124 n 2nd st

We spent six nights in New Orleans. Originally, we booked the Marriott off of Canal but had issues (broken toilet and no additional rooms) and thankfully was able to move across the street to the JW Marriott. It was so much nicer, newer and cleaner (thanks chase!)
Breakfast: Bearcat CBD: Really delicious. Had the cat daddy and the blue crab omelet. Great coffee. ~30 min wait but worth it
Willa Jean: Also very delicious. Had the crawfish roll and shrimp and grits. Lots of crawfish. If I had to nitpick, the shrimp was a little overcooked but still tasty
Beignets (fav to least fav order) 1. Cafe du Monde (French market): crispy, good texture, airy but not too airy, great ratio of powder sugar to beignet. This is what I think of when I think of a beignet. However, I would say the fry is inconsistent. You don’t always get crispy.

1. Loretta’s: I’d describe this more as a toaster strudel style beignet. It’s more flaky. Delicious and crispy. It gets the 2nd spot bc when I think of beignet, I don’t expect flaky.
   
2. Marriot Lounge: This was our dark horse. It was a random beignet we ate in the buffet lounge our first morning. We didn’t even take a picture. It scared us bc we had quite a few beignet duds for the first few days and thought this was our favorite for awhile. Good representation of a pillowy beignet. The sugar to beignet ratio was good. Missing some crispiness.
   
3. Cafe du Monde City Park: We may have gotten a bad batch. Kinda denser and larger holes to the point where there was not much inside. Nice crispy crust though.
   
4. Criollo at the hotel Monteleone:This was another toaster strudel type of beignet. Good but not crispy like Loretta’s.
   
5. Cafe beignet Royal St: this is another example of a pillowy beignet but too much dough to sugar ratio. Tighter crumb. Didn’t feel like eating more than 1.
   
6. The Vintage: I really was looking forward to this one. We may have gotten a bad batch, but it was literally empty inside. Like a shell of a beignet. It was a nice crispy crust though. Maybe would have been better to get a filled one.
   

Mains Willie Chicken Shack: ate this the first night since our flight was delayed. Freshly fried. Really great for late night.
Felix Lakefront: grilled oysters were good. We got a cup of gumbo and it was fine but forgettable.
High Hat: We ate here bc it was near cure. Really delicious. The gulf shrimp was one of our favorite bites from our trip. They make a good pie too.
Cochon: the bread and the sauce from the wood fired oysters was one of our top bites. Oysters themselves lacked some smoky flavor and were a bit overcooked.
Dakar: we went for Wednesday family night. Delicious seafood. Loved it. Went to second vine wine before dinner and they recommended us a great bottle of chenin blanc.
Compere Lapin: I love top chef and Nina but was a bit disappointed. We had to send back the tuna tartare bc it was too salty. I think they cure it. The second one was not much better and lacking acidity. Pig ears were also too salty. Pork belly and fried chicken with coconut grits were great. Could have used some heat. I found the pasta a little fishy but cooked well.
Gris gris: shrimp and grits were delicious. Whole red fish was ok, lacked seasoning, tomato sauce tasted like it came straight from the can. Great espresso martini.
Drinks: Jewel of the south: kinda hit or miss. Drinks were maybe overly complex where it just tasted like a good punch.
Cure: this was our favorite. Interesting and innovative cocktails but also delicious. Would go back.
French 75 bar: had a French 75 and matcha colada. It was good but nothing to write home about.
For gin fizz, we went to bar tonique and bourbon o bar. Bar tonique was better.
Overall, had an amazing trip. We had 120+ bookmarks and only made a small dent. We at so much good food, and loved walking and exploring. This was mostly a food post but just wanted to mention that city park was amazing. The sculpture garden is so good. Can’t wait to come back.

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Northbound N, Q, R trains are running with delays after we removed a train from service that had a mechanical problem at 49 St.