April 23, 2012 - New Orleans, Louisiana

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was in New Orleans in April 2012 for the American Academy of Neurology Meeting.  Lisa was to join me midweek and my friend Dan from residency had just moved there about a year previously.  The sight-seeing in this journal entry is minimal, but I felt it captured the feel of New Orleans well.

This morning I am at Mother's (featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive In and Dives) for breakfast on my second full day in New Orleans (NOLA) during my first visit in 8 years and my first since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city 7 years ago.

I arrived two nights ago and and after checking into my hotel, I went right to Bourbon Street.  I was looking for Sea Port Cafe and Bar as on my three previous trips to NOLA (college spring break in 1993, interview for residency at Tulane in 1996, and vacation with Lisa in 2004) my first dinner has been jambalaya there.  Alas, it has closed.  Later when I realized where it was, I tried the, "new" place at that location and had a sampling of red beans and rice (yummy) and a Tin Roof Amber Ale - brewed in Baton Rouge and absolutely wonderful.  But, I ended up having dinner (Red dish and a disappointingly small side of jambalaya) at The Old Coffee Pot restaurant in the Quarter on St. Peters' near Pat O'Brien's.  Nothing special, but the mint julep was good.

Bourbon Street was as crazy as ever.  Music was blaring from many of the clubs and, of course, there was a preponderance of Gentlemen's clubs.  Hustler now has a big presence of Bourbon street...  Lots of the old haunts are still there - Maison Bourbon, Pat O'Brien's, Court of the Two Sisters, and, of course, Preservation Hall.  All sorts of craziness - a man half passed out on the street, surrounded by police, a group of about 8 women doing the Electric Slide in the middle of the street (the song was blaring from the bar they were in front of).  I was older than most of the revelers and felt slightly out of place, but I couldn't not have gone, if only to remember previous trips, and there were people of all ages there, including couples old enough to be grandparents, just taking in all the sights.

I passed a bar on St. Peters, just off Bourbon and next to Pat O'Brien's, called The Dungeon.  It brought back a hazy memory going there with my college roommates on our Spring Break trip senior year (I later found out my friend Justin from residency was also in New Orleans for Spring Break in the spring of 1993 - maybe I spilled beer on him and don't even know...).

I had wanted to go to Preservation Hall that night (Lisa will not want to go after she comes down in a couple of days) but it didn't open until 9.30 PM (which was 10.30 to me, having just arrived from the East Coast), when it usually opens at 8 PM, because of a private event.  So, I decided to call it an early night.

Yesterday I had a morning class on neuro-ophthalmology, where I ran into Justin and made plans to join him and initially Dan, but Dan had to bail, for dinner.  After class, I went to the French Quarter and had lunch at the Acme Oyster Company.  Seafood gumbo was a little disappointing (tiny shrimp) but the grilled oysters were fanstastic: char-grilled with some cheese on top.  Add a little Tobasco and it is a beautiful thing.  Washed it down with an Abita amber ale - another quality local beer, this one brewed just outside of NOLA.

Acme was an interesting place.  There was quite a line to get in, but because I was alone, I was taken early.  I sat at the bar next to a woman from Ohio and her friend.  I was waited on by a wonderfully amiable gentleman who made good conversation but almost never looked up from the oysters he was continously shucking.  He never budged from standing in front of me and the Ohioan woman.  I swear, I never saw him write anything down when I ordered (he just kept shucking), there didn't seem to be any electronic ordering system, he never moved, and I didn't catch him relaying my order to anyone verbally and yet, somehow, my correct order promptly arrived!

After lunch, I walked down to Jackson Square.  Popped in to St. Louis Cathedral, lit a candle, and said a prayer.  I remember when I first visited St. Louis 19 years ago, I thought it was the most beautiful church I had ever seen.  While, having been to cathedrals in Europe (including St. Peter's in the Vatican), I can no longer say that, it is still pretty impressive.  It was glorious sunny afternoon and my plan was to plant myself on a bench under one of the big trees in the square and finish reading the cases for my Grievance Committee meeting tomorrow, but even under the tree the glare was too much for the back-lit screen of my Kindle Fire....  So, I had to cut the glorious afternoon short and go back to the hotel.

Cathedral of St. Louis, Jackson Square

 After finishing the cases, I went to the 5.30 PM mass at St. Patrick's Church, which was just a couple of blocks from the my hotel.  Built in the 1850's, it is NOLA's second oldest Catholic Church and another beautiful building.  Really old school - the altar is still built into the apse and the priest said the liturgy of the Eucharist with his back to the congregation!  They also have an old school pulpit and apparently the 9.30 AM mass on Sunday is a Latin mass!

After mass, I went to dinner with Justin and colleague of his from U. of Wisconsin (were Justin is now faculty) named Marcus.  Nice guy, but very quiet and I felt like Justin and I dominated the conversation, which ranged from medicine to politics, to comparative theology!  I had forgotten what a keen mind Justin has!  We ate at a Cuban restaurant on Esplanade, just outside the French Quarter, called Mojito's.  The mojitos were quite good.  The food was good too, not quite as good as Cuba de Ayer back home (or quite as authentic, a lot of New Orleans influence on the menu), but still very good.  We ate several tapas of different things.  I remember the calamari (not fried!), black paella, pork sliders, and short ribs being particularly good.  But, the atmosphere was awesome.  We sat outside on a patio.  The weather was picture perfect.  Inside, a Latin band played while other patrons salsa danced.  Nice little place (Justin had just found it on Urban Spoon).

After dinner, we met up at Pat O'Brien's with another friend of Justin's named Simon.  Simon was a former resident at University of Wisconsin and was now working in Colorado.  Great guy and a lot of fun to hang out with.  Simon is an electromyographer, like me (Justin is a stroke specialist) and although behind me in training, was nearly my age as he got a business degree initially and then went back to med school later.  As it turns out, he is from Towson (Maryland) originally and graduated from Calvert Hall in 1990!  So, he knew my med school friend Ed and graduated high school with my college friend and med school roommate, Bimal (Ed graduated from the Hall in 1989).  Small world, eh?  Another nice guy I met there was a Brazilian named Daniel - big baseball fan, although unfortunately a Yankees fan...

Although I only had one Hurricane at Pat O's (where we sat in the courtyard in front of the fountain/fire), that someone else paid for, we lingered at dinner and hung out for quite a while at Pat O's , so it was nearly 2 AM by the time I got back to the hotel.  Haven't done that in a while!  Made getting up this morning rough and I am really tired!  When Daniel and I left the group to go home, Justin, Marcus, and Simon were going out somewhere else!

Today after breakfast I have an all-day stroke CME course.  At Mother's I had a crawfish etouffee omelet, which was really good (although I could only eat 2/3 of it).  The grits that came with it, however, were amazing.  If I ever eat breakfast there again, I would probably just have the grits and toast!  I would like to come back later in the week with Lisa for lunch to get po'boys.  They are apparently known for their ham (Lisa's favourite) and turkey.