Day 5
Boarded the green street car and headed to the Garden District.
Many homes in the area date between 1832 and 1900. Huge homes – take the grand homes of Niagara-on-the-Lake and multiply them grandeur significantly.
The Garden District area is considered to have some of the best-preserved collections of historic southern mansions in the United States.
The prosperity of the times in 19th century New Orleans is evident in the size and architecture of the homes.
The house used to film “Benjamin Button” with Brad Pitt is in the Garden District. It was after filming this movie that Pitt and Jolie purchased a property in the New Orleans.
Sandra Bullock also calls the Garden District in New Orleans home.
Commander’s Palace Restaurant takes up over half a block and is one of the most sought after restaurants to eat in while in NOLA with needed reservations (especially for lunch and their $0.25 martinis) weeks in advance. (Didn’t eat there)
We wandered back to the BBQ and Blues Festival for some lunch and great music.
After a bit of a rest, we strolled down to the waterfront and headed towards Frenchmen Street. We were too early for the nightly music scene, so we just checked out the neighbourhood.
Saturday + French Quarter = Multiple Weddings.
Any Day + French Quarter = Characters
Deciding on dinner was a challenge; we didn’t want bar food and the really good restaurants were booked. We roamed Bourbon, Royal, and side streets – crowded and loud. We finally decided to head back to the Business area and go to the new restaurant close to our hotel.
Johnny Sanchez, the brainchild of John Besh and Aaron Sanchez, serves “kicked-up” Mexican food. The restaurant is bright, modern, and fun. The place was packed, but we did get seats at the bar.
We ordered margaritas and they were delivered with corn chips and salsa.
Our appetizer was the Empanadas – a delicious blend of a fungus, corn, and cheese.
Next we ordered the Green Salad – mixed greens with spiced pumpkin seeds and a cilantro-lime vinegarette.
Then we ordered tacos (Todd picked the Sweetbread tacos with chorizo, avocado and a tamarind salsa; I chose Pork Belly with a grilled pineapple salsa). Like I mentioned, the place was packed, and our server behind the bar was kept busy from the bar orders coming in, patrons at the bar, and people converging on the bar while waiting for a table. …..still no tacos….. The server gave us a complimentary roasted Brussel sprout salad and resubmitted our order. Todd’s sweetbread tacos arrived shortly after and he waited for mine to come, gave up, and ate his.
Mine never did appear. The server was very apologetic and only charged us for drinks and the Empanadas. This is a new restaurant and they are still adjusting. The fact that the server acknowledged the issues and compensated us is a huge “feather in their cap”.
