road trip - spring 2014, part 6

This is the sixth installment of the series of post on a road trip during the spring of 2014.


In this road trip far from home my major destination is the lower Mississippi delta of Louisiana. This is where I spent most of my time during this trip. While there are a lot of states, cities, and note worthy places en route, I skipped many during outbound. Some I would pick up on my return trip.
this morning I walked around the French Quarter to see some historical significant buildings.

this has to be one of the oldest buildings in the French Quarter

the collections in this antique gun shop is very impressive; the most striking is how much use most of these antique guns had with the tell tale polished shines on the trigger and hammer mechanisms

Johnny's Po' Boys in the French Quarter

With some seasoned tourist's instinct I generally avoid restaurants in the heavily tourist traffic areas in the French Quarter. One morning after touring the Jean Lafitte Visitor's Center I was very hungry. After carefully assessing the place I decided to give it a try. I find popular review sites like Yelp useful but that would be another post.

I decided on the soft shell crab gumbo combo. To be frank my expectation was quite low given the locale.
there is only 1/2 a crab in this 1/2 po' boy; the gumbo is quite good but not great

soft shell crab is like gold nowadays so they only give me 1/2 is understandable; this however make the sandwich quite bland

New Orleans has been sinking at an alarming rate. You can see the significantly lean of this brick building out towards the two streets of its corner location in the photos above and below. I wonder how much longer the owner have to fork out significant cost for remedial fix

 one of my least favorite historic place in the Quarter

 Frenchmen Street has the best concentration of places to listen to live music

one morning I had a chance to see the inside of the St. Louis Cathedral

the one that looks like out of a fairy tale book

the cathedral is actually a relatively new building that replaced a number of buildings before it that had burnt down through the years

the expansive garden behind

 i toured the Mardi Gras Exhibit; here you can see these much more elaborate beads from yesteryears

 the exhibit is very extensive and you can spend all day here reading the history and customs of the festival

interesting take of the museum's restrooms - behind the porta potty doors are normal restrooms

a heirloom Steinway and Sons fell victim to Katrina

i am sure these guys are in millions of tourists' photos

however carefully I was to ensure I parked legally I felt victim to the parking patrol

I failed in my contest of this ticket even there is no sign nor painted marking; it turned out New Orleans has a long list of "illegal to park" that explicitly stated that no posted sign is required

i met a Canadian and he told me about this place serves good sandwiches so I checked it out - Stein's Market and Deli

In addition to good sandwiches they have a huge selection of beers

Parasol's was a place that I bookmarked to visit in my trip; though I planned to try their po' boys I ended up having a couple of drinks at the bar and chatted to a friendly local. I just wasn't hungry at the time and I was saving myself for another restaurant.
the dive bar appeals of Parasol's

i bought the chatty local a shot of this liquor he asked the bartender; it is over the top sweet and i could only take a sip

Parasol's bar is located in the Irish Channel neighborhood which I like

at the recommendation of a resident in the French Quarter I went to Adolfo's for dinner one night and went on bar hopping and listened to many bands that night; he said that get a dish with the ocean sauce

located on Frenchmen Street, Adolfo's is a small cozy place above a bar and it has limited seatings; I was quite early but soon the place was full as my dinner arrived

i order the flounder with the ocean sauce

i opted for the pasta side dish that was included

the ocean sauce sure lived up to the reputation - there are gulf shrimps, crawfish tails, and crab meat in it; the flounder is also tasty speaking to it being fresh

the Spotted Cat is also on recommendation by the local resident and I would return there many nights

a band in Spotted Cat

a band in Banhoula's

the man on the right came from Sweden and he jammed with the band

just yesterday I saw a photo of this band used in the Gaurdian's travel article about New Orlean; during my stay in the city they were there at this street corner each night I passed by

 a band in Blue Nile

 the chatty local that I talked to in Parasol's told me about this seafood market in the town of Westwego (pronounce as west we go)

 the lady selling the blue crabs were pretty crabby that morning - just pretty short but not in a mean way

 i bought a few things from this stall that has some good fishes - these are red snappers

Strangely many vendors there also sell farmed tilapia from Asia - i didn't take picture.
i think these are red fish

 some sort of trout

 these might be channel mullets

 crockers

 large gulf shrimps

these dried shrimps are very similar to those found in many Asian countries

one of many vendors

i asked the vendor that i bought the shrimps and oysters about where i can see the shrimp boats; it turned out it is just behind the seafood market by the canal

i cooked the dinner at the public marina; jumbo gulf shrimps

 pasta with jumbo shrimps and oysters

i've gotten quite efficient in cooking in/out of the camper involving minimal number of cookware and dishes to conserve water

an egret that is close enough for a photo

 breakfast  with shrimps i made the next morning

 i do most frying outside with the propane stove

a lot of Louisiana's shrimping industry how have significant number of Vietnamese; there was a documentary film made many years ago about the conflict between the Vietnamese when they made in road into Louisiana's shrimping industry