Kiddie Korner

From Mike S. "You guys make me wish I was twenty something with no kids again. Alas, I am not. Any ideas for kid friendly events and/or restaurants."

Mike,

Let me speak from experience. I have two nephews who seem to enjoy spending limited amounts of time with their "Truckhead Fartface" in highly controlled settings, so I know all about dealing with kids. One time I took them to Daneel Park and then to Sucre for gelato, cakes, and other sugary things. This was at 10 in the morning. So consider that a great idea.

I don't know if your kids like Christmas, but they should. If so the Marine Forces Band of New Orleans is putting on a Christmas music concert tonight at the Alario Center. The suggested admission fee is an unopened, new Christmas gift. So you can kill a few birds here. One the men and women of America's finest fighting force can entertain them with songs about Jolly Ole St. Nick. Second you can teach them the value of giving to the less fortunate.

But thirdly, you aren't very far from Hong Kong Market. I would suggest heading there before the concert. Let them roam the aisles checking out all the cool products like that jar of something over there. They can watch fish swim in huge tanks and take a gander at crispy skinned bbqed ducks. Then on the way out swing by the pho shop and get them a bowl of soup. What kid doesn't like soup? Make sure to stop by the bubble tea store and grab them a bubble tea. Because no kid friendly night out should be devoid of something sugary, right?

Hong Kong Market

The New Orleans area has an embarrassingly rich number of Asian restaurants, markets, and bakeries. The Hong Kong Market on Martin Behrman on the West Bank is a great example of this richness. We go to the market occasionally to pick up essentials like these duck heads.

Every aisle, no matter what else is on it, has shrimp, fish, or clams in some form. The product lines range from shrimp paste to dried clam powder. But my favorite is the cuttlefish flavored cheesey poofs.
Super Wal-Marts for a while had McDonald's in the back. Hong Kong Market has a pho shop in front.
A large selection of produce lines the left wall. Tiny limes, coconuts, pungent herbs, lemongrass, various varieties of mushrooms, and other things which defy description from this uneducated clown, pave the road to an enormous bank of fish tanks. Housing live fish. You select your crab, catfish, or shark fin and they pull it for you.

Or as with the blue crab bin, you grab it yourself. Wusses need not apply.

Here is a bag of mushrooms that only Willie Nelson could tackle.

Then there is this. What it is, aint exactly clear.

Terms like "organic" and "free range" are touted by the Alice Waters, hippie foodie crowd. But only at Hong Kong Market can you find staunch support of religious, non-violent chickens who study under the Dalai Lama and Richard Gere.

Now for the best part, the banh mi/roasted meats section. Its been at least thirty minutes since your bowl of pho, so you are of course hungry. I would suggest a banh mi.

Then a roast duck or the pork ribs.

Then for dessert. Some children's heads that are filled with chocolate.