It is an interesting experience to live in a community which has so many visitors. Running an inn we spend considerable time helping people plan their sight-seeing outings, choosing restaurants and generally finding their way around town. Helping folks find the hidden jewels of New Orleans is one of the things we really enjoy best about inn keeping and quite frankly we do it so often it is easy to forget how overwhelming it i can be to arrive at a new place you have heard so much about and there is so much to see you do not know where to start. When we travel, one of us (I won’t say who, but it is the same person who writes the blog!) spends days and days pouring over internet information and always, despite the wealth of information on the web, with a good guidebook. For years our guidebook of choice has been the Lonely Planet. They seem to have the best information, most interesting lists of places to stay, where to eat, where that fabulous market is off on the side roads, it is our off the beaten path but we want hot shower guidebook of choice. So you can imagine our delight when Amy Balfour got in touch last week asking to come and visit our inn and spend some time talking to us. Amy is helping to update the Lonely Planet’s 2013 New Orleans guidebook. We are thrilled to continue our listing with them and could not wait to show her all the various upgrades we have made to the property. Nothing is more affirming than having one’s favorite guide book mention the Sully Mansion as a perfect place to hang your hat when discovering the Crescent City..
Archive for the ‘New Orleans B&B’ Category
NOLA’s Loney Planet
March 12th, 2012 by Nancy Fournier
A New Orleans Weekend
October 14th, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
Let’s see what to do this weekend? There is the Blues and Bar-B–Que Festival for the next three days with two stages, everything from steel national guitar Delta Blues music to the wailing of Tad Beniot. Did I mention that there are four different Bar-B-Que vendors, not to mention a multitude of other New Orleans edible treats, arts and beer and the weather is supposed to be sunny skies in the 70’s, or that the festival is free? Too much music for you? After all you went and saw Trombone Shorty for free who blew the roof off the park Wednesday night, so maybe something else. Hmm, how about the Latino Carnivale at the Zoo this weekend with dances and more music and food. Not in the mood? Well there is the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival along the banks of the Tchefuncte River. This fabulous family-friendly event has old wooden boats on display and demonstrations of boat building techniques a quick and dirty boat building contest, races, food and music as well. Don’t want to drive across the Lake? O.K. how about hopping the ferry to Gretna and attending the St. Cletus Oyster Festival where you can gorge on oysters cooked every way possible (and possibly see the 2011 Oyster Queen). You could just go a little further down the road from Gretna to Bridge City and attend the Gumbo Festival and eat yourself a big bowl of gumbo and dance to the Cajun Fais do-do they have planned. Too hot for gumbo and would prefer cold beer in a nice frosted mug? I count three OcktoberFests going on around town. If that all seems too crowded and festive, what about the first annual Daiquiri Festival this weekend where you pay one price and a little shuttle takes you around to six different frozen daiquiri stores ending up at the Hi-Ho Lounge for a dance party. Too hedonistic? How about the New Orleans Film Festival which opened on Wednesday and has films playing in six different venues throughout the city accompanied by panels and discussion groups? Don’t want to go out? You could always stay home and garden and wait to watch the Saints on TV on Sunday and if none of that appeals to you- maybe you should go to a less cultural place, like Manhattan or San Francisco.
New Orleans Brides
August 31st, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
It must have been Hurricane Irene or all the close calls up and down the East Coast but for the last two days we must have had over a dozen phone calls from women wanting to get married in New Orleans and were calling to see if the Sully Mansion would be a suitable venue for them. We host six or so weddings every year and each one is a unique delight. We have done large formal weddings for 150 complete with a perfectly lovely young women morphing into bridezilla the day of the big event to a fabulous party for forty festing a gay couple that tied the know on our front porch. People love our gardens and when we tent the side year it turns into one of those priceless New Orleans environs full of lush tropical greenery and architectural splendor. We have had the mule drawn carriages pull up to escort the bridal party to the church and the brass band fill the air with infectious music that all the high heels get kicked off and the party gets started. We have had had harpists on the stairs for the grand entrance and the adorable flower girl dawdle down the garden path. Big cakes, small cakes groom cakes and cupcakes we have served them all as part of the big day. It takes a fair bit of planning, everyone’s vision of the perfect wedding is different, in the last two days I have heard everything from wanting a wooden dance floor to assurances that the guests will have access to a tv to stay current on the college football team (I’m hoping they change their mind on that one) and despite all the difference, the emotion between the couple getting married and the smiles they reserve for each other remains the same and it delights us to no end to be a part of those moments. Bring on the brides!
