FIELD NOTES 001
Arrival
The Barnett sits on Carondelet in the Warehouse District, a 1928 Art Deco building that once held furniture, now holding travelers. High ceilings, vintage fixtures, local art on the walls.
The kind of lobby that tells you something about the city before you've left the front desk.
Stein's Market
Before anything else, Stein's. A deli in the Garden District that has been doing this longer than most restaurants in this city have existed. The Reuben, or whatever the daily special is. The kind of place that does not need to explain itself.
Eat here first. Then the city can begin.
The Show
Bruno Mars at full volume. Floor level, close enough to feel it.
He puts on a show, and the crowd matched him. Young and old, all there for the same reason. New Orleans doesn't do quiet entrances into a night like this.
You go all in or you stay home.
The City at Night
Everyone else stood in line for a Lyft or an Uber.
We walked.
Even the hotels near the arena had lines out the door just to get back inside. We beat all of it on foot and got a full show of the city doing what it does best while everyone else waited.
Salon Salon
Tucked down an alley off Carondelet, inside Maison Métier.
We were seated in a hidden room behind a bookshelf. The kind of detail that makes a place unforgettable. Red walls. A ceiling the color of tangerine. My wife had the Prickly in Pink. I had the Oracabessa, named for a town on the north coast of Jamaica. The drink lived up to the room.
This is the nightcap that makes the whole night make sense.
Breakfast
The next morning, Commons Club at Virgin Hotels.
English breakfast. Ham croquettes. The kind of plate that sets you up right before a long drive.
New Orleans at its most honest might be the morning after, not the night before.
The Road
From there, Miami Beach.
One city built on spectacle.
The next built on sun.