Tuesday, March 27, 2007

NOLA 2007 Pt. I

Went down to NOLA last weekend for a great friend's bachelor party. A quick recap:

Landed @ 9pm Thursday night, after a quick drop-off of the luggage at a mini-mansion in the Garden District, took cabs to Fat Harry's to watch the end of the USC v. Tennessee game. My hunch on Tennessee blew up in my face, so I was left to hedge with THC for a few cups of vodka, which helped loosen the edge from the loss. A quick run to F&Ms led to a quick departure to Harras. Overall I was down, but give the place a B-, as friends were able to hang at the table and BS while not playing (not hovering, not minded at all) and gave us an opportunity to teach a buddy the basics (he is getting a hit/stay card for his birthday).

Friday - Golf went out the window when our AM tee time ran into our prior night. Found po' boys and Abitas down the street and hung out later at the pool. Chips were replaced with Pinto beans, which worked well enough to kill time until dinner, at Felix's downtown.

Great dinner, multiple doz. oysters and Crawfish Vonnie for dinner. I think we sped up the depletion of seafood by 3 years. Post dinner finally hit the Quarter for a quick hurricane at Pat O's before the party split. Proceeded to drink like prohibition was coming back on Monday at hole in the wall place until going home. Drank with my bud's boys from NOLA. Great crew, were more than willing to throw down and ignore my shenanigans. Got good reviews on my JR Reynolds slow/low five. Thanks for the pity.

Saturday - Grab card from prior night's bar, hit up a crawfish boil at the Racetrack, went back and got to dinner at Antoine's @ 8. Food was decent, especially the potato poppers. Was pretty done after dinner so called it an early night.

Great trip, hopefully I'll have the cobwebs out before returning for the wedding in a few months!

3 comments:

Eric Z said...

rrd - first off, sorry to hear about your ACL. Hope you are getting better and not in the way of your golf.

Have you been to NOLA before Katrina? If so, any difference? I was there once in 1999 and have some specific memories of Bourbon St., the French Quarter, and even the Superdome.... (think Tim Couch Hail Mary vs. a Mike Ditka temper tantrum).

Anyway, is the place the same? Cleaner? Worse?

Pat O hurricanes are dangerous, espeically if youu have 3 of them right after stepping off a plane at midnight....

Eric Z said...

Oh gees - did I not read your previous posting close enough? No golf until next year? Ouch...

RRD said...

I was at NOLA both pre and post Katrina. There are differences, but they have been relegated to being subtle differences. NOLA was never a city where one could feel completely 'safe', and that thought has been augmented with the areas that are still boarded up. There is a rebuilding occurring, but the city has become segmented, with no notice of change in Garden District, Quarter, but the cab rides between are a sight to behold, and be forewarned.