice food. Then again, I think we were all starving so we would have eaten anything. But really, this was very nice. 

Emeril’s Delmonico, 1300 St Charles Ave, Garden District. I made a last minute OpenTable booking and figured that while we were in New Orleans, we might as well eat at an Emeril’s restaurant. This was the surprise of the trip. I loved my spiced duck and our server was funny and personable. Also, the space was gorgeous. I would go back here. And no one said Bam! Yes!

Acme Oyster House, 724 Iberville Street, French Quarter. I took myself on a little oyster tour of the French Quarter one night. I didn’t expect to like Acme Oyster House. It’s loud, there’s neon, and there is a huge queue to get in. Plus, it’s a little dirty. And they skipped over me in line multiple times while they seated parties of two. (I hate that. How many parties of two do you have to seat until you seat the solo diner?) But my server Pam was fantastic…a true veteran…and the baked oysters were garlicky and delicious. Thinking back on all the oysters I ate, these were my favorite. Hot, garlicky and pure unadulterated fun.

GW Fins, 808 Bienville Street, French Quarter: I waddled into GW Fins after Acme and appreciated the change of pace. GW Fins is large and airy and quiet and the bar was empty when I arrived. I ordered some smoked oysters, which arrived almost poached-like, the shells piping hot. I took my server’s recommendation on the wine and passed an enjoyable 45 minutes chatting away about restaurants in New Orleans. It was she that sent me to R’evolution next…

R’evolution, 777 Bienville Street, French Quarter. Dark and rich feeling. Everyone looked expensive and slightly famous. I sat next to a journalist and his wife, who’s skin had been preserved through the blessings of modern medicine perfectly and eerily well. R’evolution served me their fire roasted oysters, but I think they had been left too long to cool before they arrived. Either that or I was still thinking about those oysters at Acme. I liked the ambience of R’evoluton and the service and the wine list, but the oysters left me wanting. So too the Death by Gumbo I had the next day. (Why I went back twice, I will never understand.)

Verti Marte, 1201 Royal Street, French Quarter: The woman who had had all the plastic surgery done told me to get a Po’Boy at Verti Marte. She had seen Angelina Jolie there once. (“Her arms are like toothpicks.”) So I dropped in in between tours and ordered a fried oyster po’boy and the guy behind the counter looked at me like I was 1. crazy and 2. speaking a foreign language. They get zero points for service here, although the woman at the register was nice. The sandwich though was delicious. Five or six really fat fried oysters and some delicious sauce and salad on a pretty good baguette.

 Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal Street, French Quarter. Everyone told me I would love it here. Everyone is wrong. This is a tourist trap. Sit on the carousel bar stools and watch the bar spin around. I left without ordering anything. Full of tourists. 

Sazerac Bar at the Hotel Roosevelt, 123 Baronne Street. One of my favorite stops of the trip. I really loved the vibe and the fittings and the bar tender. Am I a sazerac fan? Probably not. But I still enjoyed my drink. Also full of tourists, but a different sort of tourist. Highly recommended.  

At the end of my time in New Orleans, I found myself wishing I had more time to see and explore. It’s a unique American city. I put it up there with Boston and San Francisco as cities foreigners should really visit to get a sense of the different cultures of different places. You should go.

Book a New Orleans Tour

The post Eating & Drinking in New Orleans first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Ghost & Vampire Combo, French Quarter Phantoms. NOT RECOMMENDED. First, you have to go to a totally sleazy pub to meet the tour group. Not my kind of place. I mean, I like a dirty bar, but this was just awful and unsafe feeling. Then, our tour guide, Tess, was the most boring tour guide ever. She seemed annoyed to be taking us around and was just reciting things. A good tour guide makes all the difference. Tess was not it. This group is a machine…there were three or four tours that went out at the same time, given the number of tourists. I wish I had one of the other tour guides and desperately wanted my time back at the end of the evening. I remember nothing. $20.

