It was difficult enough to think about a last meal in New Orleans. We have so many great restaurants. Add a first meal of the rest of your life into the mix and I ended up spending a lot of time looking at menus and thinking about what I really wanted from my last meal/first meal.

I knew that for my last meal in New Orleans I wanted something that was quintessentially New Orleans. There are lots of options for that modifier. How dressed up do you want to get? How much money do you want to spend? Do you want one last meal at your favorite restaurant? I eventually made a decision, fortunately I made one in time to get a reservation at the restaurant that says “New Orleans” to me.

On Wednesday night I’ll be having dinner at K-Paul’s. http://www.chefpaul.com/kpaul There isn’t a single restaurant in town that says New Orleans and good bye like K-Paul’s. Chef Paul Prudhomme is a household name–I bet you can find his spice mixes in your local grocery store. Paul started his rise to stardom as the Executive Chef at Commander’s Palace. He and his late wife, K opened K-Paul’s in 1979. It used to be a bunch of picnic tables and crazy waiters. Today you get a real table, and get to sit by yourself, in his Chartres St restaurant. I thought about going to Antoine’s http://www.antoines.com/ It’s the oldest fine dining establishment in the city. However, I didn’t want to have to get really dressed before driving. I thought about having dinner at  Stella!  http://restaurantstella.com/ It’s the top Zagat rated restaurant in town. Then I realized I’d rather have that $300 in my pocket. Plus Stella! is no fun if you can’t do the wine paring. As it turns out I’m really looking forward to Turtle Soup and Fried Green Tomatoes at K-Paul’s. (If anyone in the New Orleans are would like to join me for my last dinner–drop me a line–I’m dining alone).

Then I starting thinking about my first meal. I got lots of great suggestions from my last blog about The First Meal of the Rest of Your Life. California Grill would be a great place for a special dinner. Citricos is my favorite place to have a special dinner. I love the wine list at Jiko. I love the view at Narcoossee’s. I love the menu at Hollywood Brown Derby and I love the idea of Hollywood and new beginnings. I love Yachtsman. I’ve never had a better steak. I hate Le Cellier–they can’t cook a steak properly.

I made a very different choice for my first meal. I went with Home.  What says Home to you? The restaurant that says Home to me is Liberty Tree Tavern. I realize that this wasn’t even mentioned in my blog comments. I was looking for ideas not taking a poll for my first meal. I ended up making a reservation for 7ish on my first night in town. I could have made reservations at Cali Grill or Jiko, but for me that very first meal needed to be in the Magic Kingdom and it needed to be in time to be able to see Wishes at 10pm. Those are the things that I decided were super important for the first meal of the rest of my life!

So thanks to the PassPorter who made me realize that my first meal was about ME! And thanks to all of you who are reading my blog. And thanks to everyone in New Orleans who has impacted my life. I’m almost ready and life in Orlando is about to start for me!

<a href=”http://www.hypersmash.com”>www.Hypersmash.com</a>