OT - TR - Harrah's New Orleans

This has damn near nothing to do with Vegas and it is probably too long but what the hell... it is a break from some of the political posts. <vbg>

"I've laid around and played around
this old house too long.
Summer's almost gone........"

So what better way to start the Fall than with a weekend in New Orleans?

Late Friday morning, Becca and I fed and watered the cats, locked the doors and headed South for a weekend in New Orleans. The idea was to hook up with Andrew in Alabama and a friend of his, do some gambling, sightseeing, eat at fancy restaurants and generally have as much fun as possible without getting arrested.

FACT: Montgomery, Alabama is closer to New Orleans than Shreveport is. A in A says his drive was about 314 miles. We turned 343 miles. Go figure.

We got to town at 3:30 PM and checked into the Staybridge Suites on Poydras. Nice hotel, one very short block from the casino (and free casino parking) and I booked it on Hotwire getting the room for $53 per night. Parking in that part of NOLA is a bitch, but when you park in Harrah's building, you can get your ticket validated for free parking for 24 hours. Otherwise, it is $25 a day.

Checked in, walked over to Harrah's and met up with Andrew and his friend Mike. Spent some time with Andrew in the Palm Lounge (high-roller hangout that I crashed by telling the door goon that I was with Andrew and that made it OK) while Mike got ready for dinner.

Dinner... Cafe Giovanni http://www.cafegiovanni.com/ Andrew suggested the "chef's tasting menu" where Chef Duke prepares 5 "tasting" courses for you..... depending on how he feels that night. We had seven courses. Man... I could write a book about how incredibly good the food is. This was fine dining at it's best. My favorite was a crab salad, spicy with an undercurrent of sweetness. You wouldn't think that crabmeat would hold up to such strong spicing, but it did. Dishes were made of oysters, crab, shrimp, broiled fish, beef and some incredibly delicious veal ravioli. All served to the accompaniment of live opera singers. If you are ever in NOLA, I can't recommend this place highly enough. You can thank Andrew later. Tab for the 4 of us totaled $305 and was covered by a Harrah's comp... and we covered the tip.

After dinner, I walked Becca back to the hotel, changed into shorts and a polo shirt and headed over to the casino. Mike, Andrew and I played VP for about 4 hours. I took a beating but Andrew and Mike seemed to be holding their own. It was a great time. Mike is an interesting person and a lot of fun once you get to know him and I doubt that there are many casinos that he hasn't been in. The casino was pretty busy and around midnight I called it a night and went back to the hotel to lick my wounds.

Saturday, not a peep from the guys so Becca and I had breakfast at the hotel (free) and we walked across town to the French Market and did some sightseeing and a bit of shopping along the way.... then back to the hotel and we jumped on the St Charles St. Streetcar for a ride through the Garden District for lunch at the Camellia Grill http://tinyurl.com/4npgtg OK... so the place has history and tradition and fun people working there. What it doesn't have is good food. The food isn't bad... but it is pretty average stuff considering the reputation. Becca had a burger, I had a Reuben, we split orders of fries and onion rings and a couple of drinks and the bill was $25. Sorry to the Camellia Grill fans, but it wasn't worth it. They say breakfast is better... the omelets are huge (we saw some being made). No tables, counter service only. I think there are about 30 seats and lines form early. We only waited about 15 minutes to get in and be seated. Considering everything, they shouldn't wait on line for us to return.

Mike went home in the morning. Andrew spent the afternoon watching his beloved Alabama molest their "victim of the week" and win by something like a 243 to 6.

Dinner was at the Grand Isle http://www.grandislerestaurant.com/home.php This is a nice restaurant specializing in seafood. Andrew and I both ordered the oyster sampler (two each of three different kinds of broiled/baked oysters). We agreed that the best was the Grand Oysters which were stuffed with tasso, jalapeno and cheese before broiling. Becca had a salad but no one brought a camera so there is no salad photography.

Becca and I both ordered the flounder... her's covered with shrimp and mine covered with crabmeat...... and served with a lemon butter sauce. Andrew tried the Shrimp Romesco which were shrimp in a red sauce with cheese, spinach, etc. Add a couple of desserts and the tab came to $103 plus tip... again, covered by a Harrah's comp.

NOTE: Harrah's in New Orleans has a deal with the city that they have to give out a certain number of comps good at restaurants outside the casino-hotel. This deal was made when Harrah's was trying to get approval to open.... and made the local restaurants happy with the new influx of business. You get a coupon good for $XXX amount of dollars and there are around 20 restaurants that accept them. It is a nice system and Andrew and his friend Mike know how to make the best of it. Becca and I appreciated their generosity in using their comps to cover these meals.

After dinner, back to the casino for me and Andrew and back to the hotel for Becca. Andrew was in the poker room and I stayed away from the VP machines and headed for the BJ tables. By 11 PM, I had won almost enough to cover my losses from the night before so I called it a night. It was a fun might in the casino because LSU was playing Auburn and it was a tense game with LSU squeaking out a win in the last two minutes. The place was rocking!

FWIW - I have known Andrew for almost 10 years. He bought a cruise from me way back when and we have stayed in touch ever since although we didn't meet in person until last June. He is just a genuinely nice guy. No pretensions, no BS, just a friendly, happy man who enjoys life. It is amazing the number of subjects we talked about this weekend from football to food to gambling to religion to politics, etc. etc. We even managed to spend a very few minutes talking about AVLV and he asked me to say HI to the group in general. I am afraid Andrew has fallen under the Spell of the Evil Empire (Harrah's) and is having so much fun playing in NOLA that he isn't looking to going to Las Vegas any time soon. I laughed when he told me that he sometimes reads AVLV and is never disappointed that 97% of the people are still great and 3% of the people are still total assholes.

It was a great weekend.....

George L


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