Best Bets for the Weekend and Beyond
We were giddy over an excuse to dress in something other than yoga pants and shorts, so my sister Beth and I donned dresses for an evening in the Lower Garden District at The Bower. We live within blocks…
Author: Jyl Benson
The Best Free Concerts, Plant Sale and Halloween-Themed Treats Support ARNO
Another reason to love my neighborhood: This Saturday Laurel Street Music will present two free concerts. Herlin Riley & Erica Falls perform from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., followed by Trumpet Mafia from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Both concerts will…
The Best Way to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
Through Oct. 15, our nation is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced our nation and our society. In the New Orleans area, we owe a particular debt of gratitude to the…
How to Host: Unexpected Outdoor Entertaining
Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you do not. This time we were in the target range when the rude lady with the old-fashioned name came calling, leaving behind shorn roofs, crippled foliage and moldy refrigerators that could take months to…
How to Host: Last Bite
To celebrate New Orleans’ grand brunch tradition, SoFAB (1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., 504-569-0405, SouthernFood.org) will take the month of October to celebrate “Birthplace of Brunch Month” with four pop-up brunches: Drag Brunch (featuring Poppy Tooker and Chef Jason Goodenough,…
Comfort Food
Years ago, my friend Jennie Merrill shared a version of this easy, Keto-friendly make-ahead crowd pleaser would be an excellent choice if you dare to entertain for Halloween. It makes for flavorful use of use of the abundant butternut squash…
The Best Pie, Coffee, and an Attitude of Gratitude
I am a big fan of Nicole Eiden and Marielle Dupre, the ladies behind Windowsill Pies. The business partners met while working in a restaurant before Hurricane Katrina. The storm/flood sent Dupre, a Mandeville native and Tulane grad, running…
The Best: Altruistic French Quarter Chefs Reaching Out to Help Communities in Need
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Chef Michael Nelson of GW Fins worked tirelessly with his seafood, produce and meat purveyors to alter their distribution systems in order that they would be able to sell directly to consumers. The affable…
The Best for the Weekend, Treat Yourself
We have been through the wringer. And COVID-19 still threatens, and disturbances are swirling off the coast of Africa like a swarm of cockroaches. We deserve a break, a little R & R, a least some relief. Here are…
The Best Blessings of a Hurricane
I was born into a household of chaos and disharmony. By the time I made my appearance, my sister was already 13 years old and my brother a month shy of 17. Our mother suffered from a collection of…
How to Host: The Pre-Party
Welcome to How to Host, a new monthly feature where we will address various aspects of hosting stylish, memorable and, hopefully, low-stress gatherings. To kick things off we’re tackling the pre-party, the pre-event gathering that kicks things off before a…
Chill Out
This silky, decadent bisque is just the thing for special summer entertaining. It is best made a day in advance so the flavors can marry. The colors and flavors are vibrant, and nothing is lost to serving the soup…
Extra Bite: Pre-Party
If the event for which you are pre-partying is at the Saenger Theater consider Palm&Pine (308 N. Rampart St., 504-814-6200, PalmAndPineNola.com), located just a block away for an after-event stop. A Late Nite menu is available on Fridays and Saturdays…
The Best Bets for a Hot, Rainy Weekend
Sounds like gardening, sailing, sunbathing and long walks are not on the agenda this weekend, so I offer the following for your relaxation pleasure. “Top Chef Amateurs” gives talented home cooks the opportunity of a lifetime to test their…
The Best: Gorgeous Cakes for Sale to Benefit ARNO, Eat to Benefit Haiti at Station 6, and join me in Fig Tarte
I know I have plenty of company in feeling that things are just rough as all hell right now. I found some good news on Nextdoor, an app geared to neighborhoods, where I discovered my neighbor, Kat McCann, and…
The Best Way to Avoid COVID this Weekend
Like so many in New Orleans, my income is largely tied to the hospitality industry, which is tied to tourism. Like so many New Orleanians, the foundation of my security has been rocked yet anew by another spate of…
The Best Way to Escape to the Caribbean without Getting on a Plane: Head to Station 6 for a Six-Week Culinary Tour of the Islands
As a child I frequented the rickety Sid-Mar's in Bucktown with my family. Down the Bucktown road from the bustle of West End, the wooden building leaned on its pillars over Lake Pontchartrain. The warped wooden floors tilted to…
Tarte Temptation
