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We cross N. Peters Street right in-between the Red Stores and
the Bazaar Market. Right in front of us is a multi-purpose entertainment
tent that regularly has bands, magic acts, etc., on weekends to
provide street entertainment to passers-by. Almost every Saturday
and Sunday afternoon you'll find a band of some kind--jazz, R&B,
zydeco, whatever, playing at this tent. There's a neat fountain
here with a cat chasing a bird on the edge. They're two of several
wonderful bronze figures you'll find all the way down Dutch Alley
and behind the Butcher's Market.
Right up against the floodwall behind the Bazaar Market is the
Cuisine Market. This building was originally constructed in the
1930s as the Fish Market. The Fish Market was a wholesale seafood
market where restaurateurs and grocers would meet the fishermen
and buy their catches in an arrangement similar to the way the
Farmer's Market works. The need for this market faded out with
time, since refrigerated trucks and giant supermarkets offered
an alternative to both the fishermen and the customers. When
the market was renovated in the '70s, this building was converted
from the open air seafood market to a multi-story restaurant venue.
For years this was the location of Moran's Riverside, operated
by the late Jimmy Moran. Currently the Cuisine Market houses
Bella Luna, Chef Horst Pfeiffer's place. The riverfront view
from this building is so nice that Moran's was a very popular
restaurant, in spite of mediocre food and high prices. Bella
Luna fixed the mediocre part, giving the diner a splendid view
as well as a great meal.
In addition to the restaurant, the Cuisine Market also houses
the Visitor Centers for both the French Market and the Jean Lafitte
National Historical Park. The French Market Visitor Center is
a great place to run into the air conditioning for a few minutes,
catch your breath, and ask questions of the very polite and helpful
staff. They've also got several kiosks housing touch-screen computers
that can provide you with lots of neat information (since most
of us can't walk through the Market with Virtually New Orleans
up and running). The Jean Lafitte N.H.P. Visitor Center is run
by the National Park Service. Jean Lafitte is a strangely-constructed
park, in that it includes the entire French Quarter as well as
other sights across the state. The NPS offers walking tours of
the Quarter and the Garden District, and you can get all the current
info on these here. In addition to the restaurant, Bella Luna
also operates a gourmet food outlet store in the Cuisine Market.
The alleyway in-between the Cuisine Market and the Bazaar Market
is a wonderful, shady place to escape the bright afternoon sun
for a few moments. It's called Dutch Alley, in honor of the late
Mayor Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial, the city's first black
mayor and the father of the current Mayor, Marc H. Morial. Dutch
was a strong mayor who was very passionate in his love for the
city. When he was elected in 1978, the city's demographics had
just crossed the point where there were more black folks than
white folks living in Orleans Parish. Dutch was a strong politician
who became a good unifying force at a time when things could have
gotten extremely bad. Dutch's enemies usually disliked him because
he was a ruthless politician, and color had little to do with
that. When he passed away, this section of the French Market
was named for him.
After stopping in the two Visitor Centers for a few minutes, it's
time to double-back down Dutch Alley to back in front of the Red
Stores. From here, we're going to walk down Decatur Street and
explore the Bazaar Market.
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