The quiet I have contemplated for the past few weeks seems to have come to an end. We now have all sorts of chatter-inspiring things swirling around us here in NOLALand.
I am not a fan, but last Tuesday Fox News personality Tucker Carlson took note of New Orleans during his prime-time evening broadcast. He delivered a cringe-inducing diatribe on Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s ill-received decision to appear in Juvenile Court to sit with the family of a miscreant youth who, when he was 13 years-old, terrorized, at gunpoint, and carjacked three victims. The horrified and traumatized victims were also present in the courtroom.
The bloviating Carlson informed his audience that New Orleans is down to less than 500 police officers. This is simply not true. We are closer to twice that, which is still not nearly enough, but spreading this kind of disinformation is dangerous and benefits no one.
Last Thursday came the official filing of a petition with the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office by a group calling themselves NOLAtoya.org to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell. We are back in the national news, yet again, and petition-signing parties are the new cocktail soirees.
We don’t need any of this kind of attention.
I am craving the days when New Orleans drew attention for Mardi Gras, Jazzfest, and the Saints. Let’s bring those days back. That brand of “boring: seems like bliss.
On Saturday from 3-8 p.m. grab your lawn chairs and head to Louis Armstrong Park for a fun-filled day celebrating everyone’s favorite grape-oriented libation and Trap—a subgenre of hip hop music that gets its name from the Atlanta slang word “trap”, for a house used exclusively to sell drugs—at the new Trap Wine Festival. For the unschooled, Trap music uses synthesized drums and vocal content that often focuses on drug use and urban violence. The event will feature thirty different wines, popular local chefs, music, contests, and a market. Admission is $15.
Some things you simply cannot make up.
In more staid news, Kingfish Kitchen & Cocktails, close since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has reopened in the French Quarter. The dining room is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. and will be open on Labor Day from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Happy Hour is Thursday and Friday from 2 – 5 p.m., with $4 draft brews, $6 select wines, and $7 specialty cocktails. Well-known for its new Louisiana cuisine, $9 small plates from the kitchen will be available, including boudin boulettes, duck & andouille gumbo, pork cracklins, and crawfish bread.
The menu incorporates the small plate starters from the Happy Hour menu as well as Louisiana crab cake, fried green tomatoes and shrimp remoulade, and cracklin’ nachos. Featured salads and sandwiches include grilled shrimp Caesar, Southern fried chicken sandwich, Kingfish cheeseburger, grilled chicken Cobb, and fried BBQ Gulf shrimp po-boy. Entrees are Gulf shrimp and grits, red beans and rice and Southern fried chicken, pepper crusted filet mignon, blackened Louisiana Gulf fish, New Orleans barbequed scallop fettuccine, and crispy Southern-fried chicken with bacon-braised collard greens. For dessert, the kitchen presents warm bourbon pecan pie and brulée cheesecake.
This is something worth celebrating.
