A Frenchie’s guide to New Orleans
Three days in one of the most French locations in the U.S. - New Orleans!
When calculating the days we had free during Easter break, Andy and I figured we had enough time to go somewhere for a long weekend and not much else. Enter New Orleans, a city we both loved, but had never been to together. It had all of the makings of a perfect trip, including our top three musts when traveling: a great food scene, an incredibly diverse and interesting history and, of course being from the most cloudy city in the U.S., warm weather and the sun! Follow along and discover some hidden gems in one of the most French cities in the U.S., New Orleans!
The beautiful entrance
The Hotel - Maison de la Luz
Without even intentionally trying to pick a French hotel, we ended up staying at the Maison de la Luz, located in the business district. On every other trip we had visited, we both had only ever stayed in the French Quarter, so we were interested to see what we thought about being away from all of the action. With 67 rooms and suits, the hotel was large enough that you felt as though you had all of the luxuries of a bigger hotel, but small enough to feel quaint, exclusive and even, at times, very private. This boutique hotel has little touches that made the stay feel that much more special.
The adorable little coffee caddy that was left at your door for you to wake up to.
In the mornings they offer coffee or tea service, if requested the night before, where they bring the most darling little caddy to your door with thermoses of hot water for tea or fresh coffee with creams, sugars, and tiny jars of honey accompanied by cups to enjoy in the room or to-go cups to take out on an adventure.
Take a little trip me with around the eclectic “living room” and breakfast nook in the video above.
If you’re up for greeting the world pre-coffee, they offer the same drink selections downstairs in their beautiful “living room” area to sip amongst the other guests, while reading your newspaper or a book.
For tea, they have a generous selection of the Paris favorite Palais des Thés and, in the afternoons, offer the tropical garden flavor freshly brewed as iced tea in the most ornate, glass, art-deco dispenser. Bottles of simple syrup, lemon juice and a variety of different types of sugar accompany the mango, pineapple, papaya, and peach flavored drink. After walking around the city for hours, coming back to such a refreshing drink was so nice and added to our experience.
On top of the wonderful drink services provided throughout the morning and afternoon, Maison de la Luz also offers light refreshments of cheeses, crackers, and wines in the early evening. These are set out in the same reception area as the breakfast drinks and iced tea, allowing you to nibble a little before heading out for a night on the town.
Andy’s favorite, however, was the board of freshly baked oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies that they set out as a little snack before bedtime.
Another thoughtful touch can also be found in the living room. Off to the side was a large, antique buffet that doubled as a mini bar. This was for guests who did not want to visit the speakeasy bar (more on that later) and would rather take their drinks up to their room or relax in the living-room space or lounge area. The system was pretty easy: make your drink, then write down what you made and your room number before leaving to enjoy your creation.
Off of the concierge, were two glass doors that led you into a small, cozy lounge with big, comfy sofas and chairs for guests to sit and have a drink or just relax. Andy and I found ourselves tucked into a sofa just playing cards (one of our favorite traveling past times) and enjoying some cookies on one of the nights we stayed and thought it was the perfect way to end the night. Especially because it seemed as thought not many people used the space, so we had the whole place to ourselves!
The one interesting thing about the lounge was that it doubles as a secret entrance to the hotel’s speakeasy. When Andy and I travel to other cities, we usually research ahead of visiting to see if there are any secret bars and try to visit at least one of them, so the fact that we had one inside of our hotel was definitely an added bonus!
If you walk through the lounge and push on the wall, it spins to reveal a hidden bar!
You can gain access to the speakeasy through the lounge wall (as seen in the above photo) or, if you aren’t a hotel guest with access to the front doors, which were locked most of the time, you can get into the “Mari Lou” speakeasy by wandering down the ivy-covered archway located around the side of the building.
We stayed in a king bedroom and while it wasn’t considered as big or roomy as the other rooms or suites offered, we both made the comment that it was one of the largest rooms we’ve ever stayed in. Must be all of those on-the-smaller-side European rooms we’ve gotten used to!
This is just the bedroom, but there is also a large entrance room with an armoire.
There is a streetcar stop about a minute away from the hotel door and the one streetcar, the St. Charles, is the oldest continuously operating street car in the world, traveling those tracks for more than 150 years! We made sure to get a Jazzy Pass that allows for unlimited rides for one day in order to experience it. The pass is great and works on not only the streetcars, but also the buses and ferries and it’s only $3.
Getting picked up in the Garden District.
If you are more of a walker, the trip to Bourbon and other attractions in the Quarter took only about 15-20 minutes by foot, which we really enjoyed.
Final Review
Our overall experience staying outside of the French Quarter was, to our surprise, absolute perfection. The staff at Maison de la Luz was always helpful, nice, and accommodating. The rooms were spacious, incredibly clean, and eclectic, which we appreciated.
The location of the hotel was just far enough outside of the busy spots to feel close enough to all of the action, but not in the middle of the chaos.
We would 1,000% stay here again on our next trip and would recommend it to anyone who wants a curated, boutique hotel experience not too far from all of the activities.
