We were easing our way into traveling together, this time leaving the trailer behind and staying in a hotel. Dad used hotel "points" he had accrued so he only had to pay for one night's lodgings out of pocket, which he generously made a gift to us. After weeks of sleeping in free parking lots, staying in a hotel was quite the treat!
We arrived and got settled into the hotel in the late afternoon, just in time to choose someplace fun to try for dinner. I had researched a place called Willie Mae's Scotch House, which, according to the Food Network and other celebrity chefs, was touted as having the nation's best fried chicken.
The restaurant was in a neighborhood that had been hit hard by Hurricane Katrina's flooding, and the restaurant was closed for I think two years while they rebuilt--with help from admiring chefs and foodies elsewhere. As we drove around the neighborhood looking for it, we could still see signs of Katrina. It seemed like a sketchy neighborhood, but fortunately there was a small parking lot right across the street and the restaurant was smart enough to have a tough-looking greeter/security guard posted outside the restaurant making sure patrons felt/were safe.
Authentic soul food. Fried chicken, butter beans and rice, fried okra, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cornbread muffins.
The kids weren't sure the food was their favorite. But we somehow cleaned the plates anyway. ; ) (We're mostly vegetarian at home, but the kids are good eaters and pretty good about trying new things.) I'm not an expert on fried chicken, but it was tasty and Dad proclaimed it very good. He has a lifetime of fried chicken behind him, so I'll take his word.
We made sure to leave while it was still light outside. But not before I had ordered more corn muffins to go, for our breakfast the next day. Mmmmmm.
The phone camera couldn't capture the lovely sunset behind. A great first adventure with my parents in New Orleans.
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