Laura Benton

Walking through the front doors feels like stepping into a library that lost its catalog and decided to…

By Laura Benton · Jul 5

Cars line up along the highway before the doors open, which is saying something for a restaurant that…

By Laura Benton · Jul 4

Nobody believes the photos at first. A white sand beach, cabanas lining the shoreline, plus water so clear…

By Laura Benton · Jul 4

Biscuits do not typically justify a two-hour drive, but the ones coming out of this kitchen have convinced…

By Laura Benton · Jul 3

Road trips fall apart when the receipts start piling up, but Louisiana makes it difficult to overspend. The…

By Laura Benton · Jul 3

Plenty of pasta dishes arrive on a plate and leave on a plate. The gnocchi at this kitchen…

By Laura Benton · Jul 2

The sign outside says food store. The menu inside says wings. Everything else on the short list is…

By Laura Benton · Jul 2

Nobody arrives at this reservoir park on the Fourth of July without a plan. Some come early to…

By Laura Benton · Jul 1

Louisiana does not do fireworks halfway. The same state that turns Mardi Gras into a weeks-long spectacle brings…

By Laura Benton · Jul 1

The drive to this legendary restaurant feels like a proper Acadiana setup before dinner even begins. Rice fields,…

By Laura Benton · Jun 30

Rising 199 feet above the flat terrain where Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas converge at the river, this cross…

By Laura Benton · Jun 30

The display case tells the story before anyone behind the counter says a word. Cannoli lined up in…

By Laura Benton · Jun 29

A neighborhood where shotgun doubles outnumber high-rises seems like an unlikely place to find pizza that locals rank…

By Laura Benton · Jun 29

Sliding off the riverbank into water just cool enough to make July air feel manageable is how tubing…

By Laura Benton · Jun 28

Standing on a ridge that curves gently toward the sky, it takes a moment to register what you…

By Laura Benton · Jun 28

A butcher shop that opened when Grover Cleveland was president does not survive by accident. It survives because…

By Laura Benton · Jun 27

Thousands of books under one roof is not a metaphor or a rounding error. It is a literal…

By Laura Benton · Jun 27

Driving past the city line does something to your expectations. The signage gets smaller, the parking lots get…

By Laura Benton · Jun 26

Cats and Carnival share more than you might think. Both involve costumes, unpredictability, plus a level of commitment…

By Laura Benton · Jun 26

Castles do not belong in the American South, except this one does. Turrets rise above the riverbank, crenellated…

By Laura Benton · Jun 25

Most playgrounds give you a slide, a set of swings, plus a bench where parents check their phones.…

By Laura Benton · Jun 25

Some cities eat well, but this one eats like nowhere else on earth. The restaurant scene here runs…

By Laura Benton · Jun 24

There is something about walking through a preserved nineteenth-century village that no museum exhibit can replicate. The creak…

By Laura Benton · Jun 24

Stepping through the front door of a home built when this was still a territory feels less like…

By Laura Benton · Jun 23

Turning off the highway onto a road that narrows between pines is the first sign you are heading…

By Laura Benton · Jun 23

Rolling along a road paralleling a narrow river wrapped in Spanish moss, the landscape tells a story no…

By Laura Benton · Jun 22

I’ll admit, I have a soft spot for strip mall restaurants that smell better than they look from…

By Laura Benton · Jun 22

Pitching a tent under a sky full of stars is one thing, but doing it where the water…

By Laura Benton · Jun 21

Louisiana does not need white tablecloths to feed you well. The grills on this list range from neon-lit…

By Laura Benton · Jun 21

Along a narrow highway paralleling a ribbon of water between two massive lakes, a hand-painted sign and a…

By Laura Benton · Jun 20

Beneath live oaks along a slow bayou draped in Spanish moss, it is not hard to see why…

By Laura Benton · Jun 20

Outdoor markets that close before dark miss the entire point. This one does not even open until the…

By Laura Benton · Jun 19

Louisiana stretches farther than most visitors realize, and the day trips outside New Orleans prove it. The Creole…

By Laura Benton · Jun 19

There is a particular kind of curiosity that pulls you into a tea room where the menu lists…

By Laura Benton · Jun 18

Mapping a road trip around ghost stories sounds like a gimmick until you realize how many documented hauntings…

By Laura Benton · Jun 18

The little train feels like New Orleans briefly lending you its childhood for one slow loop under the…

By Laura Benton · Jun 17

Some restaurants feel designed, this one feels inherited. You walk in and the room already has a rhythm:…

By Laura Benton · Jun 17

Morning light hits the Cane River, turns the water the color of copper, while just steps away vendors…

By Laura Benton · Jun 16

The pink building on Veterans Memorial Boulevard does not look like much from the outside, that is exactly…

By Laura Benton · Jun 16