St. Louis Cemetery #1, Free Tours by Foot: Recommended. Great tour guide (Elizabeth B) who was passionate about New Orleans and knew all the stories. And it’s a free tour, so there’s that. (I gave her $35 at the end because she was really good and knowledgeable and passionate and interesting.) You get a little New Orleans history, a little Katrina, a little voodoo, a little religion, a little Nicolas Cage. The one thing for me is that after 90 minutes in the cemetery, I was ready for a chance in scenery. This is a HIGHLY focused tour. But still short in comparison to what else is out there. And still good and interesting.

Drink & Learn New Orleans: HIGHLY Recommended. I really loved this tour. Our tour guide was funny and informative. She had all sorts of great stories about New Orleans and its cocktails. PLUS…you get a saddle bag of cocktails at the beginning of the tour. That’s the schtick…drink your cocktail while Elizabeth tells you the history of New Orleans as you wander through the French Quarter. In contrast to French Quarter Phantoms, the bar you start and end at during this tour is quite pleasant. At $50, this tour was worth every penny.

So…those are my tours…I’ve neglected food and drink though and hope to get to it in a later post!

Book a New Orleans Tour

The post Tours in New Orleans first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

I had a conference to go to in New Orleans earlier this month so I made a weekend out of it and stuck around. I had never been to New Orleans before and was excited to see what the city had to offer. Plus, at various odd times, the Floridian in me wants some Southern food. GRITS!!

Well, unfortunately for me, what the city had to offer that weekend was WRESTLEMANIA XXX. Yes, the 30th anniversary of Wrestlemania with Hulk Hogan coming out of retirement and everything. Wrestling fans from all around the world — who knew this was such a global empire! Hotel rooms were hard to come by, especially central ones. For my conference, I was staying at the iconic Hyatt from Hurricane Katrina. 1000+ rooms! And they couldn’t accommodate me for the weekend, just to give you an idea. So The Ritz it was. Not many wrestling fans stay at The Ritz, apparently.

Not that I was complaining, of course. You could do worse than The Ritz for a stay in New Orleans. Here’s what I liked and disliked:

What I Liked…

• The location…just two blocks from Bourbon Street, The Ritz was super easy to walk to/from with most of the things I wanted to do for the short amount of time I had. You might know I love walking, so this was awesome.
• The bar…live music most nights I was there! Great bands too.
• The spa! I didn’t use the spa for any beauty treatments, but after a day of a lot of walking, I really needed a hot tub. The Ritz has one! It was great. Although they wouldn’t show me to the locker room because I wasn’t using the spa so I had to get changed in the bathroom. Annoying.
• Room service. Biscuits and gravy for $10. Pretty fantastic.

What I Disliked

• The whole “you can have free Internet because you’re a Marriott Rewards member but only on so many devices” thing.  I have A LOT of devices. Also, even though I was a Marriott Rewards member and I was supposed to get Internet for free, they still charged me for it so I had to deal with that at check-out.
• The distractedness of the check-in staff. It was like my desk clerk had memorized a script. It was off-putting. I expected better of a Ritz…something more personal and welcoming. He was talking so fast I had to ask him to slow down.
• The lack of security cameras. Maybe they were super-secret-hidden cameras but there were a couple of times where I came in off the street and there was no doorman to greet me. And no cameras. (Again, unless they were very well-hidden.) Call me a wimp but because New Orleans has its unsavory bits and there are A LOT of drunken louts, I did feel a little unsafe in and around the hotel at times.

Would I stay here again? Maybe. It was expensive. I was trapped into it because I booked my plane ticket to New Orleans before I booked my hotel room and when I booked the plane ticket, I didn’t realize that Wrestlemania was in town. I am sure there a are places to stay in New Orleans that are just as nice as well as cheaper, so I might look at those first before I commit to The Ritz again.

The post My Stay at The Ritz Carlton New Orleans first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.