The Fais Do-Do Loves Tipitina's

Zydeco music in New Orleans is practically patriotic, and boy did it sound FANTASTIC last Sunday night at Tipitina's. If you want to get the flavor, go out to the Cajun Fais Do-Do "most Sundays" featuring Bruce Daigrepont. It's so casual, you can wear your sweats if you want, no kidding, and dance for hours with the most easygoing people on the planet. We didn't know the two-step (and frankly we still don't after trying while doubled over laughing at our amazing left-footedness). Folks there will be happy to attempt to teach you anyway though. A few people brought their own washboards and just stood below the stage playing along with the music. They had a birthday announcement and cake for some of the regulars at the break, and everybody kept dancing to the intermission music (which was more good zydeco and Cajun music, of course). As always, presiding over the festivities in spirit was the legendary Professor Longhair, imortalized in the giant mural overlooking the stage. What we want to know is, do all the real people live in New Orleans?

Grocery Shopping in New Orleans...

...is fun - no really! This city's charming attitude unassumingly pervades even the dumb stuff you do every day until all of life is a pleasure. For instance, these things really happened to us:

• We were standing in a grocery store (Breaux Mart) aisle looking at some spicy Cajun mustard, and the guy shopping for croutons next to us said, "Have you ever tried that? It's fantastic." Then he went on with his shopping.
  
• We were in a restaurant (Pho Tau Bay) one day looking at the menu, and the guy at the table next to us leaned over and said, "Have you ever been here? Try the chicken salad," and then continued conversing with his tablemate.
  
• We were standing outside a wine shop (Swirl) contemplating going in, and a couple sitting al fresco told us not only about a wine tasting there in an hour, but about a great new restaurant across the street (Lola's) where we went over and had dinner.
  
• You're not going to believe this one, but it's absolutely true! We were parking our car to go into a coffee shop (Rue de la Course), and a guy came out on the balcony across the street and called to us to get our attention. He then told us they were giving out $150 parking tickets for parking in that direction on that side of the street. We moved our car, walked up one block and saw a meter maid!

It's like people are nice here on purpose. In fact, the unofficial city motto is, "Be nice or leave!" and in our opinion they're actually living it.

Sneaky Good Eats

Finding incredible food for cheap is sport in New Orleans - here's a list of our most recent finds in all their inexpensive deliciousness:

1. Lebanon's Cafe - This may be the best Middle Eastern food we've EVER had (and we've been from NYC to LA looking!) They have a succulent lamb shish kebab plate and exotic iced tea with rosemary and pine nuts.
   


2. Pho Tau Bay Restaurant - Super Vietnamese, all the classics plus lots of light choices. This is our favorite cuisine, so we're choosy.
   


3. Slim Goodies Diner - The atmosphere is ALL THE WAY THERE New Orleans style - everybody goes there for "breakfast all day" from the hoi polloi uptown to the average joe - huge lines on weekends, always packed.
   


4. La Divinia Gelateria - Coconut Thai Basil sorbetto? How about Grapefruit Campari? All made from scratch - you can get two flavors in one bowl so you don't have to choose! Plus you can eat it strolling up Magazine St.

Tell us your faves so we can try them!

The Dilemma

We have been trying to describe why we are crazy in love with this city to other people and failing miserably...but we must, so here's another attempt.

It's the people - they are amazing here - humble, laid back, smart with a great sense of humor...the architecture is breathtaking...it's the atmosphere, the amniotic fluid, the intangible SOMETHING that makes your spine relax as you come over the Lake Pontchartrain bridge and glimpse the CBD, small but shimmering on the horizon...

The pace is humane here. The heavy, humid air is redolent with jasmine and honeysuckle. Food and music take priority over the acquisition of worldly treasure. Why can't we put it in a nutshell so all of our friends and family can understand?

To look at, New Orleans can sometimes be a little bit of a rumpled bed...not every storefront is spit shined...not every restaurant has immaculate linoleum floors...in fact some of the best places in town to eat have a hand scrawled sign, and you wouldn't even know they were there until you stumbled on one, poked your head in the door out of curiosity, and the place was packed!

You die a little when you leave here, and almost addict-like search the airwaves for any mention of the city while you're away...a headline about the governor...Louis Armstrong on the radio...a Food TV show on a diner you've been to down the street...

There's a song they play on WWOZ that is as ubiquitous in this city as resurrection fern on the live oak trees (no, not When The Saints Go Marching In, which you will come to have an inner shriek of joy when you hear if you move here)...but Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? - you resonate with the sentiment so strongly that the song practically becomes an anthem, and it really does underscore the dilemma - trying to describe why we are crazy in love with this city to other people and failing miserably...