A Few of Our Favorite Activities
With Andy on dialysis and having to watch his liquid intake, drinking was not the main focus of our trip to The Big Easy. Each day, we planned an excursion or activity that would show us a little more about the history or culture of the area. While some fell kind of flat, others surprised us and unveiled a side of the city we weren’t expecting.
The New Orleans School of Cooking
I’m sure it’s absolutely no surprise to anyone that food was involved in at least one of the events. I love to cook, and I really love to eat and so we decided what better way to explore the city, than through a cooking class. Is this event touristy? Absolutely. We were with a small group of four other couples, each of us on holiday. Is it worth the experience? Absolutely! These classes fill up quickly and there are multiple classes being held for each time slot. They do have classes you can scheduled in the morning or afternoon, leaving your night open if you’d like, but we wanted to use this event as our dinner plans for Friday. Each class offers a different set of New Orleans specialties for you to choose from, so we made sure to go with a day that sounded the most delicious to us. If cooking doesn’t sound like an activity that you’d like to partake in on a vacation, they do have classes where you watch the chef cook each course while he explains the history of the dish and process of cooking it. After, you get to enjoy each creation without lifting a finger. We opted, however, for the “hands on” version of the classes in order to cook.
First, we sat with our fabulous chef/instructor while she explained the history behind all of the dishes we were going to create. Even as a total Frenchie a lot of the history of the French colonizing Louisiana was new to me and I found the backstory really interesting. The classes are three hours long and we started by making Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo. I knew I liked all of the components of this dish but had never tried it and was excited to try my hand at an authentic roux! After this dish was complete, we sat down with the other couples to enjoy our creations and chat about everyone’s trip so far. This was helpful because it led to a few more recommendations that weren’t originally on our radar.
After finishing with the first course, we headed back into the kitchen to create BBQ Shrimp and Grits. This was a really interesting part of the class because many people hadn’t ever cleaned a shrimp before. I have to admit, watching Andy do it was definitely the highlight of the evening!
He looks a bit terrified!
After the Shrimp and Grits were finished cooking, we sat back down as a group to eat while our stations got flipped to make dessert.
When we were finished with our second course, it was time to make Bananas Fosters, which we were really excited about. We had recently taken an online Italian cooking class where we had to flambé items, and both chickened out for fear of burning down the whole house. This was our chance to try our hand at the cooking style, all while under the close supervision of a trained chef, which made us feel a bit bolder than we were before.
All and all, we would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone who loves to cook and loves learning about food. The price per person is $150, which includes three hours of instruction, a multi-course dinner and unlimited drinks, which include water, lemonade, beer and wine. The price of the experience was a little expensive, but, if you love cooking like we do, it was totally worth it.
Drag Brunch at the Country Club
This experience came highly recommended from friends who try to visit the city at least once a year and it did not disappoint. We both started with boozy coffees and were delighted to find out they actually make their own Irish cream liquor, which was incredible! For food, we split the fried green tomatoes and Andy opted for the shrimp and grits as his meal and I chose the chop salad, wanting to take a little break from the heavy, savory foods we had been indulging in the past few days.
The restaurant itself is set up into different rooms with a large bar in the main room located at the back of the establishment. Each room had its own vibe and were painted in vibrant, beautiful colors. Our room was painted with the most beautiful and delicate birds, giving the space a whimsical and dreamy atmosphere.
The only downside to being separated into different rooms was that, at times, you felt a little “out of the loop” when you’d hear a lot of commotion going on in one of the other spaces and I felt like we spent a lot of time craning our necks out the door to see if we could catch a glimpse of what was going on.
When it comes to the drag queens, there were three and each performed twice for about two to three songs as they wandered from room to room.
Things I wish we knew before going:
They have a pool that you can stay and lounge at when brunch is over. The cost is $20 for a day pass, and it opens at 9:30 am and closes 11 pm on the weekends. We didn't realize this was an option until we were already there without our suits.
We also wish we would have known we were going to be sectioned off in different rooms. It seemed like if you sat at the bar, you were in the middle of all the action, and it is where the biggest party was. We will definitely be requesting these seats next time.
Our Favorite Food of the Trip
This was another recommendation from friends who visit New Orleans often. Affogatos are one of my most favorite things to get and I have been known to sit on Instagram and watch video after video of baristas in Italy methodically scraping the gelato around coffee cups, making a small well for the rich, dark espresso to flood into.
When setting up a reservation, they had a very small window for when you could actually book. We found out later, though, that they are open much later, but only take online reservations for the first hour or so of opening.
They have two rooms you can sit in. The one is the main room, filled with eclectic, comfy couches and incredibly funky artwork created by the owners themselves. They also have a private room called the Versace Hidden Room, which is decorated in what else, but Versace and custom furniture. This room is accessed through a secret door built into a massive armoire located in a corner of the main room. There is a caveat to booking this space, however, in that there is a minimum requirement of $100 you must spend to book this private space.
While they do have a charcuterie board and cheese board on their menu, this is very much a dessert and cocktail bar.
