hips don't lie: A guide to New Orleans during the Superbowl AND Mardi Gras

By
Paul Oswell

PUBLISHED:

05:24 EST, 25 January 2013

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UPDATED:

05:24 EST, 25 January 2013

We all like to look our best for a special occasion. Now, imagine all the effort you went to looking for the right shirt or dress for your work’s Christmas outing. Now imagine hosting one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Now imagine hosting one of the world’s biggest parties. Now imagine hosting them AT THE SAME TIME.

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Fat Tuesday: New Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebrations are among the most famous in the world

If you haven’t passed out from the imagined stress, spare a thought for New Orleans, who this February hosts the zenith of American Football competition – the 47th Superbowl (February 3rd) and then the explosive climax of Carnival, namely Mardi Gras (February 12th).

Yes, hundreds of thousands of sports fans and general party-goers will be winging their way to the Crescent City for a concentrated cocktail of celebratory madness, during which the entire city will be drunk dry and fancy dress store owners will retire as millionaires to their own private islands.
Well, perhaps not, but it IS going to be busy.

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A stage for giants: The 47th Superbowl will take place at the New Orleans Superdome on February 3rd

In preparation, the city – not always known for its state-of-the-art infrastructure and well-maintained environs – has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on one heck of an impressive makeover.

Everything from the airport to the Superdome sports arena to the streets to the dental work of the guys pushing the Lucky Dog hotdog carts (possibly) has been spruced up to within an inch of its life, and New Orleans is ready to shrug off its reputation as ‘the city that care forgot’ once and for all.
If you’re here for the (American) football or Mardi Gras, or just eyeing up a trip in the near future to see a town renewed, here’s our mini-guide to the best of the new hotels, restaurants, sights and sounds.

MARDI GRAS LIKE A LOCAL

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Small; is beautiful: The Tit in Tit Rex Parade stands for ‘tit from ‘petite’, the French word for small, in case you were wondering

The mega-parades start in earnest around two weeks before Fat Tuesday, and are well advertised. The official website with the rundown of the main ones, including their times and routes, is mardigrasneworleans.com/schedule.

What can make a Mardi Gras even more special, though, is to search out the smaller, weird and wonderful parades.

Less crowded, more magical in a way and you won’t have to fight a small child for plastic beads. Look out for ’Tit Rex (Jan 26, titrexparade.com), in which tiny (‘tit is short for petit), miniature but perfectly formed floats are walked with pride through the Marigny neighbourhood.

There’s fanatacism at work here, to be sure, ones that reward the adventurous with an intoxicating mix of whimsy and creativity.

One that has captured imaginations in recent years has been the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus (Jan 26, chewbacchus.org) – their mission, ‘To save the universe, one nerd at a time.’ Of course, this all takes investment.

Effort, even – if getting up to drink preparatory mimosas at 7.30am before joining the early-morning march of the Krewe of St Anne (or the Societé de Sainte Anne to give it its formal name) on Mardi Gras Day can be dubbed such a thing. Seek out the strange, and you shall be rewarded.

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Rainbow roads: The French Quarter bristles with flags, beads and floats during the pre-Lent celebrations

HAVE A SUPER SUPERBOWL
Alright, so it’s not like REAL football, but the Americans seem to like it and the grand finale of the season is quite the spectacle, even when Janet Jackson’s wardrobe doesn’t malfunction. Tickets were sold out weeks ago, so unless you can find a reasonable tout, you’ll be out of luck. The area around the gleaming, newly-refurbished Superdome will have a wealth of entertainment going on, so it’s worth heading there.

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Showdown! The 47th Superbowl will take place at the New Orleans Superdome between the Baltimore Ravens (pictured above) and the San Francisco 49ers

But New Orleans has plenty of venues to settle on for a few hours and watch the game with the visiting fans. Hang with the locals at Cooter Brown’s, which has 17 screens and 40 draft beers. Try the elevated bar food and cocktails at neighbourhood favourite 12 Mile Limit, or get as close as possible to the real thing with the life size screen and arena seating at the Rusty Nail. Most bars will be serving free food, so fill your boots. Speaking of eating…

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Killer PoBoys: A modern twist on a very big – and very tasty – New Orleans tradition…

A NEW CULINARY DAWN
New Orleans is famously a town of incredibly good food and five recipes. But a new wave of pop-up restaurants and food trucks are breaking away from gumbo, jambalaya and turtle soup.

From the seductive Slavic soul food of Kukhyna (siberianola.com/kukhnya) to the molecular tomfoolery of Root (rootnola.com) and the game changing sandwiches at Killer Po Boys (killerpoboys.com) – New Orleans is set to welcome the party crowds with a refreshing new culinary face. For the traditionalists, high-end gourmet indulgence is still very much on the cards.

You can’t go too far wrong at any of the joints run by local super-chef John Besh, and his continental-style brasserie Luke (lukeneworleans.com) and his amazingly well done Italian restaurant Domenica (domenicarestaurant.com) are must-try’s.

Carnivores will want to head to Cochon (cochonrestaurant.com), where the menu is a hymn to all things meaty, including hog jowls and chicken hearts. Trust me, it’s incredibly good. Go old school just off beautiful Jackson Square at Muriel’s (muriels.com), which has classic and classy New Orleans dishes. Sunday brunch here is a firm favourite.

A NEW ROOM SWEEPS CLEAN
As we said, when you’ve got important guests coming into town, you want your place to look as good as possible.

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Perfectly placed: The Bourbon Orleans is in the thick of the action

New Orleans has gotten used to hosting big names – outside of Hollywood, it’s the biggest film set in the US, and all manner of A-listers can be seen swanning around town.

Many of them live here – Brangelina, Sandra Bullock, Nicholas Cage, Dame Helen Mirren – it’s a hotbed of celebrity. Your bed will be pretty attractive too thanks to all the refurbs around town.

If you’re here to party it up, take a
room on Bourbon Street at the Bourbon Orleans (bourbonorleans.com,
doubles from around £99 per night), one of the classiest spots on the
strip and just a footstep away from the city’s liveliest nightlife.

Sitting back off the Quarter is the chic International House
(ihhotel.com, from around £89 per night), where stars lurk in the
shadowy cocktail bar and great-value trendy accommodations await
upstairs.

A grand new
opening graces Downtown in the form of the Hyatt French Quarter
(frenchquarter.hyatt.com, from around £149 per night), spic and span
and with an enviable location.

If you want to get reclusive in the
style of Liz Taylor (a former fan), then rent out a truly wonderful
urban cottage at Audubon Cottages (auduboncottages.com, from around
£280 per night) which comes with butler, an antique pool and private
courtyards. Splendid isolation in the midst of a town that will be
living it up for months to come after the guests all leave.