My 3 girlfriends and I decided we needed a weekend getaway. New Orleans just happens to be a 5 hour car ride away from Houston and who doesn’t want to spend their weekend eating and drinking?
My friend, Kat and I hopped in the car on a Friday morning and made our way to the Big Easy. We had reservations to do the Dark HIstory tour of New Orleans with Jonathan Weiss tours. Because we dawdled way too much on the road (multiple potty breaks, traffic and a nice lunch at the Blue Dog in Lake Charles) we were a little late to the tour. Thankfully, we didn’t miss too much of the tour.
I chose Jonathan Weiss tours because of his credentials. Jonathan has a great amount of passion and respect for his city. He is a true native of New Orleans and a colorful story teller. We had the pleasure to walk around and listen to the dark history of this incredible city. Midway through, we had a stop at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar where we had a 10 minute break.
My friends and I decided to get beverages, I took Jonathan’s recommendation of getting the hurricane and my friend’s got the Voodoo Daiquiri which was a grape flavored daiquiri. The tour was around an hour and 40 minutes. He does two tours in the evening and I highly recommend it! Wear comfortable shoes and drink lots of water!
After Jonathan’s tour, he gave us a recommendation to go to Coop’s for dinner. There was a decently long line but we got seated in good time. The time to get food was a bit longer but my red fish was quite tasty and worth it. After we left, we took a quick stroll through the French Quarter but we were pretty tired and went back to our Airbnb for the evening. Late night munchies got the best of us after a run to Walgreens. Dominique and I went to Fry and Pie for snacks.
The menu was amazing, nothing but french fries and pies. We ordered mint chocolate grasshopper pie, peach pie and the red eye which was a coffee based with toffee topping. I could not resist the curry cauliflower fries and they had to come home with me. The pies come in individual tins and everything was perfect for us to share. Our friend who flew in from Dallas, Ren, had a snack when she arrived.
The next morning, Kat, Dominique and I got up decently early to go to District Doughnuts. I enjoyed a Funfetti Doughnut and a salmon cream cheese kolache (yes, I ate them at the same time. Don’t judge me). I washed it down with Vietnamese coffee. Perfect to start the day, a little sweet and a little savory.
After that we were dedicated our afternoon to shopping, we picked Ren up and went to the Funky Monkey thrift store. We had a blast finding vintage clothes to wear to our Las Vegas trip in December. I personally loved the clothes that reminds me of clothes my mom wore in the early 90’s. After our 80’s montage of thrift shopping, we made our way across the street to the Rum House.
Ya’ll… Let me tell you something, this place’s queso was out of this world. We know queso, we live in Texas. The Rum House was on point. The tacos and my rum beverage were phenomenal. We were now feeling pretty sleepy after our shopping excursion and went back for a disco nap before going on to the evening’s activities.
I suggested getting a cocktail before going to a drag show that evening. We had to go to the Carousel Bar. It is one of my happy places in the world. I love sitting at the bar as it slowly rotates and sipping on a Pimms Cup. It is just exquisite. We made our way out of the French Quarter for our 7:30 pm show. The French Quarter was especially crowded this weekend because of the Red Dress Run. We knew nothing about the Red Dress Run until we arrived on Friday night. It is a run for charity where women and men dress up in Red Dresses and race (walk) around and drink beer.
We arrived at Mags and enjoyed wonderful cocktails prepared by the fabulous Princess Stephanie. She made us feel incredibly welcomed and was very attentive the whole evening. After the show, we made our way outside and an older gentleman stopped us and asked if we needed a cab or anything else. Turns out, he is the owner of the bar, Paul and wanted to make sure his patrons got home safely.
We stood outside and had a lovely conversation with him and several other locals. This is what New Orleans is about. The local people are so warm and hospitable. We had not eaten since lunch and drank a good amount, so it was definitely time for dinner. We made our way back to the French Quarter and found St. Lawrence. It was not busy at all and just want we wanted. I was drinking Pimms Cups pretty much all night and I saw a blueberry basil Pimms Cup on the menu, I could not resist. I am so glad I did order it because it was magic in a cup. It was a frozen version of the drink and just absolutely incredible. I also ordered a shrimp po-boy. Super delicious and a perfect way to end the evening.
We got up the next morning and decided to take in brunch before we went our respective ways. We settled on the Ruby Slipper. I ordered a Bacon Bloody Mary, perfectly seasoned and spiced with some nice candied bacon in the glass. We didn’t have to wait long for a table, but we did wait quite a long time for food.
When the food came out though, it was totally worth the wait. I had 2 different styles of eggs benedict, the Shrimp Boogaloo and Eggs Cocha. Both were equally delicious although I really enjoyed the richness of the Eggs Cocha.
This weekend was all about reconnecting with ourselves and taking a break from the respective craziness in our lives. New Orleans opens up her arms like a wonderful southern grandmother waiting for you to come home. It is why it is my absolute favorite city in America. She is full of beautiful people, colorful and haunting history, rich and wonderful cuisine. I cannot wait for my return.