Deep Fried Kudzu

At 221 Camp, the International House Hotel is just a couple of blocks from Canal, meaning it's easy walking everywhere -- one night we walked over to 160+ year old Tujague's (just a few minutes so Av could chat with the owner, who he knows, and is a Bama grad) before a late supper at Irene's Cuisine, which in all this time we had never been to before, but now that we've been, did not have the same fabulous experience so many other people have there. No matter, we had a really great trip.



Very nicely, the gentleman who checked us in comped us a couple of drinks for the hotel bar, Loa. I had the Rosalie, which the menu describes (before actually describing):
Rosalie: Italian saints work overtime; seems they're always between the Rock and a new hard place. Just as St. Joseph decimated drought she headed off plague in Sicily, and more recently vanquished an anthrax epidemic among the cows of Kenner, for which protection her clients are to this day grateful, toting her life-sized statue lovingly to her home-church at her festival each year. 

Sparkling local kombucha, cucumbers, aperol, limoncello, brandy, tangerine, Peychaud's bitters



The room was a nice size and comfortable, though not especially colorful or memorable -- pretty greige.





Actually the first night we were there (the boys were out of town on their own adventure) we had a celebratory supper at Root as Av's company had just had a couple of big wins in the span of about a week.




I was thinking that we might have a really long supper (we used to settle in to those booths when Root was back in the Warehouse District), but perched on these -- I think they may be Tolix Marais or cousins -- I think the idea is more to snack and go


Almost always at home, I just drink water, but in New Orleans, if a cocktail looks interesting, every now and then I will indulge. This is vodka, basil, pineapple, oloroso, Mexican vanilla, and (this is what got me) champagne gummies, which...tasted like gummies. hahaha!


As always, we made up a charcuterie board with some duck prosciutto, chicken liver pate, and a couple other items


Av had the duck and grits which was amazing


and I did the snack board: black mission fig (honey-whipped goat cheese, prosciutto), 62* egg (brioche, everything spice, chicken skin), salt cod beignets (pickled garlic aioli, parsley), pimento cheese (cheddar crackers), and wild boar sticky bun (Szechuan peppercorns). I love these little bites -- just so much fun to be able to have one or two little bites of such different tastes.


We had zero intention of getting dessert, but our server was just so friendly that after we were talking for a while and told her why we were celebrating, she insisted that they bring us a baked alaska, complimentary. It had fennel sorbet, pistachio custard, genoise cake, and herbsaint. So so so nice!

We only had a couple of bites but it was so appreciated.

On East Broad in Athens sits low to the street this kermit-green building putting out pork chops, vegetable plates and the like since 1986. The prices are reasonable which means the citizenry, including college students, are able to get their fix, and the world best knows Weaver D's for what the owner sing-songs -- not just your order, but his mantra, that it's all "Automatic for the People".


This sign previously hung outside but for the last few years it's been here in the dining room

R.E.M. paid him for using his 'Automatic for the People' phrase on their 1992 release



From the L.A. Times
Weaver wasn't into rock. Motown is his style. And he didn't know that R.E.M. was really big. But they struck a deal. Weaver got "a pretty good amount." And the deal put Weaver D's, then open only six years, on the rock music map. Soon he found himself roasting 7,000 bags of peanuts for a Warner Bros. record promotion.

"My life changed," he says. The world made its way to Weaver D's door. CNN. CBS. MTV. Spin. Some came just to gawk. Some came to see the star-shaped metal sculpture, photographed by Anton Corbijn, that was on the album cover. "People think it's on my roof," he says. In reality, it's in Miami. Maybe, he muses, he'll have one built.

With its communal tables covered with checkered oilcloth, mismatched chairs and walls bedecked with things R.E.M., Weaver D's continues to be a magnet for the band's fans and the curious. At the height of the "Automatic" frenzy, someone stole Weaver's sign, later returning it with a $10 bill and a note apologizing for ripping off "a genuine piece of Athens history." Campaigning in Athens in 1992, Al Gore promised he and Bill Clinton would be "automatic for the people."



The James Beard America's Classic award is nonchalantly leaning up between the Mountain Dew machine and the television



It's all good: collards, broccoli casserole, corn, peas, cornbread


banana pudding

On Highway 167 from Arkansas to Louisiana, we found this trampoline message: "Jesus Love"

We made a visit to the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, designed by Gordon Bunshaft


Here, a display of pens (fountain and otherwise) he used to sign various bills







...there's even an animatronic LBJ


Besides the imposing architecture, the interior is stunning -- a 4-story view of the glassed-in archives



The common area can feel quite vast, but there are more intimate spaces for evaluating other exhibits


Here, the missal he used to take the Oath of Office in 1963 -- it was a gift to President Kennedy




Oval Office replica, to 7/8 scale








But the best, Lady Bird's cha-cha mod office, with a tiny sign that says 'Can Do'.

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HBO's 2016 film 'All the Way' on LBJ