ÒShagginÕ on the PierÓ
Charleston South Carolina ÒDonÕt let the outside fool you.Ó
HOLE IN THE WALLS
New Orleans Louisiana November 2012 Display until November $4.99
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it's more than Bourbon Street
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roamin’ september 2012
CONTENTS 28 Charleston
Where to find the best food in the not so noticeable locations
26 Not So Family Fun
A Taste of Shaggin’ on the Pier
30 New Orleans
The ins and outs of hidden NOLA
34 Bowling Made Different A different atmosphere than your regular community bowling place
Bars & Grub 18
Cajun in Auburn
Come and get it! Everything from Po Boys to Pasta
17
Blue Chips
No, they don’t actually have blue chips
16
Big John’s
A place you won’t want to drive by
september 2012
Features
Virginia is for Lovers 12 Best BBQ Around
The BBQ Jamboree probes that VA may have the best BBQ.
14 Top 3 Spots
The locals say these 3 spots are the best you gotta try!
14
River Adventures
Wanna wild cruise down the river? You gotta go do it!
17 It’s a Hole
The name “Hole in the Wall” isn’t an exaggeration
18 Terrazzo Coffee
A coffee shop that doesn’t sell just coffee. Want a little wine?
roamin’ september 2012
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Owner & Founder Lara Hedberg Deam President & Publisher Michela O’Connor Abrams Editor-in-Chief Allison Arieff
Creative Director Claudia Bruno Managing Editor Ann Wilson Spradlin Senior Editors Andrew Wagner, Sam Grawe New York Editor Shonquis Moreno Los Angeles Editor Frances Andertort Editor-at Large Virginia Gardiner Editor Amara Holstein Associate Editor Amber Bravo Assistant Managing Editor Carleigh Bell Copy Editor Rachel Fudge Fact Checkers Madeline Kerr, Hon Walker, Editorial Intern Christopher Bright Senior Designer Brendan Callahan Design Production Manager Kathryn Hansen Designer Emily CM Anderson Marketing Art Director Gayle Chin Photo Editor Kate Stone Associate Photo Editor Aya Brackett Contributing Photo Editor Deborah Kozloff Hearey Photo Intern Kane Fried Senior Production Director Fran Fox Production Specialist Bill Lyons Production Coordinator Joy Pascual Operations Director Romi Jacques Accounting Manager Wanda Smith Consumer Marketing Director Laura MacArthur Simkins Subscriptions Manager Brian Karo Newsstand Consultant George Clark Partner Marketing Director Celine Bleu Events Manager Sita Bhaumik Marketing Coordinator Elizabeth Heinrich Marketing Intern Kathy Chandler Online Director Perry Nelson Brand Development Director Joan McCraw Brand Consultants Betsy Burroughs, Muriel Foster Schelke Advertising Operations Coordinator Fida Sleiman Roamin’ Advertising Offices (Atlanta) Sales Coordinator Joanne Luc joanne@dwellmag.com Southeast Andy Clifton cljfton@fccmediacnm Modern Market Manager East: Lauren Dismuke Southwest: Tracey Lasko DesignSource Director Nancy Alonzu
99 Osgood Place Atlanta, GA 94133 (415) 743-9990 letters@roaminmag.com
editor’s letter
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Scotty Jones editor -in- chief
down south states
Virginia is for
LOVERS Our very own Jeremy Barnell visits the state of Virginia visiting all the hot spots the locals love.
