How else to spend our final morning in New Orleans but at brunch, this time for one last visit at Vessel, that incredible restaurant inside a Lutheran Church from 1914. We had visited this lovely place on our third day when our travels were still fresh and new, but on this morning we found that melancholy, as usual and as expected, overwhelmed us exactly on time as we knew it would.
We had elected to make 9:00am reservations in advance just in case Vessel would be busy for brunch, but there was no need as we were the only ones arriving so strangely so early in the morning on a Thursday. We no doubt also surprised the staff when we arrived on time, as their doors opened fashionably late by about ten minutes. With a bleary expression and a voice cracking through a nighttime of disuse, our waiter remarked about their tardiness, “We almost didn’t make it,” as we explained that this was our final morning in town and that we had a noon hour flight to catch back to Minnesota.
Vessel continued to impress as we enjoyed our mimosas beneath the tall, vaulted ceilings of the old church with music playing softly in the background: “Stormy Weather” by Lena Horne, “Cabaret” by Louis Armstrong, and “I’m Gonna Live till I Die” by Sarah Vaughn. And all three of us ordered a side of grits with their eggs benedict prepared with a characteristically Southern flare: bacon wrapped boudin-stuffed pork tenderloin, poached eggs, and a mustard cream sauce, all over a bed of waffles on account of the fact that their biscuits were still in the oven needing an additional 45 minutes or so before they were ready.
And just like that, our adventures were over. And while it was all terribly sad that it was all over, we all had such an amazing time. And what times we did have! And I would have expected no less! It was exquisite! Absolutely exquisite! Visiting a town I adore with my two amazing traveling companions by my side, through and through, adventuring from seedy dive bars to classy craft cocktail joints, partaking in celebratory second line parades on the streets and listening to live transcendent jazz in iconic halls, indulging in gluttonous meals of shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles and etouffee and jambalaya to imbibing in sinful concoctions of magical sazeracs and dreamy vieux carres and endlessly bottomless mimosas, hangovers be damned!
One day we shall come back, a moment prepared for, and it won’t be a moment too soon. It is a day I can’t wait to arrive again, and I look forward to it with intense anticipation, unwavering assuredness, and an excitedly charmed imagination that shall never diminish, never ebb with the passing of time, and never fail to capture my mind and heart all over again…
Lastly, if you need a little help tracking down the source of the titles for my blog posts about our return to New Orleans, here are the answers. They were all derived from song lyrics and not song titles:
- Day 1: “Living Easy, Loving Free” – lyrics from “Highway to Hell” by AD/CD which was playing at B Macs.
- Day 2: “Fever All through the Night” – lyrics from “Fever” by the Neville Brothers; I can’t be sure if Cyril Neville actually performed this when we saw him at Tipitina’s, but—regardless—it is a tune that summed up our travels so beautifully.
- Day 3: “What I Find Is Pleasing” – lyrics from “Heart of Glass” by Blondie which we overheard from the block party outside Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar while we were on our cocktail tour.
- Day 4: “How Sweet and Wonderful Life Can Be” – lyrics from “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye, which was playing at Glady’s Bar.
- Day 5: “Living It Up in the City” – lyrics from “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and which the Natural Bone Killers covered at 30°/-90°.
- Day 6: “E tutto brilla, e tutto scintilla” – lyrics from “Italove” by Emmanuelle which we heard playing at Cure.
- Day 7: “In and Out of Town” – lyrics from “Didn’t He Ramble” by J. Rosamond Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Bob Cole and performed at Preservation Hall.
- Day 8: “It’s Time for Celebrating” – lyrics from “Cabaret” by Louis Armstong which we heard at Vessel, obviously.