Old Haunts Revisted

On the road to New Orleans, Biloxi and Pensacola

I begin this post with a large pic of food, because, truly, 

we ate our way through the Gulf Coast!

Those who know me know that I, like my dad, could eat fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the Gulf Coast is known for its wonderful, fresh seafood.  When we planned our trip, our primary goal was to go back to some of the places we lived and visited, and for Roger to check out the flight line where he instructed South Vietnamese pilots how to fly some 40 years ago.

The good food we enjoyed on this trip was just a side light, but, as it turns out, it was a real high light! I have to say that my 50th high school reunion looms ever closer, and my goal to lose weight has been severely thwarted.  Okay, so I admit I blew it big time in Hawaii.  But, in the scheme of things of this ever-shortening journey of life, I pronounce my fall off the diet wagon 
     so worth it!

Roger and I with Mindy, Jack, Adelaide and Charlie, left Houston around 9 am Monday morning in Mindy and Jeff's  SUV and drove east on  I-10 until we got hungry for lunch.

 We googled the best Po'boy place in Beaumont, Texas, then stopped at this downtown little diner and had 
shrimp Po'boys with fries and seafood gumbo.

Note the box of Idaho potatoes - the fries were great!

Real Down South atmosphere

Addie is peeking in a window, just her height!

She really didn't want to leave this place!

 Even better than the good food we had on this trip was getting to see our old friends and neighbors,

 Susie and Sam DeGeneres. 

Sam was a fellow flight instructor with Roger in Biloxi and in Wichita Falls, Texas.  They were also our two doors down neighbors on Hercules Street in Wichita Falls.

We always have associated Houma, Louisiana, with Sam and Susie, because they were both from there, talked about it a lot and dearly love it.  So we couldn't drive through there without looking them up.  Google is amazing; we found out that Sam owns and runs a car dealership, and, as luck would have it, he was there at work when we stopped in.

  

We were so tickled to see him, and he insisted that we stay until he could get ahold of Susie and have her come over.  She was visiting her mom in an assisted living, and it took a few minutes for her to get there, but it was so wonderful to see her - big hugs all around!

Sam insisted that they take us to "suppa," but we declined, not wanting to impose with our gang and we were planning to eat in New Orleans that night.

What wonderful, gracious people they are and it was so fun going down memory lane with them. 

 Who knew we would ever see each other again!

N'awlins

So, we hit the road for New Orleans, then arrived and checked into a Marriott hotel in nearby Kenner.  I asked at the front desk where a good nearby casual seafood restaurant was, and a customer checking in said that when he comes to New Orleans on business, he always stays at this hotel because of this restaurant, and it was on the corner of our block! The desk clerk concurred with enthusiasm, and, oh. my. goodness.  They were so right!

This place rocked! 

 They were right next store to a fresh fish market, and they offered an awesome variety of fresh fish and seafood.

Roger and I have fond memories of buying fresh giant shrimp right off the boat in Biloxi.  I would boil them up with Cajun boil, chill them and make cocktail sauce. Then we would eat them while we watched Monday night football or take them in our cooler to the Florida beaches to eat with our picnic.

First thing we ordered was Cajun-boiled shrimp.  They were giant, cheap and even better than we remembered!

We shared seafood salad . . .

. . . soft shell crab and Andouille sausage Po'boys 

on crunchy, New Orlean's French bread.

Indescribably delicious!

Next morning, we drove through the French Quarter and took some pics on Bourbon and Royal Streets.

It was an unseasonably non-humid, gorgeous day!

We wanted to see the lower 9th ward where the levee failed when Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, 

devastated the Gulf Coast.

This fellow in the pic, very inebriated with beer can in hand, told us all about the flood.  

I guess he just sits there each day, waiting to tell the story. When we arrived, he was just sitting there, staring out at the water.

First the levee failed here, then at Lake Pontchartrain.

Roger took just one pic of one of the flooded and deserted houses, and most were worse than this one, and there were many.

This is the headquarters for the newly-built homes that we saw on one street.

As you can see, there is vast improvement in these homes, with solar panels and they are now standing on stilts.

 Before we left on the trip, I did some internet research of places to eat in New Orleans. 

One place that was highly recommended and kid-friendly was Red Fish Grill.

The decor was funky, with wire sculptures hanging form the high ceiling and paintings on the cement walls.

The seafood salad . . .

. . . yum!

This is the Ahi tuna melt, with fresh tuna, and Mindy said, it was the best tuna melt she ever had . . .

. . . and the barbecued Buffalo oysters Po'boy, a concoction that Red Fish Grill is famous for, . . .

. . . divine!

Jack and Addie split a burger.

 After lunch, we headed in the car to the French Market and Cafe Du Monde for beignets, and while we were waiting in the car for Mindy to get them, we spotted the first restaurant Roger and I ate at in New Orleans - Tujague's.

Some friends in Biloxi had highly recommended it for authentic Creole and Cajun food.

We pulled down a side street, then got out to eat our beignets - they are loaded with powdered sugar and we didn't want to get it all over in the car.

Then we headed for Biloxi (next post)!