NOLA Road Trip Day 4: Exploring Museums & the French Quarter

New Year's Day was our first full day in New Orleans and we definitely made the very most of it with a day packed with visiting museums, exploring the French Quarter and of course eating good food.

Being in New Orleans we had to start off our day by getting beignets at Cafe Beignet in the French Quarter for breakfast. The beignets were perfect light, puffy squares of fried dough covered in powdered sugar and were an absolute mess to eat. Frank also got the Creole hash, but while the sausage in it was delicious the potatoes weren't the best. Overall the cafe had a great cozy feel and even had a cat in residence sleeping the morning away tucked under one of the tables.

After leaving Cafe Beignet covered in powdered sugar we headed to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. The museum was full of exhibits about ingredients that are essential in Southern cooking as well as the history behind some classic Southern dishes. It definitely had a Louisiana slant to it, but it was really informative (Did you know that by the mid-1800s Louisiana produced a quarter of the world's sugar supply?) and as a person who loves food I really enjoyed it. 

Next we headed to the National World War II Museum. I didn't understand the connection of having the museum in New Orleans until I learned that the "Higgins Boats" which were vital to D-Day operations were manufactured here. The museum was really interesting and I especially enjoyed learning about the elaborate methods the Allies used to try to convince the Germans that the invasion would take place at Calais instead of Normandy, such as deploying inflatable tanks and dropping paratroopers that were actually dummies. There were so many stories of hardship, sacrifice and valour and I can't imagine what it would have been like to be one of those troops. Seeing the exhibits and reflecting on all the death and destruction took an emotional toll on me. I have conflicted feelings, believing that you cannot stand by as atrocities occur but at the same time lamenting that war ever exists. I strongly believe it is important to know history and learn from it. As I've traveled over the years I've been to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the museums about the atomic bombings, visited the memorial at Pearl Harbor commemorating the attack, saw the concentration camp at Dachau and stopped at the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar all the while fighting back tears at each place. I wish that we lived in a world where that was no war and I hope we never see a conflict that engulfs the whole world like WWII ever again. 

After leaving the museum we somberly walked over to Mother's Restaurant for a late lunch. There was a substantial line extending out of the restaurant but it moved fast and I was surprised how quickly our food came up after we ordered. I had an absolutely delicious famous Ferdi po' boy with ham, roast beef, debris, and gravy. Frank had a seafood platter with fried catfish, shrimp, oysters and soft-shell crabs. He loved it all but the fried oysters were particularly fabulous.

At five o'clock we went on a twilight walking tour of the French Quarter. I am generally wary of tours but if they are done well they be really interesting and fun and this definitely fell into that category. With only six people on our tour and an excellent guide I would highly recommend it. As an avid reader I was excited that we stopped by buildings where Tennessee Williams (now a boutique) and William Faulkner (now a bookshop) previously lived. I learned so many interesting things on our tour. The half circle windows were actually once used for ventilating a hidden storage floor of the buildings between the ground floor and the floors above. The Pontalba buildings on Jackson Square popularized the use of cast iron in place of wrought iron in New Orleans since it allowed for more intricate designs. The posts sticking out from the sides of the hanging lanterns were used as ladder rests back when the lamps were gas and needed to be lit by hand each night. Pretty neat tidbits, aren't they?

The most fascinating thing that I learned was that the architectural style that is predominant in the French Quarter actually has its roots from the time that the Spanish ruled New Orleans. The bricks made from local clay are very soft so the buildings need to be covered with something to protect them from the elements. During the period of French rule the buildings were clad with cypress from the nearby swamps but this left the French Quarter susceptible the being wiped out by fire since the wooden buildings were so close to each other. Two great fires ravaged the area in 1788 and 1794 and the Spanish rebuilt using stucco to cover the brick and iron for railings and posts instead of wood to reduce damage that could be caused by fire in the future. 

After our tour we had a late reservation at Emeril's NOLA Restaurant. We started with an appetizer of crispy duck livers with slow cooked Southern greens, caramelized onions and Creole mustard aioli which was wonderful. For our salad course Frank had the fried green tomatoes with citrus poached shrimp, baby arugula and white remoulade sauce while I tried the Maine lobster and celery root tossed in a green onion-buttermilk dressing with roasted beets, spiced walnuts and arugula. I loved how crisp the celery root was and I think I need to develop a slaw recipe with it. For our main course Frank had the buttermilk fried breast of chicken with bourbon mashed sweet potatoes, country ham cream gravy and sautéed sugar snap peas while I had the hickory-roasted duck with whiskey-caramel glaze, buttermilk cornbread pudding, haricot verts-fire roasted corn salad, natural jus and candied pecans. Frank's chicken was tender and delicious and the sweet potatoes were nothing short of amazing. My duck was incredible and Frank could even smell the smokiness of it from across the table. We also couldn't resist getting a bowl of smoked cheddar grits to accompany our dinner. They were so good that if that was all that I had eaten that night I would have gone home happy. It was an incredible dinner and a great way for us to end a wonderful day.

If you are interested, check out the rest of our road trip to New Orleans here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7