If I Were Going...: Eating Our Way Home

Oh, yeah!

The rest of our trip home was concentrated on nature, food, music, food, relatives, friends and (you guessed it!) food.

First Stop: Georgia

Tim and family

After time in the Smokies, we headed down to Atlanta to visit Scott’s nephew, Tim Stevens, his wife, Lisa, and their youngest daughter, Maddie.

That's Tim's photo, left. We forgot to take many while visiting.

We had hoped to see Scott’s niece, Julie, as well, but she was busy *she is the busiest person on Earth, so that was no surprise).

We stopped briefly along the way a Tallulah Falls near Georgia’s northern border.

Years ago, you could stop and see the falls from a touristy place with an overlook and a store. I think it cost about $3.00 for a look.

RIP Tallulah Point 1912-2020; Photo: GAB News Online

It closed in 2020, so we went to the very pretty Tallulah Gorge State Park to see the falls.

Above the falls

The Park surrounds Tallulah Gorge, a 1,000-foot-deep canyon formed by the Tallulah River. The six-section Tallulah Falls drops 500 feet over one mile.

There is a lovely Visitor Center and a number of overlooks.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, the time of day was not optimum for seeing the falls, which were shadowed by the deep gorge, for any of the overlooks.

Oh, well!

We ate at both of Tim’s and Lisa’s restaurants in Roswell, a suburb north of Atlanta.

Bask opened this year. It is a fabulous upscale steakhouse is designed with a 1920’s club atmosphere. Its hallmark is a farm-to-table sustainable approach to food.

A beautiful restaurant; Photos: Bask

Tim has carefully curated his relationships with farms, wineries and meat providers to provide seasonal, locally sourced southern cuisine paired with a one-of-a kind wine list, barrel-aged beers and prohibition-style cocktails.

We forgot to photograph the food. Photos: Bask

Damn!

It is beautiful, the wine is incredible, and the food is delicious. What a treat!

The second night, we ate at From the Earth, a classy farm-to-table eatery and brewpub.

Photo: FTE

It has won many awards including 2nd place in USA Today’s 2023 Best Brewpub in the U.S. The food is more casual, but tasty.

My favorites were the carrot hummus and shrimp scampi appetizers

Dinner at FTE

From the Earth kicked off its sixth anniversary celebration with live music the night we visited.

Tim and Lisa have created two wonderful establishments with great ambiance and delicious food.

If you’re traveling in the area, check them out.

During the day (between evening feasts), Scott and I drove north to Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn.

Just a hint of fall

It’s one of those well-equipped State Park Resorts you find in the southeast with campgrounds, super nice cabins, yurts and trails.

Cliff face

The overlooks were pretty, but we didn’t have time to hike to the waterfalls and the trees weren’t bright enough yet.

Nice facilities

We lunched at the a the “best restaurant in town” just south of the Park. It was a food truck with picnic tables and gas pumps.

I had a slaw dog and Scott had a fried bologna sandwich

We entertained ourselves by eavesdropping on two hunters discussing dogs and deer and some construction workers who had perfected the art of indistinguishable mumbling.

NOLA

Our next stop as we started for home was New Orleans, where we spent our honeymoon in 1974.

Almost 50 years between these visits to Pat O'Briens

Back then, before actually going to New Orleans, I had had a Disneyesque image of pristine balconies and limitless southern charm.

The balcony part was right

I remember being shocked at how seedy and raunchy it was then.

Well, it’s ten times that now. I’ve been a few times since my initial trip and I always say, “never again.”

Lots happening

Don’t get me wrong, the city has its pluses.

The food is fabulous, so that is a legitimate draw. But, you can keep the loud, drunken crowds thronging Bourbon Street.

An hour or so is enough for me

That’s just not my thing.

Although rundown, there is charming architecture

Good music; Photo: Scott Stevens

A very open attitude about life

And, some amusing quirkiness

We stayed at the Bon Maison Guesthouse right on Bourbon Street. It was a lovely room with a comfy bed and a small kitchenette (handy for inevitable leftovers). Hidden behind a locked corridor to the street, the hotel has a private courtyard and an abundance of charm.

Lovely and convenient

The first night was surprisingly quiet considering location. But loud fellow residents and a trio of homeless men (who were actively consuming and injecting a variety of illegal substances) parked IN FRONT OF the entrance kept Scott up all night the second night. Worse yet, they did not move as we were loading our car to depart, so we had to gingerly step around them with our luggage.

I bravely took photos from the car

I was convinced they were going to mug Scott as he struggled to return our key to the lockbox, but it all worked out.

Location!

Despite the noise, it was nice to be able to walk out the door to everywhere we wanted to go without needed a car (a good thing, too, because Bon Maison has no parking and we had to leave the car in a public lot several blocks and $128 away).

