Suzanne J. C.'s Profile

Despite having to bring my own woos, this was a great experience.

Accessibility notes: Surprise!

One of my bikes is beautiful and simple and just plain works. I never have to get it serviced beyond 2x yearly tune-ups because it's a good, placid, simple bike. And the other bike is hell on wheels.

I've spent more time at the Bike Shop this Spring Break than anywhere else in the city because my beloved vintage roadie keeps doing something new and stupid. Front wheel bent from a short love-affair with some abandoned trolley tracks? Go to the Bike Shop. Saddle getting all up in my business in the wrong way? Go to the Bike Shop. Chain snaps in the middle of Louisiana Ave? Go to the Bike Shop. Something else stupid that will happen 20 minutes after I post this review and get on my way? Go to the Bike Shop. That's seriously been my entire agenda this week, and I can't say it's been terrible. In fact, the five star rating indicates that it's been a great experience.

I feel like my money goes really far with these guys, and they respect my choice to ride a rusted-out money pit. They keep prices fair, and their service moves along at a nice clip. They also seem to cater to a mixed crowd of riders, with parts for cruisers and roadies and all sorts mixed together in a rather motley way.

My comfort level at this shop is high, but I'm a weird subset of bike riders: love safety, love bikes, rides a lot, can't do all my own maintenance, don't know all the technical terms but know enough to ask for help. I'm not sure how comfortable a rank beginner or even someone who doesn't care and just wants to make the bike go would feel here. I'm sure the staff would be very nice, though.

This isn't really a place to buy a bike, but it is a great repair shop. They do have a stock of Mardi Gras bikes (used and rather absurd looking beaters) that appear during Carnival season for good prices, but their floor stock is (intentionally) rather small. Most of their business seems to be keeping the wheels turning, and I'm a fan.

Accessibility notes: No Braille signage. Step up into shop. Door is usually propped.

After using a couple other bike shops in the area, I've realized how annoying GNO really is. They carry the bike lines my wife loves and some of the staff are okay, but this just isn't paradise.

I buy at Bayou Bicycles and service at the Bike Shop on Freret instead.

I feel like Village Coffee is Mojo's clean-cut coffee twin. Two radically different places, two radically different vibes. Where I'm the most comfortable depends, I suppose, on the day.

I don't drink coffee (because coffee doesn't love me like that--boo hoo!) so I officially have no opinion on the coffee beverages here. I do know that the tea selection left me cold. Bo-ring. They have a nice collection of non-coffee beverages, including a seductive pink fizzy thing called nectar soda! There is also a chocolate-vanilla-oreo cookie blend thing that's tasty and nice, if spendy at $4 for a small!

My wife reports the pastries are nice. The three bites of peanut butter brownie that she let me have were just fab, so I'd love to try more. I probably should have fought a fork duel with her (insert your own lightsaber noises, please) for more brownie, but marriage is a series of compromises.

There are outlets everywhere, but I'm not a public computer fan. I'm an old-fashioned sort of public user, with a book or newspaper tucked under my arm. Because everyone brings their laptops and notes here to study, I get scads of dirty looks for having conversations or even making a bit of noise. No, thanks. The music in the place is so loud that you'd think serious students would just bring their headphones instead of glaring at me. Snobs.

Around 3p on school days, a crowd of Lusher students crashes into the place for smoothies and the occasional cuppa. Be warned. (Truth be told, high school students are loud; but they're more polite than the Tulane students who camp out here.)

Accessibility notes: Ramp ends at an odd angle. Door opens out. No Braille menu or signage. Can get loud at peak hours. Accessible restrooms. No elevator to the second floor. Low counter.

Let me start with my biggest problem: I WAITED OVER AN HOUR FOR A CHECK. Got that? No matter how good the food, how nice the decor, how strong the drinks, I WAITED OVER AN HOUR FOR MY CHECK. At 3p on a Tuesday. Only table on the floor, too.

The food, my loves, is five star food. The ladywife and I love doing round-robin tapas, each picking a plate in turn to share with the other and delighting each other bite by bite. Even though Salu keeps changing their menu on me, taking away favorites and adding new things that I'm not really super sold on (until I try them, then yes!), I love pretty much everything. Nibbling and noshing my way through is very yes. Their vegetarian selection is stunning for a restaurant in this city, too! Aliyah and I can easily stuff ourselves silly with ethical small plates here.

The drinks are also lovely and wonderful, especially for my lady who prefers her drinks extra fruity. We've always had a rolling good time with the house specials, ordered by the glass instead of by the pitcher. (See Rene D's advice about pitchers of drinks.)

However. Service. Waiting over an hour for a check while I watch the bartender watch TV. Asking for the check every ten minutes for over an hour. It made me feel just wretched. I don't really want to go back, even though I love the food, and tapas is just so much fun!

Accessibility notes: Step up into the restaurant. No Braille menu or signage. Can get loud at peak hours. Tables are close together.

