After walking around the French Quarter the night before having some great drinks and enjoying some really fun night life, we decided the next morning to spend some time strolling the famed French Market of New Orleans...we were anything but disappointed.

With so many things to see and (more importantly) so many things to taste, it was hard to figure out a plan of attack for the market. It seemed as though with each step we took, we saw another item we wanted to try! The market is filled with beautiful colors, amazing scents, unique sights, and people from so many different cultures that it was really a great experience just to walk the market alone. We decided to spend the first hour or so just walking the stalls where people had items for sale and then taking in a lot of knowledge on the menus and items to purchase for our bellies before settling in and actually ordering a few things.

First stop once we decided to order was a place that specialized in adult beverages. It was still early in the day so Chas opted to grab one of their signature Bloody Mary's while Chuck decided to go for a Banana Split Daiquiri. The Bloody Mary was good quality and provided a nice amount of spice as well as the boozy tomato goodness you expect from a good brunch beverage. The daiquiri was very good. They used ice cream and a blend of sauces (not just some carton mix) to make the blended beverage and it was so tasty and also quite cooling on a day where the sun was beating down on the market pretty hard.

After that we decided to grab the first round of food we would split. Chas and Val went to a stand where they got a crab cake sandwich and cheesy grits while Chuck grabbed a classic Nola Boudin as well as an Alligator sausage that both came with creole mustard. The crab cake had a nice flavor and was pretty much all crab meat so that was a bonus. I would say that I didn't love the roll it came on, and they used a very stiff mesclun mix on the sandwich that I could have done without also. The grits were good, but certainly not great (the grits at Mr. B's Bistro are far superior). The Boudin was very good, there was a nice snap to the skin and the meat and rice were very well seasoned. The Alligator sausage was even better, very smoky and meaty! You couldn't necessarily tell you were eating "gator", but it was delicious.

In the last round of munchies attained at the market, Chas grabbed a Muffuletta and Chuck got a Shrimp Po' Boy and a Bowl of Gumbo. Chuck talked a lot of smack about the muffuletta being "just a sandwich" and how it was a waste of stomach space...then had to eat his words, as well as half a sandwich. The olive spread on the sandwich made the whole thing, but it was also on very high quality bread. The bread however, for the Shrimp Po Boy was not very good at all, but the rest of it was so we took everything off the roll and ate it alone. The gumbo also was honestly only okay, especially compared to places like Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop.

Nice little morning getting a few drinks and some grub and then walking it all off between the market and parking 6 blocks away. Up's and Down's as far as the food went, but the drinks were solid and the atmosphere was a strong 10. New Orleans' French Market - Didn't Suck!