Nola Feb 2025

When its a snowy cold Wednesday in Edmonton Alberta, what does one do? He hops on a plane and heads to New Orleans Louisiana for the last weekend of Mardi Gras. Before heading on a 7 days cruise in the Gulf of Mexico( Fuck You Gulf of America).

We leave the house at 330 am to head to the airport and head to New Orleans, we meet our travel partners Doreen and Mike Launer at 430 am, we get through security have a quick snack and at 530 we are on a plane heading to Denver. The flight to Denver is just under 3 hours, a quick layover of an hour and we are on our plane to head to New Orleans.

New Orleans has always been a bucket list for me with the awesome food, the vibe and its Mardi Gras. We touch down at 130 pm New Orleans time, we grab our luggage and hail an Uber to head to our hotel, We load up, first stop is drive through Daiquiri place. Daiquiris for less than 10 dollars are a great deal. 15 min later we are at the hotel.

Wednesday

We arrive at the hotel, we check in. We meet up with great friends from Toronto, we are hungry, we leave the hotel and we find a small little restaurant called Ed’s Po Boys. Ed’s had solid reviews for Gumbo and Jambalaya, not the best but not the worse good food at a reasonable price

The Gumbo was really good, lots of crawfish, sausage and chicken. The dark Roux perfectly cooked and a spicy broth added, this gumbo was an 8/10. The Jambalaya was Monica’s choice she enjoyed it, it was on the saucier side but still tasty. I was so excited to try the Shrimp Po Boy. It arrives at the table and the shrimp look great, first bite, the bread was dry. My first NOLA Po Boy wasn’t up to par. The Meal was ok, but not having a great Po Boy, I was a little gutted. I knew on Thursday, we would be heading to the Parkway Café to have one of the best Po Boys in Nola. Ed’s get a 6/10 its was ok but the bread on the Po Boy wasn’t up to par

Thursday

The Coffee freaks in our group got to enjoy New Orleans Style Coffee and Beignets , Beignets are pillowy fried dough that doused in powdered sugar, its a perfect blend to start the day.

Lunch Parkway Café.

This place is an institution, we arrived around 1130 am and we queued up and got in the line up, We placed our order then found a seat, the whole process was about 40 minutes. The place was packed, close to 400 people eating Po Boys. I watched the production of the sandwiches and it was a well oiled machine with aprox 15 kitchen worker making sandwiches.

It was worth the wait, the food was so good, everything I expected and even more. Worth the time and standing in line to get something to eat. This place is an institution and should not be missed in New Orleans, 9 out of 10.

The Parade

Going to Mardi Gras is not complete with out watching one of the 100 plus parades that are put on by the various Crew’s. A Crew is a couple of people either all male or all female or mixed that put on a parade, this include all kinds of floats, marching bands and dignitaries. We were fortunate enough to witness the Crew of Chaos and the Crew of Muse. We paid the 40 dollars and had excellent Grandstand Seat with bathrooms, this extra charge was worth every penny.

Friday

We headed to the French Quarter for 9 am for the greasing of the poles. “Greasing of the Poles” in New Orleans’ French Quarter . It’s the unofficial kickoff to Mardi Gras weekend, with performers slathering poles with petroleum jelly while entertaining onlookers for prizes and bragging rights. This all happens at the Royal Sonesta Hotel estimates for this event is over 50,000 people in the French Quarter.

After greasing of the poles we all went for a ‘Snacky Chan” at a little Café I had the Shrimp and |Grits for breakfast, they were pretty damn good,

Great Shrimp and Grits

The walk from hell than ended on a great note

Once we finished up breakfast our fearless leader of Shenanigan’s lets us on a wild goose chase to find a traditional watering hole that was budget friendly. About 13 thousand steps later we ended up in Uptown and a local bar that looked cool . Little did we know that once we got a drink we were in a local gay bar,. No judgement, cheap drinks and great service. After that is a walk through parks to hear Dixie Land Bands. The Local Market and a long walk on the waterfront.

The French Market

Rolling Down The River

After the the long walk we were up to over 20,000 steps since 8 am, you know what that means?” Its Snacky Chan Time” on recommendations of locals we headed to Dragos Seafood Restaurant, what can i say the best grilled Oysters I have ever ate in my life. Monica loved the fried Alligator, we had Boudin , shrimp, cheese cake, this place was off the charts. First timers need to come to this place on the waterfront its a 9/10,

Loving the Snacky Chan’s

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a quick shower, Monica and myself decided to head to the French Quarter for one last time. We met up with our good friend Mark Lamontagne and did the walk of shame complete with drive bars and live music. At the end of the night it was all washed away with a bowl of gumbo. My 48 hours in New Orleans were not enough, Mardi Gras is incredible and needs to be seen by everyone. The Food is outstanding, the people make it, we were safe, the police were friendly and respectful, if you are not a jackass you will have an amazing time. One of the best cities in the world for a great time and amazing food.