Cruising From New Orleans: August, 2004

For West Coast residents wishing to cruise the Western Caribbean, New Orleans can be a great place to start. It's a shorter flight than Miami, and it has a great deal of appeal on its own.For my son Jay, a jazz aficionado who started a college career majoring in music in the fall, no place on earth held as much appeal as New Orleans that summer, so we selected a five night cruise from New Orleans in conjunction with three nights in the Big Easy for our family vacation.The Holiday Inn French Quarter proved to be a decent place to stay, a short walk from Bourbon Street, the French Market and the trolley cars that rattle past historic mansions.

The first night, we dined at upscale Emeril's. Everyone had great meals, including filet mignon and assorted fish, but the star of the menu was the Roasted Double Cut Porkchop that my youngest daughter, Amy, ordered. It was far too much for a 13 year-old girl to eat, but she found plenty of help around the table.Later that night, we strolled to Bourbon Street in search of jazz, but we were disappointed to find that the jazz clubs were few and far between, with classic rock and strip clubs dominating the area.

The next day, however, we headed over to Cafe du Monde in the French Market for beignets and coffee, and there we found a saxophonist playing for the crowd. If you go to New Orleans, by the way, you have to ditch the South Beach Diet and enjoy at least a couple of beignets. These lumps of fried dough avalanched in powdered sugar are a real treat.We ended up returning to the French Market regularly, because there was a lot of jazz in family-friendly venues. In the F.M. area we also found Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, where the drinks are strong, tasty and reasonably priced. The Ultimate Margarita lives up to its name and is highly recommended. I have, however, tasted better gumbo, despite the promise of Jimmy Buffet's lyrics, "It's a little like religion and a lot like sex." My son's favorite restaurant, TGI Friday's, is the house restaurant at Holiday Inn French Quarter, so we ended up eating dinner there twice in New Orleans. As good as my Wahee dinner was at Emeril's, I have to say that the "Atkins Friendly Grouper" at TGIF was an even more delicious fish dinner. Everyone else reported the Jack Daniels ribs were excellent.

Do you think we should have delved more into the cuisine of the region? Well, we did enjoy the new Naked Chicken at Popeye's Famous Fried Chicken, a restaurant that started in New Orleans.We also had a good time cruising the Mississippi River aboard the steam powered Natchez, with the highlight being the dixieland jazz band playing in front of a transparent backdrop with the churning paddlewheel behind.

We found the best old time jazz at Preservation Hall, a New Orleans institution that charges $5 for entry. The limited seating is uncomfortable, and the standing room is cramped, but the rustic, barn-like feel seems authentic, and the old time jazz cooks.

After the family went to bed, my buddy Mike and I enjoyed some classic rock at the Krazy Korner on Bourbon Street, where the talented band, Miss Maggie's Mayhem, had fun with the audience and made old favorites sound new again.