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You will never forget your first visit to New Orleans.  Even if all you do are the most touristy things, like a paddlewheel cruise on the Mississippi River, jazz brunch at Court of the Two Sisters, Hurricanes around the dueling pianos at Pat O’Brien’s, a night on Bourbon Street— even if you do only the […]

I don’t often recommend Ralph’s-on-the-Park because I enjoy going there and, when I go, I like to read the Wall Street Journal with minimal interruptions.  The staff at Ralph’s-on-the-Park is professional, the ambience is suitable for my surroundings, I enjoy the view out the plate glass windows that overlook the old main entrance to City Park (Pizatti

The older I get, the more rarely I drink root beer.  The last time I had a root beer was probably at Ted’s Frosttop because that’s what you get when you go to Ted’s Frosttop.  I go to the Ted’s Frosttop on on South Claibourne Avenue.  It’s the only one in the city.  I understand there are one or

If there is a quintessential flavor that embodies New Orleans when you taste it, it is the taste of Barq’s root beer, which is made from sarsaparilla instead of from sassafras as other, inferior, root beers are made. Sassafras is filé.  Everyone knows that.  Filé is for gumbo.  Everyone knows that. The flavor of Barq’s is like everything

There is a new ice cream parlor at Sophie Wright Place.  We’ll see how long that will last.  There are a lot of new stores on that stretch of Magazine Street, most of which don’t concern me.  The reason we were there was for Lily’s Café, which is a Vietnamese restaurant like no other.  It’s good. I was Frau

I’ll never forget that time the horse got so drunk it had to be escorted out of Liuzza’s-by-the-Track.  That was one drunk horse. You know Liuzza’s-by-the-Track.  It’s the bar on Ponce de Leon Street.  They have the best everyday gumbo in the city. As I remember it, Jimmy was against letting the horse into the bar

Happiness loves company.  I had lunch with Frau Schmitt today.  We did it café style.  I read the Wall Street Journal and we chatted at a mutually amenable pace about things that needed to be discussed.  It was the perfect day to live in café time.  We went to Santa Fe.  It was my decision.

I should write something nice about Soleil.  Soleil has a very clear complexion. Soleil is a fair-skinned blonde who doesn’t have a blemish anywhere that I have had the pleasure to see.  Soleil has a very pleasant voice. I would say that Soleil is as full of ripe curves as a bowl of fresh fruit but I

We were sitting around at Commander’s Palace when Courtney said Geddy Lee was in the house.  Get yourself ready to geek out reading about this faux Geddy Lee sighting. I have never met Mr. Lee in person but I did see Rush play live at Madison Square Garden on their Moving Pictures tour.  I know

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