A night out with the bro in New Orleans!

Well, my brother was here visiting for Christmas and it was his first time here since we moved here 4 years ago. So we had to take him out for a night in New Orleans last Saturday. So we hired a babysitter and off we went!

First stop Jacques-imos for dinner. I had never been myself but my hubby has always wanted to take me. He takes his buds there when they come into town to visit and they all rave about it every time. I finally got my chance and man have I been missing something awesome all this time! I couldn't stop saying, "Mmmmmm. That is SO GOOD!" It is one thing to be a visitor and to go crazy over the food down here, but after living here awhile you start to know what is REALLY GOOD! We each ordered an appetizer ($7.50 each and nice size portions) and took turns tasting them. They all rocked! We got the shrimp and alligator sausage cheesecake, fried green tomatoes with crawfish sauce and four huge grilled shrimp on top and the crab stuffed shrimp. All were incredible but the stuffed shrimp was our favorite.

For entrees, my hubby got some kind of fish and bro got the Grouper. I got the waiter's suggested entree - Fried chicken! I went all out and ordered my sides as cole slaw and mashed potatoes to round it out. Man, I don't eat fried chicken a lot but this was mouth watering! The coleslaw and mashed potatoes were so good too I couldn't decide which of the three to finish as it was all too much food for me. Price for my entree - $17.95. Both hubby and bro loved their fish dinners and mmmmmm'd with every bite! My brother said that was the perfect place to take an out of town visitor and just the type of place he wanted to go to. It is a winner!

The atmosphere is cool, the food is great and the prices are affordable. Go early or expect to wait. Short story: On our way out we overheard a woman tell the hostess that they had a party of 6. She said, "Six. Well, you aren't eating here tonight." The woman looked confused. The hostess said, "Honey, I got a 3 hour wait for parties of 6 or more ." The girl left very angry;-)


After dinner, we drove into the quarter. We parked at the Ritz Carlton because that is where we would be ending our night. We walked down to the Foundation Room which is a private club off the House of Blues. A friend put us on the list for the night and we enjoyed this uniquely decorated bar and relaxed awhile in the comfy seating area.

After a few drinks there we decided to take a walk around the quarter. The week before we spent the day down in the quarter with my parents and my mom was asking me where different celebrities live. Of course I never bothered to look up such info. So this time I looked up Brad Pitt's place (521 Governor Nicholas St.) and also found Nicholas Cage's address (11 40 Royal St.) So we did a walk by and stopped into the bar that I read Angelina frequents. We rang both of their doorbells for shits and giggles. It was kinda corny but we had fun.

After a short jaunt down Bourbon Street which my brother found disappointing and too college-like (he was looking for good blues music) we made our way back to the Ritz Carlton to watch Jeremy Davenport play Jazz music for free. This was the highlight of the night for my brother (other than Jacques-imos). My hubby fanagled a seat right up front by the stage with another couple who just sat down. He had the Maitre'd ask them if we could join them since it was a table for 6 and there was just two of them. The couple turned out to be visitor's in town for the Georgia/Hawaii Sugar Bowl game. She was the Alumni Director for Georgia and he worked for the Board of Regents at Georgia. They were very friendly and welcomed us. I ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert while the boys ordered way too many drinks and heckled Jeremy and the drummer. It was all good fun and Jeremy seemed cool with it - he is quite a character himself!

Then, I got way too tired. This mommy can't hang anymore. We said goodnight to our new friends the Andersons and wished them good luck at the game. I had us home by 1am and my brother graciously paid for the babysitter because he said he had a great time! Thanks bro! Nice having you here to visit too.