Plantations’ Majesty a Short Distance from New Orleans
August 19th, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
Every once in a while we get a day off and in an even rarer circumstance we get out of town. Don’t misunderstand there are plenty of afternoons we take some time to enjoy all the wonderful things New Orleans has to offer but we rarely get to get in the car and go. This Wednesday as part of the August lull we decided to head up the river road to check out the plantations we have never had a chance to visit. Whole most of our guests stop at Oak Alley Plantation and Laura Plantation (both fascinating for very different reasons, Oak Alley is right out of Gone with the Wind while Laura is more Caribbean in feel and color and the docents are descendents of the owners who were Creole so it more complex from a sociological perspective) and decided to visit San Francisco, St. Josephs and Evergreen Plantations. All of them are less than 70 minutes from the inn along the road. San Francisco has costumed guides who are knowledgeable and we learned all about the owner who thought he was just making a quick stop to introduce his young German bride to his father to find his father on his deathbed and suddenly the owner of a 300 acre plantation. The indoor renovation is spectacular and gives you a real feel of what life was like them. The school house and slave quarters are intact as is an old inventory list of the slaves. We then took a $1.00 ferry across the Mississippi to the other side and visited the other two plantations. The grove pictured above is from Evergreen which is still a working sugar cane farm and the grove goes out to the field not the house. With all of the homes so close you could get a sens of what life was like back in the mid 1800′s. We even had fried boudin balls and gumbo for lunch sitting in a roadside eatery which we were sharing with the director Quentin Tarentino and his production crew apparently scouting locations. The old South and New Hollywood all in an hours drive away.
New Orleans Cooks
August 3rd, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
It was one of those mornings when all the guests were up and on their way by 9 a.m. so once the dishes were cleared I took myself down to my favorite restaurant supply company to see if I could find little egg warmers. I love the place we go, it is in Mid-City, a fabulous New Orleans neighborhood where gorgeous homes are interspersed with shotgun cottages and industrial warehouses. You can find that special piece of architectural salvage next to a place with classroom supplies and another with a zillion types of brick. Tucked back by the railroad tracks is Claires. You could lose yourself for hours with whisks, popover tins and frothers (or at least I could!) Strolling the aisles I ran into the chef from Katie’s and the sou chef from Coquettes which is our most favorite restaurant. Great fun to share kitchen tips with those who make this city such an incredible dining town. It is a cosmopolitan place but still a small town where you get to know the person who is cooking your meal and pouring your wine. We talked some about the quiet pace of New Orleans in August when it is hot but less crowed and the vibe continues even though the tourist are less numerous. First week of August it is pretty quite but the Satchmo Fest honoring Louis Armstrong and White Linen Night, a ten block stroll through the arts district with street bands and roving bartenders is slated for this weekend. I did not find my egg cups but left happy to be a part of the hospitality community.
A Spirited Dinner in New Orleans
July 22nd, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
Wine pairings for dinner are so routine they are almost passe. Here in New Orleans during the Tales of the Cocktail one of the special events are custom designed dinners at one of twenty different world class eateries paired with cocktails. The chefs and mixologists work for weeks to perfect a blend of tastes in food and libations. We went with friends last night to A Mano’s cock tail pairing where the chef and New York bartender duos the Tippling Brothers created a favorable and unique take on Italian Creole. Our delicious menu is below. I must admit I did not recognize half of what I was drinking, but loved every course. The risotto was a standout although the pairing had a bit more fire than I am used to. Favorite drink was the rum and bittertruth sloeberry with some file . Not your basic gin and tonic! The crowd was festive and appreciative. We went for more toady hoping to spend time in their tasting room but the event has gotten so popular that there were long lines so we bailed, had an oyster poorboy and came home to wait for our guests to arrive. Like so many wonders in this city what started as a local diversion has become a popular destination event. If you enjoy your imbibing you need to mark your calenders for the 2012 event which entails lectures, tasting of every spirit you can image, a speakeasy, luncheons and of course the Spirited Dinners. See you there!
