The conference center itself was enormous and I was seriously impressed with the amount of logistics and organization. The conference was three and a half days, and for each of the full days they provided breakfast and lunch for all 20,000 people there and some days there was dinner too. I haven't seen catering on that scale before. In the large vendor hall there would be the hot food at either end and several stations with cold food for quick pickup in the center. The food was New Orleans-themed and higher quality than the catered lunches at my office. The first day's lunch had a beef short rib than I've had in some restaurants. The next day had spiced chicken breasts, and the last day a Coca Cola brisket. They also always had hot cooked vegetables and salad at lunch and offered fruit and oatmeal at breakfast so I didn't feel as unhealthy as I often do when I travel.
The conference sessions were somewhat of a mixed bag. The keynotes were all more theatrical than scientific conferences (they did a takeoff on Iron Chef called Iron Viz where three competitors made data visualizations on stage in twenty minutes). Some of the breakout sessions had business-use cases that were interesting - particularly the questions afterwards that revealed everyone has similar business challenges I do, like "The executives at my company are reluctant to click on things" or "My bosses insist on getting things in email" or "No one codes this the way they're supposed to". I went to one training that taught me I'm actually an advanced user of the software because the intermediate class was a snorefest. But other trainings were very useful, showing me exactly why I've been having some errors I didn't understand.
There were also other people from my company who were at the conference. One was from my department, and another I knew from our manufacturing plant, and another that lady knew from supply chain. Since we were all there, we went to dinners and events together.
The first night we ended up having dinner at a place called Red Fish Grill because it was near all our hotels. I got red fish which was very tasty with the Cajun seasoning. I also got their chocolate bread pudding which was amazing. I remembered from the first time I was in New Orleans that bread pudding can be delicious rather than just a way to get rid of eggs and bread. (I did exactly that too many times the summer I lived in Virginia and ended up thinking of bread pudding as trash food.)
The next day the conference didn't start until the afternoon so my coworker and I went to Brennan's for brunch because it was near our hotel. It sounded as if it was somewhere hard to get into but we walked up right as they were opening and got right in. My coworker got a scallop quiche and I got French toast which was lightly vanilla flavored and contrasted nicely with the tartness of the cranberry pear compote. I also got a pot of chicory coffee which was deliciously dark and deep flavored.
That night the lady from manufacturing had gotten reservations at Commander's Palace, a fancy restaurant near the Garden District where there were beautiful old homes set back from oak-lined streets. I got seared gulf fish with squash, which had a nice amount of spices and flavors. They were known for their bananas foster so two of the others got that (I didn't because I'm allergic to bananas). I got their bread pudding souffle which they're also well known for. That turned out to be a standard raisin/cinnamon/rum sauce bread pudding topped with meringue which was too eggy for me but the others liked.
The next night we went to not one but two vendor parties. I was never quite sure what the vendors did (analytics! consulting! business intelligence! words that have no direct meaning!), but they threw neat parties. The first was in a restaurant near our hotel called Arnaud's. They had set out shrimp cocktail, seafood pasta, gumbo, and turtle soup, and then waiters came around with deviled eggs, beef tartare, and tuna tartare. Most of that wasn't up my alley but I did have the gumbo (fine, nothing remarkable) and tried the turtle soup (it tasted like chicken chili).
After that party we went to the next vendor party which was in Mardi Gras World, the big warehouse next to the convention center where they build the Mardi Gras floats. It was neat to see the floats up close. We were also able to see the programmable robot arm that carves the figures from styrofoam. That party was supposed to have food but we only saw a few trays of passed appetizers for a very large crowd (lamb chops and shrimp and grits, again all not up my alley) so after not too long we left to find a restaurant nearby for more substantial food.
We chose the most highly rated, closest restaurant and walked there. We sat down, and then realized they had the most unusual menu any of us had ever seen.
