Dear guests...

Corner of Esplanade Avenue and Ponce de Leon Street, New Orleans

Yesterday morning I was on the corner of Esplanade Avenue and Ponce de Leon Street and I was struck by the dawning sunlight on the banana trees that grow in front of Canseco's Supermarket.  The site that Canseco's uses used to be a Whole Foods Market.  Whole Foods is going to open a few blocks away from us on North Broad Street in a couple of months, in an old Schwegmann's building.

It is wonderful to live in New Orleans.  I think this every day.  I often say it out loud, often for no reason except that I am struck by how lucky we are to live here.  Yesterday's reason was the light on the banana trees.

I have written an open letter to our guests that I am going to date tomorrow and leave on the table by the front door.  I hate marketing.  I hate advertising.  Neither of us is a salesman.  We like to think that we offer a good product and most people seem to agree.  I am going to copy the letter here without comment (and without being on our stylish letterhead paper):


"Dear Guest,

It is true we have your email address.  We won’t abuse it.  You will probably never hear from us.  Who likes an inbox full of form letters and ersatz sincerity?  In today’s travel and tourism market, we live or die by online reviews, primarily on TripAdvisor.  It is the nature of the beast, a Devil’s bargain, for better or for worse.

If you enjoyed your stay, we will appreciate an online review, but only if it is not too much trouble.  We won’t cajole you into writing one if you aren’t comfortable doing so.  If you did not enjoy your stay, we would like to know how we could have made it better.  You can tell the whole world if you want to or you can write us privately.  We really do want to know what is right and what can be better.  No hard feelings.  You have two friends in New Orleans.  Even if you don’t stay with us the next time you come to the city, ring the bell if you’re on Esplanade Avenue and our motor scooters are parked out front.  We’ll be happy to see you and tell you what is going on this week.

We want to be the inn of choice for people visiting New Orleans.  We like to think we offer a unique boutique experience that lets people experience the city the way we do, as citizens.  Ours is a remarkable city.  We live here.  We try to share that.  If we can be better ambassadors, we want to know how.

We hope you come back, not to fleece you through repeat business, but because we really enjoy what we do.  Good guests make good company.  Thank you for staying with us.  

We really do love where we live.  This is probably obvious.  If the levees don’t break, we’ll still be in business many, many more years, enjoying what we do.  If the levees do break again, we'll be here rebuilding.  We love it here.  Ours is a pleasant profession, mostly because good guests make good company.  Thank you for choosing La Belle Esplanade.  We hope you visit New Orleans again.  Good memories are made here.

A votre santé,
Matthew and Melanie"

Corner of Canal and North Rampart Streets, New Orleans

We went to the newly restored Saenger Theater on Canal Street this afternoon.  It is beautiful inside.  I took about a hundred blurry pictures to prove it.  Here is a picture of the starlit ceiling:

Saenger Theater ceiling

More to come.

Until then,

A votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Eating in New Orleans

The fork is about 4 feet long

When you are in the innkeeping business like we are, people ask you if you know any good restaurants.

One of our guests today observed that we pay so much attention to what we serve at breakfast that we must be foodies.  She is half right.  I would be happy to go to Mandina's every day and eat turtle soup.  Frau Schmitt is of a different mind, however, and she is usually right about these things.  Like my doctor, she worries what an all-turtle diet does to my serum cholesterol.  

There are over 600 restaurants in New Orleans.  In three and a half years, we have been to almost 200, mostly for lunch.

Cafe Dauphine

When you keep an inn close the French Quarter like we do, people ask for recommendations to French Quarter restaurants.  My pat response is that I like to eat wherever the line is shortest.  Frau Schmitt agrees with this strategy since it is very hard to have to have a bad meal in the Vieux Carre.  Just ask the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

When we're in the Lower 9th Ward, we like to go to Cafe Dauphine, on the corner of Dauphine and Egania Streets.  It's a fairly new place, right across from a pale green and pink shotgun.

Egania Street, New Orleans

They have already built a steady clientele and a reputation based on their signature dish.

Cafe Dauphine menu

Fried Stuffed Bell Peppers:  Fresh bell pepper stuffed with crabmeat and shrimp dressing battered and deep fried to perfection.  I've never ordered that.  I'm watching my cholesterol.  I've seen people order it, though, and it looks delicious.  They are always grinning when they finish.

There are all sorts of interesting things to be found outside the French Quarter.  We don't pooh-pooh the neighborhood that makes New Orleans famous, but, for people who want to get out and about and have adventures, there are plenty of other things to taste and see.  When you are an innkeeper, you have to know these things.