Welcome Cocktail
Averna Amaro, orgeat, guava, prosecco, cucumber
Antipasti
Tuna crudo, watermelon, herb salad
Shrimp, giardinara, Creole tomato diavolo
Grilled peach, lardo, sprouts, saba
G’Vine Floraison gin, Esprit de June, lemon, basil
Primi
Seafood Risotto-saffron
Barsol Pisco, fino sherry, red pepper, orange, Tabasco air
Secondi
Duck conservata, orange, fennel-legs, fennel pollen
Rhum JM VSOP, Bitter Truth Sloeberry, filé syrup, Bitter Truth Creole and Chocolate bitters
Dolci
Lavender panna cotta, honey, sea salt
Excellia Reposado tequila, Averna Agrumi Sambuca, pink grapefruit, black pepper, honey
NOLA Summer Rain
July 19th, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
We have been having biblical downpours for the last week. It is not that unusual in Southern Louisiana in the summertime, that is how we nourish that thick tropical plant life which looks so beautiful curling around the wrought iron fencing and creating thick foliage everywhere you look. When it gets real hot (another thing which is pretty typical in a Louisiana summertime) and it rains, once the skies lighten the streets steam! It is very romantic to be walking through the French Quarter past antique stores and the ferns are dripping and a light layer of steam rises up from the streets. Over in Uptown in the Garden District where the Sully Mansion Is located, the oak trees overhang the streets forming a lush canopy and after the rain a little six inch coating of steam covers the asphalt. It is like the soft sepia light that falls across the side of the stucco mansions in the late afternoon, it is so beautiful but hard to describe, just something you have to experience. But like everything of beauty, there is often a down side as our streets are known to flood when it really comes down which was the case this Sunday. I went out to play tennis hoping to get a game in in between the raindrops and after ten minutes the sky opened up(again!). We waited for a while under the awning until it just was raining too hard. As I was trying to drive home through the neighborhood of sweet Creole cottages and large bougainvillea plants the roads had become little lakes. Rather than chance it I decide to call my truck driving hero husband to come rescue me. Of course at that point I remembered my phone was on the kitchen counter back at the inn where I left it. Still, I am watching passing cars create wakes down the street I decided to pull the car over and find some nice good Samaritan to let me use their phone, even though I was drenched from head to toe and my sneakers were making that water logged squishy sound when I moved I braved the deluge. I parked the car and only had to walk a few steps where I spied through the rain two men sitting on their porch chatting with each other and watching the rain come down. When I explained what I needed as good New Orleanians, they immediately offered me a phone a towel and a drink! I took them up on all three and passed a half an hour sipping a cocktail with my new friends waiting for my hero husband to arrive. Gotta love this town, flooded streets and all!
