New Orleans: Oysters, Po' Boys and Frenchmen Street (Revisited)

Half Shell Oysters

Ayk is a huge fan of oysters on the half shell.  I like them mostly as an excuse to use hot sauce.  We wanted to check out Acme Oyster House, featured on Man Vs. Food, but the line had 20-30 people outside of the door.  Pass.  We went to Bourbon House - right next door with no line. 

Oysters from San Antonio Bay with another Abita beer.

French Quarter at Night

Walking back from Bourbon House to our car, we saw a few interesting sites on Duval Street.

St. Louis Cathedral at night.  Almost looks like the Disney castle.

Almost walked right past this until Ayk pointed it out.  Given my predilection to all things shiny, I'm surprised he noticed it before I did.  A few dollars worth of pennies glued to a crumbling curb on Duval Street.

Po' Boys

We wanted to get some po'boys at Dick and Jenny’s, but they did not serve them for dinner, and there was also a two-hour wait.  They recommended we try Franky and Johnny’s not too far away.

Ayk enjoying some gator nuggets, which tasted just like chicken nuggets.  Trust me, we're not just saying that; they really do taste just like chicken.

Shrimp and oyster po’boys.  Pretty damn delicious.

Recipe for homemade cocktail sauce: ketchup, horseradish sauce, lemon, Tabasco, salt and pepper.

Frenchmen Street (Revisited)

With a long drive to southern Florida the next day, we couldn’t stay out late that night.  We decided to take it easy and headed back to Maison on Frenchmen Street to avoid drunken masses we saw on Bourbon Street earlier.

A lively caravan of partiers dancing on the street.  Yes, there are drunk people on Frenchmen Street; they're just less annoying.

The lead from Booty Trove on Friday night was also the lead of another band playing Saturday night.  We even bought their CD.  Clearly, we're pretty big fans.

New Orleans: Frenchmen Street

Jazz is a genre of music that’s much better live than recorded.  As Ayk pointed out, when is any music not better live, other than heavily auto-tuned pop singers?  Touché.  Be that as it may, there’s nothing more captivating than listening to truly talented jazz performers on stage.  And there’s no place better to find the best jazz acts than our favorite place in New Orleans -- Frenchmen Street.

Maision, our favorite bar.

There’s a part of me that wants to sing praises about this low-key jazz haven only steps away from the French Quarter, but there’s another part of me that dreads outing the city’s best kept secret.  As one Nawlins native put it, “Bourbon Street is where we quarantine the tourists, so they don't [expletive] up the city."  (I’m assuming CNN censored “fuck,” in case you were wondering).

Booty Trove, a 12-man brass band, playing at Maison.

As much as it pains me to admit this as an out-of-towner, it’s true:  most tourists are obnoxious.  And the tourists who visit New Orleans generally want to get shitfaced.  Far be it for me to judge.  If I were in college, I’d giddily roam Bourbon Street with a drink in both hands.  So by all means, get sloshed; just stay on Bourbon Street and keep Frenchmen Street sane for those whose livers can no longer handle excessive drinking.  We come for the jazz, not the hangover.

A bartender wearing the colors of the Egyptian flag to celebrate Mubarak's resignation.

What makes Frenchmen Street so amazing is you can go into any bar and listen to the best performances without having to pay any cover (don’t be a stingy bastard; tip!).  Some bars do charge cover, but most don’t.  Hell, you can wander the street and find an amazing brass band playing on the corner with people dancing in the street.  Anything goes here.

A band playing in the street.

Even white people started dancing.  Though I wouldn't encourage it.

This guy's cheek puffed out like Dizzy Gillespie's.

The sidewalk is filled with artists other than musicians and singers trying to earn a buck.  There are painters and even poets.  We chatted with Tristan, a former music teacher turned street poet.  He didn’t much care for his boss’s teaching method, so he quit.  Now he’s his own boss, using a typewriter to crank out verses for poetry patrons, passersby, or just piss-ass drunk tourists who lost their way from Bourbon Street.  Poems range from 5 to 20 bucks.  Considering our state of employment, we went with the $5 poem.  Scribbling down a few notes, he asked us what we wanted our personalized poem to be about, and we picked – what else – our road trip.  Cherry on top of the best night of the trip: 

Tristan the Street Poet

The best $5 we spent on the trip.  Actually $10.  Ayk tipped him an extra $5 for booze money.

Austin 2

Lake Travis

The Oasis is a huge bar overlooking Lake Travis a half hour away from Austin on yet another windy road.  The bar is as large and tackily decorated as Seacrets.  During the off-season, it’s as desolate as the Great Salt Lake.

Carsickness headache.

Lake Travis 

It was 22 F in Austin when we visited.  Those are icicles hanging from the bucket.

Actually, the decor is worse than Seacrets.

Lucky Lizard

Some embrace Austin’s weirdness, while others exploit it.  We went to the Lucky Lizard, which is part store, part museum, and all weird.  Its Museum of the Weird, which is the modern version of a Dime museum, showcases a few freak-show items – few real, most fake.  We even got a tarot card reading.  Unless you’re into that stuff, I would save yourself the money and just check out the store, but be prepared for the hard sell on their t-shirts.

 Bird: Real; Gator: Fake.

Fiji Mermaid: Fake 

Two-headed cow: Fake 

Lizards: Real and squirmy. 

Ayk seeking sage advice from a creepy robot.

6^th Street

Austin is the Live Music Capitol of the World.  Or so they say.  Our friends recommended we visit Stubb’s, but they didn’t have any live shows on a Wednesday night.  Instead we went to Friends and Dizzy Rooster.  They had decent cover bands, but I’m sure we would’ve seen something better if we were there on a weekend.

Ads don't lie.

Dear Austin: Parallel parking is not supposed to be front-end first.  Learn how to park properly.  It’s not that hard.  You can always try again.  (Ours is the red car actually close to the curb).