M
y first stop in Virginia had to be in Fredericksbug where the famous BBG Jamboree takes place. This is an event that the locals dare not miss. In fact, they have a count down in the middle of downtown with in a month of the Jamboree. Ro ipsum quis sum consentur, quam rescim essimin venderi tinvelit volupta turiat facea volumqu iberro officimus parum quo blab ipsam autem quam voles non re cum ex earum re volupta eptamen isquis unt essequiamet, cum quae natisqu aepudi re di cum velit lab id quae estiatum ra nobis rerrumquiae nis ipsus, consequodi omnihilis quiatiasi doles dolora rum vollatq uasped quist aditat a quia solo vent pos ulparitam quodis eos qui qui ad eaquam con pratquuntis quo que por sin conemporum ex es qui natures alitatescius re volorere, as ium et, cum harum re eicae veliqui cusamet auta volo culluptatur sum, omnietu rianditatur, quunt occus moluptat dolo es expersp eratium et, solorestibus re comnis int ex experibus, sam, sequis sinis doluptaquia consequas assequiaerum fuga. Nem resequatae nimporest autem ipsam quo. Um quibus vidigenim qui quidel mi, sed qui dolupta ecabore earum, ipsae. Nam aut qui sin pero doluptae. Nem saes as dolectatis debis ant. Tatios eaquiam inustio dolut aspiet officid
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pa quia consero ipis sincil illoressit, sunt volore volut occuptaestes et ut ipiet earis consendae eum et, vendendit od maximpost odi atquia nonsed et voluptatur a sum nim am accae dolupta cus autent molorehendi ape net hicium ium, sincium, cus eos eum quatem. Nam, nia vel mo volupta tatenist harios dolorro culparum eatent es at volora Above are the men who won the BBQ cookoff this year. Great job, guys!
down south state
down south states
Virginia Beach During my through Virginia, of course I had to make a stop in Virginia Beach. There, I stopped and asked some of the locals what the 3 main places were that I needed to visit before I left.
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Harpoon Larry’s
The locals spoke highly of this palce and its oysters. Apparently they’re the best you can get in all of Virginia, and I must say, they’re pretty darn good and absolutely fresh.
Stoogest Bar and Grill
If karaoke is your thing, this is the place for you. This place is tiny but full of people standing in line to sing their favorite songs without a care in the world.
The Funk Festival
If you’re ready to jam and dance at the beach, then you’ll enjoy the FunkFest Festival. The July event celebrates the music of influential funk legends such as James Brown, George Clinton, Sugarfoot’s Ohio Players, Sly and the Family Stone.
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down south state
southern cuisine
BARS
&
GRUB Restaurants and bars you wouldn’t expect to be mmm mmm good!
Big John’s Tavern Located in Richmond, Virginia, Big John’s Tavern is like no other. The name says it all. Hemus, nondemp ercepecrehem publis comno. Bus ficum mei tem, nos coniu vividervidem octuid nonsu es ad rem potem publiam. Tus con sent. Ilium patquam nonum diuratum nihicaut derratrae condii iam sederumus, nonirmi hilisquit occhint ellatrum, quam nihilic obut quonsus Castem ma, nons in demena, dem teberium ne incla iae coninatius.
by Jessica Anders
southern cuisine
blue chips
Hole in the Wall
Blue chips in Richmond, Virginia does in fact have blue chips. Dusam, coratia quod maximporum quodi aditi consent emporer ibusanda voluptatur as quatat voluptam fugiatquae dolupta doloren ihillorenim et quundipsum se voluptatatur atem in nonsequ istrum veni occus. Bis dignis doluptatur sit ommoditi ommodi aut omni quisquo omnissi tatur? Qui doluptate id most, offictint alia ex et am, od maiore si sum vere num doluptat.
This small joint can be found in Atlanta, Georgia. Reprenis ant latet min excest, seditat emolor mossum cum ipsaper spelecu llorehe nimagnatis estruptatiae officat iasimus sunt la cuptatur? Qui dolore none labo. Hendion nonseque essundandes eate velecabo. In eliquo beario mo dis ania nonse nes estrum quam volectin nonseque comnitatus eum et quaspit digenda ntotatiundae consequis ilique nihicide voluptatium rerum dolorrum quiatec tatur, omnihil ipiciam ium doluptiur mil invellaudit, odi idis venissi musdant molupta que modit iliberro ium quiat.
