New Orleans

When we found out that Stacey would be going to New Orleans for a conference, I jumped at the chance to book plane tickets and join her there after the conference ended. We were excited when my cousin Steve and his wife, Kendra, agreed to join us for food, drink and Halloween fun.

First stop: Cochon. When I read this review of Cochon in the New York Times, I actually started drooling a little bit. I didn't expect I'd be going to New Orleans anytime soon, but knew it would be high on my list when and if I did. It was definitely my first thought when I heard about Stacey's conference.

For those of you who don't know, "cochon" is French for pig. "Cochon de lait," which basically translates to "milk pig," is French for suckling pig (in other words, a pig fed on milk), and figures prominently in New Orleans (particularly Cajun) cooking. A young pig is typically slow roasted so that you get very tender meat. Cochon (the restaurant) makes good use of the pig: head cheese, sausage, and pork rillettes, all of which showed up on our charcuterie platter; Louisiana cochon with turnips, cabbage and cracklins, which I ordered; a pork loin special; house-made bacon (which appeared in the fried oyster and bacon sandwich Stacey ordered). You get the picture. You are also probably getting the picture that Cochon is not a restaurant for dieters -- nor is New Orleans a city for dieters. I'm sure there are plenty of places to get low-calorie food in New Orleans, but the classic dishes and local favorites of the city -- heck, the entire region -- lean toward the fatty and the fried. I usually try to eat more healthy food than this, but I wasn't going to visit one of the food capitals of the United States and not partake of their specialties.

Everything was tasty, but I think the favorite dish at our table was the wood-fired oysters; we also enjoyed our spicy fried alligator (yup -- it does taste like chicken). Cochon is cozy, with a wood-fired oven and a barbecue joint-goes-hip vibe, and the service was excellent.

We started out my first morning in New Orleans with the typical tourist destinations: first, beignets for breakfast at Cafe du Monde...

and then a walk around Jackson Square and the French Quarter.

My extensive research sent us to Fiorella's Cafe for a lunch of fried chicken and Abita, and to Mother's for dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed Mother's, which is an old home-style cafeteria-style restaurant serving New Orleans classics -- jambalaya, crawfish etoufee, gumbo, and po' boys. I had a Ferdi Special, which is a roast beef and ham po' boy with gravy, debris (those little bits of meat that fall into the gravy), shredded cabbage, mayonnaise and pickles. It was one of the best sandwiches I have ever had.

Thanks to the insistence of Steve and Kendra, we dressed up and went out on Halloween, which I gather is a particularly beloved holiday in New Orleans, second only to Mardi Gras. We had a great time -- much better than giving out candy, which I have never enjoyed.

Please note that Steve is wearing creepy contacts in the picture above and does not normally look like that.

On Saturday we were (somewhat miraculously) up in time for brunch at the Commander's Palace, a New Orleans institution OR tourist trap depending on who you ask. Based on the fact that the food was actually quite delicious, I am going to go with New Orleans institution. The service was amazing, a jazz trio played a song for each table, and I ate more cochon de lait, this time served over cornbread buttermilk biscuits with poached eggs on top. Amazing. The piece de resistance was probably the bread pudding souffle I had for dessert.

The Commander's Palace is in the Garden District, a very pretty neighborhood of old, quirky homes and shady streets. It feels like what one thinks of when one thinks of New Orleans -- at least when one isn't thinking of Bourbon Street or, more recently, the Lower Ninth Ward. Across the street from the Commander's Palace is Lafayette Cemetery.

We went shopping on Magazine Street, including a stop in an amazing home store called Perch, then caught the famous St. Charles Streetcar, only recently back in service after damage sustained during Katrina.

We went back to the neighborhood that night for dinner at Gautreau's, a tiny restaurant with no sign on a narrow residential street. We would never have known it existed had I not read that their 27-year-old executive chef, Sue Zemanick, was recently named a 2008 Best New Chef by Food and Wine magazine. I am always excited when women -- especially women that young -- get recognition for their success in the traditionally male-dominated restaurant industry, so off we went. No regrets -- it was one of the best meals we had in a while.

On Sunday, Steve and Kendra flew back to California, and Stacey and I set off in pursuit of art. I had serendipitously read a New York Times article just before flying to New Orleans on Prospect.1 New Orleans, a massive contemporary art biennial that was scheduled to begin the very weekend we would be in town! Exhibits were set up in over a dozen sites across the city, and even with shuttle service, it wasn't easy to see all of them. We checked out one in the French Quarter and two in Treme, which sits just north of the French Quarter.

Above is the New Orleans African American Museum, an old plantation house in Treme that housed our favorite Prospect.1 exhibit, by husband-and-wife collaborators McCallum & Tarry. The show was a collection of mug shots taken from the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956, including those of Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The photographs were reprinted onto sheer silk panels, which were then stretched over paintings of the same images and framed. When you walk past them, the images shift against each other, aligning and then separating, blurring the lines. The effect is sort of haunting, and the exhibit was quite powerful. McCallum & Tarry describe the mug shot project here, but the visual effect of what we saw is more like this project.

Walking back to our hotel, I saw this sign on Governor Nicholls Street:

Not a bad thing to keep in mind. Fortunately I was not wrong about New Orleans, which earned a pretty high rating on my list of eating destinations. Did I mention the pralines?