Thanksgiving in New Orleans

TURKEY DAY IN THE FRENCH QUARTER

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, maybe it’s more about the turkey than the holiday. Although I’m not the chef on Thanksgiving and Hubby makes a killer Turkey we passed up on it this year. While my memories of Thanksgiving are probably the same as everyone else. The family drama that comes with all family events. I’ve learned that it’s not just my family, my friends seem to all experience the same drama so it must be a normal part of all holiday traditions.

This year we wanted to just be our tiny nuclear family, the Foodie Hubby, Artist Wife and our puppy child. We love New Orléans so we decided we had stayed away for too long, that’s a lie, we were there last summer. Just our excuse to go back.

Last year we went with friends to NOLA (post here) and you are trying to go with the flow of what everyone else wants to do. Not to mention that everyone doesn’t like the same things as yourself. So this trip was going to be geared towards what we like to see and do. Although my favorite place to visit is the French Quarter, there is other parts that one must see as a tourist. Yet there is so much for an artist and all tourists to see right in the Quarter and even then you miss things.

PET FRIENDLY

This was our first time going to NOLA with a dog. To clear up, we don’t always travel with our puppy child, it’s just that we don’t have luck finding people to take care of him. He doesn’t do well at boarding kennel. A good house or pet sitters are so hard to come by so for now he is going to these small trips with us.

The hotels in French Quarter are majority not pet friendly and the few I found to allow our four-legged family member were way to pricey & add-on the pet fee + the parking fee, were crazy. So we opted to stay next door to the FQ, in the Marigny. At Olde Town Inn an adorable hotel, with a mini fridge & microwave for all the leftovers. It’s literally walking distance from the all the main attractions.

This Hotel was cute, pet friendly and free parking with pretty good reviews. We’re not snotty travelers, so small and quaint is fine by us. If you want a five-star resort, then one of the other pet friendly hotels in the French Quarter are more your style. This hotel had several people there with their four-legged family members. They had free breakfast that I didn’t even realize. We were prepared to go eat our hearts our in NOLA, this was a plus in saving us money.

 

THE DELICIOUS FOOD…

Mr. Husband who has Louisiana roots should just eat gumbo and crawfish for every meal, this would make him so happy. We reacquainted ourselves with NOLA. For being a holiday weekend there were so many people there, maybe everyone had the same idea as us, Thanksgiving in NOLA!

Although I’m always about finding great spots to eat, I try not to recycle a place, only because there are so many others to try. I broke the rules in NOLA because a year makes your taste buds forget about that rule.

These were the places we ate and that allowed our Mochito.

Olde Town Inn (of course)

He was allowed to eat breakfast with us. He is well behaved, the other guests said so 🙂

Market Cafe

We like that place, we eat there each time we are in town. I love live music & eating outdoors. This time there was an extra perk, pet friendly. You meet the most interesting wait staff here. Ours had lived all over the world and had a lot to say.

Gene’s Po-Boys

This was on my list as one of the best poboys and it was only two blocks from our hotel. They were so nice and allowed our puppy in to order our food. We didn’t eat there however, so I don’t know their rule on that.

Pirates Alley Cafe & Absinthe House

Yes I know you go for adult beverages here, but they have an outdoor area and no one had a problem with him there while daddy had his drinks.

Royal House Oyster Bar

I have to say on this day, they were the nicest in the French Quarter. Everyone else was turning us down or being snotty about us having a puppy on that day. Not to mention that we had him in a puppy bag so if I wouldn’t have told people they wouldn’t have known he was there. He is that quiet. They were nice and sat us in the first floor with a table with a view facing the outside and he sat there and people watched.

Louisiana Pizza Kitchen

It was a beautiful afternoon, outdoor sitting area and they were very nice and inviting to bring Mochito. Plus it was on my list to try. They do have pretty good pizza.

Cafe Du Monde

Everyone has to go to Cafe Du Monde for beignets, so why not your puppy. Well we went two times on this trip. One time really late and another during the day and both times he was a little angel. A lot of people saw us with him and said they didn’t realize he was there at first because he is so well-behaved.

I know some of your list includes some popular places, these are not so friendly. I tried, they said NOPE. There is a certain burger place that we have been trying to go to and this time I found it, waiting in line and they turned us away. It shall remain nameless but how rude.

La Divina Cafe e Gelateria

This was a desert stop late at night after walking and listening to music. It’s such a cute place and we had our gelato outside on the small tables with our puppy child. It is a shame we will not return, the staff was rude and it seemed like it bothered him to help us, even though the price of gelato was not cheap either.

Walking OFF the Food

There were a lot of historical places that I wanted to see the architecture, the hubby hadn’t seen before so we walked all over looking for them. All of course closed due to the holidays but it was nice to see from outside and if you really wanted to see, most you could see on google virtual tour.

We walked so much that up until those days in NOLA my step tracker had not had that many steps on it. It said we WALKED!!!This was a great Thanksgiving for us. We loved it so much we might have to find a new place to spend next Turkey day!

LET’S BE FRIENDS

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