Latest issue: Outdoor Fun – April 2021

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CONTENTS Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Josh Danzig

Food Food&&Drink Drink

Features

Creative Director: Robert Witkowski Executive Editor: Burke Bischoff

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Extra, Extra! Behind the Scenes Look at Being a Film Extra in NOLA

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Main Squeeze: Getting to Know the Accordion Street Cars' Next Stop: History

Staying Upbeat! Upbeat Academy Empowers Young Musicians

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New Orleans Patio Guide

Good Food for Good Friday Traditional Creole and Cajun Holy Week $20 & Under Where to Finagle a Bagel?

Restaurant Guide

Movie Editors: David Vicari, Fritz Esker Contributing Writers: Kathy Bradshaw, Phil LaMancusa, Debbie Lindsey, Kim Ranjbar, Burke Bischoff, Julie Mitchell, Greg Roques, Eliana Blum, Leigh Wright, Steve Melendez, Michelle Nicholson, Sabrina Stone, Kimmie Tubre, Emily Hingle Cover Photo: Crawfish Boil with Soul Brass Band at Faubourg Brewing by Romney Caruso.

Director of Sales: Stephen Romero Photographers and Designers: Gus Escanelle, Kimmie Tubre, Emily Hingle, Robert Witkowski, Kathy Bradshaw, Genni Nicholson, Lucia Hughes

Plein Air Art Redefined— Outdoor Art in NOLA

Extras

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Tales From the Quarter Po-Boy Views

Interns: Laurel Shimasaski, Lucia Hughes, Kala Hathorn, Adrienne Snider, Genni Nicholson, Kelie Arevalo, Akadya Thompson, Valeria Vivas

Subscribe: Receive 1 year (14 issues) for $30 and get a FREE Where Y’at mask. Subscribe today at WhereYat.com.

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Letter from the Publisher

New Orleans enjoys a few weeks of perfect spring weather that beckons us outside. While we still can’t partake in outdoor festivals just yet, check out our Patio Guide to find a spot with alfresco seating before the humid weather arrives.

Now is also the perfect time to enjoy the city’s outdoor public art. Creative Director Robert Witkowski takes us on a tour around the city to highlight some of the best open-air offerings.

Boiled crawfish is a local custom during Lent; Michelle Nicholson looks at other tasty traditions around Easter including Gumbo Z’herbes on Holy Thursday and Pie Day on Good Friday.

Ever wanted to be an extra in a movie? More films will only be shot in L.A., New York, and Atlanta. Rebecca Fox gives the inside scoop on how to get a job in front of the camera.

Happy Spring!

–Josh Danzig, Publisher

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PHOTOS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY NOMA / SYDNEY AND WALDA BESTHOFF SCULPTURE GARDEN, ROBERT INDIANA, LOVE, RED BLUE, 1966-97 (PHOTO BY ROBERT SEXTON); ROBERT WITKOWSKI WHERE Y'AT PHOTO

April 2021

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

ALL PHOTOS: LUCIA HUGHES & GENNI NICHOLSON / WHERE Y'AT STAFF OR PROVIDED PHOTOS; NOLA REGIONAL MAP IN BACKGROUND: 1956 SHELL OIL MAP / PUBLIC DOMAIN

MID-CITY

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Patio Guide

"GOING OUT TO DINNER" MEANS MORE THAN SIMPLY NOT EATING AT HOME, OR EVEN EATING OUTDOORS — IT MEANS ENJOYING NOT BEING HOME OR INDOORS! This guide highlights some top spots to savor the springtime and the food in New Orleans!

Restaurants are listed by neighborhood, and the map in the background represents general locations, but does not reflect exact locations.

Please check addresses and contact information, and by all means enjoy the offerings!

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New Orleans’s Upbeat Academy Foundation continues to empower young musicians during the coronavirus pandemic

By Greg Roques

It is said that history is written by the victors.

However, it is the early victors who get written about first in the history books.

Thinking back to my formative history courses, our semester-long speed-runs through the Common Era fell far short of bringing us back to the future: American History ended the revolutionary war on a cliff hanger, while World History was cancelled somewhere in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, it was the recent past (Reganomics and wealth disparity, Western meddling in the Middle East, systemic racism, et al.) that was exerting the greatest pressures on our present.

The same can be said of the arts, including music. While I was learning about castrated choir boys entertaining emperors, rap and electronica pumped throw my iPod (also now an antiquarian artifact). Academia’s fetish for the past made me wonder who was providing future artists with the tools to mold the sounds of the future.

As Bob Dylan—who did not make an appearance in my aforementioned class— once said, “The Times They Are-a-Changin’.” While recorded history at large has faced increasing scrutiny since the passing of the last millennia (victories are often followed by revisionism), progressive arts initiatives based in the now with an eye towards tomorrow have taken flight as well. One such effort has been the formation of New Orleans’s Upbeat Academy Foundation, a modern music education program providing middle and high school students with the knowledge and technologies necessary to produce hip-hop, R&B, EDM, and other popular genres.

“When Upbeat started in 2012, the importance of the project was to create a space curated to the interests of our young students,” Matthew “Mr. Z” Zarba, director of Upbeat Academy, said. “We want to foster an open environment for them to produce music that is culturally relevant to them, while also giving them access to the technologies necessary to produce, as well as positioning them for

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success in music as a career path.”

Upbeat has grown exponentially since its inception barely eight years ago. Initially conceived as an after-school studio-production program, Upbeat has grown to offer forcredit, bi-weekly classes through McDonogh 35, as well as partnerships serving students through the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center, New Orleans Public Library, ReNEW Accelerated High School, NET Charter School, and many others. In addition to music production, students are also introduced to the business side of the industry.

At the start of 2020, Upbeat was reaching new heights, teaching more than 100 students per week, both in the studio and across its various programs. Then COVID hit pause on the music—and just about everything else—across the globe.

COVID posed a myriad of unique challenges for the Upbeat team. The first major hurdle was one familiar to all in the educational space—hosting online classes.

“The most obvious question to ask at first was how to make our programs assessable based on the technologies available to the students,” Ashley Shabankareh, director of learning and development for the Upbeat Academy Foundation, said. “Another thing you really have to look at is access to broadband and Wi-Fi. At the start of the 2020 – 2021 school year, roughly 9,000 students lacked [sufficient] access to the Internet.”

According to the The State of Public Education in New Orleans, 2019–2020 report published by Tulane University’s Cowen Institute, over 83 percent of the more than 49,500 students in the New Orleans public school system come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Upbeat’s leadership worked to help students to gain access to equipment. Shabankareh said one of Upbeat’s board members reached out to its festival partners to get extra computers not being used for events to lend to students. Likewise, audioequipment manufacturer Shure donated microphones and other studio equipment to Upbeat students last year.

From a technical POV, Zarba accredits the students’ tech-savviness to the success of its online classes.

“The students were already very familiar with Twitch in the immediacy of what

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happened,” Zarba said. “This allowed us to post classes online for the students to access at their own pace.”

The second major obstacle was funding: Upbeat, a non-profit, has a close partnership with New Orleans’s Buku Art + Music Project, which provides a substantial amount of its funding each year (one dollar per-ticket sold is donated to Upbeat Academy).

Behind“When Buku was cancelled just 10 thedays out last year due to the pandemic, it scenes happened at a very crucial time for us in training terms of growth,” Zarba said. “Obviously, it was the right move, but we really rely on that fundraising to move forward. Now, we’re on year two of it hanging in the balance.”

Upbeat has continued to fundraise during COVID. Its recent Beyond Beats campaign raised $15,472 towards its continued programming. However, with Buku routinely delivering sold out crowds of nearly 20k, its absence is a major blow. Buku also provides a platform for Upbeat students, giving them a stage to showcase their capstone performances each year.

COVID or no, Upbeat’s mission to empower young musicians continues to move forward. This past fall, more than 180 students completed Upbeat's 12-week curriculum.

Upbeat also continues to add programs to its curriculum, including a weekly marketing and branding course.

“To me, the hallmark of our success is how many of our former students come back to work with our current class,” Zarbar said. “How often do you go back to your old high school or college, much less reflect on the classes you took there? It’s that lasting connection and desire to give back in our students that makes this program special.”

You can learn more about Upbeat Academy and sample its students’ works at upbeatacademy.org.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY UPBEAT ACADEMY FOUNDATION

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MAIN SQUEEZE: The accordion, affectionately known as a “squeezebox” due to the method of playing it, has become a worldwide cultural icon. An extremely eclectic and diverse instrument, the accordion is associated with everything from Parisian cafés to mariachi bands and Polish polkas. And, of course, we have a very strong accordion presence here in Louisiana, due to the prevalence of Cajun and zydeco music in Acadiana.

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

By Kathy Bradshaw

Formerly relegated to the outer edges of the musical mainstream, the accordion is currently enjoying a major surge in popularity and coolness.

It’s making its way onstage with your favorite bands and reaching a broader range of ears, and accordion sales are now at an all-time high—although, in some cultures such as Cajun and Creole, it’s always been at the top of the musical food chain. But where did this iconic instrument come from? What makes it sing, and what is it about accordion music that makes us want to two-step or tango every time we hear its characteristic wail?

David C. Symons—accordion player, expert, technician/repairman/owner of Big Squeezy Accordion Repair, as well as co-founder of the New Orleans Accordion Festival—squeezed in some time to talk accordion to us.

“Accordions are not a single instrument, but a vast and varied sub-category of bellows-driven free-reed aerophones,” Symons explained. If that sounds too technical for the average non-musical Joe, it means that accordions are in the same family as harmonicas, melodicas (that mouth-blown, piano-looking thing that Jon Batiste plays), and “those old organs that you

pump with your feet.”

Accordions come in a wide variety of flavors and personalities. They play a myriad of music from Cajun and klezmer to classical and cancan. They can be large and cumbersome or small and boxy. Accordions are played with either keys or with buttons—and within this last category, there are diatonic button accordions (each having two different notes per button) and chromatic button accordions (which come in two different varieties). According to Symons, the piano accordion, which is so-named because its keyboard looks just like that of a piano, is the sort of accordion that you see most frequently in the U.S. and in Western Europe.

In its early days, the accordion demanded to be noticed. It was like your drunk uncle at the family reunion, a neon tie-dyed sweater in church, a belligerent football fan after a bad call—it was the loudest, the most attention-grabbing, the most “look at me” instrument in any band. This helped to bring it into the spotlight, where, in the case of Cajun music, it somewhat eclipsed the fiddle. “The accordion blasted the fiddle out of its starring role,” Symons said. “It was louder and could be heard at the back of a room with

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY STEPHANIE REED

Getting to Know the Accordion

David C. Symons enjoys his work

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Accordian brands and styles vary wildly 100 dancers.”

