Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Agoraphobia and fear of flying be damned, my workplace is sending me to a conference in the fine city of New Orleans at the tail end of October (Halloween weekend, October 25 through the 29th or 30th). I'll be staying at the Astor Crown Plaza on the corner of Bourbon and Canal, smack dab in the French Quarter, and will have ample free time.

I've been to town exactly once, for just under 24 hours, about 3 months before Katrina (flew into Austin, then drove 9 MF'ing hours to see the Mountain Goats/Prayers & Tears play at House of Blues). We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, pretty much next door to the Superdome, and spent most of our time in town sucking down bourbon and dancing at Circle Bar until 5 in the morning. My caloric intake during that trip consisted exclusively of alcohol, usually in the form of tallboys of Sparks being shotgunned with great aplomb in front of uniformed police officers because holy shiitake, you can just drink right in the street. For better or worse, I am now seven months sober, and am thus unable to while away the off-hours chugging Jungle Juice slushies from the drive-through.

Since I know literally zero people who anywhere near New Orleans, can I get some advice from PPKers who have lived and traveled there more extensively regarding what to do, what to see, and what to eat?

Some things I love:
+ Meeting new people! Humans are awesome.
+ CEMETERIES, because I am 100% goth. Anything creepy or wildly unsettling, actually -- Philadelphia's Mütter Museum is my favorite place on the planet, to give you an idea of the sorts of attractions that I love best.
+ Going to bed and waking up super-early to watch the sunrise. Any good sunrise watching spots?
+ Driiiiiiiiiiiiving. Anywhere. Any beautiful nature reserves nearby? I'd be so happy to roadtrip anywhere in a 3-hour drive radius, like maybe to Pensacola; I've never seen that part of the country.
+ Indie rock shows, independent book and record stores. I'm covered in tattoos and wear thick black plastic-framed glasses, you know the drill.
+ Obscenely hot and humid weather.
+ Meditation and yoga -- would be awesome to find a center in town that accepts drop-ins.

No love:
+ Smoking. Is smoking indoors still legal in N.O.?
+ Bars, unless the food is REALLY REALLY REALLY good.
+ Drunk people, loud parties, heavily-beaded college students vomiting tropical drinks onto thoroughfares. Yes, I know I'm staying on Bourbon Street; that's where the conference is!
+ The scary parts of I-10 where you are just driving over water/swamps for miles and terrifying miles.

I am exceedingly diminutive and will be alone; I always travel solo, but I'm not familiar enough with New Orleans to know where I should and shouldn't be. An old acquaintance of mine was murdered in the Lower Ninth Ward, so I know to steer clear from there, but is there anywhere else I should specifically avoid, even during the day? I will have a rental car, but always prefer to walk/bike.

Now, onto the important stuff: FOOD. Here's some info that I found on the previous threads:
+ Carmo, a Tropical Cafe, 527 Julia St. -- The Rico sandwich sounds AMAZING. Vegan smoked pork!?!? Yes, please.
+ 13 Monaghan, 517 Frenchmen St. -- Can't go wrong with BBQ tofu. Plus a baked tofu & herb sandwich. And TOTS!
+ O! Vegasm at Grit's Bar, 530 Lyons St. -- Delicious-looking 100% vegan brunch.. only open on Sundays? :weeps:
+ Wandering Buddha at Hi-Ho Lounge, 2239 St. Claude Ave. -- Korean cuisine. Appetizers and entrees look so tasty!
+ Fair Grinds, 3133 Ponce De Leon St. -- Not much in the way of food, but lots of baked goods & coffee.
+ August Moon, 3635 Prytania St. -- Chinese & Vietnamese cuisine, my favorite! Awesome-looking vegetarian menu.
+ Surrey's, 1418 Magazine St. -- Looks like they have a great breakfast menu.
+ Lola's - A Taste of Spain, 3312 Esplanade Ave. -- Kittee sez the gazpacho, almond soup, garlic mushrooms, paella, and garlic aioli are vegan. Huzzah!
+ Kim Son, 349 Whitney Ave., Gretna -- Chinese & Vietnamese cuisine. Three cheers for any restaurant with a huge vegetarian menu! Also, CLAY POTS YESSSSSSSS
+ Phò Tàu Bay, 113 Westbank Expy., Gretna -- Yes! More Vietnamese! A small vegetarian menu, but everything is amazingly cheap. No bun chay (:sniffle:) but they have vegan fresh rolls and bahn mi chay for $3.50. Excellent reviews, too!
+ Yelp lists: Vegan Options in NOLA and Vegetarian Restaurants in New Orleans

If any of these places have closed, or new places have opened recently, do tell!

Thank you, PPK.

You have started this at just the perfect time! We're planning a short honeymoon in NOLA at the end of October, and I was just researching food options! And plan to start researching cemetery options!

One place I found you haven't mentioned is Bennachin, which has east African food. Menu here; I think they have a facebook page, too, but I'm at work and can't go on facebook here.

Creepy road trip: Hansen's disease museum, it's a good tour.

Grand Isle is a good road trip and really pretty scenery. And it will probably disappear in our lifetime. I can't remember if there are swamp stretches like the Atchafalaya, though. I just remember lots of boats. And bring food with you.

Another road trip possibility is Avery Island. It's where Tabasco is made, and you can take a tour. And there's also a really pretty bird sanctuary.

Booo we won't have a car, but this sounds really cool.

Eat here. It is wicked good.

I'm an organizational nerd, so I made this Google Map of vegan-friendly restaurants. It has links to businesses' respective Yelp pages, hours of operation, and a list of vegan options available at each restaurant. Disregard the hotel links; those are for my business trip, and will be removed when the trip is over.

So: Google map of vegan-friendly restaurants in New Orleans, yay!

Also, Wild Flag are playing at One-Eyed Jack's on Wednesday, October 26. I will be there with bells on. Huzzah!

This is absolutely fantastic. I'm going on vacation there myself from the 27th until the 2nd and have been googling around for vegan New Orleans. I wasn't having much luck and figured I'd give PPK a shot. Thanks for doing all this work!

This is really helpful! I go to NO a few times a year but almost never in the day, so when I do I'm always forgetting where I need to go and what I need to do. This is awesome

I did find this page for activities:

http://www.nola.com/haunted/index.ssf/2 ... nts_f.html

Most of it is either on or after the 30th or is family oriented, but you'll be there for the Vampire Ball and some ghost tours.

holy fork you rule so hard! THIS IS LESSENING MY ANXIETY SO MUCH.
I'm about to embark on a 5-day trip in NOLA with one omnivore and one baby vegan (she just went vegan 3 weeks ago?) SO THIS IS SUPER GREAT.

Ahh this map is so damn useful. I'll be in Nola (again) in May - can't wait!

Hansen's is open! You must go there and get a snoball. It's on Tchoupitoulas.

xo
kittee

Lolas might be one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. I;ll be there in June for work, will definitely be hitting it up

Yes. Lola's is one of my favorites. Prolly #1.

I am going on vacation there myself from the 15th until the 3rd and have been googling around for vegan new Orleans. This is really helpful. Awesome this map is so damn usefull.

I'm going to New Orleans in January!