New Orleans, Day 4

On our fourth day in New Orleans, we relaxed. We had massages scheduled at Pura Vida in the Garden District, and figured we'd spend the afternoon out there, checking out a different scene from the hectic French Quarter. We got lunch at the St. James Cheese Company. They had some fantastic looking sandwiches, but we went with a cheese board and a Ploughman's Lunch, the better to try their cheese. And their cheese was fantastic. We especially liked what I think was the Fleur de Maquis, on the left of the picture above. But they were all very good.

After my wife went to get her massage, I went to a nearby dive bar, Le Bon Temps Roule, to read and hopefully watch Mizzou beat  Florida. (They didn't). It looked like most dive bars, but it had a really enormous beer selection. How many dive bars have Chimay? Really chill, and a nice pool table.

After meeting up after my massage, we made our way back to the Central Business District. We hit up the W.I.N.O., the Wine Institute of New Orleans, one of our other favorites from our last trip. This one was actually improved from last time. WINO provides the option to taste 40ish different wines in either 1, 2, or 4 ounce pours. Many of these wines are really good, and now they also provide some spirits like armagnac to sample as well. However, it can get really expensive really quickly, so it's important to be careful.

After WINO, we went to dinner at Cafe Adelaide. This was our favorite restaurant. We started off with the foie gras and truffle flatbread, which was incredible. It was covered in large slices of foie gras, just really rich and creamy. For our entrees, we had the Shrimp Courtbouillon and the Duck Breast. The duck was dark and juicy, and really hit the spot. Fantastic dining here.

After dinner we went to Frenchmen street to listen to some jazz. We settled on dba, which in addition to good jazz has an extensive beer and spirits list. John Boutte was playing the night we went, and we thoroughly enjoyed his performance.