And yet, the accordion is far more variable than that, able to blend in with everything from a rock band to a symphony. It has an extensive range, a far-reaching repertoire. It’s sometimes loud and boisterous, with “brute force triumphing over musical subtlety,” and other times melodic and delicate—“as gentle and innocuous as a bicycle,” Symons said.

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Symons has been playing accordion for 22 years and repairing them—an extremely lengthy and painstaking process—for the past nine. And later, he took up accordion repair when he moved to the New Orleans area from the Northeast, since there was a void in that industry that someone needed to fill.

“I became an accordion technician out of necessity when I moved to New Orleans and there was no one doing it here,” he said. “I've since learned from others as well, spent time working for a master accordion technician in Cologne, Germany, and developed my own techniques.”

Nowadays, Symons might spend as much as 40 to 80 hours working on the accordions that he restores. He explains that with up to 448 reeds per instrument, it can sometimes

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY STEPHANIE REED

The accordion dates back almost 200 years. “The origins of the instrument are complicated and controversial, but suffice it to say that the first thing called an accordion was patented in 1829 in Vienna by a Transylvanian of Armenian descent,” Symons said.

“The first accordions to crawl from that primordial ooze were simple creatures, able to play only a few chords to accompany a singer.”

Since then, the accordion has become increasingly fancy, intricate, and expensive (according to Symons, a brand-new, well-crafted accordion can set you back as much as $8,000 to $15,000). “Accordions grew gradually more mechanically complex and versatile over the 19th century, branching off into innumerable species,” he explained. “A modern, professional accordion has over 4,000 parts—more than a piano, more than perhaps any acoustic instrument, except maybe a large church organ.”

Symons explains that the accordion made its way to Louisiana via German Jewish merchants in the late 1800s. They were later adapted into Cajun and zydeco music, alongside the fiddle, and are now very much integrated into Louisiana culture as a whole— and far beyond.

These days, accordions are enjoying a heyday. It’s a regular accordion renaissance— they are downright trendy.

“The accordion is the most popular it's been in probably 60 years and not even in an ironic way anymore,” Symons said. “When I started playing in the 90s, it was hipster and contrarian to play accordion, like writing on an antique typewriter (which I also did) or refusing to have email. It had become this comic cliché of everything uncool, which has come full circle back to being cool, but in a slightly snotty hipster way, like wearing a Christmas sweater from the thrift store.”

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If you have always wanted to learn to play, you too can jump on the accordion band wagon. Mastering such a complicated instrument might seem like a daunting task, and Symons agreed that getting really good at it could indeed take years.

But he also assured us that learning to play the accordion—at least at a passable level that won’t have listeners plugging their ears from acoustic turmoil—is actually easier than many other instruments. He recommended a good teacher or even a simple YouTube video, but insisted that dedication and daily practice are also absolute musts.

“There's some commitment involved.

3/5/21 1:44 PM The accordion is heavy, uncomfortable,

asymmetrical, temperamental, does not like humidity or extremes of temperature, and is arduous and expensive to repair and tune,” he said. “It has advantages over other instruments, however, which more than make up for all that. It's like a relationship with a complicated and difficult, but never boring, person.”

Accordions are anything but boring.

They’re multifaceted, dynamic, and sometimes eccentric. They have style and character. They can be found in Cajun dancehalls, Mexican restaurants, and Irish pubs. The accordion is musical nostalgia and cultural identity. As Symons said of his beloved instrument, “It's a circus. It's a Fellini film. It's an old photograph of Red Army soldiers posed in front of a tank.” The accordion is all that and so much more.

take him over 10 hours just to get one properly tuned—an absolute necessity, since out-of-tune accordions tend to sound like the whales in Finding Nemo. But despite the time-intensive effort involved, he loves the artistry of fostering and fixing up an ailing accordion. “It's crazy from a business perspective to do this work,” he admitted. “But it gives me some satisfaction to rehabilitate an instrument that would otherwise never be played again, like raising an orphaned baby rhinoceros and releasing it back into the wild.”

Besides his love of both mending and playing accordions, the high note of Symons’s career is the people he meets.

“Accordions are odd instruments often played by odd people,” he said. “One thing I love about being an accordion technician is the vast range of humans who play this instrument. One day, I'll have an elderly nun in a habit in my workshop (back when people were allowed to come inside); the next day, a Brazilian kid who works on an oil rig, then a virtuoso who plays with some of the world's most elite classical musicians, then someone who plays eight hours a day on Bourbon Street whose bellows have dissolved from the gallons of sweat they have absorbed, or a shaggy busker with an accordion held together with duct tape and straps made from a clothesline.

The old instruments have stories to tell of the people who played them and the music they played.”

A Festival of Accordions Symons, along with three other local accordionists, initiated the New Orleans Accordion Festival in 2018. It was a three-day festival with 16 musical acts playing a wide variety of accordion music.

“We [also] had a lecture on the history of free reed instruments, an accordion repair demonstration, a documentary film screening, a late-night cabaret, a jam session, and an accordion petting zoo,” Symons added. The every-other-year festival would have been held in November 2020, but COVID had other plans. Now, Symons hopes to bring it back again in 2021, if current COVID restrictions allow for it. “Actually, this should have been a great year for the accordion, since it's just about the only wind instrument you can play while wearing a mask,” he says.

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The ability of the iconic New Orleans Streetcar to Capture Riders' You’re in your car going down St. Charles Imagination Avenue. The sun is shining through the leaves on the Rattles On live oak trees that flank the thoroughfare. Maybe you’re going to Superior Grill for lunch, commuting to Loyola for classes, or just cruising to Classic city streetcars some jazz on WWOZ. As you’re driving, the streetcars, old and new St. Charles Avenue Streetcar comes from up behind on your left side, packed with locals and tourists. As you see it rumbling past, you might think nothing of it. You’ve seen that dark green streetcar so many times, it just seems to blend into the avenue’s beautiful scenery. In your mind, that streetcar is part of what completes your mental image of “New Orleans.”

By Burke Bischoff

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

New Orleans’s streetcars, or trolleys if you’re from out-of-town, have been an important part of the city’s public transit system since all the way back in the 1830s. In particular, the St. Charles Streetcar line has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning streetcar line in the entire world (since 1835) and is a registered National Historic Landmark. Currently, the city has five lines that are managed by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority: the St. Charles line, two branches of the Canal line (one heading to Metairie Road and the other towards Bayou St. John), the Riverfront line, and the RampartSt. Claude line.

According to the book The Streetcars of New Orleans by Louis Hennick and Harper Charlton, the first rail service to appear in the Greater New Orleans area was in 1831 when the Pontchartrain Railroad Company created a five-mile line along Elysian Fields Avenue toward Lake Pontchartrain.

The original cars on this line, plus many other lines that opened in the city, were pulled by horses until they were eventually replaced with steam engine cars starting in 1832. When the New Orleans and

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Carrollton line was completed and opened in 1834, New Orleans became the second city in the world to have a proper and working street railway (the first being New York City). By the late 1800s, six separate streetcar companies were servicing a multitude different lines around the city.

As New Orleans continued to expand and urbanize, steam powered streetcars were eventually replaced with electric powered ones in 1893 and the six companies started consolidating into one privately-owned company, going by many names like the New Orleans Traction Co., the New Orleans Railways Co., and New Orleans Public Service Incorporated. Importantly, according to RailwayPreservation.com, 1923 was when the 900 Series Perley A. Thomas Car Works streetcars (aka the green streetcars that the St. Charles line still uses) were first introduced to the city. From the 19th to 20th centuries, New Orleans had 235 miles of track and more than 20 streetcar lines shipping residents all over the city like the

Street Railway, Division 194, went on strike for four months and left over a thousand union streetcar workers without any income. Moved by this, the owners of Martin Brothers’ Coffee Stand and Restaurant would give these workers free baguette sandwiches during the strike.

Supposedly, anytime a worker would enter their restaurant, the owners would yell, “Here comes another poor boy!” Thus, New Orleans’s first po-boys were born.

The heyday of New Orleans’s, as well as America’s, streetcars slowly started to fade in the early to mid-20th century when bus services became more popular. Really beginning at the end of World War II, this shift in focus with public transportation resulted in most of the city’s streetcar lines being discontinued or abandoned beginning in the 1930s to the late 1950s. Even the Canal line that locals are used to nowadays switched to bus service back in 1964. The St. Charles line was the only line that was able to escape this great streetcar purge.

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Red streetcars run along the Canal Street and Riverfront lines Napoleon line, the Esplanade line, and the Desire line (made famous by Tennessee William’s most popular play A Streetcar Named Desire) My great-great-grandfather, Peter Jacob Weitzel, actually operated the streetcar on Dauphine Street for the New Orleans Railway and Light Co. until his death in 1905.

The streetcars were actually at the center of some major social changes in the city. In 1867, two years after the Civil War, an African American man named William Nichols was forced out of a white-only streetcar, which caused mass protests in the New Orleans. It was then decided that the streetcars would become integrated in order to avoid any violence the city had previously seen because of the war.

This decision lasted until 1902 when the Louisiana legislature enforced racial segregation again, which itself didn’t get over turned until 1958.

There were also a number of labor strikes associated with the streetcars.

Probably the most famous one was the strike of 1929, where employees of the Amalgamated Association of Electric

was looking gloom until 1979 with the creation of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (or RTA, as locals know it by). This is the change that turned everything around. Working as a public body, and with the help of tax money and federal funding, RTA was able to create the Riverfront line in 1988 and reopen the Canal line in 2004 with newer, more comfortable red streetcars. Things looked dire in 2005, however, when Hurricane Katrina hit the city. While many of the city’s tracks and the new red streetcars were damaged, the St. Charles green cars made it through unscathed and were used on the available tracks as repairs were being done to the city in the following years.

It’s this resilience that helps make New Orleans’s streetcars so iconic. They have survived through strikes, natural disasters, and, hardest of all, innovation and modernization. These cars are just like the New Orleanians that they transport every single day. No matter what happens to them, they keep carrying on, full of color and grace.

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WhereYat.com | April 2021

19

A Streetcar Named Inspire Streetcars have become an almost synonymous image of the city of New Orleans with the likes of the fleurdi-lis and shotgun houses. This is even more true in a post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. While most of the city’s streetcars were damaged, some survived and were able to keep rolling as the city rebuilt itself. It was this sense of resilience in mind that gave birth to the Young Leadership Council’s A Streetcar Named Inspire project. This project, which sent 75 custom painted, locally sponsored streetcar sculptures across the city in 2008, helped a beaten down city raise its spirits after Katrina. These fun and colorful streetcars are a fitting match to the people who call New Orleans home.

For more information, please read "Plein Air Art Redefined" about New Orleans Public Art on page 24. For a complete list of the streetcar locations, please visit our Where Y’at Magazine’s website.

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Good News Express by Chris Kaiser Washington Square Park

Lafayette Seatcar Line by Jon Siebert 300 Lafayette St.

