I
am pleased to be headed to my home town, New Orleans, this coming week. I am covering the Webtrends Engage
sessions, Feburary 1 – 4. Not to miss out on an opportunity to eat, drink,
dance, listen to music, and see the city, I am going a bit early. I will be
writing about my experience both at the conferences and with the city. Here is a preview of the conference, Webtrends
Engage 2010 – New Orleans - February 1 – 4.
New Orleans remains a great place even as it also still needs a lot of help with reconstruction (see New Orleans Update 2007 Part One: the Paradox of Two Cities Remains). In fact your tourist dollars are a much need contribution to the local economy. You can check out the New Orleans category in the right side bar of this blog for my writings on the city. Here are the places I have made restaurant reservations so far. I am sure there will be others. We are starting out at the Columns Hotel, a place my grandmother ran in the 1950s and a great place in the Garden District. We actually have reserved the room she used to live in as manager. It is located at 3811 Saint Charles Avenue (504) 899-9308 Then we will move to the Roosevelt Hotel, the Engage site prior to the start of Engage, and to be near the Quarter.
Our first dinner will be at Mat and Naddies. This is a new place for me but it is highly recommended. It is located at 937 Leonidas St New Orleans, LA 70118 (504) 861-9600
Commander’s Place on the left is now reopened after renovations to their Garden
District location and we plan to do lunch there. This is
where we took out-of-towners for upscale in the 1950s. In 2007 we went for
Sunday brunch. The food was excellent but the service could be improved. We had
an amazing dish called duck debris that had piles of duck on top of a pecan
pancake as well as a BBQ shrimp dish. The brunch is three courses. They were
probably just getting reorganized then so the service is likely better now. It
is located at 1403 Washington St. (504) 899-8221.
Friday night is free oysters and the Joe Krown Band at Le Bon Temps Roule on Magazine Street.
Saturday night is
Bayona, an upscale place run by Susan Spicer. This will be a repeat and I have
her cookbook. It is in the French Quarter at 430 Dauphine Street (504-525-4455)
Sunday is Mr. B’s and old favorite that was under re-construction for a while. It is also in the French Quarter at 201 Royal Street New Orleans, LA 70130-2226 (504) 523-2078
We also plan to go to Firorella's for lunch, famous for its fried chicken. It is cooked to order and is listed as one of the top ten food things to do in the city. Fiorella’s is located near the French Market at 45 French Market Pl (504) 528-9566.
We are going on Thursday to be there in time for the Thursday Zydeco Night at the Rock and Bowl aka The Mid City Bowling Lanes. Trips to Maple Leaf Bar for music are also planned, as well as Le Bon Temps Roule. The best music in the city is not in the French Quarter or even Frenchman Street. It is uptown at places like these and Tipitani’s.
Now how could you not want to go there? They even have a great football team this year which has injected a lot of spirit into the city.
I am leaving the Engage nights open as they have some interesting events planned on site at the Roosevelt Hotel. Post Script: This was written before the Saints overtime win to go to the Super Bowl. It will be fun to join the celebration and anticipation.
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