June 16: New Orleans

Dear Friends and Relatives,

The second of five trips this summer comes to an end for me.  As I was very tired upon return from New Orleans yesterday evening, I decided to write you about yesterday’s escapades with Donna Knox today.  

After breakfast, we brought our luggage down and had it stored so we could do some more sightseeing.  This time we chose a relatively new museum in the Second Ward, which had been hit rather devastatingly during Hurricane Katrina.  Our destination was the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, dedicated to the discovery, understanding, and celebration of the food and drink culture of the South. We took an über ride to the museum, and our purpose was to explore the cultural heritage of southern food and drink.  The museum celebrates all the cultures that have come together through the centuries to create the South’s unique culinary heritage.  It also holds special exhibits, demonstrations, lectures, and tastings that showcase the food and drink of the South.  Located inside the museum is also the Museum of the American Cocktail’s New Orleans Collection and La Galerie de l’Absinthe.  

Some of the interesting exhibits we saw were the following:

1.  Creative Kitchen of Al Copeland, showcasing the founder of the Popeyes Chicken fast food chain, who brought the flavors and spices of New Orleans to the rest of the world;

2. Galatoire’s Restaurant: An Exhibit, showcasing Galatoire’s from its humble beginnings to its role as an icon of the New Orleans culinary experience;

3. Wines, beers, cocktails and all the trappings used to create and serve them;

4. Each southern state had its own exhibit of culinary specialties;

5. Kitchen utensils, crockery, pans, specialty items for preparing food, etc.  

All this wealth of material made these museum-goers hungry, so this museum had a restaurant as well, called Toups South, the second New Orleans outpost for Chef Isaac Toups, who with his wife runs the restaurant.  Rustic charm and modern touches abound, but food is the real emphasis here.  A 20-seat wrap-around exhibition kitchen made of reclaimed local cypress allows diners to take in the action.  We sat in the dining area, with marble tables and wooden chairs, set on polished concrete floors.  The historic bar, set right next to us, was built in 1851, and features an absinthe fountain and an imperial shaker.  We had lunch there: Donna had crab cakes, while I indulged in three ribs with a divine sauce, on top of cole slaw, which I am not a particular fan of except in this instance, when the slaw totally exceeded any expectations I had had.  Wonderful!  

Once we finished with lunch, we went to the test kitchen to watch a chef prepare chocolate cupcakes filled and topped with a wonderful cocoanut icing.  The only thing lacking was coffee, so after we stopped at the Museum store, we were off to the French Truck coffee emporium on Magazine Street.  Our Mercantile Hotel had served the company’s “Le Grand Coq Rouge” coffee, which was divine, so I bought half a pound.  Not usually that enamored by coffee, but this one stood out!  And of course, being in their actual establishment, painted yellow with lapis lazuli trim, we had a cup of another of their blends, with roasting going on at the front and filling the place with a divine aroma.  

From French Truck we went back to the hotel, gathered our belongings, and then commuted to the airport, where we had a 6:40 SW Airlines flight back to Dallas.  My next installment of travel tales will start on June22 and end on June 27.  Our itinerary (by “our” I mean Alexandra and myself) will include Sedona, Arizona; the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, motoring sections of Route 66, and Las Vegas (not for gambling, but for witnessing Cirque du Soleil’s 50th anniversary celebration of the Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”).  Both Alexandra and I know all the lyrics to all the songs on this iconic album.  Stay tuned!  As ever, Sylvia