Authentic New Orleans

Mayor Mitch Landrieu, courtesy of nola.gov

The city's website used to be cityofno.com.  Not too catchy, is it?  When Mitch Landrieu was elected, he changed it to nola.gov.  I'm not here to play partisan politics, as most visitors are not terribly interested, but I will quote something I read a while back.  Mitch Landrieu seems to be holding the job he was born to have.  Whether you think it a case of privilege (his father was mayor) or a case of a man who is enthusiastic about going to work, that's not much of my concern.  I think he's a good mayor, for whatever my opinion is worth.

Frau Schmitt and I met him once.  We were at the coffee shop in The Rink, which is on Prytania Street.  A bald guy was buying a pound of coffee in line in front of us.  He turned around and introduced himself.  "I'm Mitch. What are your names?" he said.

We had a nice conversation.  He seemed genuinely perplexed that we would move from Boston to New Orleans.  "It's so nice in Boston," he said.  We pointed out that there's more snow in Boston than there is in New Orleans and he couldn't argue that point.

There's an interesting article in Politico Magazine that highlights the mayor and his crime strategy.  We don't often discuss the murder rate in New Orleans unless someone asks.  It is high enough to curl most people's hair.  It is much, much, much lower than it was when we moved here four years ago.  It is still more than double the murder rate in Boston, and Boston has twice as many people.  

St. Jospeh Altar, New Orleans

We don't shy away from talking about crime in New Orleans with our guests.  They're already here so there's no point in hiding the truth.

The truth is that we don't see a lot of murders.  Actually, we haven't seen any.  Our part of the city is peaceable.  There isn't even a lot of petty crime in our neighborhood.  It's basically a working families' neighborhood.  It is slowly gentrifying, but it hasn't reached the tipping point, yet.  Once the property values in the Bywater reach their ceiling, I suspect our part of the city will be the next hot real estate market, but that's about a half-decade down the road.  We do have a new Whole Foods supermarket and property values are rising.  Give it time.

People who walk to the French Quarter from our house have to walk under the highway overpass on North Claiborne Avenue, and it's ugly the way most highway projects are.  There are sometimes a panhandler or two under the overpass holding out a sign to the cars stopped at the traffic light, but do you want to know where most of the panhandlers are?  It's where most of the pickpockets and purse snatchers are, too.  They're where the easy marks are: the French Quarter.

Looking up from the Clio Suite balcony

We live a relaxing stroll away from the French Quarter in one direction and from City Park in the other direction.  Tour buses and bicycle tours pass by our house all day, but the neighborhood, overall, isn't inundated with visitors.  It's very peaceable in this part of New Orleans.  It's close enough to the action while being far enough away that we get a good night's sleep without many cares or concerns.

A lot of people who stay with us want to get an authentic New Orleans experience.  This means different things to different people.  A night on Bourbon Street is as authentically New Orleans as a night on Frenchman Street; the only difference is one of degrees.  Emeril Lagasse has a restaurant called Nola.  Is that more authentic than a dinner at Mandina's?  I'm not one to judge.  It's hard to have a bad meal in this city.  Emeril is pure New Orleans even if he is from Fall River, Mass.  We've never eaten at one of his restaurants, but we're not opposed to it.  They just always seem to be crowded.  

Another tree in front of our house

We've never eaten at Couchon either.  Last year, just about everyone who stayed with us arrived with reservations at Couchon. It's in the Warehouse District and last year you needed reservations to get a seat.  We don't spend a lot of time in the Warehouse District.  Everyone who ate at Couchon enjoyed their meals.  Having a good meal is an authentic New Orleans experience, but is Couchon?  I don't know.  I haven't eaten there.  I can tell you about the jazz brunch at Buffa's though.  I recommend it.  The kitchen is open 24 hours and it's right down our street.

I will tell you something that I've found to be true.  If you have heard about it, it's probably not a place we go to often.  It is probably crowded because these places have to advertise to attract the kind of national attention that they do.  The kind of places we go to don't issue press releases or have PR people.  They don't need them.  They've been around for a long time and they have a dedicated clientele of people who live here.  We live here.  When we go out, we like to see people we know.

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, St. Joseph Altar, New Orleans

When you live in New Orleans and you go into a shop in the French Quarter, the person behind the cash register asks, "Where are you from?''  You say, "Esplanade Avenue."  They say, "Is that where you're staying?"  You say, "We live on Esplanade Avenue," and the whole tenor of the conversation changes.  

Nobody asks us where we're from at the places we usually go to.  They don't need to.  Nobody cares.  When you are in the weave of New Orleans, we're all in it together.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.