Be my guide: Hand Grenades, Hurricanes and jazz music in New Orleans

Leading up to my stop in New Orleans on this two-week road trip, I kept hearing from readers about how great the city used to be, before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, and they wondered what it’s like now.

I hadn’t been to the Big Easy before. But I’m going to assume the nightlife hasn’t gotten any less crazy. Because if you turned up the notch any more, no one would survive— especially their livers. Locals confirm that the French Quarter bar scene hasn’t lost a step.

At lunchtime, a guy who runs a bar near my hotel stands in the doorway heckling people through a loudspeaker in between announcing drink specials. I dodge him to slip out of the rain and into Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar, a place recommended by reader Kirby Warnock.

With a bowl of seafood gumbo, I order my first beer, a local brew called Abita, because why not? There are people already red-eyed and poorly balanced carrying drinks around city streets. The gumbo is excellent and the beer cold.

The bartender alerts me that there’s a convention for human-resources professionals going on now. He and I deduce that it was just another group of people finding an excuse to get drunk.

I meet a college friend for dinner at Acme Oyster House, reader John Burdick’s pick. Burdick wrote to say that it “doesn’t get more authentic” than this place.

Right off the bat, my friend, who moved to the city a few weeks ago to teach, tells me I can’t use her name in my story. She is teaching a kindergarten class in a poor part of town. The stories that she tells, she says, would hurt her chances of getting tenure.

“But it’s kindergarten,” I protest. “How bad could they be?”

She tells me of parental neglect and how one boy in her class always seems to find himself waiting for hours for a ride home.  A moment of solemn silence passes, She sips her beer while I take a gulp of my Hurricane cocktail.

The variety of “must-try” drinks, and the fact that you can drink them anywhere, are big factors in getting everyone drunk so quickly. After my Hurricane, I order a daiquiri “to go” for the walk to the next joint. It comes with a free shooter of choice; mine has a name too obscene to be published here.

On the way to the next bar, I finish my daiquiri. Reader Megan Oroho had suggested I go to Pat O’Brien’s on Bourbon Street. The place is fairly large and upscale, with dueling pianists and a mesmerizing fountain fire (pictured).

After that, we stop at Fritzel’s Jazz Pub to see Tim Laughlin and his band, a group of geeky-looking white guys. They, along with many other bar bands in New Orleans, are extremely talented at their craft.

Finally, we go to Tropical Isle, home of the world-famous Hand Grenade drink. Only a certain chain of bars apparently can serve it, and though other bartenders assure me that they know the ingredients (one even said what they are), they won’t make it. The concoction, which is served in a tall, neon-green cup, effectively finishes my night. (Well, I continue to stay out afterward, but it is the downfall.)

As I draft this blog and prepare to check out a few other areas of the city before driving to Houston, music still blares from the streets below my hotel room. New York might be the city that never sleeps, but New Orleans is the city that never stops partying.

To provide travel tips for my two-week road trip, inspired by music, send e-mails to mark.milian@latimes.com, leave comments on the Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog or, for those on Twitter, send tweets to @mmilian. To follow my road trip status live, visit http://twitter.com/mmilian. For the trip schedule and cities, check out earlier posts.

– Mark Milian, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photos from the top: Tim Laughlin and his band at Fritzel's Jazz Pub; the fountain fire at Pat O'Brein's; and  the scene at Tropical isle. Credit: Mark Milian / Los Angeles Times]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:50 am by Mark Milian and is filed under Be My Guide, New Orleans & Louisiana, News, Tips & Advice, Southern States, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.