They do offer a handful of signature cocktails, mocktails, and a few beers and wines, but the affogatos are definitely the main attraction here and the menu has some really creative combinations. If you are feeling a bit adventurous, there is also the option to make any of the affogatos boozy, which sounded fun but would eliminate the espresso portion of the dish and that just seemed a little sacrilegious to a purist like myself.
When ordering, they have the option to get just one or you could opt for a flight which come in increments of two, three or four. We decided on a flight of three so we could try a few different kinds and I am so glad we did! While it was very hard to choose, we ultimately decided on The Franchi$e, which was a lavender lemon combination, The ‘84 World’s Fair, which was tiramisu inspired and The Ponchatoula, which was similar to a strawberry shortcake flavor. Each one was very different and just enough for us to be pleasantly full and not sick from all the sweetness.
Overall, we loved the quirky ambiance and new spin on a classic Italian favorite. We went before dinner and it was less crowded and relaxing, but walked past after dinner and it was packed with people spilling out onto the sidewalks. Drip! was a lot of fun and a really unique experience that we highly recommend trying when in the Big Easy!
Helpful tip:
They are a cashless establishment, so make sure you grab a card before going.
This was another recommendation from friends who visit the city often. The restaurant sits on the outskirts of the city but is a quick 10 minute Uber ride from the French Quarter and totally worth it! This is not a fancy place by any means, but it has the feel of a beloved, local spot that gives it its charm and allure. The menu is simple, with sandwiches, sides and, despite the word bakery in their name, only a handful of desserts to choose from. When you walk in, the line splits into two, one for the walk-up bar window and another for the walk-up window to order your food. There are long plastic folding tables with chairs under a large outdoor area covered by an awning, which adds to the communal dining experience.
Parkway Tavern and Bakery did not make any of the lists I found when looking up “best restaurants in New Orleans” and even the Uber driver seemed a little surprised when we told him where we were going, saying “how did you even find out about Parkway?” Like it is some local secret that he was surprised out-of-towners even knew about.
We ended up ordering two half sandwiches: The Surf and Turf, shown above, a mix of slow cooked roast beef and fried gulf shrimp and their most famous sandwich The James Brown, which was BBQ beef, fried gulf shrimp, pepper jack cheese and a hot sauce mayo. We also made sure to order a banana pudding, since it was one of the first time we had seen it on a menu and we both love the dessert. The sandwiches were absolutely delicious and Andy said that Parkway was his favorite restaurant we visited during the whole trip. We would absolutely recommend it to anyone who wants a classic po’boy in an authentic, local, hole-in-the-wall.
Helpful Tip:
This place had a massive line the whole time we were there, and we went in between lunch and dinner, so be prepared to wait. Most people had someone from their party go get drinks from the walk-up window and then bring them to the others in line so they could have a fun beverage while they waited.
Sucré
On our way to the beloved Café du Monde we passed this little pastry shop that was so incredibly beautiful, we couldn’t help but go in and take a peek around. As someone who thinks of herself as an old soul, I am attracted to anything in the art-deco style and was immediately drawn in not only by the gorgeous pastries, but the decor and ambiance. Self-described as a luxury patisserie, the prices were a little higher than most shops, but absolutely worth it. Andy tried a traditional buttered madeleine and a café au lait macaron and I had the almond petit four and we both said it was the most delicious pastries we’ve had in a long time. I also got a cappuccino which was good, as I am not the biggest fan of the chicory coffee found around most New Orleans restaurants.
They also had a lot of items you could take home as a gift to family and friends if you wanted to bring something a little less traditional.
Delicious Meringues!
Helpful Tip:
This is another cashless spot, which really worked for us because we barely carry cash anymore, but if you are someone who doesn’t use a card, it is something to consider before going.
Mother’s
This was the first restaurant we ate at since it was an eight minute walk from Maison de la Luz. It had come highly recommended by a friend who used to live in New Orleans and had a very similar vibe to Parkway Tavern and Bakery, but with an expanded menu. Mother’s offers breakfast all day along with an array of sandwiches, sides, salads, entrees and kids menu items. They also had a few different pies offered and we opted to try the sweet potato.
We didn’t want to over do it and so we split a roast beef sandwich topped with their famous debris (the delicious gravy left behind after cooking down the roast beef for hours) with a side of cheesy grits.
Mother’s is also a counter service restaurant where you order your meal then seat yourself at any table available. The sandwich was so delicious, but I am happy we split just one and I’m not sure how anyone can actually eat a whole themselves! While the grits had good reviews from people who have tried them before, they were probably my least favorite thing we had here. They didn’t have a salty, creamy taste I was expecting from the cheese and tasted a little bland. The pie, however, was exactly what I wanted it to be, not overly sweet with warm fall spices and was the perfect way to end the lunch. If you are someone who is looking for a home-cooked meal outside of the French Quarter, check out Mother’s for food that just feels like a warm hug!
Helpful Tip:
They do offer a vegetarian and gluten free menu for those who have dietary restrictions. It is important to note, however, that the seafood is fried in peanut oil for those of you who have nut allergies.
Did I miss one of your favorite spots in Nola??? Add it to the comments below and share with other readers!
Happy Travels!
-R
