Got back two days ago. It really is a tremendous town. I was immediately blown away by just how lively everything was.
Arrived last Thursday, went to a place called Three Muses on Frenchmen street for a late dinner and music. The gumbo was excellent. We (8 dudes) just shared countless appetizers. Went out after and caught live music wherever we could find it, stumbled up and down Bourbon, and ended up at that place Lafittes for late night. Rumor has it there is a video of me singing Billy Joel with the live piano player.
Friday I went down to Cafe du Monde, did the beignet/coffee thing and then walked around the Quarter. By noon it was time to drink so I happened upon a spot called Johnny White's Corner Pub that had basketball on (it was conference tourney weekend) and cheap beer specials. The bartender was nice and got me drunk for about $20. Not bad.
That night went to the Wizards/Pelicans game (laugh all you want, we snapped their win streak!) and had dinner at a place called Galliers. It was just OK, prolly the worst meal I had all weekend. That night, went to a place called Fritzel's for live jazz -- the band was awesome and the bar was interesting -- a German style bar in the French Quarter. Eventually met some friends over on Frenchmen for more live music -- this band here was less jazz, more blues, but still cool, the place was called Bamboulas. Afterwards, drunkenly went to Dat Dog.
Saturday, work up extremely hungover, cured that by going for lunch at Bourbon House at the far end of Bourbon Street. Had shrimp with a side of crawfish -- it was so so so so so fucking good. After that took the street car all the way up to City Park, walked around, and stopped at Morning Call and had beignets and a few irish coffees. I like the beignets here better and the irish coffees were awesome. A wedding reception/parade (there are ALWAYS parades down there) was going on and that was fun to watch. Made our way back to Frenchmen, had dinner at Snug Harbor, more gumbo (I had gumbo everywhere, it was always delicious) and more live music at 30/90 on Frenchmen. Turned into a real real late night. Didn't get to bed till 6 am.
Sunday, all my other friends left (I stayed till Monday) so I had a few drinks at my hotel bar to get the blood flowing, headed over to the Garden District, walked around (had hoped to see John Goodman lol). It was nice, the houses are amazing, really remind you of the old south. Made my way back to the Quarter, walked around some more, stopped into a few places for drinks and just relaxed by some park (forget the name) that is next to St. Louis Cathedral. Made my way back to the hotel in time to watch the NCAA selection show. Got a good night's rest (for the first time all weekend) and flew home early Monday.
Overall, it was an unreal trip and an awesome city. I don't know if it's passed New York, Chicago or San Francisco for me, but it's definitely in the top 5 and I can't wait to go back.