French Market Greetings by Will Smith, Jr. French Market

Meals On Wheels by Linda Lesperance 650 Poydras St.

Eyewitness Cruise by WWL Studios staff artist 1204 N. Rampart St.

Hot Pepper Express by Ann Strub, Charles Bendzans, and Bobby Zabler – 601 Poydras St.

Café Du Monde and Beignets by Steve Mickel Café Du Monde, 1039 Decatur St.

Creative Energy on Track by Rontherin Ratliff & Jourdan Barnes – 701 Poydras St.

Proud to Call it Home by Chris Kaiser Jackson Square

Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulez by Kathy Miller Stone Inside 701 Poydras St.

Lest We Forget–Girls First Hearts by Mackenzie Thorpe – Jackson Square

The Flavor of New Orleans by Lori Gomez Lafayette St. at St. Charles Ave.

Vieux Carre by Louis Colmonares 601 Chartres St.

All Aboard by Shirley Rabe Masinter Stone Pigman, 546 Carondelet St.

Louisiana History Comes Alive by Anna Hilderbrandt 533 Roayl St.

Downtown in Motion by Lori Gomez 833 Poydras St.

Throw Me Something Mister! By Gerry Claude Audubon Aquarium of the Americas

We the People by Laxman Kewalramani 909 Poydras St.

Metamorphosis: Journey of a Lifetime by Kim Griffin – 1 Canal St.

Hands Across the Water by Dennis Procopio 909 Poydras St.

Streetcar Full of Jazz by Sandra Samuel 1201 Canal St.

Carnival Time by Jordan Ivanov 639 Loyola Ave.

The Heartbeat of New Orleans by Karen Staklum 1415 Tulane Ave.

The New Orleans School Bus by Jason Chaffin 639 Loyola Ave. (inside lobby)

Ride the Wave by David Wargo 1430 Tulane Ave.

Hear the Buzz by David Wargo – 1250 Poydras St.

Southern Comfort by John Lamouranne 208 Bourbon St., on balcony A Streetcar Named New Orleans by Laura Cotoya 925 Common St. A Streetcar Named Maison Blanche by Mark Schroeder – 921 Canal St. Mardi Gras Time by Louis Colmonares Inside Astor Hotel, 739 Canal St. All That Jazz by Louis Colmonares 622 Canal St., in window Greetings From New Orleans by Steve Ulness Sheraton Hotel, 500 Canal St.

Ecology Streetcar by Tracey Jackson 1250 Poydras St. New Orleans Sportscar by John Lamouranne Poydras St. and Sugar Bowl Dr. Who Dat? By Alex Beard Superdome, 1500 Poydras St. Jazzy Peacock by Yvette Creel – 1615 Poydras St. D’autres Mangent Pour Vivre; Nous Vivons Pour Manger by Lori Gomez 900 Convention Center Blvd.

Patrick F. Taylor Streetcar by Lori Gomez Lee Circle

Big Money by Chris Kaiser – Harrahs Casino

Fleur de Lis by Louis Colmenares 2020 St. Charles Ave.

Perley’s Barnyard Party by Paulette M. Lizano Canal Place Office Tower, 365 Canal St.

Through the Gate by McGehee School 2336 St. Charles Ave., Alumni House

Republic Sponsored Streetcar by Will Smith, Jr. 534 Gravier St.

Superior Spirit by Victor Ortiz 3636 St. Charles Ave.

Fleur de Trolley by Jacques Solulas Whitney Bank, 228 St. Charles Ave.

Jazzy Ride by Gerry Claude 3806 Magazine St.

They All Ask For You by John Lamouranne 201 St. Charles Ave.

St. Charles and Napoleon 4330 St. Charles Ave.

A New Orleans Reflection by Tina Mosley 201 St. Charles Ave.

Strength and Beauty of Community by Hugo and Lis Kahn – 5342 St. Charles Ave.

The Agony and The Ecstacy by Ayo Scott Inside Stella Jones Gallery, 201 St. Charles Ave.

Streetcar Named Desire by Will Smith, Jr. Prytania Theater, 5339 Prytania St.

New Orleans: Birth of Jazz by Susan Scott Hibernia Building, 313 Carondelet St.

The Bottlecaps by Dr. Bob Whole Foods, 5600 Magazine St.

Reflections of the City by Reggie Ford Inside Hilton Riverside Hotel, 2 Poydras St.

Southern Charm by Lori Gomez Audubon Park, 6800 block of St. Charles Ave.

We Are All Colorful by Barbara Shaw Poydras St. and Camp St.

Class of 2008 by Shelly Jenkins Loyola University New Orleans Quad

Simply Devine: Famous Culinary Queens from Both Sides of the Mississippi by Lori Gomez Fulton St. at Poydras St.

Only in Tulane, Only in New Orleans by John Lamouranne – Tulane University, McAlister Dr.

New Orleans Musician’s Express by Linda Lesperance – 400 Poydras St.

Little Me by the Artisans and Craftsmen of RTA Carrollton Ave. at Claiborne Ave. Le Vie Abondante de Louisiane by Lita Ducote 4227 Canal St. (balcony)

Lakeview Special by Louis Colmonares – Dominic Catholic Church, 755 Harrison Ave. The Lakeview Special by Linda Leperance – Canal Blvd. and Harrison Ave. My New Orleans by Frankie De Melo 111 Veterans Blvd. (lobby) Raven by Monica Tyran MSY (between C and D terminals)

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

PHOTO BY ROBERT WITKOWSKI

There’s No Place Like Home by The Magnolia School – 766 Harrison Ave.

WhereYat.com | April 2021

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

By Rebecca Fox

Louisiana, especially New Orleans, has been the backdrop to many films over the last several dozen years, exponentially increasing since 2004. There have been over 100 films and television productions shot within the state, with usually between five to 15 projects within production at any given time in the metro New Orleans area.

This has opened up a huge job market locally for film crew positions, including grips, hair and makeup artists, electricians, special effects technicians, painters, construction workers, costumers, camera operators, greens crew, and more—but it’s also opened doors for local residents to participate on screen as background artists, commonly referred to on set as “extras.”

To become an extra, you’ll first be required to register. Most casting companies use the website My Casting File, which is free for a basic account. You can also visit some individual casting offices like Central Casting in person to register. You’ll log your height, weight, hair color, age, and if you have any special skills such as tap-dancing or riding a horse, to name a few. Once you’re on file, there are two types of casting requests you may be called for. Sometimes the show needs people who can portray a specific role (like teachers for a school scene or yoga students for a health club scene) or who have a specific skill (I was once booked because I know how to squaredance). There are also requests based on people who look like they fit in a particular geographic setting (recent choices have included Panama, Brazil, and Bolivia) or could pass for a certain time period (like the 1960s).

There are also what we commonly refer to as “cattle calls,” where they just need a large crowd to play an audience in a theatre, football stadium, or even at a Mardi Gras parade (this last one is super common in New Orleans, unsurprisingly).

Although COVID-19 has altered the restrictions for cattle calls significantly (background numbers are now limited to around 30 actors, whereas they once could be into the hundreds), there are still myriads of these opportunities available. If you’re new, you’ll have a higher chance of being picked—directors and casting associates are always looking for what they call “fresh faces.”

I’ve worked over 200 days as an extra, which led to another 400 or so days as a stand-in, photo double, and to small roles. I’ve also worked several jobs on the crew: production assistant, craft service assistant,

REBECCA FOX

EXTRA — ABOUT IT!

and script supervisor.

While you cannot expect to be upgraded automatically, there are a few basic assurances. For starters, you’re guaranteed at least $8 an hour, which can increase if the shoot runs into overtime (a common occurrence outside of the pandemic). Most of the time there’s a minimum guarantee, which means you can get up to $100 for working just a few hours in some rare scenarios. You’ll also be fed well with meals every six hours, as well as snacks and water throughout the day. Extras often do not have as exciting options as the rest of the cast and crew (COVID-19 has also changed the availability of certain foods on set), but you definitely won’t go hungry.

While free meals, minimum wage, and the possibility of seeing yourself, albeit for mere seconds, on the big screen are already some wonderful incentives, there’s also a ton of camaraderie behind the scenes of any shoot.

For every hour extras spend working, there could be up to 11 hours spent waiting to work, which means sitting in large banquet halls and hotel rooms with some new friends. Some choose to keep to themselves with books, headphones, or even laptops, but there are many who elect to play cards or share stories about other times on set. I’ve known at least two separate couples who met working behind the scenes and are now married.

It’s also a wonderful way to educate yourself about how films are really made. I promise you that once you work as an extra a few times, you’ll find it difficult to watch TV the same way again. Things you never would have considered possible are made so right before your eyes.

Sets are constructed so that walls can be flown out (lifted up and moved) to give the camera a larger space to work in, and windows can be broken over and over again for dramatic effect.

I’ve worked in engineered rainstorms, on man-made beaches, and have even gotten to play around in a giant toy ball-pit.

While it seems like a lot of fun and games, it’s definitely not for the weak of heart or spirit. You potentially could face 4 a.m. wakeup calls or 16-hour workdays. You might be working outside in the intense heat (dressed as if you were in the dead of winter in Minnesota) or in the freezing cold (in a bathing suit inside of a swimming pool).

Although the vast majority of actors are really lovely and genuine people, you can run into some divas. Sometimes you may have to do the same repetitive five seconds of movement dozens of times. Let’s not forget my personal on-set pet peeve: the out-of-town crew trying to stage a New Orleans tradition in the weirdest way imaginable. Bless their hearts.

I’ve been in over a dozen elaborately staged “parades” holding bouquets of flowers or balloons, wearing high heels, and second-lining in circles, because “that’s how we do it down here.” Once, I played a guest at a crawfish boil drinking out of a wine glass instead of a geaux cup. Another time, I portrayed a dancer who abandoned a parade to throw confetti at a Toyota.

Overall, it’s a wonderful experience and has changed my life for the better over the past 10 years. If you’re interested, sign up today to start working as an extra. And the next time you watch a show that was filmed here, pay special attention to the “little people” walking around in the background, because they are locals who work really hard and would love for you to notice them! Plus, you never know who you might know!

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WhereYat.com | April 2021

23

Literally translated, the French term “plein air” means outdoor art, and this spring, art lovers can enjoy NOLA as an open-air museum!

By Robert Witkowski

Works of art—large and small—dot across the city’s expansive canvas of parks, boulevards, and soil into neighboring parishes for all to enjoy. These pieces are created to be outside, to reflect nature, complement their surroundings, and be part of the urban experience for art patrons of all levels.

