Why I Love New Orleans: Food, Drinks and Music
What do I love about New Orleans? Food. Drinks. Music. And in New Orleans, you can’t have one without the other. Right? The three are always intertwined. My earliest memories of New Orleans are of the music you hear on and around every corner. I love that I can walk around the city and pop into small intimate places and hear some of, if not, the best music in the world. And quite often for free!! Every day of the week, all hours of the day!! Frenchmen Street. (Be sure to stop in D.B.A.) Royal Sonesta. Preservation Hall. Jeremy Davenport at the Ritz. Germaine Bazzle. Glen David Andrews. Rebirth Brass Band. The list goes on and on. The music of New Orleans is intoxicating. You don’t even need alcohol to feel buzzed in this city. But, just because you don’t need the alcohol, doesn’t mean we don’t LOVE it!!
Where else is it not only acceptable, but highly encouraged to BEGIN your day with cocktails?? Anywhere else, you are an alcoholic if you drink bourbon for breakfast! In New Orleans, something’s wrong with you if you dont!! Bourbon for breakfast, vodka and champagne for brunch. Sazeracs for lunch. Wine for dinner. Amazing hand crafted cocktails after dinner. Don’t forget the beer throughtout the day to keep you from getting too wasted! Ha! And the best part, you wake up the next day and do it all over again!! Bourbon House for the best frozen bourbon milk punch! Absinthe House for a bloody. Brennan’s for bubbly. Hermes Bar for a sazerac. Effervescence for afternoon bubbly. Marcello’s for wine. Bombay Club for a Royal Rasberry. Loa for one-of-a kind handcrafted cocktails. Carousel Bar for a spin around the room. And I don’t just mean because you’re tipsy!! If you are walking around New Orleans completely sober, you’re doing it all wrong. Just saying. And how do we not get totally hammered while doing all of this drinking?? We eat! Like fat asses!!! All day, every day!!
No question, New Orleans has some of the best food in the world!! I love that you can eat somewhere different everyday for a month and still not even scratch the surface! And every food imaginable is available to you because of the rich cultural diversity. French. Cajun. Creole. African. Spanish. Italian. Vietnamese. Mediterranean. And on and on. Food is a way of life here. Everyday, every celebration, every tragedy revolves around food. Where else do you plan your next meal while still eating one of the best meals of your life? My toughest decisions in life have been choosing where to eat in this city! It’s like choosing your favorite child!! I don’t want to miss out on anything, so pain-staking research goes into every meal! Do I go to K-Pauls for gumbo and chicken stew? Or do I go to Bon Ton Café for crabmeat au gratin? Or Irene’s for homemade Italian? Or Felix’s for oysters? Or Brennan’s for brunch? Or Shaya for the melt in your mouth pitas? Ahhh!! The struggle is real!!
And the best part of all of this eating, drinking, and music? The people you meet along the way. There are no strangers in New Orleans. Every person you meet, be it local or tourist, will feel like a life long friend after just a couple of minutes of chatting. And everybody chats. With everybody. When you come, be ready to chat!! People in New Orleans are the best people. Because everyone here shares a love for the good things in life: food, drinks, and music!!
Morgy Fugarino lives in Baton Rouge, but is back and forth between BR and Nola regularly. Check out her food & drink Instagram account that focuses on restaurants and events in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas.