A while back I was telling you guys about the 25th Anniversary French Quarter Festival. Here is the link to that post on my blog so you won’t have to go looking for it, sheneedstoknow.com/booknook/2008/03/20/25th-anniversary-french-quarter-festival/ . So at the time I didn’t really think I was going to be able to make it. With my husband and kids it is so hard to get away for something like this. Well in walks two of my friends from another site I use and they were going to be attending the French Quarter Fest this year. They invited me to go so I decided that it was a perfect opportunity for mom to get away. We checked into a FQ hotel on Friday mid-day and immediately headed to Café Adelaide for lunch. We chose this restaurant because we had all read the book that I had reviewed a while back called In the Land of Cocktails. Again, for your convenience I will give you the link to that post http://sheneedstoknow.com/booknook/2008/03/13/the-tastes-of-new-orleans-cocktails/ . This restaurant is owned by the ladies who wrote this fabulous book. I had read the book in one sitting one afternoon while swinging on my porch swing and watching my kids play. We all loved the book so much that we decided this would be a fabulous way to start off our weekend. When we walked in the first thing we noticed was that we were probably a little under dressed for the place. It was a Friday and it was Mid-day and it was in the New Orleans CBD so all of the business suit people were lunching and we were in our T-shirts and Capri pants prepared for the festival. We sat down anyway and decided to grin and bear it. It was rally fabulous. We were made to feel welcome and all three ordered on of their 25 cent Martini’s. This place knows how to draw a crowd. The waiters were fabulous and the food was amazing. The drinks were awesome and we didn’t even need to test the 3 Martini’s for 25 cent limit. Two were plenty enough. Our next stop was to check out the festival. It was so neat. There were stages set up and different places along the riverfront. In between these stages were booths that carried the ultimate in life needs. Abita Beer, Fried Foods and Desserts. There was of course coke and water booths thrown in. They also had booths with other types of drinks like the Pat O’Brien’s Hurricanes, Southern Comforts or Wine. We had a ball just strolling and talking and listening to music. We did alot of people watching. We had drinks intermittently. We then decided to walk down to the French Market. Two of us bought some of the $5 sunglasses and we had a ball musing at the array of things people were selling. We then decided that we needed a nap and headed to the hotel for a short snooze. After getting a nap and refreshing ourselves we headed back to the Fest to check out the music. Finally we decided that we needed to get some real food for dinner. We headed over to Café Maspero’s were I had an awesome Pastrami and Swiss cheese sandwich. I haven’t had one of these in years and it reminded me so much of growing up in New Orleans. We had a few Abita Beers with dinner and I have convinced myself that Abita Beer has now replaced my former love of Coors Lite. It was time for bed. We are all mothers and wives and 10 pm is about as late as we stay out these days. After a restful night we woke up late (AM is late for us) and headed out for some coffee. We then strolled around awhile until it was time for the festival to open again. We caught a really cute perform ace by a young girl named Kayla Woodson. She did alot of covers of country music songs and it was so funny to hear such a young girls sing of beer and heartaches. It was cute all the same. We decided that dessert dishes from a place in the festival would be the perfect breakfast. It was a fabulous Strawberry Shortcake. We strolled around until we met up with another friend and her husband. We swapped off from strolling and having drinks to relaxing in the grass and having drinks. It was relaxing and breezy and a great time. We had some Hurricane’s and some more Abita Beers. We also had some fabulous food from the booths in Jackson Square. We walked down Bourbon Street and mused at how much it has changed in the last 20 years. It has lost alot of it’s character and seems to be a neon street filled with strip clubs instead of Burlesque, Daiquiri and Beer Stands instead of interesting Music Clubs and chain joints instead of classic home grown establishments. It is disheartening to see Galatoire’s flanked my Mango Mango and the likes. We strolled back over to the festival and checked out some more of the music and rested for a while. We decided that we would grab dinner earlier today because I would be leaving for home soon and because we wanted to beat the crowd. We somehow decided that K-Paul’s would be a great choice. Not so much. It was a very nice place but it was very overpriced for the food we got and the classic dishes we know and love were altered so much that they almost didn’t seem to be the same thing. I got the Corn and Shrimp Bisque and it was very dark. I am used to one that is almost a white sauce and much smoother. This one was much thicker. It was very good but not really what I was expecting or hoping for. I also got a Seafood Cake of some kind and they had added something sweet to the mixture so it was a startling taste that I found when I took my first bite. I was expecting something much saltier, more along the lines of a Crab cake and so I was disappointed in this also. By this time it was time to head for the hotel because my husband was going to be picking me up. I bid farewell to my pals and thanked them profusely for the amazing weekend. I would recommend to anyone who loves New Orleans to try out the French Quarter Festival. It isn’t as popular as the Jazz Festival but it is so fun and offers a huge variety of home grown talent both in music and in the culinary department.
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