So, after arriving into New Orleans, and finding my hotel, and getting a bit of work done, I was so desolate to find that I had missed the chance to hit Casamento's, the oyster joint I'd heard so much about (in fact, this whole trip was loaded with strange food mishaps... more later).
Not to be deprived of $7/dozen oysters, I hit the old standby, Acme Oyster Co.
- whatever you want to say about this place, it's a good, jovial place for a single diner, and the oysters are plentiful and fresh. There I ordered a dozen oysters, a small cup of gumbo and a Killians.
The gumbo was soooo tasty - just enough heat to require the beer, not so much that I couldn't taste my food. It was rich reddish-black, and loaded with seafood and rice. Bartender was a super-sweet gal who took good care of me, and the folks sitting next to me were really friendly.
The oysters were awesome - they're lighter and brinier than what we're used to on the W. Coast, but they are enormous and clean, clean, clean. The bartender asked me if I wanted another dozen, and I sure did, but had early dinner reservations at Brigtsens with a couple of friends.
After a couple hours of walking around, and hearing that my poor friend KO was sick and not going to make it to New Orleans for a couple days, I hung out and eagerly awaited JL's arrival. Well, our dinner reservation came and went, and I am kind of bummed that I didn't just get in a cab and go by myself, b/c JL didn't make it in until 6:30, and we didn't head out 'til almost 8. I could totally have had dinner and still met up with her later. Oh well, live and learn.
Anyway - we ended up at House of Blues (blech) where I had a better than average caesar salad (at this point, it was almost 9 and I didn't want to eat too late) with blackened chicken, and she pronounced her catfish nuggets "very good".
We went off find a "sexy" place to spend a few hours, and first ended up at a place called the Circle Bar - really, really cool place, but on this particular night is was a local rockabilly band and we were definitely out of place. Headed to the old, dependable Whiskey Blue at the W and there we stayed until around 1am.