cortex and Secretariat in New Orleans!
posted August 23, 2015 7:28 AM RSS | iCal | +googleCal
Thu August 27 at 8:00 PM, Bellocq
Lee Circle, Lee Circle, New Orleans, LA, USA (Map & Directions)
Hey, NOLA-proximate mefites! Me and my wife are headed your way soon on the drive home to Portland, and we'd love to get together on Thursday Aug. 27th in New Orleans. Let's do Bellocq at 8!
We'll be staying at a Le Pavillon near Poydras and Baronne Weds. and Thurs., and something walkable from there would probably be ideal but we're down with whatever.
Also happy to hear suggestions for stuff to see while we're in town, though I'm guessing there's no real shortage there.
Also happy to hear suggestions for stuff to see while we're in town, though I'm guessing there's no real shortage there.
Well, if you're looking to eat fancy while you're here, Coolinary New Orleans is going on. Many of the mid to upscale restaurants offer a three course dinner for $30 or a two course lunch for $20.
posted by Night_owl at 2:40 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by Night_owl at 2:40 AM on August 24, 2015
A second vote for Bellocq. It's wonderful and intimate.
posted by ColdChef at 8:07 AM on August 24, 2015
posted by ColdChef at 8:07 AM on August 24, 2015
Bellocq sounds good to me! What time works best for people?
posted by Secretariat at 6:26 AM on August 25, 2015
posted by Secretariat at 6:26 AM on August 25, 2015
As far as neat things to see, to my tastes, the pharmacy museum sounds great- insectarium not so much. I can not get on board with this trend of rooms full of living bugs ("butterfly gardens"). I'd probably like to see a graveyard, and maybe window-shop or browse some weird shops where I might not buy anything, if there's a good area for that. Maybe look at some water- the river/delta/gulf is pretty interesting to me.
posted by Secretariat at 6:47 AM on August 25, 2015
posted by Secretariat at 6:47 AM on August 25, 2015
Me personally, 8 works for a time. Gots to have dinner, walk the dog, etc. Speaking of dinner: I have no idea how your funds run but very near your hotel and Bellocq both are so many delicious restaurants. You can't go wrong with Herbsaint - ever. We recently had a killer meal at Balise, just around the corner, and Tivoli & Lee is right there as well. Chances are any other New Orleanian could name three totally different and equally excellent restaurants within the same walking distance.
Water is easy. There's a great walking path between the French Quarter and the Mississippi River. If you really want to get onto it, the Algiers Ferry is cheap at $2.
As for walking and browsing and cemeteries, well. There's tons of that. Royal St. in the French Quarter will be good for window browsing and people watching. Lots of tourists like to hit up St. Louis Cemetery #1 just above (northwest, whatever, we don't use cardinal directions here) the French Quarter but it's not my favorite. My recommendation would be to take the St. Charles streetcar out to St. Charles and Washington. Head "south" (aka towards the river) from there to find Lafayette Cemetery #1. Much more picturesque in my opinion. Once you're done there, head a few more blocks further south to Magazine St. which has plenty good window shopping. Maybe hit up Stein's Deli if you're hungry for lunch.
[p.s. my two tips for people new to the French Quarter:
1.) If you ever get "lost" just step out into any intersection (after checking for traffic, of course) and look for tall buildings. You'll only see them in one direction, and that's where your hotel is.
2.) If someone says to you, "Bet you five bucks I can tell you where you got them shoes at" you just say, "On my feet" and keep walking.]
posted by komara at 8:25 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Water is easy. There's a great walking path between the French Quarter and the Mississippi River. If you really want to get onto it, the Algiers Ferry is cheap at $2.
As for walking and browsing and cemeteries, well. There's tons of that. Royal St. in the French Quarter will be good for window browsing and people watching. Lots of tourists like to hit up St. Louis Cemetery #1 just above (northwest, whatever, we don't use cardinal directions here) the French Quarter but it's not my favorite. My recommendation would be to take the St. Charles streetcar out to St. Charles and Washington. Head "south" (aka towards the river) from there to find Lafayette Cemetery #1. Much more picturesque in my opinion. Once you're done there, head a few more blocks further south to Magazine St. which has plenty good window shopping. Maybe hit up Stein's Deli if you're hungry for lunch.
[p.s. my two tips for people new to the French Quarter:
1.) If you ever get "lost" just step out into any intersection (after checking for traffic, of course) and look for tall buildings. You'll only see them in one direction, and that's where your hotel is.
