Not Your Usual New Orleans Trip

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This neighborhood eatery is located in an ancient building that was once a pharmacy. Its tiny open-air cafe features lovingly prepared Southern food complemented with Mexican flair. Several tables, a small bar, and paintings by a local artist create a homey casual feel in this off-the-beaten-path eatery. Good appetizer choices are the Mexican Skins or the Crawfish Quesadillas. Opt for the barbecue combo of ribs and chicken and arm yourself with extra napkins. Vegans should take note; they also serve an excellent grilled vegetable platter with a baked potato.

Description:

This mid-city storefront restaurant is fun and funky. Surviving on word of mouth advertising, this is a special place even if they do not serve wine or accept credit cards. Try to arrive early so you reduce the risk of waiting in a long line. Attentive service assures the food arrives quickly. Specialties here include the meat, seafood or vegetarian paellas and fideuas with angel hair pasta. If these do not tempt your taste buds, there is also a selection of lamb, pork and chicken dishes to choose from.

Our Local Expert Says:

One of the best spots in town for watching a game, Cooter Brown's has in recent years flanked its walls with flat-screens and broadcasts a wide variety of sports and teams. Solid and widely varied bar fare accompanies a standout selection of imported bottled and draught beers.

Description:

This ultimate beer tavern has been a favorite watering hole since 1977. It boasts more than 400 brands of imported and domestic bottled beer and more than 40 on tap. The atmosphere is something like a sports bar, with eight color TVs, video poker games and pool tables. Surprisingly good cuisine makes the trip uptown on the trolley worth it. One example of the great bar food is the Cheese Fries, a favorite of the locals.

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Oak Street in the Riverbend area is a great stretch of unique restaurants, shops, and bars where the locals go for food and fun. Find treasures inside the jam-packed vintage store On the Other Hand. Check out galleries, spas, shops, and cafes along Oak. The Maple Leaf bar provides great live music at night, and you simply must eat at Jacques-Imo's, a colorful restaurant serving to-die-for Louisiana contemporary fare such as fried green tomatoes, crawfish, catfish, and their famous alligator cheesecake. Keep going down Oak, and you'll hit the levee, so you can climb on up and take a look at the Mississippi River!

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France meets the Caribbean in New Orleans at this modest, yet charming dining room with a tropical courtyard. Attractive photographs and brilliantly colored Caribbean scenes bring the pale yellow walls of this small restaurant to life. The Caribbean influence continues in the kitchen where the combination of herbs and spices used results in unusually mouth-watering flavors. From poached oysters with cayenne and lime to lamb sausage with mint beans--it is all good. The tropical theme of the dessert fare includes sorbets and fresh mango.

Description:

Still a relative newbie on the competitive restaurant scene, this little cafe is conveniently located next to the popular Maple Leaf Bar. The cafe is under the direction of Jacques Leonardi and his right hand man, Austin Leslie. Plastic flap walls and tables with floral, plastic tablecloths give it a casual feel. Despite the decor, crowds flock to this café. The food is delicious and the prices are even better. Entrees of Chicken-Fried Venison in Wild Mushroom Gravy, and Grilled Duck Breast in Orange Soy Glaze come specially recommended. All entrees include a house salad and two side dishes.

Description:

This is what a New Orleans club is all about, and its reputation was only furthered when it became the very first live music venue to reopen, just weeks after Katrina, with an emotional, generator-powered performance by Walter "Wolfman" Washington. It's medium-size but feels smaller when a crowd is packed in, and by 11pm on most nights, it is, with personal space at times becoming something you can only wistfully remember. But that's no problem. The stage is against the window facing the street, so more often than not, the crowd spills onto the sidewalk and into the street to dance and drink (and escape the heat and sweat, which are prodigious despite a high ceiling). You can hear the music just as well, watch the musicians' rear ends, and then dance some more. With a party atmosphere like this, outside is almost more fun than in. But inside is mighty fine. A good bar and a rather pretty patio out back (the other place to escape the crush) make the Maple Leaf worth hanging out at even if you don't care about the music on a particular night. But if the ReBirth Brass Band is playing, do not miss it; go and dance until you drop.

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Only twenty-five minutes from downtown New Orleans is Jean Lafitte Swamp. There are plenty of swamp tours that explore the watery lands by airboat or ferry, including some that provide transportation to the swamp from the city. You can also go to the Barataria Preserve National Park and walk through the swamps for free, either on your own or with a ranger guide. Sometimes the rangers even do moonlight swamp tours by canoe! Jean Lafitte Swamp is beautiful and mysterious with it's cypress trees and winding bayous. It is also home to hundreds of animals, including alligators, egrets, frogs, snakes, and over 300 species of birds.

