New Orleans Day 3: Alligator Two Ways

I love, love, love donuts (yea, I know I didn't spell it correctly but can you blame me with all these Dunkin Donuts around!?) That being said, it is absolutely shocking that I didn't order beignets my first day in The Big Easy. I never had an authentic beignet before so I didn't know whether to expect more of a donut or more of a fried dough type pastry. I've never been a huge fan of fried dough so I was hoping for the former. Well, today was the day I was finally going to find out.

We walked down to Café du Monde and each ordered our own order of beignets and a frozen cafe au lait. I couldn't believe the amount of powdered sugar they put on those things! They must go through 10 million boxes of Dominos powdered sugar per day, especially considering the cafe is open 24/7. The beignets ended up being the perfect combination of donut and fried dough. Although....I don't think I'll end up craving them just as much as I would a donut. Still, they were delicious.

After breakfast, we walked around the shops at the French Market and bought some bananas foster coffee to bring back home. It ended up being way too strong. After we bought a few more things and took pictures inside the St Louis Cathedral, which we weren't supposed to do (I didn't know...I'm Jewish....remember!?), we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our Cajun Encounters Swamp Tour. I wish I had changed into jeans....

As soon as I got into the bus that picked us up from our hotel to bring us to the swamp, I scraped the back of my leg on a metal spoke that was sticking out from under the broken seat I went to sit in. An OCD person's worst nightmare! I've had like 20 million panic attacks since then. I'll tell you one thing, if I end up with some type of disease, I'm suing.

Anyways, the tour ended up being fun but I'm not sure it was worth the $50 ticket and scrape. The highlight of the tour was seeing the wild hogs and the pretty scenery. We didn't get to see any large alligators because a poacher came through and killed most of them a few days prior but we did see a few small ones.

Once we got back, I most definitely showered and wiped myself down with rubbing alcohol! After resting for a bit, we headed out to Arnaud's French 75 Bar, which I've heard amazing things about. I got the Honi Makai and the Bastille Cup. The Honi Makai was a little stronger tasting than I usually like my drinks to be but the spiced sugar sprinkled on top made it truly addicting. The Bastille Cup was light and refreshing. I also had a sip of Drew's drink, their namesake, the French 75, which was very good.

After drinks, we headed to dinner at Royal House. We chose the restaurant based on the fact that it served everything we had left to try while still in Nola. It also had decent reviews on Yelp. We ordered fried alligator as an appetizer which did in fact taste like chicken just like everyone says. I ordered the Taste of New Orleans which was a sampling of chicken & andouille jambalaya, crawfish etouffée and seafood gumbo. I thought that the etouffée and the gumbo tasted very similar but all three were quite enjoyable. Drew ordered the shrimp creole and we swapped meals halfway through. That dish was very spicy but good.

After dinner, I realized that I didn't get a chance to try Doberge cake and the following day was our last. Problem was....a lot of things are closed in New Orleans on Mondays and Tuesdays so my options were limited. Drew had wanted to head to Frenchman Street that night to listen to some jazz and lo and behold, the only place still open that served Doberge cake, Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29, happened to be on the way. I never in 30 million years thought I would end up at a Hawaiian restaurant in New Orleans....but that's what happened and I had the most delicious roasted pineapple doberge cake with key lime icing.

 

Finally, we made our way down to Frenchman street and happened upon another unexpected surprise, reggae music at Blue Nile. The reggae band was amazing but after a while, we decided to head out and see if we could find some jazz. There are about 12 jazz bars on Frenchman street, most of which don't require a cover. However, when we ducked into the second place, we were promptly kicked out. They said I had to order a drink if I wanted to stay but after all that food, I felt too sick to drink. I should have lied and told them I was pregnant or something. Oh well, it was getting pretty late anyways and I needed to get some sleep.