How to stuff yourself in NOLA

Go on a food tour!  We went with Butch through an airBNB experience.  There was one other couple on the tour, who said they loved food, but then ate little and didn't talk.  So we basically had the guide to ourselves.

We met just across the street from the scene below.  We met at Artillery Park on Decatur Street.  We got there a little early so had time to take some photo's while waiting for the other couple to arrive.

The day was overcast and quickly got darker and darker.  You can see the fog rolling in across the Mississippi.

Be this time the rain was getting started.  Just light, so our guide said we could wait under the big oak trees below the area where the cannon was.  Below is one of the bright wall mosaics.

In front of the mosaic was a very popular restaurant with a jazz group preforming in front of it.

By this time I had put on my plastic rain cape - to keep me a little dryer and protect my backpack and camera.  Now there is a steady rain.  The other couple have arrived and are soaking wet.  They have one umbrella between them and refuse our offers of sharing umbrellas or giving them a plastic rain cape. 

Our first stop was at Stanley's for Gumbo.  This, according to Butch, was the perfect Gumbo.  A rich, dark sauce with shrimp, oysters, beef and sausage in it along with the rice.  It was excellent.  This particular gumbo has influences from many cultures.  The Spanish sausage, the African sassafras, the base of the gumbo, the French rue, and the Italian - which I have forgotten.  But also a touch of German.  You can barely see the German potato salad hiding behind the water glass.  You put a scoop full of potato salad right in the middle of the gumbo and mix it in.  This adds thickness to the gumbo as well as dilutes the spiciness which is too much for some.  You can also add Louisiana hot sauce or Tabasco sauce.  These two condiments seem to be served with all meals.

Of course I can't resist taking street photos as we walk along - so they will be intermixed with the food. 

The next stop was for alligator sausage.  These were served with 3 different sauces.  On the left a Creole hot mustard, in the middle a remoulade and on the right a hot yellow mustard.  It tasted like a good sausage.  I would not have identified it as being an unusual flavor.  Butch did say that if you had the same dish out in the bayou's it would have a much gamier flavor.  This came from farm raised alligators, which taste much milder.

New Orleans was under the influence of the Spanish for about forty years.  They renamed all the streets with Spanish names.  There are signs like the one below about the city giving the Spanish name.

This is supposed to be the most photographed building in New Orleans. 

The house below is meant for two families.  Each has one window and one door.  Like the slave cabins - each small house was for around 6 people.

Next stop was at Frank's for the muffuletta.  New Orleans was not a sandwich culture.  So when the immigrant Italians came up with this sandwich, it changed the eating habit of the locals.  Before you basically got take gumbo or similar items to take back to your desk.  What sets this sandwich apart, is that along with the meat and cheese it is filled with an marinated olive salad and heavy on the olive oil.  I don't like olives, so this was a bust for me.

We passed by a restaurant that serves "boils".  Butch was swooning with the smells coming out to the street.  We did not participate in this delicacy.

This was our muffuletta.

We dashed across the street into the French Market.  This time, in spite of our rain gear, our feet got soaked as the street had 4-5" of water in it.  Our next stop was for the desert that New Orleans is famous for.  But this one had a twist on it.  Loretta's puts in a small amount of praline in the center and uses more of a flaky dough.  It was to die for!

It has been raining torrents for the last 30 minutes.  We stayed in the French Market .  We are waiting for our beignets to be freshly cooked for us.

The gentleman seated at a table across the street is not moving.  He is dressed in Mardi gras finery.  Another man comes up to him and seems to be trying to convince him to come someplace dryer.  It is raining very hard, and the thunder claps are so loud that I am startled each time.  But the gentleman stays put.

People are lining up on the outside edges of the market waiting for a chance to cross the street.  Those are mannequins in the store window on the other side.

I go back in to the middle.  The wind is blowing the rain into the side of the market where the table and chairs are.

Rain pouring from the roof spout, off the awning and out of the down spouts. 

The crowd is growing here and across the street.

Finally the beignets are ready.  So delicious!

Our last stop, still in the French Market, is for oysters.  Another food I can do without.  Mike said they were very good, but not near as good as the ones we got in Maryland in August. 

It is still raining heavily.  Mike calls for an Uber and we had back to our rental.  When we arrive back to our rental in Metairie, it looks like it has not rained at all here!

Tonight we are going to Commander's Palace for dinner.  We usually don't do fine dining on these trips, but we are meeting up with friends from New Mexico who just happen to be in New Orleans at the same time.  Probably no pictures as I don't plan to take my camera.