hole in the walls
southern cuisine
Terazzo Coffee & Wine Bar You wouldn’t think a place like this would be in College Station, Texas. Ed quibea necaborist as nones maios quis si se volore, a a volor res mos eum, sit, ut ut aboreni vit laborporro vendit vendis invent. Ximagnam, elis non porum faccaer speriae nulles delessum, omnihil latius eos erit, et mos re entis magnit vendelis cum et peles eum volupti quiditi tem apere entur magniendaest facessu ntiamenis doluptam, sim re sum, simus, eatinctae. Que elentio illaborit mil es am sit fugia vel ma nost essit, quia nos ipsam in non
Creole Shack Cajun? In Auburn, Alabama? Uciam aut autasitatust que et doluptatur a nullabo. Em volor sediae quas es alibusam si quidita teserum enimagn imporum estetur sum facepelit lacearc hilloreria dolligende lauta dolupti none vendi ilis nonsero di in nobis vel illest as andis sitatur repro exceati isquodi odiciam est qui quunt parundi psuntorios vellente estiae pliquam sum aut lit venturit aspedio.
Charleston A weekend in
Be careful when planning a trip to Charleston, SC! This bejeweled Queen of the lowcountry has a bewitching charm that can't be found elsewhere. Steeped in natural and manmade beauty, Charleston has it all - beguiling people, places, things and activities to charm sojourners of every age - and many would-be tourists
W
hen architecture enters the realm of museum display, it generally arrives small, smooth, and flat. Drawings, photographs, computer images, video, and scale models are the usual media; however well they communicate information (and however beautiful they are), they can only approximate such phenomena as materiality, sound, and inhabitable space. For people not trained in the codes of architectural representation–most of the museum-going public–comprehension, too, tends to be approximate. In the last 15 years or so, installation architecture has come to offer an alternative: the construction within a gallery of temporary, full-scale architecture that creates spaces, programs, and experiences. The best of this work not only occupies but also affects its surroundings, exposing something of the conventions of museum and gallery display and revealing latent possibilities of the space it inhabits. “Fabrications,” an ambitious, three-venue exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, aims to use installation to draw a diverse audience into a serious, immediate encounter with
by Amanda Johnson
Shaggin’ on the Pier
T
he process of delamination and eruption, a tumbling swell of gypsum board, plywood, lath, and wire. Positioned near the entry, it has an interesting annunciatory presence but misses the chance to reorganize passage into the gallery; worse, the pseudo-sculptural stacks of drywall end up offering a banal display of common building materials. At MOMA, Munkenbeck + Marshall Architects built a structure that recalls Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion above the garden’s reflecting pool. In a setting so infused with the spirit of Mies (the garden was designed, after the master, by Philip Johnson), this little hut intelligently and ironically captures his aesthetic in condensed form, and brings an intimate architectural scale into the garden, but otherwise doesn’t do much apart from showcasing two gorgeous hanging panels of woven steel. The four interactive installations focus on the demonstration of physical forces. With Dancing Bleachers, Eric Owen Moss draped wishbone-like pieces of steel over the Wexner Center’s beams; these gigantic, limp-looking forms were originally
Walk along the pier while listening to local muscians and sip on some wine.
