Laura Benton

Colored light does not arrive by accident. Someone cut each piece by hand. Someone soldered the lead channels…

By Laura Benton · Sep 20

The best breakfast buffets in Louisiana do not try to be modern. They serve biscuits from the same…

By Laura Benton · Sep 19

People visit for the food and stay because Louisiana gets under their skin. This list could be twice…

By Laura Benton · Sep 19

New Orleans knows French and Creole food better than any city in the country. German food rarely gets…

By Laura Benton · Sep 18

Eating beside the water changes the entire meal. Louisiana knows this better than most states. Rips on the…

By Laura Benton · Sep 18

Parking the car and walking everywhere feels like a lost art until Louisiana proves otherwise. Natchitoches lines its…

By Laura Benton · Sep 18

September does not ease into fall. It arrives with a calendar so packed that every weekend offers a…

By Laura Benton · Sep 17

You would not expect world-class sushi in a state known for crawfish plus gumbo. But the raw fish…

By Laura Benton · Sep 17

Cypress trees rooted in dark water. Their trunks flare at the base like buttresses on a cathedral. Spanish…

By Laura Benton · Sep 16

Coiled on a log jam near the fishing pier. Basking on the boardwalk railing where the trail turns…

By Laura Benton · Sep 16

Bookstores that survive for sixteen years in a city known for drinking culture do so by becoming something…

By Laura Benton · Sep 15

New Orleans invented the doberge cake. Beulah Levy Ledner adapted the Hungarian Dobos torte in the 1930s by…

By Laura Benton · Sep 15

The spring that gave this town its name still flows from beneath an old pavilion in the center…

By Laura Benton · Sep 14

The highway runs through a stretch where gas stations double as meat markets, plus the smell of smoked…

By Laura Benton · Sep 14

A good crawfish meal announces itself before the tray ever reaches the table. There is spice in the…

By Laura Benton · Sep 13

Old brick, cypress beams, and Gulf seafood make a surprisingly convincing dinner combination. Set inside a former steamboat-era…

By Laura Benton · Sep 13

License plates from multiple states line the spaces closest to the entrance, plus a stream of customers carries…

By Laura Benton · Sep 12

Commercial fishing boats pull into the dock while a band sets up on a stage built from a…

By Laura Benton · Sep 12

The name misleads anyone expecting dairy. Hog head cheese contains no cheese at all. The product is a…

By Laura Benton · Sep 11

Frog legs arrive fried, sauteed, blackened, plus occasionally stuffed with crab meat in portions that suggest the kitchen…

By Laura Benton · Sep 11

The French Quarter rarely whispers, which makes this historic building feel immediately unusual. Step inside and the street…

By Laura Benton · Sep 8

Dinner gets much more entertaining when everyone at the table is handed tongs and partial responsibility for not…

By Laura Benton · Sep 8

Louisiana has never needed much encouragement to turn something odd into a celebration, but making a mosquito the…

By Laura Benton · Sep 7

September in south Louisiana has its own kind of sweetness, and this four-day celebration turns downtown streets into…

By Laura Benton · Sep 7

Louisiana seafood gets much more interesting once you stop assuming the best plate has to come with a…

By Laura Benton · Sep 6

North Louisiana does not shout for attention, and that is exactly why this place works. The road gives…

By Laura Benton · Sep 6

Late summer and fall make Louisiana back roads look like they have been quietly redecorated overnight. One turn…

By Laura Benton · Sep 6

Louisiana’s islands feel like places where the road gradually gives up and the water takes over. That alone…

By Laura Benton · Sep 5

Louisiana is not the first place I expect to find a safari, which is exactly why this sprawling…

By Laura Benton · Sep 4

Louisiana gets plenty of attention for what happens under neon signs and beneath mossy trees, but some of…

By Laura Benton · Sep 4

Some roadside stores sell you a sandwich and send you on your way. Others make you linger because…

By Laura Benton · Sep 3

Some abandoned towns make you hike for hours before revealing a rusted nail and a questionable foundation. This…

By Laura Benton · Sep 3

New Orleans does not exactly need an excuse to turn a weekend into theater, but Labor Day brings…

By Laura Benton · Sep 2

Toledo Bend is the kind of Louisiana destination that makes ambitious itineraries feel slightly ridiculous. Once the road…

By Laura Benton · Sep 2

Pasta arrived al dente, the sauce restrained in a way that told me the kitchen trusted its ingredients…

By Laura Benton · Sep 1

Full at noon, half empty by seven. I noticed the contrast because I came back through town twice…

By Laura Benton · Sep 1

Nobody believes me when I say Louisiana has beaches. The mental image is always swamps and bayous, which…

By Laura Benton · Sep 1

Herons were what I expected. Herons, plus three cottonmouths coiled on the path within the first quarter mile.…

By Laura Benton · Sep 1

Pierogies in a city famous for po-boys and gumbo was not something I expected to find, let alone…

By Laura Benton · Aug 31