New Orleans: Four Days of Beignets & Foul Play(s) in the Big Easy, Pt. 1

Bourbon Street in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter

3:53pm, Tuesday — Kenny, Nicholas, and I head up to the rooftop patio of our Airbnb to take in the view. As we gaze out over the city streets of New Orleans, Christmas music fires up out of nowhere: “Up on the rooftop, click click click…”

Of all the iconic cities in the good ole U.S. of A. — New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nashville (to name a few) — New Orleans was one that I had yet to check off my list. That was rectified in the spring of 2025 when I ventured once more to the Deep South with my parents and two of my siblings for a little family vacay in the Big Easy.

Given that we’d booked our lodgings at The Natchez, a boutique hotel just outside the French Quarter, more than six months in advance, there was plenty of time to figure out a detailed plan of attack. However, if you’ve been paying attention, you know that’s not exactly how I roll. We planned out a few things, sure, but for the most part, we just let our sense of adventure guide the way.

4:49pm — We sit down for an early din din at Blue Bayou Restaurant & Oyster Bar. Given the time, you might mistake us all for being in our 80s.

New Orleans is known for a few things. From the city’s Creole and Cajun cuisine to its lively jazz music scene, not to mention its unique blend of architecture, which takes its cues from French, Spanish, and Creole influences, it is truly one of the most character-packed cities in the U.S. Take one look at Bourbon Street on a Friday or Saturday night and you’ll be reminded of one other prominent fact: this place knows how to party. In fact, they put on one of the biggest parties you’ll find anywhere in the country every spring, bringing in upwards of 1.5 million for their annual Mardi Gras extravaganza.

Contrary to that lead-in, we were visiting the city a few weeks after the big brouhaha, looking to take it all in after things had settled down some. Settled they were, but that isn’t to say we had a dull time; quite the opposite, in fact. Our first couple days and nights were relatively tame, I’ll give you that. But during the latter half of our four-day stay, we cranked things up a few more decibels.

Tuesday was all about simply getting our feet wet. The rest of the crew arrived a few hours before me, so they got to dip their toes in the water a bit before I did. By the time I pulled up to The Natchez circa 3:30 p.m., my parents were already dancing on the kitchen table, a lampshade over my dad’s head, as my brother spun some sick tracks on a turn table he had somehow managed to acquire. Meanwhile, my sister was off to one side, blindfolded and swinging an unidentifiable blunt object at a piñata semi resembling Justin Bieber, from which little peach-shaped candies were falling. I mean, talk about my surprise!

6:22pm — We grab a photo with Henry Clay in Lafayette Square. It appears he’s been waiting for this moment for decades.

7:11pm — Hot Tub Night in America commences early. Pruned-up skin, here we come.

Unless, of course, I’m totally pulling your leg, which I am. While literally none of that happened, everyone was fairly ravenous upon my arrival, and so we went out for dinner almost immediately to a not-so-little spot called Blue Bayou Restaurant & Oyster Bar on New Orleans’ other main drag, Canal Street.

Looking to dive head first into the local cuisine, I ordered chicken and andouille gumbo, which I must say was magnificent. Not so magnificent? None of us noticing, and our server “forgetting” to mention, that the bill already included gratuity, which resulted in us giving a rather generous tip when all was said and done. Suffice it to say, every time we passed the Blue Bayou thereafter — which was more than a few times — my dad pointed out it was the site of our infamous $300 dinner.

After getting fleeced …er, I mean, enjoying our lovely meal at the Blue Bayou, the most tantalizing option on the table was returning to The Natchez and punching in our timecards at the pool area. Armed with Bud Lights and hard seltzers, we did just that, soaking in the view of the city at night while soaking ourselves in the hot tub on the rooftop patio.

10:34am, Wednesday — The day begins with a pit stop at Nesbitt Corner Store. Ole Nesbitt is not prepared for the number of times he’s going to see our smiling faces over the next couple days.

Our first full day in New Orleans saw the start of a routine that would take hold for the next couple days. Inevitably, I would be one of the last ones out of bed, emerging from my chambers into the main living area, where my dad would have The Scooby-Doo Show going on TV, second or third cup of coffee from the downstairs lobby already in hand. Breakfast, for me, would consist of a yogurt parfait and perhaps an accompanying piece of fruit, along with my own cup of the black nectar of the gods. Once everyone was up and ready to roll, the day would begin in earnest.

Following the morning routine, the first order of business on Wednesday was making way for the riverfront where we had a boat to catch — a steamboat, that is. Our daytime riverboat jazz cruise on the Natchez, a vessel owned and operated by the New Orleans Steamboat Company, was scheduled to set sail at 11 a.m., and we had no plans to miss our voyage down the mighty Mississippi River. The experience includes lunch (fried catfish, red beans and rice, jambalaya, cornbread, and New Orleans bread pudding), live music, and historical narration re: the various sites you pass along the way.

The daytime cruise we embarked upon is just one of a handful of offerings from the New Orleans Steamboat Company, which also does dinner and brunch cruises, and its partner in crime, Gray Line, which does plantation, swamp, city, ghost, and cocktail tours.

12:20pm — The music of Duke Heitger and the Steamboat Stompers animates the crowd aboard the cruise ship. I shrink into the background as a woman about three times my age starts pulling people onto the dance floor.

Steamboat Natchez, owned and operated by the New Orleans Steamboat Company, does daily river cruises down the mighty Mississippi

After crossing briefly over into neighboring St. Bernard Parish some ways down the river, the captain turned the boat around and we headed back to port in New Orleans. The whole trip lasted about two and a half hours, which was plenty of time for us to get a little lubed up courtesy of the Natchez’s various bars. Nothing like drinking adult beverages aboard a floating piece of history, am I right?

Back on dry land, it was time for our very first rendezvous with the one and only Bourbon Street, the beating heart of the city’s French Quarter. Daytime and nighttime on Bourbon are practically worlds apart, as we would later discover, but they do have at least one thing in common: you can always find live music (though it might be more accurate to say it finds you).

It wasn’t long before our ears lead us to Musical Legends Park, where the likes of “Fats” Domino and Pete Fountain welcome you, in statue form, into a cozy little outdoor venue tucked inside all of the hustle and bustle. The courtyard-type space features a small stage where musical acts show off their stuff throughout the day, plenty of table seating, and a Cafe Beignet where you can order both food and drinks, including New Orleans’ signature beverage, the Hurricane, a rum-based concoction that is served as a standard cocktail or in frozen daiquiri style.

We sucked down a few of the latter variety while enjoying the musical stylings of (insert band name here) in the park until a different kind of siren song once again sounded…

3:32pm — Do I hear the hot tub calling again? Yes, yes I do.

The rest of Wednesday disappeared into a haze of pool time, pizza, and plenty of libations. By nightfall, our best-laid plans of returning to Bourbon Street to party like it was 1999 were absolutely shot. But the next two days would see plenty of action, so that was quite all right.

-LTH