For many people on the Eastern Shore, New Orleans is the ultimate weekend escape: close enough to reach in a few hours, yet a world away in food, music and atmosphere. One Fairhope writer and his wife, Linda, rediscovered that in July 2023, when a Father’s Day gift from their three sons, Zeb, Bryan and Matthew, turned into a New Orleans weekend built around great seafood and a Jackson Browne concert at the Saenger Theatre. His itinerary makes a handy blueprint for anyone planning a food-and-music trip to the Crescent City.
It was the couple’s first visit in nearly three years. Their previous trip had come in September 2020, when Hurricane Sally left Fairhope without power and they headed west in search of air conditioning, at a time when the pandemic had shut down much of what makes New Orleans special.
Friday: Uptown on St. Charles Avenue
The couple left Fairhope on a Friday afternoon with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees. After dropping their dogs with a son who has lived in New Orleans for about a dozen years, they met family at a condo next to The Columns Hotel on St. Charles Avenue, in the heart of Uptown.
St. Charles Avenue is one of the most recognizable streets in America, lined with live oaks, grand old homes and the green streetcars of the St. Charles line, which has carried riders since the 19th century and is one of the oldest continuously operating street railways in the world. Staying along the avenue puts visitors within walking distance of restaurants, bars and the streetcar that runs toward downtown and the French Quarter.
Friday dinner was a short walk away at Superior Seafood and Oyster Bar, at the corner of St. Charles and Napoleon avenues. Even on a sultry July night, typically a slow season in the city, the restaurant was bustling. The table started with grilled oysters, then moved on to seafood pasta dishes and a seafood salad, with wine alongside.
On the walk back, a stop at Fat Harry’s, a longtime Uptown bar popular with a younger crowd, brought back memories of the writer’s own years living in New Orleans.
Saturday Morning: The Columns and Magazine Street
Saturday began with a late breakfast at The Columns Hotel. The hotel, set in a grand Italianate mansion built in the 1880s, is known for its broad front porch, lush landscaping and eccentric, old-world interior, a fitting example of a city where the eclectic is the norm. Its porch is a favorite spot for a leisurely meal or a drink while watching the streetcars roll by.
From there, the couple headed to Magazine Street, the long commercial corridor that runs roughly parallel to the Mississippi River from the Warehouse District through the Garden District and Uptown. The street is known for its independent boutiques, antique shops, galleries, restaurants and coffee shops, and it rewards visitors who like to wander. The couple spent part of the afternoon shopping, including for new eyeglasses.
Saturday Night: Dinner at Pêche
The centerpiece of the trip began with a 6 p.m. reservation at Pêche Seafood Grill in the Warehouse District, where sons Matthew and Zeb joined them. Pêche, known for cooking seafood over an open wood fire, earned national attention soon after opening, including a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2014.
The meal read like a tour of Gulf Coast flavors:
- Hand-crafted cocktails
- A dozen wild oysters from Louisiana’s Area 3 harvest waters
- Gumbo
- A grilled whole red snapper with salsa verde, shared by the table
- Grilled shishito peppers and grilled zucchini with capers and feta
- Field peas with bacon and onion that the writer called the best he had ever tasted
He counted it among the best meals he had ever eaten, no small statement from someone who has dined often in New Orleans. As the group left the restaurant, a storm rolled in, prompting him to note that “Before the Deluge,” the title of a Jackson Browne song, would have made a fitting opener.
Jackson Browne at the Saenger
Through snarled, rain-soaked traffic, the family made it to the Saenger Theatre on Canal Street and reached their seats just as Jackson Browne walked on stage alone to open the show. The Saenger, which opened in 1927, is one of the grand movie palaces of its era, famous for its ornate interior designed to evoke an Italian Renaissance courtyard under a starry sky. Badly damaged by flooding after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it underwent an extensive restoration and reopened in 2013 as one of the city’s premier venues for concerts and touring Broadway shows.
Browne, then 74, was touring with his full band, and the writer, a fan since high school who had seen him twice before in Birmingham, said it was his first time seeing the singer with the full lineup. Alternating between guitar and grand piano, Browne played for nearly three hours, mixing familiar songs with newer material and trading banter with a lively crowd that shouted out requests between songs.
“I appreciate all your suggestions, but I’m better at playing my songs,” Browne told the audience with a laugh. He did, at one point, set down his guitar and return to the piano to honor a request.
By the end of the night, the writer was convinced it was the best concert he had ever attended, a verdict shared by Linda and by their sons, who are devoted live-music fans. Son Bryan and his wife, Ally, caught Browne the next evening at the historic Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, and the tour also brought him to the Saenger Theatre in Mobile.
Sunday: Pastries in the Marigny
Before heading home, the couple met friends for coffee and pastries at Ayu Bakehouse on Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny. The Marigny, just downriver from the French Quarter, is best known for the live-music clubs along Frenchmen Street, and by day its colorful cottages and cafes make for a relaxed final stop. Then it was time to collect the dogs and drive back to Fairhope.
Planning Your Own New Orleans Weekend
The trip was a reminder of how easy it is for Baldwin and Mobile county residents to slip away to New Orleans. A few tips for anyone following a similar path:
- Book popular restaurants ahead. Well-known spots fill up, especially on weekends and concert nights.
- Use the streetcar. The St. Charles line connects Uptown with the Central Business District and is part of the experience.
- Allow extra time for weather. Summer storms can pop up quickly and snarl traffic, as this trip showed.
- Check venue schedules. The Saenger hosts concerts and Broadway tours year-round; check its calendar for current shows.
- Confirm details before you go. Restaurant hours, menus and offerings change over time, so check with each business before visiting.
For this Fairhope couple, the weekend rekindled a love for New Orleans after a three-year gap, and they promised themselves it would not be that long before they returned.