Description:

This old white clapboard building is located near the uptown riverfront. Frills are few and far between in this dining room of bare top tables and walls covered with fish prints. Specialties of the house include fresh vegetables, hearty fruit pies, fried green tomatoes, stuffed pork chops and boiled beef brisket. It is a great place for a weekend breakfast or brunch.

Description:

This contemporary bistro located Uptown offers upscale yet comfortable dining. The decor is minimal with neutral gray walls and ceiling fans above the bentwood chairs and white linen tablecloths. The easy, sophisticated charm is a favorite with professional and business types from nearby uptown neighborhoods. Dishes are imaginative twists on New Orleans favorites. Specialties include the fresh sautéed fish in cream sauce flavored with crawfish stock and fried oysters matched with Brie. The cozy bar is known for its single-malt scotch selection.

Description:

Redesigned in the early 1990s to much critical applause, the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is a main anchor of the city's young arts district (once the city's old Warehouse District, it's now home to a handful of leading local galleries). Over the past 2 decades, the center has consistently exhibited influential and groundbreaking work by regional, national, and international artists in various mediums. The CAC staggers its shows, so there should always be something worth seeing hanging on the walls; it also presents theater, performance art, and music concerts. Individual exhibitions hang for 6 to 8 weeks, and performances are weekly. The basement here flooded, a bunch of windows broke, and the roof peeled back, with all the water going into the basement, destroying the electrical system and elevator. But the only exhibit was on the second floor, which had no damage, which was one bit of good luck. That they reopened as soon as January 2006 is remarkable.

Description:

The premier collection of Southern art in the United States. Though the building is dazzling, it is built around an atrium that takes up a great deal of space that could be devoted to still more displays. It does make for a dramatic interior, but given such a marvelous collection, one is greedy for more art rather than more architecture. But the facility is wonderful, the artists are impressive, and the graphics are well designed, informative, and often humorous. Just the permanent exhibit of self-taught/outsider art alone makes this worth a visit. Special exhibits are thoughtfully constructed, often containing enriching details -- for example a blues soundtrack for a display of Delta musicians, a video documentary on the late Benny Andrews. The new annex, the splendid Patrick F. Taylor library, originally designed by native Southerner Henry Hobson Richardson in the late 1800s, is an incredible salvation and use of an existing structure -- don't miss whatever temporary exhibit is currently on display. It bodes well for the institute's planned upcoming expansions. Though the hours (at press time) are still limited, they have resumed their delightful Ogden After Hours, which includes...

Description:

This muralist turned gallery artist has made a name for himself by painting many colorful representations of the New Orleans street life. Each of Brice's pieces is brightly colored and is perfect for those looking to spice up their collection. Bruce exhibits his work with other African-American artists in New Orleans Center Mall in the Central Business District. Limited editions as well as originals are available for purchase.

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LeMieux represents contemporary artists and fine craftspeople from Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. They include Leslie Staub, Charles Barbier, Pat Bernard, Mary Lee Eggart, Leslie Elliottsmith, JoAnn Greenberg, David Lambert, Deedra Ludwig, Shirley Rabe Masinter, Evelyn Menge, Paul Ninas, Billy Solitario, and Kate Trepagnier.

Description:

Sun Ray Grill offers a 21st century American dining experience. A variety of innovative dishes are offered and to complement them there's a wide range of drinks to choose from at the bar. Fresh local ingredients are mixed with international flavors to a make this one of a kind cuisine. Duck nachos, Thai barbecue chicken with coconut rice, sesame crusted Tokyo tuna are some of the recommended dishes. A few blocks away from the convention center, this restaurant is very spacious and is perfect for large parties. The restaurant also offers the patio dining arrangement so you can enjoy an intimate and quiet alfresco dining experience.

Description:

Located in the New Orleans' historic warehouse arts district, Chez Clay encourages you to express your creative side, alone or with your friends. For the artist in you, this all-age contemporary ceramic studio has a huge collection of clay pieces to paint. From coffee mugs to picture frames and more, you can polish your painting skills and give the practice pottery as presents! Chez Clay also allows you to paint your own ceramics as well.

Description:

This tiny bar is among the most bohemian-hip in town, courtesy of the slightly twisted folks behind Snake & Jake's. Ambience is the key; it's got the ever-popular "elegant decay" look, from peeling wallpaper to a neon glow from an old K&B drugstore sign on the ceiling. The jukebox keeps the quirky romantic mood going, thanks to bewitching, mood-enhancing selections from the Velvet Underground, Dusty Springfield, and Curtis Mayfield. The clientele is laid-back. Live music includes mostly local acts. Bet you'll see us there. Bet we will be complaining about how late the acts come on, again.