A warm NOLA weekend. More Magazine St. Dinner at Superior Seafood (indeed).

Finally some nice weather here in NOLA. Clear skies yesterday with a high around 64 and partly cloudy today at 70. Wet weather moving in this week. Looks like 3 or 5 days in a row of clouds and rain. But warm. We'll have to see if I can continue my foot tour of the town.

Yesterday was also the first of the month so Freret Street had a open market with food, entertainment and vendors. It was relatively small, I'd say slightly bigger than the Westcliffe Fresh Market. Doctor Bluegrass was playing when I showed up after brunch at the Hi-Hat Cafe. A nice Bloody Mary, seen below and very good roast beef hash, which I wrecked before I could take a picture of it.

Pickled Green Beans and Okra instead of Celery. Yum.

Probably the best thing about the street fair was one local artist who did portraits for just $15 dollars and since her work seemed to be very life like I decided to give her a shot.

I dunno. Does it make my cheeks look fat?

I finished my exploration of Magazine St. heading west and walking all the way to Audubon Park again. More of the same. Lots of shops and restaurants including... you guessed it . Les Bon Temps Roule!!!

The Business sounded so good that I ended up going later that night and catching a set. No cover! YES! $3 beers ! YES! Very good New Orleans Funk. Cajun James Brown! YES! Open till 5 AM. ZZZZZZZ!

One of the other things that I've noticed walking around, especially on the Mardi Gras Parade routes were all the beads hung on fences and porch railings. But on Magazine someone had done one better decorating their palm tree with their spoils. Hard again to see, but tons of beads.

Sunday was time switch day so I read the paper and made my own breakfast for a change. At around 2 I went for a good walk, this time to the North West towards Tulane.

Loads of students out on the quad. Not quite as quaint as Loyola, but tree lined avenues made for a nice campus. Founded as a medical school in 1834, it later became the University of Louisiana and finally in 1883 it was rename for a wealthy New Orleans businessman Paul Tulane.

Most of the streets here are lined with live oaks providing lots of shade that I'm sure is appreciated in the dog days of summer. This is State Street.

Ended up the evening trying to decide where to have dinner. Charlies Steak House has been serving in this neighborhood since 1932 and beef sounded like a good change of pace. Closed.

So I ended up at Superior Seafood on the corner of Napoleon and St. Charles and it was pretty darn superior. It didn't seem right to have a steak at a superior seafood restaurant, so instead I had a dozen oysters, on sale for .50 each for happy hour, a glass of Murphy-Goode Sauvignon Blanc followed by Shrimp Andouille Brochettes, bacon wrapped stuff with andouille sausage and grilled to perfection, on whipped potatoes with green beans. Trust me, it was as good as it sounds.

Dessert turned out to be Bread Pudding with whiskey sauce and vanilla bean caramel sauce and whipped cream.

Les Bon Temps Roule!!!