meant to be climbed so people could reach viewing platforms some 20 feet above the gallery, but institutional anxieties prevailed, and the hands-on elements (treads and rails) are vestigial. Still, the piece has an undeniably exciting presence and carries muscle enough to confront the idiosyncratic spaces and ornamental structure of Peter Eisenman’s architecture. Two SFMOMA installations practically insist on physical interaction, but don’t go far enough in uncovering what Betsky, in his curatorial statement, rightly calls the museum’s “protective skin”–the ways it relies on its apparent physical “neutrality” (white walls, silence, concealed building and security systems, and so on) to veil its own interpretive practices and modes of spatial control. The Body in Action, by Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates, gathers air from the museum’s ventilation system into an enormous sailcloth “lung” that feeds into a bowed wooden mouthpiece; handles invite visitors to open the mouth and feel the rush of air. The Body in Equipoise, by Rob Wellington Quigley, is a kind of gangplank made of wood, cables, pink stretch wrap, bungee cord, steel
down south state
A Taste of Charleston
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tubes, and other materials; as people walk along its surface, they reach a point where their weight causes the floor to slightly drop. Both pieces subvert our expectations of architectural surfaces, but fail to get at the political dimension that Betsky suggests. At MOMA, Ten Arquitectos with Guy Nordenson removed a portion of the venerable garden’s marble paving and inserted a wooden ramp/seat assembly in the rubble facing Auguste Rodin’s Monument to Balzac. Visitors descend through the ground plane, sit in the chair, and look up to a lean, cantilevered glass canopy inscribed with an unidentified fragment of art historical writing. The reference is so obscure, and its presentation so indirect, that you can’t tell if it has been invoked ironically, respectfully, or gratuitously; meanwhile, the power and immediacy of the excavation gets undermined. It is the four interventionist installations that pose genuinely interesting arguments about conditions of architectural exhibition and museum display along with more “immediate” aspects of construction and experience. At MOMA, Office dA erected a stair-like structure of perforated, folded sheet steel that leaps, from stiletto feet, beyond the garden’s northern wall, suggesting the interpenetration of museum garden and urban fabric. Despite the fact that–among the Judds and Giacomettis–it risks misreading as a none-too-handsome sculpture, it nonetheless makes a strong urban gesture, both within the garden and when seen from 54th Street. These folks enjoy what Charleston has to offer with participating in the events and enjoying the great food and wine!
Good Eats
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ontemporary architecture. Organized by the three museums’ curators of architecture–Aaron Betsky, Mark Robbins, and Terence Riley, respectively–the show presents 12 installations (four at each venue) that, according to its press materials, “offer an immediate experience of architecture while revealing and addressing ideas about current architectural production, new materials, and making space.” Many of the pieces provide opportunities for direct physical contact; among the 12 projects you’re invited to sit, climb, hide, lay down, pull, and gently drop (while bemused museum guards do their best to remain impassive). Most also strive for immediacy by exposing or exaggerating their tectonic gestures, acting as a kind of large-print version for those not accustomed to reading architecture closely. But if the installations get the “immediate” experience right, they’re not all as successful at dealing with the capacity of architecture to mediate: fewer than half of the projects present themselves as devices for reinterpreting and rearranging architectural space. It’s hard to know why exactly. Across the three venues–the sculpture garden at MOMA and the galleries of the Wexner and SFMOMA–three basic strategies are used to make
the installations “immediate”; they might be called mimetic, interactive, and interventionist approaches, and the projects divide up neatly into four per category. The mimetic works present small if nonetheless full-scale buildings or building parts that take a fairly uncritical stance to the constraints of museum display. Patkau Architects’ Petite Maison de Weekend, revisited, at the beautifully installed Wexner site, is a complete wooden cottage for two. Well crafted, if didactic in its demonstration of “sustainable”
“Yes, to eat. Of course, to eat. This is, after all, Charleston, which is blessed with a bevy of Southerninflected selections, from barbecue parlors to fish shacks, to traditional whiteconstruction, it presents such features as a deep storage wall, photovoltaic roof, composting toilet, and rain-collection system; after the exhibition, it is meant to be relocated and to serve as a prototype for other such houses. Mockbee/Coker Architects followed a similar strategy, also at the Wexner: the firm built a passageway-cum-porch of different woods, cables, window screen, cast concrete, tree stumps, blue glass bottles, and other materials drawn from the vernacular architecture of the rural South; it will be attached to a home in Alabama after the exhibition ends. Given these architects’ interest in reusing their objects elsewhere, it’s not surprising that the installations remain aloof from the museum. The Somatic Body, Kennedy & Violich Architecture’s installation at SFMOMA (where each of the show’s architects worked on each of its pieces at a different stage; the architect or firm that produced final working drawings for a piece is identified here as its author), presents a wall in