Thanksgiving

Hi,

We won't be on a cruise this time but will be driving and staying in New Orleans for 3 days over Thanksgiving to visit our son who lives there (on a student budget).

We are on a tight budget (as always it seems) and are thinking about something like this:

Day 1--

staying at the Drury Inn

walking over to the FQ for the afternoon

sandwich at Verti Mart

back to Drury for included drinks and lite dinner

walking back to FQ for an evening city tour

back to Drury

Day 2 (Thanksgiving)--

breakfast at Drury

nice Thanksgiving day lunch

Bayou Classic T-day parade

drinks and lite dinner at Drury

Jazz club in the evening

back to Drury

Day 3--

street car to Garden district

Garden district/cemetery tour

lunch

shopping/strolling Magazine street

Couchon Butcher's for muffaletta

drive to hotel near airport (less expensive for us than a weekend stay at the Drury)

relax

Day 4--

breakfast at hotel

head for home

Questions--

--Drury a good choice? (We can get it for about $100/night and like the additional amenities and parking is a little less at $25/night)

--recommendations for a nice under $50/person Thanksgiving day lunch/dinner?

--recommendations for Jazz club?

--recommendations for lunch in the Garden District (not Commander's Palace--expensive for us)?

Any other additional comments/recommendations?

The only possible kink in your agenda will be lunch/dinner on Thanksgiving Day. A lot of restaurants are closed, and those that are open usually have fixed-price menus, or buffets.

When the time gets closer, you can check here for a list of open restaurants:

http://www.nomenu.com

Tujague's on Decatur would be a good choice. They serve a traditional dinner at reasonable prices.

I don't know the Garden District restaurants well, but will attach a list from Yelp, which should be useful.

http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=restaurants&find_loc=Garden+District%2C+New+Orleans%2C+LA

The best music clubs are on Frenchmen Street, just north of the French Quarter. We especially like The Spotted Cat, a hole-in-the-wall bar with live local music.

You can also check the following site. It is usually slow to load, but lists the places on Frenchmen and who is playing.

http://www.frenchmenstreetlive.com.

Thanks so much for the links, jgmpuma.

As I've been browsing online for T-day lunch/dinner places I also found Red Fish Grill will be open all day and serve a buffet. It seems to get overall good reviews. Do you have an opinion? We wouldn't mind a buffet if it was a decent quality buffet. It would be nice if it had seafood and/or other New Orleans specialties on it too.

Does the Drury Inn seem like a good choice for our needs for those couple of nights and then a less expensive place out by the airport for the last night?

All in all, does it seem like a reasonable plan?

My family used to go to Redfish Grill for lunch on Easter, but stopped when they started offering just the buffet. It's a good buffet, as buffets go, but just not up our alley.

Your plan sounds fine. A little ambitious, but it should work, as long as the weather cooperates.

I've never stayed at the Drury Inn, but others seem to like it. It is a fairly easy walk to the French Quarter, and is close to the streetcar line. A place in the French Quarter might be more convenient, but the rooms there tend to be smaller abd more expensive.

Thanks for the reply. We will keep our options open for Thanksgiving meal :)

Great question I will be arriving for my cruise on Thanksgiving day, sail out Saturday and I was wondering about where to go taht day for a nice dinner besides my hotel.

Honestly, I would avoid New Orleans during Thanksgiving. Most locals avoid downtown and the FQ during Thanksgiving. The city is overrun with college kids who drive in for the annual game between Grambling State and Southern University. If you enjoy "Greek Step shows" then there is also that event the evening before the game.

Hi nolatravelgirl,

We're going specifically to spend Thanksgiving with our son who lives there now :) so, no avoiding it for us. Just looking for the best suggestions for Thanksgiving day dinner.

Any suggestions?