Were Breaux Mart my neighborhood shop, it would be better and get more stars. However. It is not. It requires enough of a trek that I'm annoyed to see the selection rivaling Zara's instead of Rouses. Please, don't go too far out of your way for this. In the neighborhood, though? Sure.

The prices are more than I'm comfortable paying, even in a shiny Uptown neighborhood. (Rouses, you've spoiled me!) They do have a decent selection of both name brand and "off brand" canned and boxed foods, mostly from the Shur-Fine world. My beef is that my neighborhood store has the same stuff, for much cheaper. Where I'd pay $20 for a bag of groceries at Zara's, the same bag would cost me closer to $30 at Breaux Mart.

And, really, Yelp, this is a niche complaint, but Breaux Mart's king cakes are really terrible. Utterly disappointing verging on "I wish I could use this as a frisbee anyway because that's all it's good for."

Breaux Mart is never crowded, but I can't tell if that's a perk or an indicator of larger problems.

Accessibility notes: Automatic doors. High shelves for seated shoppers. Automatic cart available. Wide aisles. Accessible check-out stand available. No Braille signage.

My original "I just got home from the party" draft of this review reads as follows:
"Dear Jesus,

Too drunk, very good."

That is clearly inaccurate and deceptively accurate all at the same time. Wearing vintage, strutting, sipping, swinging...that can't be summed up in six short words about God and drink, although I did talk about both quite a lot.

I love NOLA Yelp parties because they're full of beautiful people, bursting with smiles, oodles of delights. Even our celebrity bartender was a gorgeous thing, fitting just right behind his wide wood bar. Loved it!

Thanks to Joi for planning something that fit with Spring Break, because this frozen Elite needed a way to thaw.

The lights were bright, the party was loud, the booze was flowing, and my wife's dress was flouncy. Is there anything more important that a flouncy dress? No, I think not.

I'm reviewing in absentia because people clicked my love button (if you know what I mean), and I'm flattered! I will forever treasure my Yelpy. Group hug!

In +/- bullet points:
+ good tea
+ reusable everything for folks who drink in-house
+ long, long hours
+ lots of different sweetener and milky-creamy add-ins to spice up your drink
+ low-key
+ my favorite Yelpers also drink here
+ outside seating
+ bike racks that don't suck
+ wall 'o flyers is actually entertaining
+/- cash only*
+/- basically a love-child of the Tulane library and the Apple Store
- people will table-crash the second you get up without so much as a hastily mumbled "byyourleave"
- stupid whiney fuckface hipster girls with falsetto voices trying to score free coffee
- styrofoam to go cups

* I can't really begrudge them this, because it helps them keep their costs reasonable and is clearly posted.

Accessibility notes: Tables are close together for customers with mobility devices. No braille menu or signage. Dim light. Can get loud at peak hours.

Staycation ahoy! One night in a local hotel for a romantic little adventure? Sure!

Keep in mind that I'm local so the proximity of this hotel to just about anything of interest to a visitor just doesn't matter to me. I don't have any opinions about that stuff. I only have opinions about the space (loved it!) and the service (interesting).

Here is a hot-tip for travelers who book into any hotel via third party services: your third party service probably dicked up your reservation by not telling the hotel something really important...like the bed preference you requested right before you show up with 4 people booked into a single king room. Not the hotel's fault.

Which leads right into my issue: Expedia forgot to tell the hotel that we were coming. The desk clerk handling check-in was a total rockstar, bending over backwards to get is into a room without double-charging us. Yes, we had to access personal email accounts to print off reservation confirmation info and print out bank statements to prove that the room was pre-paid, but the clerk spent close to four hours on the phone with Expedia "customer" "service" on our behalf. We were able to pop out for a little shopping and dinner without panic, even though we weren't officially cleared with Expedia until nearly midnight.

In a larger property, that wouldn't have happened. At the Pelham, the clerk had the autonomy to make a choice that best served her guests instead of best serving corporate interests. (Yes, the room was paid for. We proved that before we got keys. Expedia just dropped the ball.)

Two minor critiques of the staff: with most of the staff wearing whatever they wanted, it was difficult to discern who was actually staff and who was a guest that just looked savvy. Uniforms and name tags in hotels = good idea. And the clerk who handled check-out the next morning was beyond curt. (Probably hung-over.)

The hotel itself is this lovely, vintagey, old space that (thankfully) isn't done up in the Victorian B&B flowered poly bedspread look or the geometric 1980s Holiday Inn experience. The rooms aren't huge, but they have been brought into the late 20th century with large TVs and snowy white bedding on rich, dark wood beds. (Flat-screens would probably be a boon in smaller rooms.) The walls may have been thin, but I couldn't hear any of my neighbors yelling at football games or doing the horizontal polka. (Nor did we get any complaints about noise...Umm.)

The phone system could use updating, but everyone has cell phones anyway.

Accessibility notes: Doors open out. Lobby can get crowded at peak hours. Bell attendants are hard to find. Carpeted hallways. Many doorways are narrow. No braille signage.