A long and liquid lunch in the French Quarter on the Friday before Mardi Gras is a hallowed tradition for many local New Orleanians. It is a time to enjoy the craziness of Mardi Gras with your fellow friends and neighbors, before the tourists take over and the streets become filthy with the debris of too much partying. We love taking part in this tradition and each year we are amazed at just how many people we run into that we haven’t seen in months or sometimes even years. This year, we lunched at GW Fins which was wild and crazy with all of the female krewe members of Iris. As is tradition, the male members of Hermes lunch next door at Antoine’s and then all meet out on the street at Bourbon and Bienville and the Old Absinthe House. We enjoyed the people watching and then went to Patrick’s Bar Vin for some cocktails and more fun.
After Patrick’s, we braved the swelling crowds on Bourbon Street to get to the new side bar at Galatoires. It was so new it still smelled of fresh varnish. We broke it in though. Pirate was the first patron to dance on the bar! And all of the ladies were the first to sit on the bar for a group photo. After many libations, we strolled on down to the Jax Brewery where we had an after-party at Dianne and Steve’s. It was a wonderful day and quite a kick-off to all of the Mardi Gras festivities to come!
