The city of New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in the world.  Every trip has been a blast and this past Saturday was no different.  JJ and I decided that we needed to take a quick day trip to get out of Hattiesburg after spending all week working on school related stuff.  I have had a long love affair with New Orleans.  This city is the reason it took me an extra semester to finish school.  During my undergraduate years, it was nothing to go down for the night/weekend/week.  People always ask when is the best time to visit.  I have been during Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, Super Bowl Weekends, Sugar Bowl Weekends, Halloween, New Year’s Eve and when there is nothing else major going on.  I really don’t think there is a bad time to visit.

JJ and I headed south around 12p.m. and had plans to eat a late lunch at Acme Oyster House.  Acme is featured in about every guide ever printed for New Orleans and there were about 30 folks waiting in the unbearable heat to get inside.  We kept walking and ended up going to Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House next door.  I knew the Brennan name from other restaurants in the city but had never eaten here before. We were really impressed with the food and the service.  JJ had the seafood gumbo and the shrimp remoulade which was suggested by our waiter.  I had a shrimp poboy.

My Shrimp Po Boy

My poboy was great but JJ’s shrimp remoulade was out of this world. I was impressed. It contained boiled shrimp, fried green  tomatoes, melted mozzarella cheese, greens, and some type of spicy dressing.

JJ's Shrimp Remolade

I think that we may skip Acme intentionally next time to visit the Bourbon House again.

We then moved to the River Walk and enjoyed a little bit of shopping before heading back down to the French Quarter.

I have probably visited about every bar in the the area and still head back to Pat O’Brien’s for the original Hurricane every trip.  Pat O’s has a wonderful piano bar that is always filled with tourist having a good time and enjoying way too many hurricanes.

JJ had never experienced the piano bar before.  We were looking to get out of the heat and were lucky enough to find seats inside.  Of course we had a few hurricanes and were surprised by the number of Mississippians in the bar.  Not only were we surrounded my folks from Jackson, Greenwood, and Hazlehurst but both of the pianist were from Mississippi as well.  We got to listen to Henrietta Alves from Winona and another lady(didn’t catch her name) from Hazlehurst play.

Ms. Alves keeping everyone entertained.

We stayed here for a few hours enjoying the music.  Not only could they play and sing but their banter with the crowd was hilarious or maybe it was the hurricanes. The pianists take requests written on napkins and can pretty much play anything you want.

Tunes for Tips

I did hear them say that they didn’t know “Get Crunk” but that was about the only request they turned down.

The Piano Bar

Photo Via Pat O'Briens Website

On of my favorite parts of the piano bar is the man that comes out to stand between the pianos to tap on a  silver tray covered in coins while wearing metal thimbles on his fingers. There used to be an old black man that played on Friday and Saturday nights when I used to visit. I spoke with him a couple of times back in the day and he was always curious about where we were from and if were enjoying ourselves in New Orleans. I got curious since he was not there when JJ and I visited. I started searching for him online and found out that he passed away during Katrina. He was a fixture at Pat O’s having worked there for more than 67 years. His name was Eddie Gabriel.His grandson also wrote a great article about him for NOLA.COM

Mr. Babineaux playing the tray!

Mr Gabriel was wonderful but there was also another “tray player” who has been working for Pat O’s for over 40 years.  His name is Alvin Babineaux and he is also extremely talented.  Read more about him here. Here is another article written about Pat O’s and Alvin Babineaux by John Swenson.

After a few hours in the piano bar, we made our way down Bourbon Street and then back to Hattiesburg.  It was a quick trip and we didn’t do much but that is why I love the fact that New Orleans is only about a two hour drive away.  We are already make plans to go back for a weekend when the weather is a little bit more bearable.  The weekend after mid-terms is sounding better and better.