2.) If someone says to you, "Bet you five bucks I can tell you where you got them shoes at" you just say, "On my feet" and keep walking.]
posted by komara at 8:25 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
We'll be running from Happy's Irish pub on Poydras at 6:00pm Wednesday for the weekly 5k. If you see a bunch of runners, that's us.
posted by domo at 5:10 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by domo at 5:10 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
If you go check out Magazine Street before 3 either day and want something sweet, stop by Sucre and ask for Kara and I'll hook you up.
posted by Night_owl at 7:38 PM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Night_owl at 7:38 PM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
I find it odd that there haven't been more responses to this. I guess everyone down here is deep sleeping in their August Hibernation Chambers and won't emerge until around October.
posted by komara at 1:22 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by komara at 1:22 PM on August 26, 2015
My excuse is simply that I hadn't checked MeFi in a week or two! But now that I have, I should be able to make this tomorrow!
posted by Corinth at 9:32 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by Corinth at 9:32 PM on August 26, 2015
I've been checking the thread but haven't responded because I can't make it tomorrow. Post a bunch of pictures so I can live vicariously through people who can go out on school nights! Have fun! (Back to the old August Hibernation Chamber...)
posted by artychoke at 10:51 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by artychoke at 10:51 PM on August 26, 2015
I intend to make it out to Bellocq this evening. Cortex, I'll be walking past your hotel on my way to Lee Circle, so if you two want a guide/walking buddy I'm happy to pop by.
posted by darainwa at 3:36 AM on August 27, 2015
posted by darainwa at 3:36 AM on August 27, 2015
This is my first week of classes/work, so I'm swamped but I'll see if I can talk my boyfriend into going!
posted by MadamM at 4:20 PM on August 27, 2015
posted by MadamM at 4:20 PM on August 27, 2015
Just had hell of a dinner with ColdChef, headed over to Bellocq now. Stoked to see y'all!
posted by cortex at 5:40 PM on August 27, 2015
posted by cortex at 5:40 PM on August 27, 2015
artychoke: I'm sorry to report that I didn't see a single photo being taken, so there's no proof that this thing just happened.
posted by komara at 9:42 PM on August 27, 2015
posted by komara at 9:42 PM on August 27, 2015
I have no idea what enjoyable meetup you're even talking about. You can't possibly prove I met some great mefites and had a fun time!
posted by Secretariat at 9:38 AM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Secretariat at 9:38 AM on August 28, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'll assume y'all just hung around in your pajamas and watched Netflix. Yay! I'm just like the cool kids!
posted by artychoke at 10:46 AM on August 28, 2015
posted by artychoke at 10:46 AM on August 28, 2015
Thanks y'all for coming out; that was a super nice time, and it was great to variously meet you or see you again.
posted by cortex at 7:46 PM on August 28, 2015
posted by cortex at 7:46 PM on August 28, 2015
It was great to meet you, too! I'm sorry I missed you leaving while we were out on the patio - that was a bummer!
posted by Corinth at 12:12 AM on August 29, 2015
posted by Corinth at 12:12 AM on August 29, 2015
Oh no! We thought you two had to jet or something, didn't realize we were the ones ditching!
posted by cortex at 6:28 AM on August 29, 2015
posted by cortex at 6:28 AM on August 29, 2015
Wait! There as a patio?! I had no idea. Shoot, we must have seemed like jerks. I thought there must have been some discussion that happened when I was in the bathroom or something and just decided to go with it.
posted by Secretariat at 8:16 PM on August 29, 2015
posted by Secretariat at 8:16 PM on August 29, 2015
Just out the doors to the right of the bar! Margot went out to smoke and I went with her. We must have seemed super rude at the time, too, haha. Sorry!
posted by Corinth at 9:31 AM on August 30, 2015
posted by Corinth at 9:31 AM on August 30, 2015
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
If you want walkable from Poydras and Baronne ... well, you'll have to specify what kind of place you want to see. My personal preference would be Bellocq but that's darker and more posh and with fancy cocktails crafted by experienced hands. If you want a total dive bar we can head over to Chuck's. I think I've heard you've been there before. If you want anything in-between then we've got all that too.
This city kind of shuts down during August so all your fun stuff to see will probably end up being indoors. I don't know much about what you're into so I'll just start with listing the insectarium, pharmacy museum, and aquarium as things within walking distance that should have AC.
posted by komara at 3:57 PM on August 23, 2015