How To Birthday in New Orleans

From Sunday second line and Carnival parades to our many festivals and concerts, New Orleans is a city of celebration. If the city can party over everything from tomatoes to our departed, imagine how fun it can be to celebrate yourself here. For me, a New Orleans birthday has to include great company, incredible food, music whenever possible and the occasional “only in New Orleans” event.

Many people start the day by pinning money on their chest.

Tales of the Cocktail – My 500th Post

I’ve been wondering for awhile now what my 500th post would end up being about. Turns out it’s an event I’ve never attended before – Tales of the Cocktail. What began as a cozy group of cocktail lovers in 2002 has ballooned into the spirit industry’s standard providing 5 days of over 200 events including tastings, networking events, parties,  seminars and my event – a parade! I was already overheating just putting on my wig, corset and boots when my fellow Pussyfooter, Christine Miller, called to see if I’d caught the bus that just pulled away from a block down the road from me. I started running when she said she’d try to stop the bus at the next stop. She ran to catch it from 1/2 block away and I did my best with my 2 block sprint – in head-to-toe pink burlesque uniform.

Easter in NOLA

Easter in New Orleans means many things and, as usual, we had to miss events like the 100th running of the Louisiana Derby and the Historic French Quarter Parade, in order to make our events starting with brunch at the Red Fish Grill. On our way down Bourbon Street, we passed the line for the first seating at Galatoire’s. I love all the men in their seersucker suits and straw hats and the women in floral dresses with fancy Easter bonnets – just like when my mom was a girl. At the front of the line were two folding chairs holding tattered men who’d clearly been paid to hold a place in line – a tradition nearly as long as the line. 

Treme does Mardi Gras and Geaux Saints!

First things first – Who Dat!?! It was like it ought be in the Superdome Monday night. The Saints beat the Eagles, keeping our play-off hopes alive for another week. Quarterback Drew Brees has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 51 straight games which breaks yet another NFL record. The one advantage to not having season tickets is that we meet new people every game. At this game to our right, a great gang of football-loving young men. To our left, 3 women over 60, including one over 80. Yep, some women go to the Saints games, not to appease their husbands, but to get a “girl’s night out.” SO many women attend the games. In fact, the demographics of the Dome aren’t so very different than those of our area – men and women from baby to death’s door in an array of skin shades.

Favorite Things in NOLA 2011

I continue to accumulate favorite things about New Orleans, but here’s my second year favorites in a nutshell. Anything named previously in my Favorite Things in NOLA 2010 is marked with an Asterix*. Though there are too many “ties,” revealing an inability to “just pick one,” I promise you there were so many more things I wanted to include, so many more people and places I felt deserved mentioning.

Galatoire’s Gives

My Friday lunch at Galatoire’s last July was one of the most unique dining experiences of my fairly storied life. Between the Texan socialite’s birthday featuring boas, tiaras and a brass band, the deposed Governor who’d just been released from a over-10 year sentence and was showing off his 50 years younger bride, and the coffee service where the tuxedoed waiter sets the table on fire – it was like a diamond encrusted 3 ring circus. So, I was delighted to attend the 6th Annual Christmas Auction at Galatoire’s Monday Night.

L.A. – A Nice Place to Visit…

I think that when most people think of New Orleans, they think of food, music and lots of drinking. It may be true that Bourbon Street is the Disneyland of drinking, but it’s just one street. When people think of Los Angeles, I suppose they think of movie stars and premieres and there are plenty of both, though I doubt the average tourist would have access to either. Having lived in Los Angeles for nearly 18 years, going to L.A. is more than a vacation for me, it’s a return to my former home and the friends I left when I moved to the Big Easy.

Galatoire’s

What do you get when you take a fallen politician, a bevy of blingy birthday babes, seersucker suits, a brass band, tables on fire and a second line? Friday lunch at Galatoire’s. Tucked between Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club and the Mango Mango daiquiri and pizza shop on debaucherous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, Galatoire’s was established in 1905 by Jean Galatoire of Pardies, France. Galatoire honored family traditions and recipes that the now-fourth generation carries forward.

Mystic Krewe of Barkus – the dog parade!

During a season of near daily parades rolling day and night, it’s hard to stand out, but the Mystic Krewe of Barkus has one thing other parades don’t – dogs!!! The parade was M.C.’ed by local meteorologist, Margaret Orr, from the balcony of the Good Friends Bar. Turns out the Krewe was founded in that bar in 1992 at a meeting of the Margaret Orr fan club