We had dinner at the Palm Court, which is a couple of blocks off Bourbon on Decatur Street. It was a delight, with the very entertaining house jazz band and the eccentric owner Nina Buck, who had clad her impossibly thin legs in leopard-skin leggings and dancing through the restaurant.

Nina watching the band; Photo: Scott Stevens

She's 87 years old.

Scott and Nina hit it off

The music was good ...

Kevin Louis and the Palm Court Jazz Band

... the food was good (best bread pudding I’ve had) ...

Waiting for our food

... and the ambiance was extremely refined compared to the raucousness of just a few blocks away.

Bubbles!

The first morning we were there, we walked down to Jackson square ...

Celebrating Battle of New Orleans hero Andrew Jackson

... and had breakfast at Café Du Monde, a must-stop when visiting NOLA.

Serving chicory-laced coffee and beignets since 1862

The menu has hardly changed since the Civil War: coffee, beignets, hot chocolate, milk, fresh-squeezed orange juice and more recent additions of iced coffee and sodas. The beignets (the only food they serve) are hot, soft and pillowy.

A limited, sugar-laden, menu

But, they are coated with so much powdered sugar that eating is a challenge. I was pretty meticulous and did a good job of containing the sticky white powder.

Is that much sugar necessary?

Well, at least I was neater than everyone else we saw eating there. I left with no sugar powder on my clothes and just slightly sticky fingers.

I think the tabletops are two-inches taller by the end of each day just because of accumulated sugar paste.

I snuck around back to look into the kitchen and could barely see through the sugar-frosted windows. The cooks wear masks, most likely to prevent whatever disease one gets from inhaling sucrose on a regular basis.

Hot oil and sugar: breakfast of champions

More casual meals included a muffuletta that we noshed on for two days (the kitchenette came in handy) and a roast beef po’ boy and Caesar salad that we split for one dinner.

N’awlins food is wonderful. No question about dat.

We breakfasted the final morning a Brennan’s, where we had also eaten on our honeymoon. Despite its age, it looks crisp and clean, with lovely dining rooms and an outdoor courtyard.

Brennan's has been serving since 1946 (a youngster!)

The food was stellar: I had the eggs Sardou minus the eggs (fried artichoke hearts on a bed of creamed spinach with a tomato/herb hollandaise) and Scott had eggs Benedict made with crispy-fried Sheepshead fish.

Mine and Scott's. Delish!

And, of course, we had bananas Foster.

You can watch the full process of cooking the bananas in brown sugar and flambéing them in banana liqueur and rum here.

You get a treat and a cooking lesson

The only disappointment was with our fellow diners. Brennan’s has relaxed its dress code since the days when men had to wear jackets, but it’s the kind of place that requires a bit of respect. We dressed nicely as did some other people we saw. But, most were in shorts, tee shirts, jeans and hoodies.

I dressed up; Photo: Scott Stevens

There was a Saints/Bears game that day and it appeared many diners were headed to the game, so maybe that’s an excuse.

Still!

While there, we noticed something interesting. The walls are decorated with numerous oyster plates (plus Audubon prints). But, the oysters are not served on oyster plates. Go figure!

The other thing we planned to do was photograph the Bayou Bacchanal Caribbean Parade. Scott had found out about it online and had the parade route and times mapped out. It was slated to start near the river, travel up Canal Street, then turn on Rampart and end at Louis Armstrong Park.

Louis Armstrong Park celebrates jazz musicians and Mardi Gras

We got to the Park early, so we decided to walk the route in reverse and intercept the parade. As we walked uncrowded Rampart and crowded Canal, we saw no evidence that a parade was coming – nothing blocked off, no people waiting. Long after if should have made its way to where we were, we still saw nothing and heard nothing. So, we decided to give up.

As we were walking several blocks aways, we thought we saw something on Canal, so we headed back to the Park, where we encountered several other people as confused as we were. Where was the parade?

Well, it wasn't Mardi Gras!

We checked another website that said the parade would come up Basin Street beside the Park, but regardless of where it was going to arrive, it was well past the scheduled noon arrival.

As a few other confused tourists started to mill about, we found a local who had a friend in the parade. He told us they were running late, but were coming. When they finally showed up, an hour and a half late, it was pretty disappointing.

Some nice costumes, but a small, tired group that was mainly just walking and sipping bottled water.

Not exactly Carnivale!

Scott got some nice shots (he is good at this). I did not.

Mine left; Scott's right

So much for New Orleans.

Not my favorite, but fun

Texas

Then, the long drive home with a stop in DFW to see friends. We had dinner at the very old school (I mean, you can get steak and spaghetti! together!) Candlelight Inn.

An interesting spot

We didn't go for the food. We went because Buddy Whittington, a fabulous guitarist who toured for 15 years with John Mayall, performed. Scott is a big Buddy fan. So, that was a treat.