worth the trip REVISITED New Orleans

By Magi Thomley

I’ve visited New Orleans many times, even lived in a suburb, Kenner, for a few years.

My travel accommodations have included classic French Quarter hotels like Hotel Monteleone and Royal Sonesta Hotel, and out-of-the way Airbnb apartments. I’ve enjoyed boutique hotels in the Marigny and Garden District neighborhoods, and the hospitality of friends. I spent one Christmas in a hotel haunted by the ghosts of civil war soldiers who died in the building when it served as a hospital.

I’ve dined at landmark restaurants like Antoine’s and Mother’s. I’ve been given a private tour of the kitchen in Commanders Palace, been turned away from Court of Two Sisters because my companion was under dressed and washed down the powdered sugar from beignets at Café Du Monde with café au lait more times than I can count.

I’ve enjoyed a ride in a horse-driven carriage and made more than one toast at the Carousel Bar & Lounge. I’ve walked through the French Market and along the Riverwalk dozens of times.

My husband decided on a weekend in the Crescent City for his birthday this year, but we wanted a different experience.

We stayed at a newly remodeled chain hotel in the Warehouse District. The service was outstanding, and the location was convenient (but I could have done without being startled awake by a cruise ship’s horn announcing a

2 a.m. return to port). We explored out-ofthe-way eateries and lesser-known points of interest.

Sunday, we leisurely strolled through the New Orleans Museum of Art and adjacent Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. The NOMA website boasts that it houses 5,000 years of art with over 40,000 works, and the adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is home to over 90 works of art set in a picturesque outdoor setting of meandering pathways and meticulously maintained gardens. We wanted to bypass restaurants we had experienced before where we knew we would be sharing space with crowds of fellow tourists. Instead, we visited smaller eateries and chatted up the locals. One breakfast we dined at Two Chicks Café, which offers a full cocktail menu at 8 a.m. Once New Orleans was one of the few places where a breakfast menu included cocktails. Now, full bar service at breakfast is readily available at locations in Pensacola, including South Market, Ruby Slipper and Another Broken Egg. It’s not lost to me that more than a few restaurants in Pensacola have roots in the Big Easy.

We walked from our hotel to Cochon Butcher for outdoor dining. This is the place for carnivores! The manager, Jacques Couvillon, took time to share with us that the charcuteries are made in house. During a chat over refreshing cocktails, scrumptious BBQ sandwiches and house-made slaw, we learned that the owners of Kingfisher in Pensacola were formerly chef and pastry chef for the New Orleans-based restaurant family that owns Butcher. Brian Kaderavek was executive sous chef at high-end restaurant Cochon for five years where wife Amanda Kaderavek worked as a pastry chef and as manager of Cochon Butcher. I know I’m not alone in being grateful that the pair brought their culinary talents from New Orleans to Pensacola.

We are no longer compelled to visit the Crescent City for craft beer or novel coffee. Pensacola is home to multiple breweries producing locally made beer. The once-unique Café Du Monde now has many locations and coffee houses are percolating on every corner – New Orleans and elsewhere. We drank lattes rather than the chicory coffee New Orleans is credited for. To get our jazz fix, we avoided the crowded House of Blues, a popular tourist destination. Instead, we opted for cozier performances by talented artists in open courtyards and parks.

Landmarks like Jackson Square, the French Market and the French Quarter have been the same for decades, yet different. Lines are still long at Pat O’Brien’s, but Bourbon Street chaos is fueled more by pot than booze these days. The psychics that occupy Jackson Square lose some of their mystique staring at their cell phones between clients.

Eventually, conversations with New Orleanians include the phrase “before Katrina.” We stopped for a photo of the now-famous sculpture Scrap House by artist Sally Heller. Heller recreated a scene entirely from common and recycled elements to depict a postKatrina home in shambles and resting in the branches of a decimated tree. The work is described as a monument to nature’s unpredictable powers.

Katrina has decidedly left a mark on the economy, the skyline and the people of the city. Buildings damaged by the hurricane have been razed, rebuilt or restored. Harrah’s casino is being transformed into a behemoth Caesars New Orleans, expected to be completed in the summer of 2024. Perhaps a new adventure for our next visit.

Memories of the Audubon Aquarium, river cruises and even cemetery tours are gratifying, but our destination grew more intimate this visit. We discovered colorful, hardscrabble residents, exciting entertainment in out of the way places and delicious food in uncrowded venues. While New Orleans has become more predictable and less unique, it will always be a city where visitors can “pass a good time” as the locals say. A revisit gave us a refreshingly different perspective on a familiar destination.