Planning for 2018

Imagine a tower along the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain standing 1100 feet high (37 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower). Its sleek column is decorated with art depicting New Orleans’ past and at night it shimmers with lights celebrating the town’s vibrancy. From the top, viewers (on a clear day)...

Young teachers flocking to NOLA

As New Orleans’ long-troubled public education system is being rebuilt and revitalized after Katrina, the national teacher recruiting group Teach for America is sending a bumper crop of young educators to the area to staff schools and invigorate local classrooms. 

The local chapter...

Read and Spin

Dr. Michael White is one cool guy. An alum of both Xavier and Tulane universities, he’s taught Spanish at Xavier for more than 20 years, adding African American...

Lionel Hampton at the Ogden

An exhibition of photographs from the illustrious life of Lionel Hampton, on view at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art through the end of this month, is a centennial celebration inviting thoughts on a storied career in jazz.

Hampton, was by various reports, a force of nature, a bandleader...

Green light for a greenway

A strip of land in the heart of New Orleans that has successfully served the city as a waterway and a rail line may soon see its third function as an urban greenway – a paved bicycling and walking path potentially connecting neighborhoods and neighbors.

That’s the vision that energizes...

Restaurant Insider

This is a time of year that could be called the doldrums, at least where dining is concerned. That’s been alleviated somewhat by Tales of the Cocktail, “the most spirited event of the summer,” celebrating its 6th anniversary July 16-20. Founded by Ann Tuennerman, it’s now attended by mixologists,...

Asian Occasion

La Thai Uptown’s soft shell crab

Ever since Trey Yuen stood alone in a field on the Northshore serving up its Szechuan Spicy Alligator, the marriage of local ingredients with non-local techniques has been a staple of Asian restaurants around town. Trey Yuen has since been swallowed up in development’s untidy snarl but lately we’ve...

ArenaBowl: Returning to Super City

When officials with the Arena Football League were in town last year for their sport’s championship game, the ArenaBowl, the action on the field at the New Orleans Arena wasn’t the only thing that captured their attention. They were also sizing up the city as a location for future championship...

PERSONA: Ella Brennan

If a restaurant is like a circus, then Ella Brennan, co-owner of Commander’s Palace, is the ringmaster minus the top hat and actual whip. (Though a few chefs and cooks who have passed through her kitchen may disagree about what constitutes a whip – perhaps a meaningful look?) Years ago, before...

Letters to the Editor

BUNNIES IN THE MARBLE
Re: Julia Street. May 2008.
I’d like to give you a historical correction if I may. My grandfather was E. Lysle Aschaffenburg, owner and founder of the Pontchartrain Hotel. The “marble” lobby was done in the late 1960s after one of the hurricanes flooded...

Julia Street

WITH POYDRAS THE PARROT

A MONTHLY PURSUIT OF ANSWERS TO ETERNAL QUESTIONS

Marquee

Our top picks of the month’s events

A Woman's Story

When Corinne Claiborne was a young girl she attended school at a convent in New Roads, La. The education she got there was from more than books. Years later, she would write that the convent experience gave her an early glimpse at the power of women and what they could accomplish. The women she saw...

Tennessee's Brother

When the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival was first being planned, a literary scholar advised the fledgling festival’s board not to invite the playwright’s brother to the event. “He’s as crazy as a loon,” the scholar proclaimed.

Fortunately, loons are able to fly and...

Manuel Curry

Still on the beat

Developing Images

Portraits of black New Orleans

Modern Times

Grandmothers got it rough. We don’t say this to our kids, of course. We just go off and mutter to other grandmothers.

“Our kids,” we say to each other, “survived to be adults without poking their eyeballs out from running with a stick or getting taken to the hospital with holes in their...

Last Call

Punch and Judy
 A “Tales of the Cocktail” Winner

Our annual trek through New Orleans’ summer climatological conditions (Darn that global warming – it used to be so pleasant around here in July) has lately been made more bearable by the ever-expanding Tales of the Cocktail...

Etc. Editorial

Napoleon at home in New Orleans

“Treasures of Napoleon” gives visitors the opportunity to gain an understanding of Napoleon Bonaparte’s personal as well as political life.
<br...

NOLA by the Numbers

181
Year Louisiana became the 18th state (April 30).

1/2
Stick of butter in Brennan’s “Bananas Foster” recipe.

3,580
Lime wedges used during Tales of the Cocktail 2007.

1990
Year the Louisiana Iris, Iris Giganticaerulea, became Louisiana’s official wildflower.

599,000,000<br...

Dining Editorial

La Petite Grocery’s cool summer menu
Executive Chef Justin Devillier says his restaurant, La Petite Grocery, serves “technique-oriented American cuisine” with a mix of Southern and French influences. According to the chef, the casually elegant establishment which serves drinks, lunch...

30˚90˚ Calendar

Stick around town for some fun

in the sun.

"Nerban" Night Out

FAUBOURG-MARIGNY: THE NEXT GENERATION

What Women Want

Andrea’s Restaurant/Capri Blue Piano Bar
Join Chef Andrea for his Grand Opening of Andrea’s “Capri Blue” Piano Bar. Capri Blue offers a Bar Menu, with items like Lobster...

Summer Escapes

Help Beat the Heat