After having to cancel 3 trips in the first half of the year due to the pandemic (New Orleans, Bali and Los Angeles), I planned the first trip during the pandemic towards the end of the year. I went back to my favorite U.S. city, New Orleans, and spent an entire week there.
My flight out of San Francisco was at 6:00 a.m. and was full, as was my connecting flight from Dallas to New Orleans. As a matter of fact, American Airlines had sent an E-mail informing passengers that the flight would be full and suggesting that we arrive at the airport TWO hours before departure, even though it was a domestic flight. In addition to the flight being full, no food or drinks were served aboard. Now that Terminal 1 at SFO is complete, I, like many others, stopped in at Goldilocks to grab something to eat. I actually had food in the fridge at home that was supposed to be my breakfast, but I’d forgotten it, of course. I ordered lumpia at Goldilocks, which was enough to satisfy my early morning tummy rumblings. On the flight everyone wore their masks, except when they were eating or drinking something (which they would have brought on board themselves). As for me, I was asleep the entire time. On the flight from Dallas to New Orleans, each passenger was handed an individual plastic bag containing an antibacterial wipe, a bottle of water & a cookie or biscuit or something.
The new airport in New Orleans was running a bit more smoothly than when I’d been there last December. After the LONG delay with the shuttle last time, I took Lyft to the CBD this time.
My hotel was the St. James Hotel, a block away from where I’d stayed in December. This was my first time staying there and they’d given me a very good rate. The photos of the hotel interior and rooms looked nice, which gave me hope. The public areas of the hotel were attractive, tranquil and well maintained. My room, on the other hand, was one that hadn’t yet been renovated. There was bad caulking in the bathroom, the safe didn’t work and the T.V. seemed to only have on channel, which would shut itself off after a short time. I probably should have just requested another room right from the start, but didn’t think those things would be that big of an issue. Also, due to the pandemic, there was no housekeeping service, as housekeeping didn’t want to enter any occupied room. Anything that one needed could be requested from the front desk.
After unpacking a few things, I walked over to the International House Hotel to see the Banksy exhibit. The famous “Looters” is in the lobby, but there are additional Banksy-isms in another room off of the lobby. It was interesting and took about 15-20 minutes to take a good look at everything.
I then walked over to Brother’s Food Mart to pick up a few fried chicken breasts. I wanted to try one of their hot sausage po’ boys, but they said that they were out. I munched on one of the chicken breasts to get some food in me before having drinks that evening.
Now that to go cups are allowed in New Orleans again, I decided to get one at Chophouse, next door to the St. James Hotel. I got a strawberry martini and the bartender even put a sugar rim on my to go up! Now that’s service!
My 8:30 p.m. reservation for the evening was at NoLa Art Bar, an art gallery, restaurant/craft cocktail bar and live music center. Whenever traveling, I frequently search for new restaurants and bars to try out; this one kept popping up on my radar. This black-owned business is located on St. Claude Avenue in the Marigny and just opened in February, a mere month before the pandemic hit. Since there was no sign, my Lyft driver didn’t feel comfortable dropping me off. There was only a buzzer to the left hand side of the door. Thus, I asked the Lyft driver to wait until I was inside before leaving, which she felt more comfortable with. Upon ringing the buzzer, someone answered the door & ushered me inside immediately. The space was nice and airy, with interesting art here and there. A group of 6 or so women occupied a space to the front, a couple was at another table and two other men were sitting on a sofa off to the side (one of whom was apparently the owner). I was the only non-African American person in there, but felt welcome and not uncomfortable at all. The friendly waitress seated me next to the bar, where the bartender chatted me up here and there. Since it’s a restaurant/bar, food was required to be on the table. I settled on the guacamole and chips, which were really good. I kind of wanted a pear martini for my first drink, but he didn’t have pear vodka. He whipped up a cucumber martini, though, and still gave me a sugar rim! My second cocktail was their Bramble; he kindly substituted vodka for me rather than gin. By then, I was pretty tired from my early flight, so paid my bill and headed for the door. I couldn’t get out, though! Another patron, a young guy, came to my rescue. He explained that the door is always locked, opened it for me and walked out with me. My Lyft was there within minutes.
Back at the hotel, I grubbed on that chicken a bit more, then fell out.
[Please follow me on IG (@bambibellina), Twitter (@BambiBellina) or Tumblr (bambiboulangerie).]
