Day 3 BBQ pork and greasy lips

Although Krewe De Vieux is on today, we are heading out of New Orleans to find those hole in the wall places with 30 hour pork bbq we have heard about but NOT until we stop at Domilise’s for those Po’boys we saw Anthony Bourdain eating on his New Orleans episode!  After a drive around and putting the GPS in action, we found this little hole in the wall spot . . . It looked bigger on TV.. . Doesn’t everything?

It was only 11:30 and already packed and hectic with a lady shouting “take a number” at everyone who walked in.  The French bread for the day was in these enormous paper bags the size of garbage bags and the whole place smelled delicious.  Many a celebrity as been through Domilise’s and their pictures are up to prove it, the place is covered with photos and memorabilia.  My favourite sign was the entrance to what we assumed was the house of the owners: “Unless you are God or George Straight, Wipe your feet!”  James ordered the catfish po’boy with extra gravy and all dressed as is suggested in all the books and I decided the traditional roast beef was the way to go.  I also had a coke in a glass bottle, so retro . . . But I swear coca cola tastes better that way.  We luckily got the “small” size when they called out our number and yes yes these sandwiches were delicious, wet sandwiches I think is what I have heard them called and that is a good description.  Not less than 9 napkins were used in my attempt to keep myself clean through this sandwich.  I need to chill out and “be one” with the dripping juiciness down my arms.  

 With much licked fingers we moved onto our next mission, much more depressing, we really wanted to see the Ninth Ward that was destroyed during Katrina.  It has been interesting to hear the Katrina stories everyone has, there is a reason that they are coming back, New Orleans has an energy and vibrancy that cannot be matched.  The city really has these amazing roots and you can feel them throughout the city, they will pull everyone back.  Our previous journeys around the city had shown us these amazing huge houses, architecture that can’t be duplicated and a Southern Charm, we thought that we would really enjoy living there.. . Well near the French Quarter or Magazine Street/Garden District area. .. America is one of those places where these crazy juxtapositions exist, insane wealth and beauty and a few blocks away, homelessness and houses that are barely standing.  The Ninth Ward was at the same time depressing and uplifting, we saw houses that will never be recovered after 2005’s Katrina: spray painted symbols of when the emergency workers checked all the houses, what they found, k-9, dead, the date they were checked etc.  And then we saw the houses that are rebuilt, being rebuilt, and home owners out making sure their properties are cared for.  The district is still said to be unsafe at night and although a little eerie, we left feeling good about the human spirit here in New Orleans.  The photos below are houses right across the street from one another.

After picking up a map we headed out of town, ready to see more of the South, our route is changing everyday as we find out from locals what to see, where to go and what the google tells us.   The interstate soon proved uninteresting although I thought the 3 costco sized “house of worship”  that we saw were pretty crazy.  I assume they all have their own cable channels. . That kind of thing.  As we got into Mississippi we decided to take the scenic route on the 90 and we are so glad we turned off that silly GPS that kept telling us “re-calculating” “re-calculating” how do you tell the GPS you want to take the SCENIC route. . .and don’t want to keep getting on the Interstate. . . .we pulled out the old fashioned map and found the most amazing beaches all along Hwy 90.  We never really knew that this existed in Mississippi, this amazing stretch of beaches, for miles and miles,  Bay St Louis, Biloxi, Long Beach . . .  we stopped and I put my feet in the finest sand I have ever touched and got my toes in the water and it was warm!  This is the stuff you don’t want to miss!  Of course there is a lot of the American cheese you would expect in a beach community and we saw 7 “Waffle House”’s along the way and plenty of cheap fast food and casino’s.  The property’s along the Highway were gorgeous, some raised on stilts and others in the Plantation style with the sweeping front porches.  A lot for sale and we will be googling the places tonight as we are always curious about prices of beach houses.

Our next stop was Mobile, Alabama, home to “the Brick Pit” a find in Jane & Michael Stern’s book “Road Food” and the GPS did come in hand for that!   This place smokes their meat, pork 30 hours, beef 12 hours, and chicken 6 hours, over the lowest heat and a mix of hickory and pecan word.  The place was in an old house, with every surface covered in graffiti and magazine and newspaper articles about their bbq.  Plastic covered the tables for good reason and simple brown paper paper towel was there for us to clean up.  James chose the pulled pork with a spicy bbq sauce and I chose the ribs, mild sauce please.  Both were delicious and finger licking good.  The pulled pork was definitely the winner and I am sure that I used at least 8 napkins. . . This has been a tree killing day as far as napkins are concerned! LOL.  Now we are back on the road to Pensacola, Florida, going to wake up on Navarre Beach. . . But hmm. . . We smell like smokey BBQ. . . I guess it won’t be the first time this trip!