Succulent, sweet and enticing, figs are ripening on trees all over Louisiana. In spring and summer, the distinctive lush green leaves and orbs of rosy fruit are as pleasing to the eye as the barren, skeletal branches of the…
The Best of All Things Brennan
Commander’s Palace recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of offering 25 cent martinis at lunch. Ti Martin and her cousin Lally Brennan own and manage the fabled Garden District restaurant their family started generations ago. Ti generously shared the story…
The Best Jell-O Shots, Cream Puffs, Tacos, and Yoga for the Weekend
Sometimes to stars align. I called a Lyft to collect me from a health-oriented culinary seminar the other day and my driver turned out to be, according to her very colorful, fanciful business card, “Mrs. Debbie, The Original JelL’o…
The Best Happy Birthday to Me
As a lifelong plant and flower enthusiast I am excited about the return of floral design workshops at Mitch’s Flower’s, a beautifully appointed horticultural oasis on a shaded block of Magazine Street. While they were once common, today shops…
The Best Foods to Try This Weekend
Seemingly forever, brothers John and Moe Thabata have run Rainbow Grocery (4837 Magazine St., 504-875-3635), the popular Uptown corner store best known for its extensive selection of everything from very cheap beers sold as singles to fine wines and…
The Best Frozen Drinks to Keep You Cool this Weekend
Both beloved and reviled, the frozen daiquiri in a Styrofoam cup from a drive-through has some solid upscale competition around town and wise restaurateurs are rolling out a plethora of options for those seeking to stay cool while imbibing…
Blackberry Bushels
Days after New Orleans post-Katrina flooding, a friend put Chef Scot “Scottie” Craig in touch with a group of CNN journalists seeking someone who could feed them something other than military-issued, vacuum sealed M.R.E.s. With his home and restaurant—the…
The Best New Sushi Experience
It is too hot to hang in the kitchen, so I have been on a sushi kick of late. At the suggestion of a friend my daughter, Cecilia, and I hit up Yakuza House in Metairie for a late…
The Best Way to Celebrate Juneteenth: Mitch’s on Magazine with Red Drink and Clementine Hunter Artwork
This week Louisiana recognized Juneteenth, the day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, as a legal state holiday. The third Saturday in June will now be celebrated as Juneteenth Day under a bill passed without any…
Sharing The Best of New Orleans Culture with the World
Yesterday the New Orleans Citizen Diplomacy Council (NOCDC) invited me to address an international group of NGO (a nonprofit organization that operates independently of any government, typically to address a social or political issue) managers interested in learning more…
The Best: Artist Marianne Angeli Rodriguez to Reveal a New Collection at Her Covington Gallery on Saturday Evening
Western St. Tammany Parish has long served as a beacon to artists working in all mediums. An abundance of natural beauty, a relaxed lifestyle allowing for the growth and exploration of creativity, and a supportive parish-wide art association (St.…
Fire up the Grill
Chef Daniel Esses shared a version of this recipe with me years ago when he was the man behind the menu at Three Muses on Frenchmen Street. Today he mans the kitchen at Rimon in Tulane University’s Hillel Center,…
The Dish | A Happy Place
Last August, the culmination of a long held dream, Chef Suda Ounin and Jeerasak Boonlert opened their restaurant and bakery. Housed in a cottage the color of strawberry buttercream frosting and fronted by a lush garden, Thai DJing beckons…
Side Dish
about
Perhaps the only child in Louisiana history to be born to a mother with absolutely no culinary skills at all, Jyl Benson began cooking in self-defense at the age of six. She is 13 years younger than her closest sibling so her parents were tired and paid little attention as she use the household kitchen as per personal laboratory, sometimes with disastrous outcomes. Her skills have improved greatly over the years and kitchen fires are a thing of the past.
She began her editorial career in 1990 with The Times Picayune and served as a regional reporter covering the southeastern United States for both The New York Times and Time magazine. She wrote "Galatoire's Cookbook: Recipes & Family History from the Time-Honored New Orleans Restaurant" (Random House 2005), as well as several cultural, historical and architectural guides to New Orleans. She served as editor-in-chief of Louisiana Cookin’ magazine from 2009 to 2011 and founded Louisiana Kitchen & Culture magazine in 2012. Sheis a dining columnist for St. Charles Avenue, Acadiana Profile and Louisiana Life magazines, a frequent contributor to New Orleans Magazine, and the author of "Fun Funky, Fabulous: New Orleans Casual Restaurant Recipes" (2015, Pelican Publishing) and "Louisiana's Tables" (2017, Savory House Press).
