Digging in to a veggie muffaletta in New Orleans
Got back from New Orleans last night, spending a lazy day with family today…
First time to Jazz Fest, first time to New Orleans, first beignet, first muffaletta, first Abita brew, second/third/fourth beignet… now I’m out of money (expect some cheap recipes in the near future).
Jazz Fest was awesome – saw a bunch of great bands and rubbed elbows with some of the dirtiest hippies I’ve ever seen. The weather was perfect the whole time, mid 80s, sunny and breezy. And New Orleans, overall, is a pretty cool town. The French Quarter is crowded, expensive and has a wholly unique, dramatically unpleasant smell, but that didn’t put a damper on our time.
Amos Lee performing at New Orleans Jazz Fest
We stayed at Bayou Segnette State Park because we couldn’t afford to sleep inside love camping, and for $20 a night, the price couldn’t be beat. We even got to take the ferry across the river with some seriously crazy friendly folks.
And, best of all, we didn’t get grifted even once. Some of the fools there even try the “Five bucks says I can guess where you got your shoes! — No you can’t. — You got ’em on your feet! Five bucks!” game. I was ready for ’em, though.
(And not to be a party pooper, but that city still has a long way to go to recover from Katrina. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on that whole debacle, but this isn’t the place or time for it. Just know that those orange X’s are still all over the city, there are empty lots on every block, and entire neighborhoods in the 9th ward and, to a lesser extent, Lakeview are boarded up and abandoned… five years later).
Almost, but didn't
As far as the food goes, it’s certainly not the most veg-friendly town around. They add seafood to everything imaginable, which cuts out a lot of options for me. Still, veggie muffalettas were pretty easy to come by, and when those weren’t at hand, I could usually scrounge up some veggie red beans and rice. When all else fails, like at Acme Oyster House (so Ali could try the oysters), I settled for a bowl of hush puppies (yep) and a root beer float (yep yep). Not the most nutritious meal I’ve ever had, but it held me over until a big dinner.
I didn’t take many pictures, but here’s a few just for fun.
Ali eating beignets at Cafe du Monde
C'mon Walmart, four ingredients in the water?!
- Spent $5 at the Casino and $5 at Pinkberry – should have spent it all at Pinkberry.
Eggplant Muffaletta sandwich from a place
healthy food | lazy people 
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:08 pm
i’m so jealous you got to go to New Orleans and see those bands! amos lee=very good! and i’m glad that you went to cafe du monde. i’d recognize those powdered sugar covered tables anywhere. and i agree- katrina left a stamp that the city has yet to wipe clean.
May 4th, 2011 at 9:12 am
New Orleans is very hard for a vegetarian to do, unfortunately. They used to have an AWESOME veggie restaurant called “Old Dog New Trick Cafe”, but it closed several years ago. It’s a shame, ’cause that place was really good. Once we found it, it was hard to eat anywhere else.
May 14th, 2011 at 11:02 am
I was hoping to find a place like that :/
I’m sure there still is one, but I didn’t put in enough research to know where to look. It’s alright though, one can always survive on beignets.
May 4th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Casey- Looks Great, glad you guys had fun and got to experience the great food/awesome music/yummy beer/questionable smells/ weird people that make up New Orleans. What Abita beer did you have?
May 14th, 2011 at 11:06 am
We wanted to find the Abita Strawberry, but it’s not in season I guess. We had amber, wheat and turbodog – all were good, but I think I liked turbodog best.
And yeah, Ali love the oysters – and I’ve got to say, the hush puppies were heavenly, and I’m something of a connoisseur :)
May 4th, 2011 at 10:46 am
P.S. I was super glad to see you guys went to Acme Oyster House (even though they didn’t have any veg options)
Did Ali love the oysters?
May 8th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Lately I’ve been searching for advice on how to get healthy, you just helped me in the right direction, sounds tasty! I like your blog, I have it bookmarked now.