Anybody can read a guidebook and anybody can scour the listings on yelp.  More power to them.  We don't tell anybody to look up anything on yelp, except for this place.  We give you the real scoop on the skinny of what is best about living in our fair city.  We live here.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Superbe endroit, propriétaires charmants

Great place, lovely owners

I never get tired of this picture.  That's really what our house looks like in the afternoon with the New Orleans sun just cresting over the roofline.  It's dazzling.

Regular readers know that The Most Colorful Bed and Breakfast in New Orleans (TM) is a boutique operation operated by your humble narrator and his lovely wife, Frau Schmitt.  

I am from Connecticut, a place often misremembered as a city in Ohio by people I meet.  I've gotten used to it over the years.  It is a cross borne by everyone who hails from the Nutmeg State.  "You're from Cincinnati, aren't you?"  No.  "Cleveland?"  No, but a large swath of northern Ohio used to be part of Connecticut.  We called it our Western Reserve in the old days.  That's today's history lesson.  

Part of Connecticut

With one of us being from Connecticut, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, good solid Yankee English is spoken here.  Frau Schmitt is from Hamburg, in Germany.  I know a smattering of German words, but Frau Schmitt speaks the Lingua Germania fluently, as is her birthright.  

I took four years of high school French, and I understand it as well as Google translate allows.  Frau Schmitt is taking French classes at the Alliance Française, which is uptown.  She's been taking classes for about a month, three times a week and she already speaks French better than I do.  

We had two German guests, a Frenchman businessman, a young lady from Connecticut, a West Virginian, and a couple from Brooklyn staying with us this weekend.  It was like the United Nations around the breakfast table, full of free ranging and spirited discussions.  It was nothing like the continental breakfast of english muffins and powdered eggs that you get at your standard chain hotel with everyone staring at CNN and flipping glassy-eyed through USA Today.

Like at Motel 6, we leave the light on

I was reading some reviews on TripAdvisor this afternoon and I came across one from our friend Eric D., who is also from France:

"Bien que situé en dehors des circuits touristique, ce B&B est charmant, un aménagement rococo donne un esprit de gaité. La chambre que nous avions était grande, composée de deux pièces, une plutôt salon, l'autre, la chambre, avec un balcon, une belle salle de bains aux équipements "vintage". Les propriétaires présents lors des déjeunés font la conversation. A recommander, même si le quartier n'est pas très beau, sombre, je pense qu'il n'y a pas grand chose à craindre de plus qu'ailleurs dans la Nouvelle-Orleans (quartiers accessibles aux touristes)."

Thanks, Eric.  We couldn't have said it better ourselves.  The next time you visit our fair city, remember, you have two friends in La Nouvelle Orleans.  That's New Orleans for you.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Bad pictures of New Orleans

Auto Repair Shop, Jackson Avenue, New Orleans

I was just reading about how it is very hard to take a bad photograph in San Francisco and I thought about another picturesque city that is kind to shutterbugs.  I'll give you two guesses what city I'm thinking of.  Here is a hint:  It starts with New and it ends in Orleans.  We should all be on the same page, now.

View on South Rampart Street, New Orleans

I take pictures on my iPhone.  It is about all I use my iPhone for.  I know I can do other things with it, but I don't see much need for them.  I wait until I get home to check my email.  When I go to the doctor, I take the day's newspaper with me.  When I go out to lunch with Frau Schmitt, I talk to her.  When I'm waiting in line at the post office, I talk to the lady behind me, catching up on the gossip.  When I'm on the corner of North Prieur Street and St. Ann Street, and the light is just right, that's when I pull out my phone.  I take a picture.

Corner of North Prieur Street and St. Ann Street, New Orleans

It is as hard to take a bad picture in New Orleans as it is to have a bad meal.  It happens, but rarely.

We do have a business phone, but the best way to reach us is by email.  Our email address is labelleesplanadebb@gmail.com.  

Our business phone, which is a landline, is hooked up to an answering machine that doesn't always work.  This isn't an indication that we are some kind of shady, fly-by-night operation.  It is just that most people who call are salespeople, and it doesn't bother me if they can't leave a message, and most potential guests who call can have their questions answered on our website.  If we aren't available to answer the phone, resourceful travelers figure out what to do.  We ask that you make reservations directly through our online calendar.  It is more accurate than having me do it with pencil and paper.

St. James Cheese Company, New Orleans

I'm old-fashioned.  Frau Schmitt is not, but she puts up with me.  I think a telephone shouldn't be able to fit in my pocket and it shouldn't be able to take pictures.  I carry an instamatic that takes calls.  

Nobody comes to New Orleans to watch television, and nobody comes to New Orleans to stare at their cellphone.  That's what I've noticed about the people who really enjoy their time here, whether they visit for a weekend or a lifetime.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.