In the end, we ordered the frog roll, the alligator over mashed chayote, the snapper (the most normal thing we got), the cabbage rolls, the beet pie, and a half dozen oysters. By the time the food came I was so hungry I tried everything except the oysters (I had already catalogued the number and amount of snacks I had back in the hotel before coming to that conclusion). The frog and alligator were flavored strongly enough and in such small pieces their taste didn't make an impression. The frog had a very firm texture I didn't enjoy. The chayote mostly tasted like potato, which was a positive. The beet pie was very interesting because it was incredibly spicy and we couldn't figure out where from. Then for dessert we got the fried rice balls that were covered in cilantro oil and jalapeno. I haven't ever had a dessert burn my mouth from spiciness before. Overall I was glad I tried so many unusual, strange things.
The next night was the conference's big party at the Superdome. On the patio outside the dome they had food stands (bananas fosters ice cream pops, churros with a disposable pipet of caramel, jalapeno hush puppies, shrimp boil, macaroni and cheese with pulled chicken, and jambalaya) and a stage where bands played throughout the evening including the apparently famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band (they must be good - I liked them even though I still emotionally resent jazz after several years in jazz band in middle school and high school). Inside the Dome they had other food (loaded tater tots, fried pickles, chili dogs, and Dippin Dots), a dance floor, the tunnel the Saints run through at the beginning of games, video game stations (they knew their nerdy audience), and several games and activities that had too long of lines for us to do (zip lining, field goal kicking, and a 50-yard dash). When we were exploring the field at one point we ended up watching a dance-off between other attendees who were the unlikeliest guys to be good dancers. I haven't smiled that hard in a long time. It was amazing and ridiculous.
The next night the same lady from manufacturing had made reservations at a place called Jacques Imo's. The Lyft driver on the way over asked how we had found that place because it was considered a local's restaurant.
That restaurant was another new-species extravaganza though the overall menu was much more normal than the previous restaurant. I ordered my own potato-crusted drum and the others got things like crawfish etouffee, paneed rabbit, and snails. I only tried the rabbit. It tasted like chicken. Only a few of us got dessert (creme brulee, coconut bread pudding) and when they weren't on our bill, the waiter said it was his treat! I haven't had that happen before. I wonder if it was included in the price of our meal, he forgot and didn't want to ring up new checks, or we actually got comped something. Mysterious.
The next morning we all agreed to meet at Cafe Du Monde for beignets and chicory coffee before we all left for our flights. When I went to check out of the hotel the lady behind the desk said "Oh, going to go see Hoda and Kathie Lee at Cafe Du Monde?" I was incredibly confused because I hadn't told her we were going to Cafe Du Monde and those weren't the right names. After stammering something confused she said "The Today Show is filming at Cafe Du Monde today!" That was a horrible harbinger of the restaurant being even more crowded than it normally was but we had all agreed to meet there so we set out anyway. And as luck would have it, the lady from supply chain got there first and texted us to tell us that she had already snagged a table so we wouldn't have to wait! As we were walking up we came across a crowd outside the Washington Artillery Park near a Mardi Gras float parked at the curb. We started to push through the crowd when someone right in front of my apologized and I realized it was the lady from the show! I didn't realize they would have so little security.
We met the other ladies at the cafe and order the delicious beignets and coffee. We were almost done when we realized a table in the corner was being cleared and then set up with perfectly arranged plates and cups without anyone sitting there. We deduced the TV show was about to shoot and decided to wait until we saw it. After a while the hosts came in and filmed a segment for 1-2 minutes, tops. It was astonishingly fast! It was also fascinating to see that ever single word they said was on a teleprompter on top of the camera. Just as quickly they left. Within an hour the clip was online. I can barely see my face in the background of a few shots, beside my coworker standing to take pictures.
After that we had to get to the airport to fly back home. I don't think I've ever had as fun of a business trip. I ate a bunch of new species, had several amazing meals, learned valuable tricks in the software I use, and found out the lady from manufacturing goes to a nearby church. What a great week!
