“For a guy who lived in Kentucky, Dad sure found himself in the Big Easy plenty,” Fred Noe, 7th Generation Master Distiller, said in a news release. “He made his first trips down there as a youngman, friends like Billy Roby by his side, the two of them eating and drinking their way around town. Some time after that, he and Mom visited on their honeymoon.
“In later years, they’d always point out the bar where they shared a drink as newlyweds. The place seemed to love him back too, during one visit they even changed the name of Bourbon Street to Jim Beam Bourbon Street for a day.”
Noe continued, “But it was the flavors of New Orleans that really held a special place in Dad’s heart. He couldn’t get enough if its food – a fresh oyster here, a bowl of jambalaya there. But you wouldn’t find his favorite dish on the menus of the fancy restaurants, no, it was the Lucky Dog street cart that caught his eye and stole his heart.”
Noe said he recalls watching Bourbon Street’s famous barrel races from the balcony of a French Quarter hotel when Booker spotted the cart below.
“He sent me to get us some – and boy, you’d have thought it was the best damn bite he’d ever had. His love for those dogs became legendary in the city, living on even after he passed – in fact, when Freddie and I last went, a five-star restaurant served us up some on a silver platter.”
