This year’s New Orleans Pride celebration (togetherwenola.com) takes place Friday through Sunday with activities around the French Quarter. Voted the second most welcoming city in the U.S, and the number one festival destination for LGBT travelers, New Orleans Pride…
A cornerstone of the Pu-Pu platter – companion to crab rangoon, sticky red ribs, fried wontons and other Americanized Chinese bites – shrimp toast is finally getting the respect I have long denied it. As a child I indulged at every…
Last fall the familiar historic corner of Johnston and Jefferson streets in downtown Lafayette, previously occupied by The Filling Station and long ago serving as a Conoco gasoline station, reopened after a full renovation and expansion as Spoonbill Watering Hole…
That bliss-inducing extended spring is over and the heat is definitely on. With the departure of cool temperatures comes the departure of most tourists leaving those of us who do not leave for the summer with a bit more…
We were starving. It was late on a Saturday afternoon and the two of us were the only people in Hong Minh (Hong Minh, 2101 8th St., Harvey, 592.7316, hongminhharvey.com) save for three generations of the extended Vietnamese-Chinese family…
After having been postponed earlier this spring due to inclement weather, New Orleans’ third annual Top Taco (toptaconola.com) festival kicks off this evening at 6 p.m., at Woldenberg Park with chefs and bartenders from over 50 restaurants competing for…
Each year on the Saturday before Mother’s Day, members of the Magazine Street Merchants' Association (magazinestreet.com) join together to host a free champagne stroll whereby participating merchants remain open until 9 p.m. Many merchants use the opportunity to provide…
This being the week between Jazz Fest weekends my taste buds are heightened, making the same-old pretty undesirable, I am ready to party, and while my wallet is thinned, resulting in the Champagne Taste Beer Wallet Syndrome we all dread.…
The first time I had the Shrimp Buster at Herby K’s I could have fallen off of my counter barstool and cracked my head on the floor. It was years ago and I was dining with my friend Chris Jay,…
We were starving. It was late on a Saturday afternoon and the two of us were the only people in Hong Minh, save for three generations of the…
Let's not sugar coat this: Trying to park around the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival simply sucks and it generally breeds ill will with the beleaguered people living anywhere near the Fair Grounds. Also, though I, gratefully, have…
New Orleans' Recreation Department will host an Easter Eggstravaganza on the Lafitte Greenway in Mid-City on Saturday, April 20, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Children ages three to 12 can enjoy an Easter egg hunt, space walks, carnival games,…
I have known Chef Dominique Macquet for years. When his daughter was a toddler she joined us in the kitchen as we worked up recipes for some project or another. Like many chefs, hell, like many people, Macquet had a reputation…
As I mentioned last week, when I took a recent drive through City Park on a Saturday there was not a parking spot to be found. People were out in droves, packing the park to take in the spectacular weather…
On the exterior, with its deep, graceful front porch and lush, verdant gardens, the impeccably restored and maintained historic Italianate raised center hall cottage that houses The Country Club reveals nothing of the building’s oft-sordid past. Built in 1884…
Whether there is a temporary Jazz Fest-sized hole in your pocket, or you simply like a good deal, it is easy to dine rather lavishly in any neighborhood in New Orleans for $10 or less per person. Here are…
The prairies of Acadiana are Louisiana's heaviest producers of both rice and crawfish. Together, the two crops constitute Louisiana's happiest agricultural marriage, bringing in an annual bonanza that exceeds $450 million in sales. Louisiana may be the third-largest rice producing…
I am ashamed to admit this but until last weekend it had been a very long time since I truly took a moment to take in City Park. I took a long slow drive, looping my way from one…
And paying tribute to an old friend
An introduction and culinary happenings around the city
From 1960 to 1979, hundreds of thousands of Cuban people fled the Communist regime of Fidel Castro and began new lives in the United States. Iderlin Carillo Rivera’s parents were among those who settled in the New Orleans area, and…
When the urge strikes for a trip down to the end of the road before it falls off into the water consider a stop for a meal break in Chalmette before you head off to Delacroix and the like to…
While the streets of New Orleans are overrun with partygoers, booze, boobs and beads, and cities all over Louisiana enjoy parades and balls of varying sizes and themes, small town Acadians celebrate the traditional day of feasting before Ash Wednesday…
I am always amazed by the reaction of visitors from frigid climates such as Chicago to the misery of our own cold, damp winter weather. They are usually shocked by the way the humidity has the power to transform the…
As is often the case in these parts, this year Valentine’s Day falls squarely in the midst of Carnival season. On its surface Valentine’s Day is a celebration of romance. As such, this would logically lead celebrants to the bedroom.…
I will never forget my first experience with Doe’s Eat Place. It was the spring of 2000. I worked as a regional freelancer for Time magazine, and the editorial board had assembled a group of senior editors to travel via…
We humans are social creatures with a natural instinct to seek out the companionship of others. As largely insecure, but curious creatures, we are compelled to measure the quality of our lives by meeting new people face to face and…
I first met Kim Sawyers in 2017 when she was applying for a grant offered by the Feed Justice Team (of which I am a member) at First Unitarian Universalist (FUU) Church. We were looking for someone with a…
With the first breath of fall I used to flee from the salads and chilled proteins I had been sustaining myself on since just after Mardi Gras. I would run to the rich gumbos, smoked and slow cooked meats…
Admit it. When you were a kid headed home from school and you knew it was taco night, there was a bit of extra zippity-do-dah in your step. Despite the oft-stale crunchy corn shells that were frequently disappointingly shattered…
