(Almost) Everything That Went Down at Hotel Thrillist New Orleans

For some , New Orleans is synonymous with the most fun you ’ll ever have in your living . For others , it ’s synonymous with the well intellectual nourishment you ’ll ever have in your biography . Oh , and some hoi polloi find the medicine pretty decorous .

To us , New Orleans is all that and more , which is why we harbour Hotel Thrillist 2016 there . To live over that resplendent , 3 - day outcome again and again in our mind , heart , and sassing , we put together the best photos from the weekend , plus a few deep , moving words .

We Served Truckloads of the Best Food in the World

If you do n’t eat too much in New Orleans , you ’re either have a bad trip , or too good of a trip . To plain off the weekend , we threw a taste festival feature 16 restaurants service an equal number of NOLA ’s most noshable cup of tea . Get gluttonous with these visuals :

Shrimp Arnaud

Smoked Lamb Shoulder

Open-Faced Chicken Tinga Tamale

Crab Rigatoni

Lamb Crostini

Smoked Drum Mousse

Oysters Goodenough

Shrimp & Alligator Sausage Cheesecake

Spinach & Ricotta Gnocchi

White Corn Polenta “Scallops”

Chargrilled Oysters & Live Shucking

Rye-Soaked Marshmallow Crackling Crispy Treats

Modelo Negra & Mole-Braised Rabbit

Bananas Foster

Buttermilk Drops & Glazed Donuts

Banana Bread Pudding

The chefs knew a ton about Creole cooking (and game meat)

Saturday morning saw a brunch of really NOLA proportions . " NOLA bound , " if you will ( you do n’t have to ) . At chefJohn Folse ’s Restaurant R’evolution , that mean swampland menu – you know , frog , alligator , the usual . Executive Chef Jaff Mattia and Chef de Cuisine Jana Billiot give us tips on wangle those exotic proteins , and game essence in worldwide .

" The name of the game with gamier , swampland inwardness is marinades and brines , " aver Chef Billiot . " braise the rabbit and brining the frog for a while is how you should come on it . It just takes time . " Billiot is no unknown to these constituent ; she grew up in rural Louisiana ( her high school class had 9 students ) and has been hunt alligator and fishing swampland since the rest of us have been watching cartoon about speak turtles .

Chef Mattia hails from New England and came up working with quail ( which he dish out up with waffles at brunch ) and other , less bayou - esque wildlife . " You shoot a duck in the wild , and the marrow is like purple , " he enjoin . " [ It ’s ] gamier , unfluctuating , and you need to marinade it . That complexity of flavor can handle more spice , but require more fats and gravies ( because it ’s so lean ) . "

The hotel knew a few things about Bourbon Street bashes

The Royal Sonesta New Orleans is unique in the French Quarter , maintain a grand hotel vibration as host of partiers roll by , nighttime after nighttime , yr after year . GM Al Groos : " We do a Mardi Gras ceremonial every year called ' the greasing of the poles ' . We literally put grease on the pole so people ca n’t go up up to the balcony . "

The place manages to be a staging stage for serious merrymaker ( not Thrillist – unquestionably not ) while also serving as a discrete respite for celebs . " At R’evolution , we get some fairly big name coming into our private dining blank , " say Groos . " Robert DeNiro make out in with his wife for his day of remembrance dinner party , and Brad and Angelina came in with the kids . " ( The news on the latter match broke two days after our weekend ended . )

TAKE5 threw a post-brunch dance party and unveiled a candy wrapper that plays music

TAKE5 is a clutch party snack : for one , it ’s confect . But it ’s also contract the sustenance offivefreakin ' constituent : groundnut butter , pretzel , caramel , chocolate , and goober pea ( great for observe the muscularity up ) . And at our event , the squad behind the kickshaw brought that muscularity in a big way , enlist a local dance crew to take over the last 60 minutes of our brunch for synched break moves . Why ? It was all their fashion of introducingtheir idiotic new wrapperthat actually play and sequences grisly beat . And speaking of medicine …

The musical acts were just as pumped on New Orleans as we are

New Orleans and music go together like … well , the connexion ’s so strong , there ’s no doctrine of analogy strong enough , but needless to say we felt compelled to bring our A - biz in the talent section . Throughout the weekend , we had sets from living jazz legendIrvin Mayfield , Grammy - advance Rebirth Brass Band , and house - leveling DJ Samantha Ronson . Between mouthful of beignet and swigs of Jack Fire - spiked milk puncher , we caught up with Mayfield and Ronson to see just what New Orleans means to them .

Irvin Mayfield

Samantha Ronson

Rebirth Brass Band

Jack Fire helped us close the weekend with an objectively insane finale

Between meals and parties , the Hotel Thrillist crowd posted up on the hotel ’s improbable Bourbon St. balcony . But on Saturday dark , to close thing out in style , we teamed up with Jack Daniel ’s Tennessee Fire to put together a Second Line parade down Bourbon … which then boardedthreetwo - floor Mardi Gras floats , which carried us on to Republic night club . We fuddle beads at a lot of multitude , because everyone seemed to really desire bead . At Republic we danced untilwaaaytoo late to Ronson and Rebirth . It all made this weekend one for the rule book , or at least for a retentive - form on-line clause . Do n’t believe us ? Well here ’s a nice numeric snapshot for ya :

And for in force meter , here are a few more of our favorite pics :