Well, wouldn’t you know it?  After 3 days of parades, late nights and too much food and drink in New Orleans, I came down with a nasty sinus infection and have been feeling terrible for the last few days and finally saw a doctor this morning.  Note to self – I am no longer in my 20’s and need to take it a little easier when traveling.

One of the best things about New Orleans is the food.  There are so many incredible restaurants in this city, that’s it’s hard to choose where to eat.  Steve and I have tried many, many restaurants and we have a list of our favorites but we can’t always make it to everyone.  This trip we kept it a little more casual and didn’t visit any of the “jackets required” restaurants like Commander’s Palace or Arnaud’s.

One of our first stops was the Napoleon House located in the French Quarter.  This old, dilapidated building has been a bar & restaurant for at least 40+ years.  They make a fantastic muffaletta sandwich (served warm here, which I prefer).  If you’ve never had one, it’s an italian style sandwich with ham, mortadella, salami, an olive tapenade and provolone cheese served on a spongy round bread.  A side of red beans and rice goes perfect with it. The Napoleon House also invented the famous Pimm’s Cup cocktail, which is a gin-based liquer with lemon soda and a slice of cucumber – very refreshing in the summertime!

We had dinner with friends with GW Fins, which is also located in the French Quarter.  As you can probably guess by the name, their focus is on fresh seafood.  Their menu changes daily depending on what gets shipped in fresh that afternoon.  One thing that is always on the menu is the smoked sizzling oyster appetizer that comes out sizzling in an herbed butter sauce.  We each ordered various items, included a parmesan crusted sheepshead fish for me, scallops for Steve and some salads and appetizers to share.

On Sundays we always do jazz brunch at Mr. B’s Bistro.  They have a small live band that plays jazz music around the restaurant so it’s a fun and festive atmosphere.  Mr. B’s specialty is BBQ shrimp which has nothing to do with a grill or BBQ sauce.  It’s shell-on shrimp cooked in a peppery, spicy butter sauce and served with bread.  As it’s peel and eat, it’s very messy and you get a bib to eat it and it’s worth the mess.  Being brunch, they also have several egg dishes and breakfast dishes on the menu, which is what everyone else ordered at our table.  We ended with the insanely decadent hot buttered pecan pie in the post’s cover photo.

Steve and I also ate at Nola our first day there for lunch but we were so hungry that I didn’t even get any pictures.  I always get their garlic crusted drum fish, which was fantastic and Steve had a new special which was an oysters rockefeller pizza and he loved it as well.

For our very last meal, we decided to go back to Mr. B’s Bistro for lunch as they serve a very different menu from brunch.  Steve decided he was ready for some meat and ended up getting their lunch burger and I decided I should go a little lighter and had a small wedge salad and a bowl of chicken and andouille gumbo, which was very rich.  We were tempted by dessert but we knew it was time to start reining in the calories.

There is never enough time (or enough room in my stomach) to eat at every wonderful place in New Orleans so we just have to go back for another visit.  Some other favorite options are Commander’s Palace, Arnaud’s, Felix’s Oyster House and Delmonico’s.