Jazz music, Cajun and Creole cooking and the French Quarter are all icons of New Orleans. Sadly now, so is Hurricane Katrina and the damage it caused.
The city is coming back thanks in large part to the people who have returned to rebuild. It’s possible to travel there today and stay in a nice hotel, eat at wonderful restaurants in the French Quarter or Warehouse District, go to the Convention Center or the Dome and think everything is back to normal.
If you travel just north and east out of the downtown area, you’ll see blocks and blocks without any homes or homes that will likely have to be torn down. One estimate I heard was that at least 300,000 homes were lost not to mention the many lives that were lost too. Some neighborhoods are still without electricity and water pressure. In these areas there are no shopping malls, no hospitals and most are without schools and churches.
New Orleans needs tourists to return and that's what I did last week, while I attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conference there. Here are a couple of breakfasts that I enjoyed.
At the Hilton Riverside Hotel I had the Bayou Scramble for breakfast which was a big Southern breakfast of scrambled eggs with diced smoked sausage, potatoes, green onions and zesty Cajun spices. This was served with grits (in the small bowl), a breakfast tomato and toast.
One of the most popular breakfast spots in New Orleans is Café du Monde. Here is what is left of my Café au lait and beignets (fried doughnuts with lots of powdered sugar on them).
