NEW ORLEANS — Everyone should walk down Bourbon Street once, but for some of us, once is enough. There are, of course, lots of other streets to walk down in New Orleans' French Quarter, nearly all of them imbued with charm and infested with us: tourists.
So where does the artist in Jackson Square or your waitress at Pat O'Brien's stop for a drink at the end of the day or eat the next morning? Try two of New Orleans' other great avenues: Frenchmen and Magazine streets.
Frenchmen is northeast of the Quarter and easy walking distance (follow Chartres Street across Esplanade Avenue and you run into it). It's two busy blocks of let-your-hair-down local color, emphasis on local.
There are short-order places, BYOB places, a tiny grocery, a junk shop/used-book store and a place to get something tattooed or pierced. The Spotted Cat is a crowded, little bar full of live jazz and blues with a reputation approaching legend. One flight up is Adolfo's, a threadbare trattoria with a medieval kitchen and good pasta. Across the street, Snug Harbor has great jazz every night and wonderful beers, and down the block The Praline Connection offers excellent Cajun fare. But everywhere there is good food, strong drink and music.
Magazine Street, on the other side of downtown running roughly parallel to the river, is six miles of gingerbread bungalows, sidewalk cafes, eateries of every description, bars, art galleries, boutiques and antique shops. Slim Goodies Diner boasts the best breakfast in town; Lilette is for the white-truffle-and-Kobe-beef crowd; The Rum House is perfect for people watching on the sidewalk; and the no-nonsense tiled lunchroom called Casamento's Restaurant, a local institution, is a must stop for Dixie Beer and oyster lovers.
What both Frenchmen and Magazine streets have are lots of customers who are NOLA natives. Visit either and you'll feel like one too.
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