Laura Benton

I did not believe in ghosts until I stayed at a plantation where a mirror holds the impressions…

By Laura Benton · Aug 17

Ask a local where to get seafood and they will not send you to the French Quarter. They…

By Laura Benton · Aug 17

August has a reputation as the worst month for a getaway. The heat is relentless. The humidity clings…

By Laura Benton · Aug 16

The city that claims to have invented the cheesesteak has some serious competition waiting in Louisiana. None of…

By Laura Benton · Aug 16

The kitchen is in a caboose. I had to see it to believe it, and even standing there,…

By Laura Benton · Aug 15

The sky does not get this dark in the city. I have driven an hour and a half…

By Laura Benton · Aug 15

Nobody told me you could walk through an offshore oil rig. I found out by accident and drove…

By Laura Benton · Aug 15

I had never held a raw emerald before. Not in a jewelry store behind glass. Actually held one,…

By Laura Benton · Aug 14

Small kitchen, big heart. That is what the sign says, and I believed it the second I walked…

By Laura Benton · Aug 14

Renting a cabin on a lake sounds like the kind of vacation that should cost a small fortune,…

By Laura Benton · Aug 13

Small towns with great restaurants are not unusual in this state, but small towns with a Michelin-recognized restaurant…

By Laura Benton · Aug 13

The walls around this dining room date back to the late 1700s. The floorboards creak with centuries of…

By Laura Benton · Aug 12

Walk in for a sandwich and walk out with a bag of groceries, an olive oil you cannot…

By Laura Benton · Aug 12

Plenty of steakhouses serve good cuts. Very few serve them with the weight of history behind every plate.…

By Laura Benton · Aug 11

Spanish moss frames the roads like nature built its own movie set. Every time I drive through these…

By Laura Benton · Aug 11

Nobody drives an hour for catfish. But that is exactly what I did, and the catfish was not…

By Laura Benton · Aug 11

Alligator sausage in a cheesecake. I read the menu three times to make sure I was not imagining…

By Laura Benton · Aug 10

The building looks like it belongs on a postcard. Elegant Spanish colonial arches. Iron balconies. A prime spot…

By Laura Benton · Aug 10

I told myself I would browse for an hour. I closed the place down instead. The aisles twist…

By Laura Benton · Aug 9

I had eaten king cake before. Always sweet, always frosted, always the same cinnamon filling. Then I walked…

By Laura Benton · Aug 9

I struck a wall and it sang back at me. That is not a metaphor. My afternoon at…

By Laura Benton · Aug 8

I held a baby alligator in my palms and felt its tiny heartbeat against my thumb. That sentence…

By Laura Benton · Aug 8

Tea is not what I reach for first in Louisiana. Coffee usually wins. But these twelve spots changed…

By Laura Benton · Aug 7

There is a specific kind of relief that hits when you park the car and realize you will…

By Laura Benton · Aug 7

I did not know what a French table lunch was until I sat down at one. The long…

By Laura Benton · Aug 6

Three dollars. That is what it costs to walk inside. I have paid twenty times that for experiences…

By Laura Benton · Aug 6

I drove past the marshland for what felt like an hour before the road finally dumped me onto…

By Laura Benton · Aug 5

I have spent embarrassing amounts of money on observation decks across the country. This view cost me pocket…

By Laura Benton · Aug 5

I ordered through a window the size of a mailbox, waited ten minutes, plus received a paper bag…

By Laura Benton · Aug 4

Louisiana’s biggest Asian supermarket hits you with the smell before you reach the door. Inside, the produce section…

By Laura Benton · Aug 4

I turned off the highway onto a narrow road that felt like it was leading nowhere. Then the…

By Laura Benton · Aug 2

The line started forming before the shop even opened that morning. I knew I was in the right…

By Laura Benton · Aug 2

I have eaten at fancy restaurants with menus longer than novels. I have waited two hours for a…

By Laura Benton · Jul 31

I asked three different people where to find the best fried chicken in the Seventh Ward. Two of…

By Laura Benton · Jul 31

I have walked out of more craft stores than I can count, frustrated by the same basic selection…

By Laura Benton · Jul 30

I almost turned around when I saw the line. It wrapped past the entrance and continued down the…

By Laura Benton · Jul 30

I have a rule about breakfast spots. If the parking lot is full of trucks plus the sign…

By Laura Benton · Jul 29

Sound’s unbelievable, but it’s true. A lake in the southern part of the state swallowed an entire oil…

By Laura Benton · Jul 29

I did not expect to find this kind of beauty on the Louisiana coast. My car rolled off…

By Laura Benton · Jul 28