From Left: Henry Moore Sculture at Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden George Rodrigue’s Three In One on Veterans Boulevard

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

FROM LEFT: HENRY MOORE, RECLINING MOTHER AND CHILD, 1975 (PHOTO BY RICHARD SEXTON) COURTESY NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART / SYDNEY AND WALDA BESTHOFF SCULPTURE GARDEN / GEORGE RODRIGUE; THREE IN ONE (PHOTO BY ROBERT WITKOWSKI)

PLEIN AIR ART REDEFINED

While sculptures in City Park may intrigue fine art afficionados, unexpected modernism provokes romance and thoughtful introspection along the riverbank. New Orleans streetcar installations by local artists still surprise pedestrians wandering the streets. And looming whimsey line CDB streets and Veterans Boulevard, delighting the aesthetic sensibilities of children as much as adults.

“I would say the 'Blue Dog' is the most popular,” Bryan Parks, the appropriately named Jefferson Parish Parkways Director, says. Referring to Three In One—the oversized blue canine by the late New Orleans artist George Rodrigue’s that seemingly changes to yellow and then to red as art lovers drive by. Parks confirms the famously iconic French-Cajun loupgarou legend is one of 15 works of art on Veterans Boulevard, and over 35 pieces throughout Jefferson Parish.

And if someone perceives this as less than serious art and more as overblown lawn ornaments, consider a 46-inch version of the tri-colored pup on a three-foot pole is listed for $185,000 at the George Rodrigue gallery on Royal Street, and Blue Dog paintings are

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Current Watermark at Union Passenger Terminal; Cancer…

There is Hope by the Kids With Cancer Mural at The Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza on Loyola Avenue; Toucans on Veterans Boulevard; an abstract sculpture by Olmsted’s Lagoon

Opposite page, clockwise from top:

Four Elephants enchants patrons on Special Needs Day in Audubon Zoo; A Walk in the Pqrk along the river in The Fly section of Audubon Park; Woldenberg Riverfront Park Sculptures; Whooping Cranes in the Audubon Zoo

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

has a sculpture of a multi-generational group under the gazebo, adorned with the Kids With Cancer Mural. The life-sized figures comprise Cancer…There is Hope, the final work created by world-renowned sculptor Victor Salmones, who noted it was ”his finest, the labor of love.” The figures pass through a line of shifting doors, representing the stages of cancer treatment, with an older couple and a young child determined to enter. Playfully passing through the doors and exiting successfully are children and adults clearly happy to be through the maze.

Along the riverfront, Woldenberg Park’s sculptures present colorful art, both whimsical and thought-provoking.

Wind and sound sculptures outside the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas add an entertaining aesthetic to the rolling river. Among these are nine tall obelisks standing in a line, created by leading Israeli artist Yaacov Agam. The panels seem colorfully frivolous fun, each evenly spaced so people can walk around and through them. But as the art is circled, the panels visually compress, and the impact of the bright, but somber, Star of David becomes clear, and the true impact of the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial becomes obvious. The subtlety of his kinetic art, installed in 2003, is innovative and cleverly engages people with a topic that might have otherwise been too uncomfortable to approach during a relaxed stroll along the Mississippi in “The City That Care Forgot.”

Franco Alessandrini’s Monument to the

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ROBERT WITKOWSKI (2); JWEFFERSON PARISH ARTSCAPE-COURTESY JEFFERSONARTSCAPES / JACKSON HILL; COURTESY AUDUBON NATURE INSTITUTE

This page, clockwise from top left:

valued as high as $250,000.

Municipalities often announce a call for artist submissions, like the Jefferson Artscapes program, which compensated a dozen artists for their contributions. Other public art is donated or on long-term loan, much like a museum. “We have three pieces on loan from NOMA and many more through private donation.” Parks says.

Art installations line the thoroughfares of downtown New Orleans.

On Loyola Avenue, Current Watermark stands as a child-like gateway to the stoic Art Deco Union Passenger Terminal. The sculpture was created by artists Steve Kline and Jeremy Jernegan and administered for the Arts Council of New Orleans in 1999 to successfully “reflect the drama and exuberance of New Orleans.”

Just up Loyola Avenue in the Central Business District, The Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivors Plaza

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Counter-clockwise from top:

Along the Mississippi, the Woldenberg Riverfront Park Sculptures include the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial, which seems to morph from individual installations into a powerful symbol as perspectives change, while the Monument to the Immigrant welcomes newcomers to the port; City Park's Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden Diana statue changed celebrity culture as we know it; Armstrong Park's Second Line honors New Orleans's influence in jazz music at the gateway to Congo Square.

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

FROM BOTTOM LEFT: COURTESY AUDUBON NATURE INSTITUTE/ WOLDENBERG RIVERFRONT PARK SCULPTURES; COURTESY THE NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART: MUSEUM PURCHASE, SYDNEY AND WALDA BESTHOFF FUND, 2010.144, AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS DIANA, 1886, CAST 1985

Immigrant statute, welcoming foreign ships to our port city, is a powerful reminder of all those who fought against the wind and found their way to New Orleans.

Audubon Park and the Audubon Zoo are a treasure trove of art for patrons enjoying all genres. While pervasive art installations would distract from the Olmsted vision and Audubon’s philosophy, a few well-placed pieces throughout the park and zoo enhance cultural sensibilities.

Spending a day in nature is complemented with Richard Swenson’s A Walk in the Park, in which a metal frame of a person is in midstep along the park’s walking path. Next to Olmsted’s Lagoon, a large twisting metal circle fans out as a window between the water’s edge and the dramatic North Oak Allée. The gateway to the zoo entrance is guarded by a stoic bronze lion, while two cubs romp nearby.

Inside Audubon Zoo, realistic bronze animal sculptures, including gorillas, alligators, iguanas, and elephants, seem to all ask for you (to play on them).

Louis Armstrong Park, across North Rampart Street from the French Quarter, is a gateway to the Treme neighborhood.

The park’s art is the epicenter of where the city’s African American experience is shown, good and bad. Sculptures remember Congo Square’s infamous history as a slave trading center, while celebrating the community’s significant cultural contribution to the world as ground

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: AUDUBON NATURE INSTITUTE/ WOLDENBERG RIVERFRONT PARK SCULPTURES (4); ROBERT WITKOWSKI;

As engaging as they are, the challenges and upkeep of outdoor art is obvious— stability in the New Orleans weather.

“When possible, the artist assists the city workers with installing their work to ensure stability and proper presentation.

In Jefferson, the heaviest piece is Jumping Through Hoops by Steve Klein located on Veterans at Phosphor Avenue,” Parks says.

“The piece by James Michalopoulos at Veterans and Severn Avenue has been damaged by hurricanes,” Parks acknowledges. Happily, the 40-foot-tall Mother Cluster by Michalopoulos—whose larger paintings are listed in his French Quarter gallery for over $50,000—was valued at $425,000 when damaged in 2012, but “has been easily repaired each time.” zero for the musical melting pot that made the city the birthplace of jazz. Statues of second line musicians, notable jazz icons, and, of course, Louis Armstrong himself, steps from his childhood home. Art dances its way around the park, while the square also presents stone reliefs of the people in bondage, trapped in their surroundings.

On the opposite end of Esplanade Avenue, The New Orleans Museum of Art presents a grand thoroughfare into City Park. But even there, some of the finest pieces of art are not indoors. An eclectic collection of masterworks comfortably fill an 11-acre outdoor gallery unto itself at NOMA’s Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Some famous pieces easily recognizable to neophytes and connoisseurs alike are Modernist Henry Moore’s Reclining Mother and Child and Robert Indiana’s iconic counter-culture LOVE, Red Blue. But it was Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens who changed celebrity culture as we know it.

This 1985 reproduction of the gracious nude archer drawing back her bow was from the original 1892 sculpture, which was commissioned by architect Stanford White to top his original Madison Square Garden in Manhattan from 1893 to 1925. The model for the Roman goddess was believed to be White’s married mistress, whose jealous and mentally unbalanced husband calmly shot White in the middle of a crowded event.

The audacious assassination of the worldfamous founder of McKim, Mead & White in 1901 was immediately sensationalized as the “Trial of the Century” by the media.

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29

Traditional Creole and Cajun Holy Week

By Michelle A. Nicholson

When people think of Easter traditions, they likely envision baskets of candy and decorated eggs. But predictably, in South Louisiana, entire meals are part of the tradition.

Easter Sunday here is celebrated with crawfish boils, barbeques, and feasts centered around an Easter ham, but the meals leading up to Easter Sunday are just as significant to our food culture. In fact, our customary Holy Week cuisine actually may be more special—and is undeniably equally delicious.

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

Holy Thursday – Gumbo Z’herbes Meat-free Fridays during Lent are a common practice among the region’s Catholics. Eating on Good Friday is even more complicated by church mandates to fast and to abstain from work—so all of the cooking for Good Friday has to take place on Holy Thursday. Thus enters gumbo z’herbes, or green gumbo, into the mix of New Orleans’s Easter traditions.

Gumbo z’herbes is commonly considered the culinary offspring of the West African callaloo and the French potage aux herbes, though it also resembles the German gründonnerstagsuppe, or Green Thursday Soup, another Holy Week tradition. In keeping with its diverse Creole heritage, gumbo z’herbes has many manifestations, with one obvious common denominator: lots of winter greens.

Some believe the odd number of greens prescribed for the soup has religious significance, being symbolically related to the Stations of the Cross, but gumbo z’herbes has become quite secular. The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book (1901) says

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GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD FRIDAY

that for every green put in this gumbo, “a new friend would be made during the year.

Be creative and use any kind of greens that are available.” Truly, any and every green added to the pot adds a new layer of flavor.

Start with a roux. When it reaches the right color (medium brown, like caramel), sauté some trinity (onion, celery, and bell pepper). Add the stock of your choice and all the greens you’ve got. Recipes include collard, mustard, turnip, and dandelion greens; cabbage, kale, and Swiss chard; lettuce, sorrel, and spinach; beet, radish, and carrot tops; chicory, arugula, and watercress; tarragon, parsley, and green onions.

Season with a couple of bay leaves and thyme (oregano and basil are also good options), as well as salt and black and cayenne peppers to taste. You might also add a pinch of cloves and allspice. Let the soup simmer for an hour. Serve over boiled rice with filé or red wine vinegar for topping.

Although originally vegetarian, intended for consumption on Good Friday, gumbo z’herbes may be prepared with the addition of a ham hock or pickled meat (i.e. pickled pork), andouille sausage, and brisket. In fact, nowadays, this hearty stew is most often eaten on Holy Thursday thanks to Chef Leah Chase, who established a meaty gumbo z’herbes as one of her specialties generations ago.

So if gathering and prepping 3 pounds

limitless. Savory pies are more often like tarts, made with a cornmeal crust, and might include ingredients such as crawfish, oysters, mushrooms, spinach, eggplant, or tomato. Sweet pies may also incorporate local ingredients: sweet potato, pecan, strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, and even lemon merengue.

