A cocktail and a stick of butter, please!

Saturday morning, Rebecca and I rose early, put on our pretty dresses and went over to wake Amy up and go to brunch. We were torn between Mr. B's and Palace Cafe; Palace has such great turtle soup but B's has that amaaaazing barbeque shrimp! Anyway, neither one were open yet so we went to the Carousel Bar at the Monteleone for a glass of kir royale. I'm on vacation, I can have a cocktail at 11am if I feel like it, ok?!

We decided on Mr. B's and although I've been there before, I forgot that it has this old-world elegance to it yet it isn't pretentious or stuffy at all. Our team of waiters fell all over us, fluttering napkins and deftly gliding us into our chairs. We got a very nice salad to start but that's really neither here nor there. We all ordered the barbeque shrimp and were properly outfitted with bibs (you have to wear one if you're eating barbeque shrimp, no matter how silly you look) and then they dropped this magnificent concoction on us.


Rebecca enjoying her skrimps.


Amy enjoying male attention, I mean, getting her hands washed.


So, in case you don't know, barbeque in New Orleans refers to a sauce of butter, lemon, worcestershire, black pepper and more butter. Really, it's just straight up, flavored butter and it's fantastic. The recipe that Mr. B's uses, available online, calls for 3 sticks of butter for two servings. I'm not even kidding. I'm not sure what business we thought we had ordering a piece of hot buttered pecan pie but we did and it was also delicious, washed down with a glass of muscato. Since the trip to Italy, I am really enjoying dessert wine and how it complements the food.

After our decadent lunch, we headed off to the lovely City Park, thick and verdant with live oaks and Spanish moss, to go to Voodoo Music Festival. It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon and although I was still too full from Mr. B's, I did have a taste of an alligator sausage sandwich that was spicy and flavorful. I exited the show just past dusk to go meet Amy for dinner, the music still dancing in my ears as I made my way through the dark, tropical obscurity and in that moment, it all made me so nostalgic for the time that I lived here, spending evenings strolling in the hush of sticky nights, smelling jasmine and knowing I'd never have to leave or grow old or forget this wonderful time of my life. Sigh.

OK, onward ho! Amy has been raving about these chargrilled oysters at Drago's forEVA! I'd heard about Drago's when I lived her but it's located in Fat City, out in Metairie and I just saw no need to go there. They opened one downtown within the past few years, at the Riverfront Hilton and it's became one of Amy's go-to spots when in New Orleans. And for damn good reason. What do you know, the oysters were swimming in a pool of butter, with some lemon and parmigiano on top for good measure. Add to that equation the delicious, smokiness of the grill and I was in heaven. It was so good, I actually picked up the oyster shells and licked them, not even caring if I got some of gritty, flaky shell as well.

After Drago's, we met up with old friends and went to go dancing at Mimi's. Next up, crab boil at Mr Billy's, a tour of the Ninth Ward and Donovan's first trip to Cafe du Monde!