Hilton Riverside 2 Poydras Street, right next to the Riverwalk Marketplace and across the street from Harrahs casino. A very nice hotel. The rooms are nice sized, and very clean. Try to get a room with a view of the Mississippi. The service is pretty good-they lent us a wheelchair for our grandmother for free for our entire stay. (They only wanted a credit card imprint for a deposit.) The registration area is a little weird to get to-it's on the second level, but when you drive up to the porte-cochere, that's the first level, and there's really no place to put your car while you check in, so you must use either the valet or self park and just leave your bags with the person you came with or the bellhop. By the way, for hotel guests, valet parking is $20 a day, and self parking is $15 a day, both with unlimited in and out privileges. The pool area isn't bad, but it doesn't have a view, being surrounded by buildings. The pool is generally kept clean and warm, and there is a jacuzzi. There is a bar, but it was never open while we were there, and it was a weekend. There is a walkway to Riverwalk Marketplace in the hotel.
Where Not To Stay
Anywhere in the French Quarter. It's dirty, smelly, and noisy. Most places you walk in the French Quarter smell as if they could use a good scrubbing to get rid of the boozy, urine smell that seems to permeate the area. People we know stayed in the Quarter, and the hotel itself was clean enough, but way too noisy, what with the Bourbon Street drunkards making a racket all hours of the night.
Getting Around
If you don't get a car, you don't necessarily need one. There are streetcars all over the place to take you where you want to go, and most of the good stuff is within walking distances, anyway. Any odd place you might want to go is covered by the many Gray Line bus tours that are available, including to plantation homes in the countryside, and lots of other stuff. If you do get a car, make sure you're staying somewhere that has parking available. (Nowhere in the French Quarter, naturally.) Even if you do stay somewhere that has parking, it won't be free-parking is at a premium in New Orleans, since it was mostly designed before the car was such a big thing. A car helps, because even though there are bus tours, you're on their time, whereas if you want to see certain things, you can take your own time, and as much time as you want. Directions to the major plantation homes are available everywhere, as well as directions to the 2 riverboat casinos on Lake Ponchartrain, which are a very short drive away.
Attractions
Casinos
Harrahs Located next to Riverwalk Marketplace, at the end of Poydras Street. The only casino that's an actual building. Not a bad place to gamble, but that's all there really is to do. All the usual games-slots and tables as well. Don't bother going on a weekend if you like table games-it's way too crowded to even get a space at a table. Bally's A riverboat on Lake Ponchartrain, not far from the airport. Keep in mind this is the opposite side of the city from the Mississippi, though, so you'll either need a car or some other form of transportation to get here. Riverboat casinos are smaller, but o.k. to gamble in. They had slots and tables. Treasure Chest Another riverboat on Lake Ponchartrain-this one is a bit farther away, in Kenner, so you'll also need transportation to get here. This one was more crowded than Bally's-if you like nickel slots, you've practically gotta wait in line. They had tables, too-and not overcrowded.
Restaurants
Alex Patout's April Lynne's Creole Kitchen On Bourbon Street. Not handicapped accessible-you have to climb some pretty steep stairs to get to it. Very rustic decor, but good food. Sit out on the balcony and enjoy the sights and sounds of the French Quarter. Yes, the balcony is slanted a bit, so be careful with your drink, or it'll slide off the table-the balcony's are built like this on purpose all over the Quarter to get rid of rain and such. The food is very good-the blackened creole chicken was excellent, and reasonably priced. B & C Cajun DeliNot in New Orleans as such-if you drive out to Laura Plantation in nearby Vacherie (about a 30 minute drive), this is right next door. A rustic, local hangout with the BEST poboys around. If you've never had a poboy, this is the place to try one. In other parts of the country, the poboy is like a hoagie or submarine sandwich. BUT-where else can you get fried alligator, catfish, shrimp or other southern delicacies on your hoagie? They've also got boiled crawfish and crabs, among other deli-type foods. Brennan's Cafe Du Monde Try the original location near the french market, if you want atmosphere, but there's also one in the Riverwalk Marketplace, if you just need a beignet fix. A beignet is kind of like fried dough, or a square donut without a hole, and smothered in powdered sugar. Yummy-don't miss trying them. K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen Mulate's We went to the one in Baton Rouge, so we thought we'd try this one. Big mistake. The best (only) time to go is when there is a band playing, which is after 7 pm. When we got there it was 7 and there was an hour wait to get in, and there's no place to sit and wait, which didn't work for us because our grandmother couldn't possibly stand for an hour, and besides, we were hungry. We left. If you do get in, the food is good, going by our experience at the other one. Olivier's Pat O'Brien's 2 locations-one on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, and another in the Jax Brewery. The one in Jax Brewery has a nice view of the Mighty Miss from the outside tables. They've got a few things here foodwise-the selection isn't big, though-sandwiches and salads and appetizer type stuff. You aren't coming here for the food, though, are you? You're coming here for the Hurricane, the most powerful drink we've ever had. It's a tall glass with ice and a fruity punch, as well as 4 shots of rum. YUM! Believe us, just one will flatten you, so make sure you don't have to drive anywhere for a few hours after you have one. Planet Hollywood Doesn't exist anymore-it used to be in the Jax Brewery mall and there are still advertisements in some places, but it closed last year. Just thought you should know-too bad, too, because the menu we saw looked different than the standard P.H. fare-had lots of Cajun and Creole choices. Ralph and Kacoo's Located in the French Quarter, not far from Jax Brewery. This is one of a chain of restaurants featuring cajun/creole food. The food was good, but it didn't make up for the terrible service. Don't go here for lunch unless you like waiting a long time for your food. They've got a contract with a sightseeing company to provide lunch for busloads of people every day. When we walked in, the place was pretty empty. We placed our order, and then 15 minutes later a group of at least 60 people came in and went to the back room. This was the tour group. We waited and waited for our food and watched as all of these group people were being served. It took forever to get our meal. They got salads and meals before we even saw ours. Their explanation when we complained was that they had actually placed their order first and they were on a time limit. (The people get a list while they're on the bus and choose their food early in the morning, then the list is whisked to the restaurant.) We complained that we were there first and felt like we weren't as important because there was only 3 of us. They apologized, but if this is a regular occurence, it's not worth your bother to come here. There are plenty of other restaurants. They didn't do much to make us feel better, either. All they offered was a free dessert, which we were too full to eat.
Shopping
French Market The best place to shop. Half of it is a farmer's market, with great deals on lots of food items such as the best looking produce and meats (if we'd had a cooler, we'd have taken some alligator home), as well as non perishable items like local spices, canned foods, gumbo mixes, and other packaged dinners you can stuff in your luggage. The other half of the french market is a flea market-a good place to pick up souvenirs like t-shirts, hats, mardi gras paraphenalia, and voodoo items. French Quarter Grocery Stores If you've got a car, and you've been in the shops checking out all the local food items you would like to take home with you, your best bet is to drive to a grocery store instead, such as Winn-Dixie. The food items are way overpriced in the gift shops in both the French Quarter and Riverwalk Marketplace. For example, a bottle of Garlic Tabasco was $4.99 in a gift shop in Riverwalk. The same bottle was $3.99 in the Tabasco country store, which was in Riverwalk, too. But, the grocery store only charged $2.99, and the same price breaks applied to other local items such as chili mixes, gumbos, other spices, and all tabasco and other hot sauce items. (There are lots more down there than anywhere-Tabasco makes chili mix, olives, garlic hot sauce, spicy soy sauce, smoking chips for your grill, and much more that we've never seen in MD.) Jax BreweryRiverwalk Marketplace
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