Laura Benton

I walked in expecting a plant shop plus walked out an hour later with a fern I did…

By Laura Benton · Aug 29

Walking through the dining rooms feels like walking through a timeline, because each room was added in a…

By Laura Benton · Aug 29

Sandstone does not belong in Louisiana. At least that is what I thought before I climbed into the…

By Laura Benton · Aug 28

My daughter ran toward the giant dragon before I could read the sign. By the time I caught…

By Laura Benton · Aug 28

Louisiana back roads have a way of hiding their best meals behind gas pumps. I drove past the…

By Laura Benton · Aug 27

I have dragged my children through enough museums to know the exact timeline: twelve minutes of interest, followed…

By Laura Benton · Aug 27

By August, I am already plotting my escape to the water. Not the beach, exactly, but the kind…

By Laura Benton · Aug 27

The supper club is a fading American institution, and I mourn it every time I find one that…

By Laura Benton · Aug 26

Everyone knows this state for its roux, and I love a good gumbo as much as anyone. But…

By Laura Benton · Aug 26

Spanish moss hangs from branches thick enough to be scaffolding. Below, a stone grotto with a pale statue…

By Laura Benton · Aug 25

Walk past the entrance and you would think it is just a place to buy mulch. Keep walking.…

By Laura Benton · Aug 25

Muffins do not inspire loyalty. That is what I thought before I tried this one. The bakery occupies…

By Laura Benton · Aug 24

Churches in Louisiana have personality. This one has gravity. The shrine sits on a residential street, unassuming from…

By Laura Benton · Aug 24

I expected casinos. I did not expect a burger made from the same secret recipe since 1936, served…

By Laura Benton · Aug 23

Spanish moss does not just hang from trees in Louisiana. It drapes them, suffocates them, turns every road…

By Laura Benton · Aug 23

Confession: I book spa hotels and then skip the spa. The treatment sounds nice in theory, but by…

By Laura Benton · Aug 22

Three feet from the boardwalk, an alligator stared back at me. I stopped walking. It stopped moving. We…

By Laura Benton · Aug 22

Small towns in Louisiana hold food secrets that big cities cannot replicate. I drove past this buffet three…

By Laura Benton · Aug 21

Racing karts was not on my itinerary. But someone mentioned a track fifteen minutes from the French Quarter,…

By Laura Benton · Aug 21

Gluten-free in Louisiana used to mean watching everyone else eat beignets while I sipped black coffee. Not anymore.…

By Laura Benton · Aug 20

Camping in Louisiana means one thing to me: waking up before anyone else, walking ten steps from my…

By Laura Benton · Aug 20

Ziplining over a pond of alligators was not on my bucket list because I did not know it…

By Laura Benton · Aug 19

Everyone thinks they know where the best food in Louisiana lives. I disagree. I have eaten my way…

By Laura Benton · Aug 19

Walk in with thirty-five dollars and you will leave with a bag full of things you did not…

By Laura Benton · Aug 18

Most waterfront restaurants lean on the view and phone in the food. This one does not get that…

By Laura Benton · Aug 18

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