If making a pie crust seems daunting, buy one ready-made from your grocery’s freezer section. Pre-bake the crust, then fill it with your favorite ingredients and bake according to recipe. Or you may want to try making an “impossible pie.” Blend milk, flaked coconut, eggs, vanilla, flour, butter, and sugar (and lemon juice and zest for a bright, citrusy version). Pour into a buttered dish and bake until the custard sets. Of course, there are quite a few bakeries and restaurants throughout New Orleans that will sell you all kinds of whole pies, mini-pies, and pie by-the-slice for Pie Day. La Boulangerie (4600 Magazine St.) is a long-established stand-by for a handcrafted slice of pie or a small tart.

Windowsill Pies (4714 Freret St.) is every pie-lover’s dream with daily offerings, including delectable hand pies, ready for pick-up in 15 minutes. Fry and Pie (7007 St. Claude Ave., Arabi) also has an extensive menu of individual pies ready for pick-up or delivery. Full-sized pies can be ordered 48 hours in advance from any of

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Dooky Chase's gumbo z'herbes is a Holy Thursday must-do for many…if you can get in.

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ROBERT WITKOWSKI

of greens isn’t your jam, plan to join the line of folks flocking to Dooky Chase’s (2301 Orleans Ave.) this year to get its traditional Holy Thursday meal of fried chicken, cornbread, and gumbo z’herbes.

Good Friday – Pie Day South Louisiana’s Cajun Catholics have their own answer to Good Friday’s church-mandated restrictions: Pie Day, a contemporary iteration of Tarte de Jour, a French tradition dating back to the 12th century. Since only one meal is allowed on Good Friday, Cajuns turn this meal into a communal feast, lasting six to eight hours.

While the rule still stands that no pie may include meat, the variety of pies prepared in the Acadiana parishes on Holy Thursday, to enjoy on Good Friday, is

the three listed bakeries.

Casual restaurants famous around town for their slices of pie include The Joint (701 Mazant St.) and Camellia Grill (626 S. Carrollton Ave.). There are black-owned establishments slinging delicious pies too: crawfish pies from Orleans Brothers (orleansbrothers@ gmail.com); hand pies from Confectionary Queen (confectionary. queen@yahoo.com); and sweet potato pecan pies, cream cheese pecan pies, and deep-dish crawfish pies from Tee Eva’s Pralines (teeevas@yahoo.com).

So no matter how you like it—meaty or veggie, sweet or savory, homecooked or handmade—our Cajun and Creole culture delivers many tasty ways to celebrate the coming of spring this year.

Open 7 days a week with 11 food vendors.

Mon-Sat (8am-8pm) | Sunday for Brunch (8am-3pm) Enjoy indoor seating, outdoor dining, and delivery!

Throwing a party? Book one of our two on-site private event spaces.

WhereYat.com | April 2021

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$20 AND UNDER Jam To-day!

"The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday —but never jam to-day."

The White Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There Unlike what this deliciously twisted quote implies, enjoying jams, jellies, and preserves don't have to be an unfulfilled promise. Thanks to nationwide brands like Smuckers and Bonne Maman, we have a sweet bevy of flavors to spread on our morning biscuits, but how do we choose?

First and foremost, while those country-wide brands can be safe options due to their familiarity, there is always the ever-insistent call to “buy local,” one we should strive to heed. After all, don't you prefer supporting vendors and farmers in Louisiana and the Gulf coast? Isn't it ever so important to back the people in our own backyard?

Of course it is! Not only does it feel great to help out our neighbors and buy local, it tastes great too.

Launched as a pop-up in 2016, Jamboree Jams is the brainchild of Sara Levasseur, who learned the art of jam-making from her grandmother in Ottowa, Canada. What began as a hobby has launched into a full-scale “jam-boree” with an online store, city-wide pop-ups, culinary collaborations, and a crowdfunding campaign to aid Levasseur in her plans to open her first brick and mortar in the space which formerly housed Shank Charcuterie. Touted as a “small-batch jam company,” Jamboree Jams offers products made with locally-sourced fruits, copper pots, and natural forms of pectin (like their own, homemade apple pectin) in flavors like Blackberry & Purple Basil, Blood Orange Sumac, Fig & Lemon, Pear & Elderflower, Satsuma & Passionfruit, and Strawberry & Vanilla. In addition to selling her jams online and at select shops around the city (Seasoned Cookware, Congregation Coffee, Hotel Peter & Paul, Levee Baking Co., and more), Levasseur is also offering jelly-filled doughnuts monthly at Coffee Science's stand at the Mid-City Farmers Market. Past flavors have included spicy satsuma, chocolate hazelnut, and strawberry jam with chamomile cream. Follow her on Instagram @jamboreejams to discover when and where to get your jam-on!

Based in Lafayette, Noni's Kitchen was launched by Tori Frith to showcase her mother's (Noni) “family-famous,” no-preservative, jellies and preserves. What was once given away as gifts to family and friends has now become a jammin' empire with products offered in locations all over the state. In New Orleans, you can find Noni's at Rouses Supermarkets, but you can also stay socially distanced and order online at noniskitchenllc.com. Dedicated to supporting local farmers, most of the fruits and peppers are sourced from nearby, such as blackberries from Mouton Cove, strawberries from Ponchatoula, and mayhaws from members of the Louisiana Mahaw Association. In addition to three fruit preserves, Noni's also offers three kinds of pepper jelly—Peppy, Peppier, and Peppiest—depending upon your preferred level of heat.

Robin Pringle has been enjoying her grandmother's pepper jelly since childhood.

She began making “Big Mama's” green bell pepper jelly recipe and, from that base, began experimenting with other flavors, starting with blueberry. “I brought the blueberry pepper jelly and put it over a block of cream cheese and it was a hit!”

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

Pringle said.

Her success was “in the jar” from there on out with numerous pepper jelly concoctions from apple bacon and garlic to honeyed rosemary, crawfish, and even king cake. Pringle's jellies have become such a big hit, she's left her former work as a school teacher to concentrate on her jarred wonders full-time. You can find Robin's Rockin' Cajun Pepper Jelly on the Northshore and Southshore at spots like Acquistipace in Mandeville and Covington, Pat's Seafood, PJs Coffee Shops, Breaux Mart, Langenstein's, and Faughbourg Fresh Market in Algiers.

If you're staying home to be safe, don't fret! You can also order Robin's Rockin Cajun Pepper Jelly on Etsy.

Finally, Berry Town Produce (Hammond and Ponchatoula) is a familyowned business that offers a large variety of locally-grown produce from nearby farms, including homemade salad dressings, cookies, candies, breads, sandwiches, seafood, hot plates, and, of course, a ton of jams, jellies, and preserves. A wide variety of jams are available from muscadine, key lime, and fig to peach, pear, and, naturally, strawberry. You can drive an hour or so to pick up preserves from one of their locations or place your order online at berrytownproduce.com.

Alice contemplates the White Queen's conundrum as she prepares to enjoy some Lousisana jam

FROM LEFT: KIM RAMJBAR; PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT WITKOWSKI (JAM BOTTLE BY KIM RAMJBAR; ALICE COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / JOHN TENNIEL

By Kim Ranjbar

Our Private Room - Fine Dining & Social Distancing At Its Best!

Gather Safely With Family & Friends in Private!

Delicious Food from Briquette, Full Bar, Amazing Wines, & More!

Inquiries at Briquette-Nola.com

302-7496

701 S. Peters, Warehouse District

WhereYat.com | April 2021

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WHERE TO FINAGLE A Move over beignets, bagels are rolling into town.

Daily

By Steven Melendez

RICCOBONOS

www.panolastreetcafe.com

www.salanola.com

www.cafenavarre.com

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

New Orleans has plenty of local baked goods from king cake at Carnival to the city’s distinctive styles of French bread and bread pudding. But in recent years, bagels, a type of bread product not typically associated with Louisiana, have been increasingly available and increasingly desired.

More than just rolls with holes or some kind of alternative donuts, bagels are a distinctive item all their own, typically boiled then baked and can be plain, savory, or sweet.

And while local bagel vendors uniformly say the most popular topping option is “everything,” each offers some uncommon flavors and varieties to keep bagel shopping more exciting than just buying packaged bread in the supermarket. Here are a few places around New Orleans where you can grab them…after Passover!

SMALL MART 2700 Chartres St. | 504-766-8740 instagram.com/smallmart Formerly a tiny convenience store in the French Quarter, Small Mart has become a restaurant in its own right in the Marigny, beloved for its array of vegetarian options and its rigorous safety protocols during the coronavirus pandemic. Along with curries and other dishes, Small Mart offers bagels that are boiled and partially baked in New York, where the water is often said to give them a distinctive flavor, then finished on arrival. Options include everything from sesame and pumpernickel to egg. The restaurant also has a variety of bagel sandwiches available like the traditional New Yorker (with cream cheese, salmon, tomato, red onion, and capers) and a vegan option (with avocado, vinaigrette, chili sauce, and an assortment of other options). Many enjoy pairing their bagel sandwiches with a Dr. Brown’s soft drink, often the company’s distinctive celery flavor, or a coconut water.

HELL BENT BAGELS AT NEW ORLEANS TRAP KITCHEN 1043 Poland Ave. | 504-435-5983 facebook.com/HellBentBagels A newcomer to the New Orleans baked good world, Hell Bent Bagels was formed during the pandemic when bagels seemed hard to come by and now offers delivery or pickup orders at the New Orleans Trap Kitchen, a commissary kitchen in the Bywater. The offers range from the

ordinary, like everything and poppy seed, to more distinctive varieties, like a delicious jalapeño cheddar bagel. Watch Hell Bent’s Facebook and Instagram pages to see when more unusual varieties pop up, including rainbow bagels and distinctive spreads like bananas foster, espresso, chocolate. Orders can also be placed through Hell Bent Bagel’s social media.

STEIN’S MARKET AND DELI 2207 Magazine St. | 504-527-0771 steinsdeli.com This normally bustling Uptown deli offers a variety of bagels from Davidovich Bakery in New York including garlic, everything, cinnamon raisin, egg, and even a gluten free option. Cream cheese flavors include chive, jalapeño cheddar, garlic and onion, and honey nut. The bagels are available plain with butter, jam, cream cheese, or whitefish salad as you prefer, and you can get a variety of sandwiches made with them including a classic lox or ham, egg and cheese. New Jerseyites should take note that Taylor pork roll, the distinctive pork product favored in the Garden State, is also available for your bagel-topping pleasure.

HUMBLE BAGEL | 4716 Freret St. 504-355-3535 | humblebagel.com Run by a husband and wife team from the East Coast, Humble Bagels on Freret Street offers traditional boiled-and-baked bagels made with just a handful of ingredients and a distinctively crisp crust. Traditional varieties

BAGEL?

ALL IMAGES: STEVEN MELENDEZ

like plain, everything, cinnamon raisin, and onion are available every day, while specials like cinnamon sugar, egg, and even chocolate chip are available through­out the week.

Cream cheese and other spreads like peanut butter and hummus are on hand, as are breakfast-style sandwiches with your choice of ingredients such as egg, bacon, and tomatoes.

LAUREL STREET BAKERY 2701 S. Broad St. | 504-897-0576 laurelstreetbakery.com This Broadmoor bakery and coffee shop has become a prime destination in its neighborhood and beyond for its bagels.

Made with sourdough starter and a mix of ingredients including honey and olive oil, bagel varieties available there include everything, sesame, garlic and onion, cinnamon raisin, and marble rye. Seasoned cream cheeses are also prepared in house, as well as options hard to find anywhere else like sun-dried tomato, olive pimento, bacon shallot, and date and honey. Grab a single bagel with cream cheese for breakfast or call ahead to place a larger order, with special bagel and cream cheese options available for bulk orders. Breakfast sandwiches with options like scrambled egg and various meat and veggie combinations are also available on bagels, as well as on toast or croissant.

KOSHER CAJUN NEW YORK DELI & GROCERY 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie 504-888-2010 koshercajun.com This New York-style Jewish delicatessen in Metairie brings bagels from J. J. Cassone Bakery in New York to Jefferson Parish. The bagels are available in six packs with varieties including plain, everything, onion, garlic, sesame, poppy, and pumpernickel. Bagel sandwiches are also available including a classic option with smoked salmon, lettuce, and tomato, as well as a smoked whitefish salad sandwich. If you’re feeling extra hungry, pair your bagel or sandwich with a bowl of Kosher Cajun’s delicious matzah ball soup.

BYWATER BAKERY | 3624 Dauphine St. 504-336-3336 | bywaterbakery.com Friday is bagel day at this often busy neighborhood spot in the Bywater. Bywater Bakery’s typical bagel options include poppy, everything, jalapeno, green onion, asiago, and cinnamon raisin. If you would prefer a sandwich, options are available including bacon, egg, and cheese, as well as the traditional lox sandwich. Consider calling ahead to make sure your favorite bagel variety is available. Grab a coffee or tea to drink, or just an orange juice, while you’re there.

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RESTAURANT GUIDE Legacy Kitchen's Craft Tavern has an artistic ambience and a wonderful selection of craft Bayou Hot Wings offers delicious chicken wings, beers for happy hour, which can be enjoyed as well as sandwiches and salads, made from with small plates, soups, and salads. You can't scratch with your choice of sauce or flavor. Enter go wrong with ordering the chicken and waffles the "Bayou Beast Challenge" and eat 10 extra for breakfast or raw, charbroiled, or fried spicy wings in under five minutes for the chance to oysters. 700 Tchoupitoulas St., win a free t-shirt. 6221 S. Claiborne Ave., 504-613-2350, legacykitchen.com 504-865-9464, bayouhotwings.com Legacy Kitchen's Steak & Chop is the perfect Bud’s Broiler is home to New Orleans’s original place to go to in Gretna. Be sure to consider the charcoal broiled burger. Along with its famous crawfish cornbread, salmon, mac and cheese, burgers, Bud’s also provides hot dogs, seafood and the many cuts of steak. Just as the name po-boys, and chicken sandwiches, as well as suggests, the food, service, and ambiance homemade pies. Go to one of Bud’s many locations will have a lasting legacy on your dining to get some of the best burgers around. Multiple experience. 91 Westbank Expy., Gretna, Locations, budsbroiler.com 504-513-2606, legacykitchen.com

AMERICAN

329 DECATUR STREET • 504-373-4852 HAPPY HOUR Thursday - Sunday | 3pm - 6pm

Crescent City Steaks has been serving USDA prime beef for more than 87 years and is known for its signature "New Orleans style" of cooking steaks, which involves sizzling the meat in butter.

Some delicious steak cuts to choose from include filet wrapped in bacon, T-bone, and cowboy ribeye. 1001 N. Broad St., 504-821-3271, crescentcitysteaks.com

Manning's Sports Bar & Grill, located in the Warehouse District, is the perfect spot to catch all the games. Two 13-ft mega screens, 30+ TVs, courtyard game-viewing, 24 draft beers, plus award winning burgers & wings–are what makes Manning's is NOLA's game viewing destination. 519 Fulton St., 504-593-8118, caesars.com

Daisy Dukes serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day to satisfy any and all of your food cravings. Daisy Dukes dishes out Southern comfort food with great Southern hospitality.

It prides itself on its award-winning Cajun Bloody Mary. You can find Daisy Dukes all over the Greater New Orleans area. Multiple locations, daisydukesrestaurant.com

MISA features beautiful outdoor seating with heaters and a covered patio right on Magazine Street. A great date spot, some of MISA's dishes include Moroccan Fish and Royal Indian Lambshank Stew. MISA also features a wonderful brunch menu that includes fantastic cocktails and its delicious shakshouka. 4734 Magazine St., 504-510-2791, misanola.com

Mark La Yorug OCualtedndar res 4/29–oor fS orath 5/8 fe e MB a ige B ywat re nr G y e r Jaa r d zz Feen st!

Live Blues Music Every Evening Outdoors Thursday through Sunday!

Stay tuned to Facebook.com/bratzyall for info on our Jazz Fest Celebration in late April with more live music, food & games in the Bywater!!

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

Gattuso's is a neighborhood restaurant that has a beautifully landscaped patio for outdoor dining and is the perfect place to enjoy live music with friends and family. Gattuso's has a daily happy hour from 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. with over 14 different beers on tap. 435 Huey P Long Ave., Gretna, 504-3681114, gattusos.net

New Orleans Vampire Cafe has a menu that vampires would happily serve to their mortal guests. Opportunities to have a tea leaf reading or meeting with a tarot reader are also available. You can also come in for bottomless mimosa brunches on Saturdays or Sundays. 801 Royal St., 504-581-0801, nolavampirecafe.com

Jimmy J's Cafe is a hidden gem located right in the French Quarter. In addition to its regular menu, Jimmy J's offers special chef creations and new item promotions weekly. Serving breakfast all day, some favorites include the blueberry brandy glazed French toast and smoked salmon bagel. 115 Chartres St., 504-309-9360, jimmyjscafe.com

Spudly's Super Spuds is home to the famous "meal in a baked potato." You can choose from over 18 different types of baked potatoes, ranging from spud skins to super spuds. Serving baked potatoes for over 35 years, Spudly's has expanded its menu to soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers. 2609 Harvard St., Metairie, 504-455-3250, spudlys.com

Lakeview Harbor has a very extensive menu that you can choose from. Whether you are in the mood for burgers, pizza, seafood, or pasta, you will absolutely not leave without a full stomach.

Lakeview Harbor also has specialty items like the Surf and Turf Burger and the Margherita Chicken Sandwich. 8550 Pontchartrain Blvd., 504-486-4887, lakeviewharbor.us

The Steakhouse at Harrah's is a traditional steakhouse reinvented; located in New Orleans' favorite casino. The sleek ambiance sets the mood for sophisticated cocktails and delicious wine. BBQ shrimp or fried oyster deviled eggs are popular starters. Plan to indulge by adding a lobster tail to your steak or another "surf" option. 8 Canal St., 504-533-6111, caesars.com

WHERE Y'AT STAFF / PROVIDED PHOTO

Manning's

ASIAN Green Tea is a Chinese restaurant that originated in New York City before moving to New Orleans in 2008. There are plenty of lo mein, moo shu, and soup dishes to choose from. Check out the family dinner specials, which can feed anywhere from two to nine people.

3001 Napoleon Ave., 504-899-8005, greenteanola.com Mikimoto is a locally owned restaurant that has been serving authentic Japanese cuisine since 1999. Whether you are craving sushi, noodles, or fried rice, Mikimoto's menu has it all. It even has a drive-thru pick-up window to quickly grab your online orders (subject to change due to COVID-19). 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., 504-488-1881, mikimotosushi.com

BARS WITH GREAT FOOD 5216 Table & Tap is a sports bar with tons of TVs, a dance floor, and a friendly staff. Enjoy a great selection of craft cocktails, beer, and wine to pair with mouth-watering burgers. It has the perfect pub fare atmosphere to enjoy a sports game with friends or family. 5216 Veterans Blvd., Metairie, 504-766-1417, 5216tableandtap.com The Jimani has been New Orleans's favorite sports bar for over 40 years. It has multiple TVs, 100 different types of beer, a jukebox, and food all through the night. The bar is located in the same space as the former UpStairs Lounge, which was the site of an arson attack in 1973. 141 Chartres St., 504-524-0493, thejimani.com Rivershack Tavern is a combination of a sports bar, live music hub on Fridays, and restaurant right on the Mississippi River. It is also the "home of the tacky ashtray." Menu items include an alligator po-boy, the Club Samich, and boiled crawfish on Wednesday, Friday, and Sundays. 3449 River Rd., Jefferson, 504-834-4938, rivershacktavern.com Stumpy's Hatchet House is a unique bar venue that offers the newest up and coming social activity, axe-throwing. You can host parties and other events while playing fun axe-throwing games that will burn calories and improve your coordination. Stumpy's follows strict COVID-19 protocols and is a super spot for a date night. 1200 Poydras St., 504-577-2937, stumpyshh.com

CAFÉ Bearcat Cafe allows you to indulge in breakfast or lunch with a variety gluten free, vegan, paleo, and vegetarian options. In addition to

the food, Bearcat also has coffee from Equator Coffee Co., loose-leaf teas, and over 20 delicious house-made bottled beverages. Multiple locations, bearcatcafe.com Café Amelie is named after the mother of Princess Alice, the first American Princess of Monaco. This cafe provides a romantic atmosphere for guests to enjoy either for brunch or dinner. Relax and enjoy the lamb sirloin or ahi tuna, with some chocolate melting cake for dessert. 912 Royal St., 504-412-8965, cafeamelie.com Caffe Caffe is an excellent choice for a quick breakfast or lunch to start your day. The cafe is the perfect place to grab some coffee, wraps, and a salad. More than just delicious food, Caffe Caffe has a friendly environment for any kind of meeting or social gathering. Multiple locations, caffecaffe.com Carmo is a cafe and bar that serves cuisine inspired from all around the world. Carmo's curries perfectly represent the diverse menu and fresh ingredients used in its cooking. If you are on the go, order one of Carmo's discounted boxed meals. 527 Julia St., 504-875-4132, cafecarmo.com The Vintage is focused on serving as a social setting for you to meet a friend or enjoy some time alone. The cozy dining atmosphere, inside and outside, gives people a chance to enjoy coffee, beignets, wines, bubbles, quick bites, and different choices of flatbread and pressed sandwiches. 3121 Magazine St., 504-324-7144, thevintagenola.com

FRENCH Vyoone's presents upscale French cuisine in the Warehouse District. It was founded by Vyoone Segue Lewis, a dedicated member of the New Orleans community who has served on the board of directors for several medical organizations.

Visit Vyoone's for brunch, dinner, or happy hour, and dine in its secluded courtyard. 412 Girod St., 504-518-6007, vyoone.com

DON’T MISS THE

24/7 DAYS HOURS

MAY GRADUATION/ MOTHER’S DAY ISSUE

ITALIAN Elle-J's Lakeview serves hearty Italian dishes, as well as seafood and steak. Enjoy mushrooms stuffed with Louisiana blue crab meat, eggplant parmesan, or the fresh catch of the day. After you clear your plate, enjoy the tiramisu or chocolate and vanilla tartufo off the dessert menu. 900 Harrison Ave., 504-459-2262, ellejslakeview.com

IT’S TIME FOR CRAWFISH!

Josephine Estelle is located in the Ace Hotel right in the Warehouse District. In 2020,

WHERE Y'AT STAFF / PROVIDED PHOTO

PRICES UPDATED DAILY!

Vyoone's

1525 Elysian Fields Ave. (504) 267-7765 • melbas.com

DEADLINE: APRIL 21 STREET DATE: APRIL 26

Call 504-891-0144 to Advertise!

WhereYat.com | April 2021

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is Here for You

RESTAURANT GUIDE Josephine Estelle won the award of excellence for its Italian cuisine with a hint of Southern flavor.

You can't go wrong ordering any of the pasta dishes, specifically the canestri cacio e pepe.

600 Carondelet St., 504-930-3070, josephineestelle.com

burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, wraps, and salads. Carreta's world famous margaritas come with your choice of tequila and flavor in a size small, medium, or large. Multiple Locations, carretasgrillrestaurant.com

Mosca's Restaurant has been Westwego's favorite Italian spot for over 60 years. All of Mosca's made from scratch dishes are served family-style and al la carte. Spaghetti and meatballs, chicken cacciatore, and filet mignon are just a few of the items you can enjoy at this charming spot.

4137 US-90 W., Westwego, 504-436-8950, moscasrestaurant.com

MIDDLE EASTERN

Nephew's Ristorante opened as a tribute to chef and owner Frank Catalanotto's family and their history of providing Sicilian and Italian Creole cuisine. Some signature entrees include veal parmigiana, grilled duck breast, and braised rabbit with tomatoes. You can also get soft shell crab and frog legs a la carte.

4445 W. Metairie Ave., Metairie, 504-533-9998, nephewsristorante.com Nor Joe Import Co. prides itself on selling fine Italian imports to not only Metairie, but also the Greater New Orleans Area. Along with wine, cheese, and baked goods, Nor Joe's also serves a number of different freshly made lunch items like sandwiches, stuffed artichokes, and cannolis. 505 Frisco Ave., Metairie, 504-833-9240, facebook.com/norjoeimport Pascal's Manale has been thriving in New Orleans for over 100 years. It’s also the originator of the NOLA famous BBQ shrimp dish, which was first made in the 1950s. The restaurant is also famous for its raw oyster bar and dishes like veal marsala, frutta del mare, and chicken bordelaise. 1838 Napoleon Ave., 504-895-4877, pascalsmanale.com Red Gravy is an Italian bistro that has been serving brunch for the past 10 years, but now you can come in for dinner to try handmade pasta, ravioli, lasagna, and gnocchi. Red Gravy created an intimate dining atmosphere to "mangiere, ridere, amare," which means eat, laugh, love. 4206 Magazine St., 504-561-8844, redgravycafe.com

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Tavolino Pizza and Lounge serves crispy thin crusts with unconventional specialty pizzas such as a funghi pizza with mushroom fonduta sauce, fresh mushrooms, fontina cheese, truffle oil, and arugula. There is even a back bar lounge that is the perfect place to have a romantic date without the kids.

141 Delaronde St., 504-605-3365, instagram. com/tavolinonola Venezia Restaurant has been serving Italian dishes with New Orleans flare since 1957 and is dedicated to providing the uppermost dining experience to all guests. Enjoy daily specials and hand tossed pizzas. You will be leaving your dinner or lunch with a clear plate and a happy belly. 134 N. Carrollton Ave., 504-488-7991, venezianeworleans.net

MEXICAN Carreta's Grill treats all guests like family while providing fresh authentic Mexican cuisine at an affordable price. The menu includes

Lebanon's Cafe has earned the reputation as a top Middle Eastern dining spot in New Orleans.

The indoor dining space gives an authentic atmosphere with intricate hand painted murals on the wall. Lebanon's also has patio dining and allows BYOB, so bring your favorite beer or wine. 1500 S. Carrollton Ave., 504-862-6200, lebanonscafe.com Tal's Hummus is a quick service restaurant offering healthy Israeli inspired food made from the freshest ingredients. You can order pita wraps, hummus, salads, kabobs, or falafel with plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. Located uptown, enjoy a tasty meal at Tal's Hummus for a dine-in or dine-out experience. 4800 Magazine St., 504-267-7357, ordertalsonline.com

NEW ORLEANS CUISINE Annunciation Restaurant, located on Annunciation Street, is mostly known for its assortment of contemporary and classic Creole dishes. Order anything from fried oysters and gumbo to grilled pompano and shrimp etouffee. The restaurant is also serving a special pan seared gulf fish dish each Friday during Lent. 1016 Annunciation St., 504-568-0245, annunciationrestaurant.com Cafe 615 Home of Da Wabbit serves New Orleans inspired cuisine ranging from sandwiches to seafood platters. They also can cater your next crawfish boil! Founded in 1948, Cafe 615 was a hit for its iconic Bugs Bunny LED sign, which still stands today. 615 Kepler St., Gretna, 504-365-1225, cafe615.com Chef Ron's Gumbo Stop opened in 2012 when Ron Iafrate followed his dreams of opening his very own restaurant. Located in a small strip mall on Causeway Boulevard, Ron’s serves some of the best Southern comfort food. While the menu and specials may change, the award-winning gumbo is always available. 2309 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, 504-8352022, gumbostop.com

Copeland's

Copeland's prides itself on catering to local appetites with made from scratch New Orleans classics for over 36 years.

The menu includes favorites like Cajun Gumbo Ya-Ya, Butterflied Shrimp Creole, and the Copeland Burger with special Tiger Sauce, as well as healthy dishes like Crab & Avocado Stack or Garden Chicken. Multiple locations, copelandsofneworleans.com

WHERE Y'AT STAFF / PROVIDED PHOTO

New Orleans Restaurants,

up via the stop's drive-through window. 119 Transcontinental Dr., Metairie, 504-885-4572, shortstoppoboysno.com Willie Mae's Scotch House has perfected its fried chicken recipe by making it buttery, flakey, and crispy all in one bite. Visit Willie Mae's second location in the Pythian Market, where the fried chicken can be enjoyed with classic Southern sides such as corn bread, red beans and rice, and mac and cheese. Multiple locations, williemaesnola.com

SEAFOOD

Briquette Evangeline Restaurant offers some of the freshest Cajun cuisine in the French Quarter.

Some of the dishes patrons can choose from include Acadia Crawfish and Grits, Pasta Evangeline, and a fried catfish and alligator platter. A selection of local craft beers are also available. 329 Decatur St., 504-373-4852, evangelineneworleans.com Mandina's has been combining homestyle seafood and Italian cooking since 1932. Some items on the menu have been staples of the restaurant for over 80 years. Mandina's has a piece of New Orleans history to its food and an ambience that you can't find at a lot of other places. 3800 Canal St., 504-482-9179, mandinasrestaurant.com New Orleans Creole Cookery serves many Creole favorites including Gumbo Ya-Ya, charbroiled oysters, jambalaya, pecan-crusted redfish, and Crab Cake Napoleon. Enjoy craft cocktails like the New Orleans Hurricanes, which range from a category one to a category five with different types of rum. 508 Toulouse St., 504-524-9632, neworleanscreolecookery.com Neyow's Creole Cafe is a casual spot to enjoy traditional Creole and Southern fried cooking.

There are weekly specials with different meals offered every day. Popular items on the menu include chargrilled oysters, crab claws, and crawfish balls. Neyow's is dedicated to providing amazing food in a hospitable environment. 3332 Bienville St., 504-827-5474, neyows.com Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro is home to one of the largest wine selections in the French Quarter. The building, established in 1808, was home to the first Creole restaurant in New Orleans. The bistro has delicious entreés, as well as petit fare like a cheese board and boudin sausage links. 720 Orleans St., 504-523-1930, orleansgrapevine.com

WHERE Y'AT STAFF / PROVIDED PHOTO

Please-U-Restaurant is a long-established diner with booth and counter seating. It's famously known for serving breakfast all day with omelettes, French toast, and chicken and waffles.

Please-U also has hot lunches with well-priced seafood po-boys. Please-U is all about making sure you leave happy and full. 1751 St. Charles Ave., 504-525-9131, pleaseunola.com Poppa's Seafood & Deli has no seating, but your mouth will be watering from the smell of your to-go box. The deli might be small, but the food is packed with flavor. Stop by Poppa's for any of your Southern food cravings. 3311 N. Galvez St., 504-947-3373 Short Stop Poboys offers over 30 different types of po-boys. Short Stop is also known for having some of the best gumbo in the New Orleans area. You can also order sandwich trays for your upcoming event, which can be picked

Bon Temps Boulet's Seafood has a passion for food that makes its boiled seafood, smoked BBQ, and po-boys something special. The crawfish are juicy, flavorful, and spiced to clean your sinuses without burning your tongue. Smoked fried wings and wagyu brisket are also available. 4701 Airline Dr., Metairie, 504-885-5003, facebook.com/BonTempsBoulets Briquette is a classy restaurant serving contemporary coastal cuisine. There is an 18-foot-long display of fresh salmon, halibut, and other whole fish over ice. The open floor plan, community tables, and bar create a friendly and spacious dining experience. Attire is business casual, so dress appropriately. 701 S. Peters St., 504-302-7496, briquette-nola.com Casamento's was founded back in 1919 and is a tribute to Southern cuisine and Louisiana oysters.

Beyond oysters, Casamento's serves fresh gumbo, the Big Easy platter, and fried soft-shell crab. Celebrities such as Peyton Manning, Guy Fieri, and Bradley Cooper have all eaten there, and you should too. 4330 Magazine St., 504-895-9761, casamentosrestaurant.com Charlie's Restaurant and Catering has been serving St. Bernard Parish since 1992. With the "largest menu in St. Bernard Parish," choose from over 300 dishes like steaks, pastas, seafood platters, stuffed potatoes, and much, much more. Charlie's also caters for any occasion you might have. 6129 E. St. Bernard Hwy., Violet, 504-682-9057, facebook.com/CharliesRestaurant-Catering The Galley Seafood got its start in 1977 by serving soft shell crab po-boys at Jazz Fest. It also offers dishes like shrimp and grits, crawfish etouffee, and blackened or grilled redfish. Make sure to grab a cocktail and enjoy live concert DVDs for dinner and a show. 2535 Metairie Rd., Metairie, 504-832-0955, thegalleyseafood.net

A New Orleans Tradition 622 Canal • 600 Decatur • 334 Royal • 311 Bourbon Online Ordering Available!

www.cafebeignet.com

Now Open

Jazzy Pete's serves some of the best seafood, pastas, and po-boys in Uptown. Join Jazzy Pete's for happy hour and get $5 drinks and discounts on oysters and appetizers. The Saltwater Cocktail is the latest feature with vodka, grapefruit, lime, peppercorn syrup, basil pink, and pamplemousse liqueur. 8201 Oak St., 504-345-2490, jazzypetes.com Seaworthy is set in a Creole cottage and retains a rustic, cozy atmosphere. Seaworthy offers tons of different oysters from the East, West, and Gulf Coasts, as well as locally caught fish. The Southern hospitality and chic atmosphere makes for the perfect date night or evening out with friends. 630 Carondelet St., 504-930-3071, seaworthynola.com Tito's Ceviche & Pisco combines Peruvian and Asian cuisine with seafood for delectable starters and entreés. Enjoy bottomless mimosas and ceviche at brunch or tiraditos and platos del mar for dinner. The service, staff, courtyard dining, and authentic cuisine will leave you dreaming about returning again and again. 5015 Magazine St., 504-267-7612, titocevichepisco.com

Crawfish • Crabs • Shrimp & More Order Now! 504-885-5003 4701 Airline Hwy (old Bevi Seafood) WhereYat.com | April 2021

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TALES FROM THE QUARTER

By Debbie Lindsey

Pass It Along

E

Eat, Drink and Relax at Apolline

Now Serving Brunch and Dinner Wednesday - Sunday!

4729 Magazine Street • (504) 894-8881 • www.ApollineRestaurant.com 40

Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

very time someone of a certain age passes, they take with them a bit of our history, which, if not documented or passed on to another culture bearer, may be lost forever. As New Orleanians, as Louisianans, we are the recipients of some remarkable creativity.

And this is a collective of creativity—yes, collective because anyone worth their salt here adds to the magic, which is perhaps more powerful, more pungent, here than anywhere else in this country. And a sense of regret and loss fills me each time an elder of our music community or a neighborhood eatery or bar closes its doors for the last time. A bit of what makes this region unique is lost with every inch of vanished wetlands or shotgun cottage razed by neglect. Every "CLOSED" sign and every" Going Out of Business" notice reads as an obituary for our local economy.

Recently, our restaurant culture took a gut punch when Li’l Dizzy’s announced its closure. We grieved and cursed the COVID and the owner’s need to call it a day. Then we rejoiced to hear that the apron would be refitted and worn by family. But what happens when there is no family waiting to carry on the culinary traditions? On January 24, 2021, Jimmy Lemarie, a major Keeper of the Funk, passed, and while friends, family, neighbors, and customers grieved for the man, there was also a very visceral fear that Jimmy’s beloved Liuzza’s by the Track, which he owned and operated for the past 20 years, might also “pass.” As of this printing, there has been a collective sigh of relief with the news that Jimmy’s legacy will remain open. These two landmarks are just the tip of the endangered culinary iceberg that is under constant threat of extinction due to the frailty of life, economics, and unexpected disasters. For every restaurant, there is a local bar, theater, or music venue also at risk. And I can tell you from experience that most every independent shops or galleries survive day by day with fingers crossed.

This pandemic is much like Katrina in that everything from brick and mortar businesses to our living, breathing, walking and talking, singing and dancing culture has either taken a bullet or narrowly dodged one. And this time, New Orleans doesn’t have the kindness of strangers (out of state volunteers and tourists) to nurse us back to fiscal health. The world has taken a hit and, with it, our expectation of those healing tourists’ dollars has diminished for the moment. And I say “moment” with cautious optimism.

We are blessed with the still lingering presence of those who came after the levees broke. Many of our guardian angels who helped us rebuild were young people who fell in love with the magic and returned (or never left) to make this town their new home. I am ashamed to say as a person

of a certain age (old fart) that there have been too many times when I have felt inundated by the “newbies,” most of which are so young I feel self-consciously old and irrelevant, plus fearful that too much change might threaten our traditions and old school ways. I felt dismissive of this surge of youth from the outside. Well, shame on me. And I am so grateful that I kept my snotty feelings to myself (until I could have a come-to-Jesus talk with myself) because these new and often young transplants have generously befriended me. More importantly, they have proven themselves to be not only enamored with New Orleans but also dedicated to her.

They’ve reminded me that New Orleans is made up of folks from everywhere. I was a “newbie” once and I can tell you that this place became my home the moment my U-Haul and I pulled in.

People and places of note have passed from our midst for centuries, and yet, with due respect to those lost, somehow that hole in our community’s heart is tended to. Some traditions do fade without someone to take up the mantle.

And as an elder leaves, often there is no family member waiting in the wings to carry on the traditions that he or she was devoted to, such as the intricate beadwork of our famed Mardi Gras Indians.

There are precious pleasures that were once so common and are now relegated mostly to mere memories. Huck-a-bucks were a regular treat easily found and purchased at the front door of many an entrepreneur’s home. A simple frozen cup of sweetness, homemade, and only a buck. And what about those fried fish plates sold at corner bars or a neighbor’s house to help with the rent or support a social aid and pleasure club (another tradition that needs to be nurtured)?

This is why our constant influx of new New Orleanians is so vital to our community. Most folks who come here fall in love with this crazy culture of fabulous funk, magic, and creative verve. As I mourn the passing of our musicians, too numerous to list; grieve for the Jimmys and Leahs who so enriched our food culture; or see another neighborhood joint about to give up the ghost—I take some comfort in the hundreds of newly recruited torch-bearers. Just look at the new Mardi Gras krewes and the volunteerism they offer, reminiscent of our social aid clubs. I applaud the students dedicated to keeping jazz alive and the energy of our transplanted chefs, bakers, and artisans. Whether you’re a native New Orleanian or a newly minted citizen of our funky nation, we must all pay honor to those people and places we have lost and vow to carry on and protect this treasure we call home. Now turn up the music and get on the good foot—we got work to do!

PO-BOY VIEWS

By Phil LaMancusa

COVID Purgastory or Suspended Animation

A

m I mistaken or did I just lose a year (plus) of my life? It seems so. A year. Gone. What happened...? What happened was/is a worldwide epidemic that is innocently enough called a ‘pandemic’ (it’s less tragic sounding on the mind, I think) that threw a monkey wrench, wet blanket, buzz buster of a lifestyle reality change at me and then kicked me to the curb and under a bus and I still am not allowed to hug any of my friends for commiseration, compassion, and/or consolation!

The rumor of our collective disruption began January 2020 and the hammer came down in March: “wear a mask, practice social distancing, avoid large gatherings, and wash your hands; rinse and repeat.”

Folks are catching it and dying; this shyte is hella serious!

Mardi Gras 2020 was the last hurrah before the curtains started to close in like a fade to black B movie scene. No Jazz Fest (we had already purchased tickets for ALL the days). No French Quarter Fest or any of the other ‘Fests’ that happen around our area (Crawfish, Strawberry, Boudin, Satchmo, etc) that I may or may not have attended given my ability to freely choose.

Any travel plans that we might have had hatching in our fun and fantasy musings got smothered at birth as the rest of the country, and the world, closed for business and pleasure; I admit that that only made my wanderlust more acute.

In the summer, our local city’s free swimming pools began taking only on line reservations for attendance. The Stallings pool (Olympic size, outdoor venue) was limited to eight people at a time, down from an all-welcome affair; the Treme Center down to six. Museums, galleries, theaters, aquarium, zoo, and any other alternative activities shut down like a café with a rodent infestation. Restaurants were closing (some permanently), reopening, and shutting down again in an endless COVID-19 threat level tango. All around, people shopping like we’re under attack; there were shortages of paper products, hand sanitizer, disinfectants, and food products such as baking flour and yeast.

Our lives became upended as the unemployment rate skyrocketed. The gravy train rolled in and we caught a ride at six large a week, which we did our best to give away: our stimulus check went to a Latino church, we gave freely and even got mostly out of debt ourselves, we got the car fixed.

Debbie assures me that my shopping has not abated, but I don’t concur; I haven’t been to any places that pose a health risk, which, until very recently, have been corner markets, convenience stores (for lottery tickets), and any place where people who don’t take precautions as they shop.

You see, a lot of folks around here did not take the plague (that’s what it is) seriously and it was suspect that we could venture

anywhere with safety and security because of these ignoramuses that could very well be walking virus spreaders.

The weather didn’t help either. We had heat, street flooding, power outages, hurricanes, and, this winter, we had freezing cold. We had a political landscape that mirrored our weather: ups and downs and downs and downs and, with it, my optimism and my faith dove for the covers and hid.

We hunkered down as much as humanly possible while still trying to carry on in some type of normalcy. Shopping became, for the most part, a weekly affair, buying in quantity meals ahead and stocking up on essentials (critter food) just as the rest of the city did.

We watched the news incessantly.

We watched the numbers go up. We lost a friend and a few acquaintances to the disease. We got tested as often as possible.

We have morning coffee with The New York Times (delivered). Happy hour became potato chips and a cold beer in bed. We bake bread, cookies, prepare meals, and muse of things lost. Even our staff meetings for Where Y’at are on Zoom now.

We’re damn near aliens to our friends and families, socially distanced, you might say. I catch up with my family through electronics (cell phone, social media); my grandkids are getting bigger and are getting virtual educations.

We ask each other: “What do you miss most?” “Where would you go eat?” “What trip would you take?” “Who would you hug?”

Pick the first three that come to mind; GO! I finally scored a job; Debbie is still looking. It’s not been easy. Sure, the government is still willing to kick in, but we enjoy gainful employment, the interaction, the productivity, the work. I work with a dozen masked people. The other day, I realized that I don’t know what any of them look like. I wouldn’t recognize them on the street (unless they were masked).

New Orleans is a tactile city. We hug, bump, kiss, hustle, and show affection to each other and to people we just have met.

We dance together and close. I’m wrapped in a social cocoon, unable to touch or be touched. Luckily, I have a house full of critters and a woman who loves me dearly.

But it still feels like I lost a year (plus) of my life and, still, no one knows when our lives, as we knew them, will return or if this really is the new reality.

We collectively imagine our future to look like our past but I’m not sure that that’s ever going to be possible. They talk about herd immunity. They talk of political harmony. They talk of environmental and social safety and nurturing. They talk as if this is the first year of the rest of our lives. They talk of shaking off the past and bravely pulling up our big boy pants after taking it in the shorts. They talk and talk and talk about striding boldly where no one has gone before. Me? I just don’t know.

WhereYat.com | April 2021

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Outdoor Fun | Where Y'at Magazine

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