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Every day is full of pleasant surprises.  It turns out that replacing a toilet takes longer than I imagined.  This is the story of one innkeeper’s day among many. Here is a behind-the-scenes peek at how La Belle Esplanade runs when the guests are out and about enjoying this wonderful city we call home.  It […]

When you visit New Orleans you should do it like you live here.  When you live in New Orleans, you live in a New Orleans state of mind.  I know.  I am a New Orleans goodwill ambassador.  I do this every day. A film crew is working in Terranova’s Supermarket.  It is not a news

Having nothing much to do in the middle of the day one day, I was sitting on a picnic table in front of the hot dog window at the Costco on South Carrollton Avenue watching the clouds over Interstate 10.  I don’t enjoy shopping at Costco but if I am passing by, and there is

Some scamp put something in my drink in New Orleans.  It doesn’t happen often, at least not to me.  I don’t hang out at The Boot.  There was some kerfuffle at the Banks Street Bar, another place I rarely frequent, a few months ago but I forget the details.  I’ll ask Courtney the next time I

You don’t know Courtney.  She is an acquaintance of mine.  She is originally from Los Angeles, California, as she will be happy to tell you if you can’t figure it out for yourself.  She and I went to have lunch. We started off at the Business Bar on Freret Street. She had never been and I don’t

I am sitting in the lakeside solarium at Superior Seafood, 4338 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana.  The people who work here call the solarium on the St. Charles side of the building, “The Porch.”  The solarium on the Napoleon Avenue side is called, “The Patio.”  I am seated in Sophia’s section. My table is across the street

I went to The Business Bar on Freret Street.  It’s not a place that many tourists visit because it is somewhat out of the way but Freret Street is a very nice street full of restaurants and a few interesting shops. There is a bewildering hardware store, a comic book shop that is only open on weekends

Lunch with me is usually a decadent affair.  Being an innkeeper, I usually have the middle of my day free so I usually settle on some restaurant barstool for 2-3 hours sipping a cocktail and endless glasses of club soda while I read the Wall Street Journal and make idle chitchat between articles with whoever

I had lunch at II Tony’s the other day, home of char grilled seafood and Creole Italian.  Ever cuisine gets creolized over time in New Orleans.  That’s what makes it New Orleans cuisine.  It’s been a while since I had been here.  The time before that was with Jimmy. II Tony’s is pronounced like it’s

You will rarely hear me talk about music because I don’t have a savage breast that needs to be soothed, but Paula sent me a link to this video and I think this Freedom video by Jon Batiste is the best expression of New Orleans’ joie de vivre that I have seen in a long