Remember when I told y’all that I would make a post specifically for what we did and what we ate during our Mardi Gras trip? Well, it’s a little long, but it’s worth it, I promise! I felt like our adventures deserved their own post because, laaaawddyy, this time around it was LIT.
Sunday, February 26
Sunday was our first day in New Orleans to celebrate the Mardi Gras festivities. We reached around 2 or 3 that afternoon, met up with the family, showered, and jetted off to find some grub. I was starving, to say the least, because I had not eaten, I simply forgot, since the day before, and wanted to wait until we reached NOLA to get something real good. So, we asked for suggestions and ended up at a restaurant called New Orleans Burgers & Seafood.
When we arrived at the restaurant, parking was a nightmare. The parking lot was small and the place was packed. Once we found a spot, we walked in and was confused by the entire process of getting sat and ordering. Unlucky for us, we stood in a line only to be told that if we wanted to dine in we needed to seat ourselves. We find a seat at an empty bar and started to browse through the menu. I noticed that it is happy hour and immediately told G that I was going to order the “Big Mamba Margarita.”
It takes our waiter about five minutes to come over and ask us for our order. Now, he was the only waiter on the floor and there were a few parties ahead of us, but he did a good job nonetheless. We ordered our food and drinks, and to our surprise, the food arrived rather quickly. I ordered the Thin Fried Catfish Dinner and G ordered a Thin Catfish Poboy.
I scarfed that food down like I hadn’t eaten in weeks.
The wedges were dressed in a buttery garlic sauce. Yum. The cole slaw was yum. The thin catfish was fried to perfection. It wasn’t greasy or anything. *nom nom nom*. If I had to rate New Orleans Burgers and Seafood just based on what we had I’d give them a 4.5 out of 5.
Sunday Night
After the parade festivities, G, his uncle, and I went on an adventure where we ended up on Frenchmen Street. To be completely honest, Frenchmen Street reminded me of an eccentric part of town, where all the “cool kids” hang out. We saw all kinds of people in that area. Artists, tourists, bikers, men, women, queer, straight, etc. Everyone was on Frenchmen Street and everyone was having a great time.
Upon arrival, we stumbled upon two sets of people. A guy who was “juggling the ups and downs of life” and two men who were writing poetry on typewriters. We watched the balancing act for a while, but I was more interested in the men writing poetry. I walked over and asked them how much and what was the topic. The man explained to me that I would have to give him a topic, he’d write the poem, and then I’d pay him what I thought it was worth. I told him, “a great marriage.” This is what he wrote:
We walked a little further down the street and walked right into the Frenchmen Art Market. This place was very interesting and featured photographs, ceramic art, watercolor paint, abstract pieces, and a collection of cardboard signs made by homeless people.
Two displays that really caught G’s eye were ceramic art created by Pat Lee of Studio Leep, as well as, 3D art created with some type of wiring. Mr. Lee and his wife create their ceramic art by hand, and the coolest piece was a replica of their friends face. If we had the $400 to spare G would’ve gotten it. On the other hand, the 3D wire art works with the sunlight and projects the 3D art onto your walls, according to the artist. Below you will see how a market-goer uses a flashlight to project the art onto a white poster.
Overall, Frenchmen Street was pretty dope. A city is always more fun when you don’t necessarily indulge in all of the touristy attractions.
I still didn’t get my hand grenade yall.
Monday, February 27
We skipped the Lunde Gras festivities and decided to take the kids, not our kids, but we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese.
G and I got ready, got the little ones together, and left the house around noon. The Chuck E. Cheese that was closest to us was small and packed, but nonetheless, we stood in line and waited to be helped. Listen, I had my coupons and a solid plan together. I made G and the boys wait 30 minutes before leaving the house to get my plan right. As we got to the counter to be helped, the manager told us that their system was down and that they could only process food orders. She also told us to give her 10 minutes so she could call corporate and get the system up, we waited.
We had a 4 and 9-year-old with us. The 4-year-old was patiently and anxiously waiting to meet Chuck E., that’s all he’d been talking about all morning. He even watched Chuck E. videos on YouTube before we left. Ten minutes turned into thirty, G was annoyed by this point, and me being optimistic goes to ask the cashier if the system was back up, she tells me no.
I googled and called another Chuck E. Cheese to make sure their system was up and running. That manager laughed at me but if we were going to drive another 20 minutes I wanted to make sure G and I weren’t going to disappoint the boys. We get there, my plan goes off without a hitch, and we play our little hearts out.
Monday Night
After a long and crazy three hours at Chuck E. Cheese, G and I went on a date. Not just any date, but a dinner and a movie date. I know, we fancy. 🙂
Around 7 that evening, we went to ACME Oyster House in Metairie to get some of their famous Charbroiled Oysters. Y’aaaaalllllll, I won’t even lie, I was a little skeptical about those Oysters because the only Oysters I’ve ever had were raw and slimy. But those Oysters were cooked and topped with cheese, and they were tha bomb. Definitely worth the $18. Besides the Oysters, I ordered a Seafood Etoufee and G ordered some Salmon with veggies.
After dinner, we jetted over to a new movie theater, Broad Street Theater, to watch Get Out. Over dinner, I explained to G how cool it would be to go to a movie theater where you could eat food and drink cocktails, like the theaters in Texas. How pleasantly surprised were we when we walked into the theater and saw at the concessions we could order beer and cocktails. We only chose this theater because they were showing Get Out next and had no idea about the concession options. Manifestation at its best. 😛
The movie was really good, don’t listen to the reviews and critics, go see it yourself. Overall, our trip to the Big Easy for Mardi Gras turned out to be a very fun and relaxing experience. Great drinks, food, movies, and quality time.
Let me know if y’all have seen, or will see Get Out. Also, if you’ve made it this far because this post is long af, make sure to subscribe and follow us on social media, Instagram: @OhMinaaa + @TheMunchiesDigest.
