Confederacy of Cruisers Culinary Tour – Do It!!

One of the highlights of my 2011 trip to New Orleans was a rambling group bike ride led by a local named Jeff. He and his wife own a small bike tour company, Confederacy of Cruisers.  We cruised around for several hours, listening to stories and snippets of history…such a great time. So I was eager to sign up for another go-round. This time we decided to snack our way across the city on the Culinary Tour.

The tour was led by an awesome and intrepid guide named Cassandra.  It turned out to be a private tour because of the downpour, so we were able to take our time at each location.  We started out at Lil’ Dizzy’s for a bowl of gumbo and some fried chicken. OMG!  The chicken was the BEST I have ever tasted.  Crispy, perfectly seasoned, and moist…I’m still reeling from how good it was.  I didn’t take a photo because I couldn’t think, that’s how good this chicken was.

Our next stop was Liuzza’s By The Track, where we savored every bite of a BBQ Shrimp Po’Boy.

Delicious!

We were going to head to the Parkway for a roast beef Po’Boy, but by this point we were stuffed, so we biked into the New Orleans City Park instead.  I had never been there before, and I would say it is a “must-go.”  It’s huge – 1300 acres – and beautiful.  Think stately live oaks trees draped with Spanish Moss, green grassy lawns, gorgeous old buildings, and the bayou weaving through it all.  There is a museum, a botanical garden, an amusement park, a golf course, a sculpture garden, and tons more.

Our final stop was for sweet treats at Angelo Brocato’s.  The mini cannoli…mmm…another dreamy delight.  Again, I was lost in the moment of deliciousness and only came to my senses after the fact:

But I recovered enough to snap a shot of the creamy scoop of Praline ice cream:

When the tour was over, we looked like drowned rats, but we reveled in the glory of it all:

And then we went and had a drink: