Month: April 2015

We found this abandoned motel in Cherokee, North Carolina:

Besides a wish to see the inside of this gorgeous building, there was another reason to visit one of the most beautiful buildings on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Christ Church Cathedral.

One of my family members (not super-close) is actually buried there. Inside. In the floor. Which…I’m Jewish so that’s a little bit of a novelty (not all of my family is Jewish).  It’s Bishop Leonidas Polk who was a founder of Sewanee and CSA general who was killed during the ’64 Atlanta Campaign. He was known as the ‘fighting bishop’ during the war as he was Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, and that’s why he’s buried here.  This is the first non-Roman Catholic church in the Louisiana territory.

And it’s gorgeous.

The congregation was founded in 1803.  Their first was riverside of Canal and Bourbon. It soon became too small, so a second building was consecrated in 1837. It was eventually purchased by Judah Touro and became Nefutzoth Yehudah synagogue after extensive renovation (it’s interesting — see pg 19).  Through partnership with another congregation, that’s now known as Touro Synagogue, which is also now on St. Charles, consecrated in 1909.  Touro is *so* pretty too — we’ve been to services there.

This is Christ Church’s fourth building.

…and there’s cousin Leo:

And as to how I got in, I just explained that cousin Leo was…here…and they completely understood.  Usually I’m comfortable asking for whatever, but I played how I was going to make this request about a dozen times in my head.  I didn’t actually say “someone in my family is in your floor” like in the title here (!!)…but just explained who I was and if it would be okay to visit.  In fact, the sweet woman in the office said that they get visitors who come to see him pretty often.  His place is up on the — well in Jewish parlance we call it the bimah, but in this case I think it is called the altar.  The raised area in the front of the sanctuary.  Right by the organist.

So we have family buried inside Christ Church Cathedral, and at Chevra Thilim down Canal.  Probably the only people who can say that.

Anyway, the stained glass here is — amazing:

So, so, so nice.

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BTW, (from The Atlantic:) Charlemagne is everybody’s PawPaw.

This was the first time we had ever had Friday lunch at Delmonico, which was okay but I’m not sure we’d ever do it again.

Things looked to be in such awful condition, from the drapes to the chairs and even the tattered lampshades. And it wasn’t even that gentle worn state that gives an atmosphere of warmth or character, it just felt careless:

Or maybe it’s that he said this.

I think I may have made my own mistake here too.  I’m going to call this gentleman the water sommelier because I never saw him approach anyone about wine or any other matter — the water sommelier came to the table immediately after we were seated to get our preference on the variety of waters they offer.  I explained that I was happy with just “regular, still water” — I didn’t name any brand offered.  Moments later, he brought to the table a bottle of Fiji (which…I’m also opposed to the idea of transporting water 7000 miles).  I was a little surprised and sweetly explained that I didn’t think I had ordered bottled water, that I was really happy with just regular, still ice water, which he brought back.  So.  Did he think I wouldn’t say anything when bringing me something I didn’t order, or am I a simpleton who doesn’t realize that “regular, still water” here is synonymous with Fiji?  Anyway, Don’t Mock the Water Sommelier.

Here, an amuse:

Av’s gumbo:

Confit pork cheek with dirty rice:

Beef brisket daube with macaroni and cheese:

A fish special of the day:

Everything was good…but just good and no better.  Not great.  And I wanted that daube to be so terrific, but eating it with the macaroni and cheese was just heavy and boring.

Fix it with dessert?

Also meh.

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It’s been 25 years since Emeril opened his first restaurant here (longer than that, when he started at Commander’s).
And this at NOLA (nobody knew who it was).  Get thyself some HBO, if only for Monday night docs.

*Had* to take a pic of the sign of this little motel in Sheffield, Alabama:

Wondering what the rooms looked like?

The interiors, I have no idea. But I do have the excellent Cheap Motels book of photography.

On our last visit to Arnaud’s, we brought Shugie up to see the Germaine Cazenave Wells Mardi Gras Museum (which is inside the restaurant) — it’s named for the daughter of Count Arnaud, who has the record of reigning as queen of 22+ balls, the most of any woman in the history of Carnival, and 13 of the more than 24+ items on display here are hers.

Shug had a sleepover one evening, so we decided to make it a special night with Shugie — complete with supper at Arnaud’s.  On the way, though, we stopped by where Silver Man was performing.  Shugie gave him some cash and got a big high-five in return!

These exterior shots are older, from walking by one day in the sunshine:

The evening we took Shugie, it was really nice and he was our perfect gentleman.

We had gumbo, turtle soup (Shugie’s favorite), speckled trout meuniere, petit filet Lafite, souffle potatoes, bread pudding, and pecan pie. And Shugie ended with chocolate ice cream. Nice!

We passed on the $5000 bottle of 1949 Chateau Cheval Blanc, but were tickled to see a pic of Av’s cousin-by-marriage(-that-we’ve-never-met), Dustin Hoffman. And he doesn’t even look particularly happy (maybe it’s the whole underdressed thing he’s got going on). Please, how can you not be happy at Arnaud’s?

But really, what was this fantastic plus was going to the Germaine Cazenave Wells Mardi Gras Museum inside the restaurant — which I’ll put in the next post.

YES.