Louisiana

A busy New Orleans street can change fast once you step onto the grounds of St. Mary’s Assumption…

By Camille Roth · Sep 3

Louisiana might be famous for its food and music, but its walking trails deserve their very own spotlight.…

By Nolan Frey · Sep 3

There are sandwiches you eat politely, and then there are po-boys that require both hands, several napkins, and…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Unlimited sushi sounds like a challenge until the first beautifully arranged plate lands on the table and reminds…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Some roadside restaurants feel designed for travelers. Others feel as though the road simply grew around them, and…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Louisiana seafood season has a way of making dinner feel like an event. Tables disappear under trays, shells…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Louisiana knows how to eat well, and its Mexican restaurants bring plenty of color, comfort, and surprise to…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Dentist would not approve. I walked into this candy shop for a single bag of fudge and walked…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Walking through the front door hit me with the smell of warm molasses before I saw a single…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Detroit-style pizza should not work this far south. The rectangular pan, the cheese that caramelizes against the edges,…

By Dane Ashford · Aug 31

Cold water hit my ankles and I gasped, cold in a way that feels good after an hour…

By Laura Benton · Aug 31

The GPS gave up about two miles before the restaurant did. I turned onto a gravel road that…

By Dane Ashford · Aug 31

Deep in Golden Meadow, where bayou roads stretch past marshes and weathered homes, I found one of those…

By Dane Ashford · Aug 30

My grandmother used to make ginger cakes, and I thought I knew what they tasted like until I…

By Dane Ashford · Aug 30

Ten thousand people in a town of fourteen hundred. That is the math of this festival, and the…

By Dane Ashford · Aug 30

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

By Laura Benton · Aug 29

I arrived fifteen minutes after opening plus the line had already formed, which tells you something about a…

By Dane Ashford · 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

Most visitors to Louisiana stick to the French Quarter plus maybe a swamp tour, then leave thinking they…

By Dane Ashford · 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

It does not look like the oldest church in the state. Low brick walls. A simple steeple. A…

By Dane Ashford · 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

The display case is small, maybe four feet wide. Inside it holds more color than any bakery case…

By Dane Ashford · 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

My mother can still quote every line from Steel Magnolias, but Dolly Parton has always been the one…

By Dane Ashford · 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

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

By Laura Benton · Aug 27

The waiter set the plate down without ceremony, just two pieces of golden chicken swimming in a pool…

By Dane Ashford · 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

The neighborhood outside is loud. Music spills from every doorway, and tourists crowd the sidewalks in waves. Then…

By Dane Ashford · 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