I love quick trips. Any time away from the usual hustle and bustle will always work for me, even if it’s only 24 hours of fun. The key is to find somewhere that has good food and offers the atmosphere that you are looking for to take your mind to its happy place. In this instance, in this post New Orleans was the place for me. I was looking for good food, great music and lively atmosphere. If you have never been, let me just tell you, NOLA never fails.

First stop, Breakfast at Brennan’s. This place was recommended by a friend… thanks April! This place was nothing short of awesome.

With seating options like this.. who could choose? Sheesh! Beautiful lighting and wonderful courtyard view when dining in the main dining room.

Courtyard

Now on to the food

The BBQ lobster & Vanilla scented French Toast made me melt right in my seat. I highly recommend both dishes. (you must have at least one.)

And then I had to look at and smell this (the whole time thinking, maybe red meat isn’t so bad … just so I could have a taste.)

Red wine braised short ribs, fingerling potatoes, poached eggs … topped with shiitake mushrooms

To top it off, the service was great… needless to say Brennan’s was a hit.💙💙💙

After scooting around town it was time for din din so Justine’s seemed like the place to go, until… Pause. How is it that you can make a reservation and when you show up they want to seat you at the bar to have dinner. Well, that was unacceptable. Nice looking place, good reviews but in my case I was left in a lurch. Don’t feel bad for me though, I ended up at the historic House of Blues. And that was a treat.

Art and culture everywhere. Live music with an audience ready for another song immediately following the last note of the current song. The food came out in a timely fashion, full of low country flavor, nice & savory.

• Voodoo shrimp

• Baby back ribs

• Blackened Salmon, cucumber salad

• Street corn

House of Blues for the win.💙

Thank you New Orleans for always coming through in a clutch. Good food, great music and nice people… just a two hours and five minutes flight away from Philadelphia… see you again real soon.

💙💙💙