Thursday, March 26, 2026
Day 2 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. Patrick and I stopped in briefly at the Tennessee Williams Festival and Patrick said hello to Tom from Octavia Books. We walked to breakfast at French Truck Coffee. Patrick had a latte with a breakfast croissant with bacon. I had a cup of chicory coffee with half and half and a sausage breakfast wrap (delicious, but not hot enough, and I didn't complain). The wrap is a bigger meal than the croissant. We walked in the French Quarter and visited the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) and notably an excellent civil rights exhibit covering the 1950s to 1970s. We stopped at the Storyville Museum but were not sure it was worth $32 each and did not enter. Bought small gifts. Lunch at Johnny's Po-Boys (504-524-8129, 511 St. Louis): we shared a shrimp po-boy (french bread, dressed). iced tea for Patrick, arnold palmer for me. $28.99 before tip. The receipt says, "EVEN OUR FAILURS ARE EDIBLE!" Luckily we got a table in the front dining area. The back dining area is significantly more miserable due to no windows and loud fans, and there no longer is seating upstairs on the gallery outside. Dessert at Southern Candymakers: we shared a free praline sample. Walked back to Hotel Monteleone. Rested. Ghosts and Legends walking tour with tour guide and fellow writer and SASFest participant Ariadne Blayde, who expertly wove historical facts and fiction with local folklore and hearsay and personal stories—highly recommended. At a break in the tour Patrick and I stopped at Lafitte's Hotel for drinks: margarita for Patrick, mai tai for me. The tour ended at the river levee. Walked back to Hotel Monteleone. Dinner in Hotel Monteleone at Criollo. Cocktails: vieux carre for Patrick, velasco and sand for me. Bread service: very soft, hot, sliced, house-made grape and rosemary focaccia with olive oil, salt, shredded garlic, and a tiny amount of chili flakes—heavenly and not too spicy for me. Next we shared one raviolo al' uovo (egg yolk and ricotta raviolo, parmesan sage, proscuitto, lemon beurre blanc), also delicious. We shared the gulf shrimp, blue crab, and avocado salad (chilled gulf shellfish, avocado, citrus vinaigrette, toasted pumpkin seeds). There were inedible bits of crab that I had to remove, but we did not complain about this, and the dish was otherwise delicious. We shared one entree: trout piccata with broccolini (sauteed speckled trout, lemon-caper beurre blanc, green beans almondine), also delicious, and notably including a nice crust that Patrick says is not common on a fish piccata. Too full for dessert. We were sat next to a window, and an LED street lamp shone cold blue light in my face the entire time, but it wasn't the restaurant's fault. In retrospect, I would have requested being sat at a different table. $128 after tax and before a $25 tip. Service by Johnson L was very good. I thought this was the third-best meal on our trip. Again we stopped at Carousel Bar to see if they had two seats. They did, but only for a few seconds before someone else took them. To bed.