Leaving Jazzest 2013, I vowed to return. So much fun! I sent invites to all of my friends, but no takers, so Lance and I headed out late Thursday evening to be ready for 3 days of fun and food down south.
Our first morning started, of course, with some hot, crispy and sweet beignets at Cafe Beignet:
sitting out in a courtyard with other folks, and of course, street musicians livening up the morning. We then headed over to the National World War II museum. It’s comprised of several newly-built structures, some of which are still being finished. The national museum is located here in NO because the man who invented troop transport boats, which made D-Day and other beach landings possible, lived here and manufactured all of said boats in the area. A 4-D movie gave us the over view of the whole war, and we strolled through exhibits that outlined events, challenges and ultimate victories in both the European and Pacific theaters. As you might imagine, quite a bit was dedicated to the planning and execution of D-Day. A rapt visitor checks out D-Day naval forces:
After a couple of hours, we headed over to the shuttle buses and on to the fairgrounds. Things were already hopping and the temperature climbing quickly. If you’re not familiar, the festival is held on a racetrack and the layout of venues, food and craft demonstrations is identical every year. There are 3 huge tents in a row (with space between for lots of vendors) that are dedicated to gospel, blues and jazz music. Then there are two large and larger outdoor stages for the top acts. And 5 other venues plus a kids’ tent for other assorted genres. As it turned out, my favorite tent once again was the People’s Health Economy Hall tent. I spend about 3/4 of my time there. I just love the NO and swing type of jazz that dominated the schedule there. I saw and old man (must have been in his 80’s) who walked in and out with someone helping him and his t-shirt pretty much summed it up for me:
And the heat! The first day, I realized I hadn’t gone to the bathroom all day, so I was obviously dehydrated. Solution? Two (I at least put a couple of hours between them!) snowballs, the local version of a snowcone, but they used feathery light shavings so it was indeed like eating snow. I got the recipe down pat, as I would ask for half plain and half cherry (or grape, as you can see here):
Just what the (voodoo) doctor ordered! By mid-point on the second, my entire mouth was numb, but it sure helped cool down the whole system.
I wandered in and out of tents, sometimes on my own, and sometimes meeting up with Lance. It was so fun to walk by a tent and hear something great and walk in to sway to some great music for about 15 or 20 minutes, then wander some more. Found L’il Buck Sinegal Blues Band in the Blues tent,
Lisa Knowles and the Brown Singers in the gospel tent (and that’ll make you get up and move for sure) and even had a big grin when I was walking through the grounds and hear the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars. Something for everyone, for sure! Lance went to Santana for the headliner act and I checked out the Avett Brothers and Joe Louis Walker. Music plays from 11 – 7, so they give everyone plenty of time to head back into town and enjoy the fine dining (and more music in local clubs) for the evening, and into the wee hours.
Our dinner reservations were at Cochon, which I found from research, but when Stacey’s jaw dropped when I mentioned it to her, I knew I’d struck gold. And we weren’t disappointed. Cochon is casual, but they cure all of their own meats and the place was hopping. We picked and shared. Openers were onion braised pork cheeks with grits and fava beans:
and oysters cooked in a woodburning oven with garlic chili butter (and yes, these were SOOOO incredible):
Definitely slurped every drop out of these shells!
Main course was their (and famous for) Louisiana cochon with turnips, cabbage and cracklin:
The cochon itself is shredded pork formed into a croquette shape, and is so tender and smoky and faintly like the uptown cousin of Carolina barbecue. We shared this along with an incredible salad:
and Lance indulged in peanut butter pie for dessert:
Walked back home so happy, stuffed and tired. Oh no! Have to do it again tomorrow!