Count Down to Jazz Fest
April 26th, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
Remember when you were young and your birthday fell on a weekend and you had decided every element of your party down to the type of icing on your cake and all you had to do is get through the days between now and then? That is sort of how the whole town feels the beginning of the week of the first weekend of Jazz Fest. The weekly newspapers are twice their size with advertisements for Fest Dresses , Fest Hats and music club acts. All the hanging baskets adorning porches throughout the city are overflowing with brightly colored annuals and every restaurant is advertising a Fest special (although all the good places pretty much have all their tables reserved by now ). Even the weather is putting on its Fest best with sunny skies slight breeze and no hint of the wrap around humidity which is right around the corner (maybe Sunday??)The Fest puts out their music schedule of the seven days in which the times are blocked out on a grid and these are affectionately called Fest Cubes which visitors and locals alike study closely trying to map out their time on the Fairgrounds in between the incredible food, second line and Mardi Gras Indian parades which wind their way through the paths between the stages. Out in the coffee shops people are studying the cubes like an Ouija Board. As I bolt around town doing the errands all good innkeepers do I can see New Orleans the way the thousand of visitors who are about to descend see it with its Caribbean colors, intoxicating mix of Palm Trees and live oaks, the faint sound of a trumpet in the background the clop clop of a mule drawn carriage in the foreground against this unique light which makes the sides of buildings look as if they are lit from within and even the blighted wooden shotgun with the faded sign offering hot lunches and p’orboys painted on the side looks magical. And this time of year there is a smell of crawfish cooking mingling with the scent of the confederate jasmine blooming in riotous abandon along every fence. I must admit as much as we love our visitors we do not put this joy for the sense just for you, it is our back drop everyday and we cannot wait to share it with you over the next ten days. Let the Festing begin!
The Jasmine is in Bloom in New Orleans
March 18th, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
It is time to put away the socks and sweaters boys and girls as it is spring in New Orleans and everywhere you walk your olfactory glands are in overload with the scents of jasmine, sweet olive and wisteria. Walking around the Garden District every block brings a different delight, while Gracie goes wild sniffing the sidewalk her trusted walker is following the scent from the vines which wrap around the wrought iron fences and stucco walls. Everything is in bloom from the azaleas to the pansies to the crepe myrtle and the fragrant vines are starting the first of their three blooms from now till August. The sky is robin egg blue and gentle sunshine is everywhere glittering off the Mardi Gras beads dangling from trees left by an exuberant float rider. There is zero humidity and suddenly everyone is out on their porches and sitting in parks, along café tables on Magazine street. There is no better time or place to be than New Orleans in the spring (unless it is New Orleans in the fall!). And did I mention it is the beginning of festival season? Every weekend if it is eating crawfish, watching Tennessee Williams plays, dancing to salsa or listening to Haitian drum circles, or good old N’awlins jazz -there is a festival for that. While most of the country is still looking at that last bit of frozen tundra the March weather has not erased, we are digging out our flip flops all set and ready for fun.
Be an Eight year old for Mardi Gras
March 3rd, 2011 by Nancy Fournier
The parades for Carnival season have started, not the mega ones with the flambeaux and two story floats but the mid size ones with their masked kings throwing dublooms and riders throwing beads. The big ones start this evening with the Krewes of Chaos, Babylon and Muses, they start at 6 and should be rolling by our corner starting around 6:30 and going through most of the evening. Even though I have bags and bags of beads in the attic (and not the plain ones made in china either but the ones of Elvis in various stages of his career, or dolphins strung between turquoise beads or my personal favorite of monkey heads with banana beads ) and I have no use for the stuffed animals they throw as our dog Gracie reverts back to the behavior she has seen on Animal Kingdom and destroys the cute little thing in three seconds flat and the stuffing gets all over the floor, and it is a huge mess with the little eyes rolling under table. As I said I have no need of any of this but the parade float gets nearer, the crowd moves closer to the street and everyone’s hands go up and we actually do yell “THROW ME SOMETHING MISTER” and all bets of off, you wait to time it correctly, make eye contact with the masked rider on the float and get that one handed catch of beads, or the savior grab as you see a clump of beads heading for some unsuspecting spectator who took their eye off the float to grab a quick sip of beer and you deflect them into your own hands, or you and the stranger next to you both catch the beads mid air, you both tug towards your own bodies, there is a small moment of tension between you and this stranger, you wrestle the beads away, victory! and then, in true Mardi Gras fashion, turn to the stranger with whom you have been tugging against a few nanoseconds ago and hand them the beads and wish them (as we do to you ) Happy Mardi Gras.
Keeping the New Orleans Music Tradition Alive
We Love a Good Parade
