Courtney GThe Food
One of the things I was so excited about when I was planning to go to New Orleans was eating the food. The first day in New Orleans I got to try a couple of classic dishes like beignets and po’ boys. The second day, which you’ll see on Saturday, I got to try a couple of more classics but here are some things I wished I tried.
Chef Linda’s Yakamein
If you like watching different food shows, you might have come across the Netflix Series Street Food. They’ve had a volume in Asia, Latin America, and their most recent volume was in the USA.
In the New Orleans episode, they featured po’boys, snoballs, and boiled crawfish. They also talked about a dish I’d never heard of before: Yakamein.
Yakamein is Creole and Chinese fusion dish that has noodles (usually spaghetti or the traditional wheat noodles), beef, shrimp, green onions, and a hard-boiled egg swimming in well-seasoned broth.
I watched the episode before my New Orleans trip and instantly went to Instagram to find Chef Linda’s page. She didn’t have a set restaurant but she did do pop-ups occasionally on Saturdays. I’d hoped that I could try her Yakamein on the Saturday we came back from the cruise.
Unfortunately for me, most of her pop-ups were in the Garden District of New Orleans which wasn’t a part of the itinerary of other things I’d planned.
Instead, I tried making my own Yakamein at home. While I’ve never had it made by someone else, I enjoyed my rendition of it.
Boiled Crawfish
Technically I could get boiled crawfish from where I live, no issue. But to me, crawfish feels like something I had to try while in New Orleans.
I was ready to get some crawfish boil for lunch on the first day at the French Market. Because of our tattoo detour, that ended up not happening. I did eat some crawfish Étouffée and tried some of my friend’s crawfish poutine but it didn’t feel the same has cracking open crawfish like you would crab legs.
Ice Cream Daiquiris from Gazebo Café
I’d come across the Gazebo Café when looking at places to eat if I wanted something after taking a walk by the river. I saw they had ice cream daiquiris and immediately I wanted to try them. They also have a live band playing from time to time, too. I definitely want to go if not for the daiquiris at least for the live music.
Again, I planned to go the first day in New Orleans but it didn’t work out. The second day ended up not working either but I’ll get into that in the next post.
Shrimp Po’boys at Parkway Bakery & Tavern or Verti Marte
I got a shrimp po’boy at Johnny’s Po’boys but I regret not also trying it at Parkway Bakery & Tavern which is said to be one of the best places to get one from.
At Johnny’s it was good but it was missing something. Cali said it lacked seasoning, I thought it needed hot sauce. Maybe Parkway could have had that perfect sandwich for us. I mean after all, if it was good enough for Beyoncé, it’s good enough for me.
Then there is Verti Marte, a small convenience-type store that also serves po’boys. While on TikTok I’d heard a few locals say how this was the place to get the best po’boy. I did actually walk past Verti Marte but when it came down to it, I chickened out. Not to be insulting but it kind of looked like a whole-in-the- wall. I know that usually means the food is really good but I couldn’t bring myself to go in and try it. Maybe next time.
Dooky Chase’s Restaurant
This restaurant wasn’t on my original list of places to visit because it was little further out of the French Quarter. I found out after my trip that one of the original chef’s here, Leah Chase, was who inspired the character of Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. I would’ve loved to eat at the restaurant that inspired the creation of the first black Disney princess!
Dooky Chase serves classic Creole cuisine from gumbo to shrimp creole to praline bread pudding.
If you visit, make sure you adhere to the business casual dress code!
Activities
Besides food there were some activities I wanted to do in New Orleans. Because of the amount of time we had, I knew I wouldn’t get to everything.
A Cooking Class
I absolutely love to cook. I even bought a cookbook as one of my souvenirs from New Orleans. Originally, when I thought we’d fly back the same day we came back from the cruise, I was going to do a cooking class. However, when I looked into it more, the one I was going to do was more a demonstration and taste testing rather than me cooking myself.
Ultimately, it came down to cost. If I did the actual cooking class by myself it would’ve been $212. If I’d done it with one of my friends it would’ve been $147. I wasn’t prepared to pay either price and I wanted to do more than just watch a demonstration so I removed it entirely. I still regret not taking it, though.
Swamp Tour
Going to New Orleans, it feels appropriate to go to a swamp tour in the bayou whether it’s on a pontoon or airboat or by a walking tour. Either sounded like a fun option but when it came down to time, it just wouldn’t work out. I thought it would be too stressful trying to make sure we get to the swamp in time and get back without hassle. If this was a New Orleans trip without a cruise, I probably would’ve made it work.
Mardi Gras World
I didn’t add this to the final itinerary but I regret not going to Mardi Gras World. Again, the reason was time. I should’ve tried to make it work, though, because we were in New Orleans during the beginning of Mardi Gras season which starts on January 6th. This means, they would’ve been working on their parade floats, masks, and costumes and I could’ve seen it live and in action!
Bonus: I’m also mad that I didn’t get king cake while in New Orleans. The appropriate time to eat it is in Mardi Gras season!
I want to clarify I don’t regret not being there when Mardi Grad actually happened. There was way too many people for my liking just from the pictures from this year’s Mardi Gras celebration.
While I think I did a lot in New Orleans with the amount of time I had, I still wanted to do more. Stay tuned for Saturday’s post where you’ll see how I spent the last day in New Orleans.
