Here's the next installment--My Birthday Dinner:
My 50th (oh man! How did I get so old so quickly??) birthday was our first full day there after arriving in New Orleans. I don't recall many specifics of that day, but I am fairly certain we explored for the most part. That could possibly be the day we wandered and discovered Frenchmen Street and literally stumbled onto the tiki bars (without really trying).
Everyone talks about Cafe Du Monde and their beignets. Well,we didn't go to Cafe Du Monde until much later. But we did go to another cute little place off of Royal Street called Beignet House (I think...) for breakfast and beignets.
It was a nice, sunny day. And it was the day we wandered after all (judging by the order my photos are in,any way). Along the way, we ventured through French Market and I spied a sign that said Alligator On A Stick. They must have seen me coming and said "Sucker!" because I went for it. Hey--I'd rather eat an alligator than be eaten by one.
What did I think of it? Well,it was very sausage-y. I do not like sausage and I had to throw it away. But whatever. I tried it...and it didn't bite back!
Sometime during the day, I also got a text photo from my coworkers wishing me a happy birthday. I was so very, very touched they had done that for me.
Anyway, early in the day we had passed a place called The Court of Two Sisters on Royal Street. Looking in through the window, it looked very nice. There were white linen cloths on the tables, it looked rather cozy and I think there was a fireplace (not that we needed the heat). The place was 100 years old and it just looked charming, quaint, and classy at the same time. Erich decided that was where he wanted to treat me for my birthday dinner.
Erich made reservations.
The diners we had seen had been dressed rather smartly...jackets and ties. Neither of us had brought jackets or ties. Hello? It was April in New Orleans--it was too warm for a jacket. But we did the best we could. Erich had slacks and a dress shirt and shoes. I had...oops! In my rush to pack, instead of grabbing the khaki pants I had wanted to bring, I had somehow grabbed a light gray pair that didn't match anything I was wearing and were much too tight (but I squeezed into them anyway) and--oh my stars! I brought my socks but completely forgot to bring dress shoes.All I had were my sneakers. Argh! I felt horribly inadequate in my impoverished, ill-fitting outfit (soooo embarrassing). Erich looked fine--but not super swanky. BESIDES--we had money and a reservation. What were they going to do?
I'll tell you what they did.
We walked up to the restaurant and inside the window we saw all of the well dressed people enjoying a scrumptious-looking dinner in the cozy little restaurant. We went up to the front desk and mentioned our reservation. The hostess looked at us and our reservation and told us they would be helping us at the rear hostess desk a little further back into the restaurant. She pointed several feet behind her and, not suspecting anything, we walked on back.
We walked up to the restaurant and inside the window we saw all of the well dressed people enjoying a scrumptious-looking dinner in the cozy little restaurant. We went up to the front desk and mentioned our reservation. The hostess looked at us and our reservation and told us they would be helping us at the rear hostess desk a little further back into the restaurant. She pointed several feet behind her and, not suspecting anything, we walked on back.
When we were seated, we were taken not to the elegant dining room seen from the window, but instead to a dimly lit back room with zero ambiance and that was overcrowded. It apparently was the room they dumped all of the less-than-perfect people/tourists. Here were the people in shorts, flip flops, tank tops, sweat pants, etc. As badly put together as I was, at least I had attempted some sort of effort for the place...but clearly we did not belong, so we were thrown to the back of the bus.
Dinner was hmmm...less than spectacular. We were already laughing about our second class status. Erich was more bothered by the lack of it being more special for my big 50th birthday than I was--but I thought the whole farce was wildly funny and appropriate.. It made it memorable. I don't recall what I had (some prix fix set menu thing) but know that part of it was supposed to have been in a white sauce. I think the chef or someone ladled out of the wrong pot and put some fish stew or something on my meal instead of the white sauce as there were chunks of fish in it (and I do NOT like fish. Ha!)..
Our wait staff was friendly and attentive though. For desert I was served some sort of special southern cake (that was dry... Ha!). But they put candles on it for my birthday, which was nice.
Erich felt awful about the dinner--since he picked the place and it turned out so badly. I thought it was perfectly wonderful in it's own awful, quirky way. It was the most memorable 50th birthday dinner I ever had! We did eat at better --and worse-- places during the trip. The most memorable was the last night at this ultra fancy (and ultra laughably unintentionally silly) place that we continue to laugh about--but I'll save that tale for later.
More stories and pictures to come.
CHEERS!
Comments