This morning we got up a little earlier than usual so that we could visit Cafe du Monde, the famous coffee house in the New Orleans French Quarter, for cafe au lait (half coffee and half hot milk) and beignets (French style doughnuts). The original Cafe du Monde opened in 1862, and it is open 24/7 (excluding Christmas Day and bad hurricane days). Both coffee and beignets were introduced to New Orleans by the Acadians, descendants of French colonists from modern-day Nova Scotia, Canada. The coffee served in Louisiana is unique because it is often mixed with ground, roasted chicory (the root of the endive plant) that gives the resulting beverage a smoother, less bitter taste.
We sampled the both the hot and iced cafe au lait, as well as an order of beignets to share. The coffee was delicious and paired perfectly with the warm, pillowy fried dough-squares coated generously with powdered sugar. The atmosphere of the outdoor cafe was marvelous with the warm morning air, limited crowds, and a street musician playing the trumpet right outside.
Next, we headed away from the city for the much-awaited swamp tour in the bayou! We had a wonderful and hilarious guide on our tour with Cajun Pride, and we saw countless alligators, turtles, and raccoons (and also two adorable newly hatched heron chicks!). Our guide even brought animals with him on board so that we could have a hands-on experience with the swamp animals. We unexpectedly ended up getting to touch and hold a crawfish, turtles, a snake, and a small alligator! Our guide, Brandon, also did some feeding demonstrations, throwing the alligators marshmallows and chicken necks as they swam up alongside the boat.
After the swamp tour, we went to lunch at Willie Mae’s Scotch House for some James Beard award-winning “America’s Best Fried Chicken”. Willie Mae’s unfortunately sustained heavy damage after Hurricane Katrina, but they were able to reopen in 2007 with help from many organizations including the Southern Foodways Alliance. The chicken was so crispy and delicious, indeed the best friend chicken we’ve ever had! We also got to try their butter beans (large lima beans cooked up into a stew-like texture), mac and cheese, and cornbread.
We returned to our Airbnb for a quick rest and then headed back out to explore New Orleans’ historic Garden District. The architecture in the Garden District is grand and beautifully archaic, with houses boasting tall white columns, wide porches, towering balconies, and black iron fences. The self-guided walking tour of the neighborhood brought us to the 3rd oldest cemetery in the United States, the site of an ice skating rink built for the 1984 World’s Fair, the house that Disney’s “haunted mansion” was based off of, the childhood house of Eli and Peyton Manning, and the current house of actress Sandra Bullock, among others. It was interesting to see common themes across many of the houses, such as a gas light that burns day and night and the sky-blue painted underbelly of balconies (that is supposed to keep insects from nesting there and also to “ward off evil spirits”).
Our exploring eventually brought us to Magazine Street, where we wandered through shops and split a fried shrimp po-boy and an Abita Amber (a Munich style lager brewed north of New Orleans) at Mahony’s Po-Boy Shop for an afternoon snack.
For dinner, we had reservations at Shaya, a modern Israeli restaurant specializing in their fresh, homemade, wood-fired pita and small plates. My friend and old boss, Dr. Tajirian, highly recommended that we come, and we were not disappointed! The pita was incredibly soft, warm, and delicious, and it went so well with the curried cauliflower hummus and shakshouka we ordered. We also tried the crispy halloumi dish recommended by our server and it was excellent as well.
Fun fact: At Shaya, we were curious, so Jonny asked our server what the greatest number of pita per person was that he had seen eaten. The server told us that he served a party in which there were three pita consumed per person!!! (for reference, Jonny had 1.5 pita and was ready to explode…)
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