Louisiana

The doors open at eight in the morning and by half past the dance floor is already packed…

By Laura Benton · Jul 15

Half a block from the most famous square in the French Quarter, squeezed between centuries-old buildings, a shop…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 15

There is something oddly satisfying about watching a process that starts with tiny red peppers and ends with…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 14

Tucked above one of the French Quarter’s most storied dining rooms lies a collection that most visitors walk…

By Laura Benton · Jul 14

Every August, a warehouse arts district turns into the kind of street party that makes you forget the…

By Laura Benton · Jul 14

I have always believed that the best way to understand a place is to walk through it slowly,…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 14

The best book cafés in Louisiana understand something that regular coffee shops do not: a good reading spot…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 13

Baton Rouge does not try to outshine New Orleans because it knows its own kitchen speaks loudly enough.…

By Laura Benton · Jul 13

Getting there requires a bridge, a long stretch of highway that narrows to two lanes, plus the kind…

By Laura Benton · Jul 13

July in Louisiana does not ask permission before it turns the air into soup, which makes an air-conditioned…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 13

Louisiana does not need to compete with Texas on barbecue, but it does anyway, and the results speak…

By Laura Benton · Jul 12

Leaving the tourist district behind is where the real Louisiana plates live. They are sitting behind a gas…

By Laura Benton · Jul 12

Downward dog takes on a literal meaning when a kid the size of a sneaker decides your spine…

By Laura Benton · Jul 12

Walking into a bookstore that has been open since the 1940s means walking into rooms that were never…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 12

Every musical tradition in New Orleans traces part of its lineage back to one open patch of ground…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 11

National rankings have a way of changing a restaurant, but a pizzeria in the Bywater neighborhood of New…

By Laura Benton · Jul 11

A restaurant that opens in a converted soap factory on a residential street in Central City has two…

By Laura Benton · Jul 11

Seafood buffets in Louisiana carry expectations that few restaurants can match, plus this one raises the bar by…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 11

The line starts forming before the signage lights up. A bakery on the eastern edge of New Orleans…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 10

Nobody leaves Philadelphia talking about a cheesesteak they had somewhere else, but a small counter on a residential…

By Laura Benton · Jul 10

Most plant shops make you in and out in twenty minutes. A garden center in Metairie operates on…

By Laura Benton · Jul 10

A half address on a narrow street in the French Quarter is the only clue that a shop…

By Laura Benton · Jul 9

The watermelons arrive on truck beds, not grocery carts, and by the time the judging tent opens, the…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 9

Louisiana does not ask you to choose between a plate lunch and a white-tablecloth dinner because it believes…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 9

Louisiana knows how to keep a carousel spinning, and the one inside City Park has been turning since…

By Laura Benton · Jul 9

Fried catfish in Louisiana is not a side dish or a suggestion. It is the whole point of…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 8

Crossing the Causeway takes almost an hour, and by the time the shoreline appears, the city behind you…

By Laura Benton · Jul 8

City Park has a way of swallowing the noise of the city whole, and this garden inside it…

By Laura Benton · Jul 8

The buffet line stretches longer than you expect, and every tray holds something that was made in the…

By Laura Benton · Jul 8

Louisiana truly does not do ordinary restaurants well. The dining rooms here double as museums, the kitchens serve…

By Laura Benton · Jul 7

Twenty miles sounds daunting until you realize the trail loops around a lake that changes color with the…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 7

Downriver from New Orleans, the food changes tone without losing any confidence. The dining rooms become more local,…

By Laura Benton · Jul 7

Louisiana is not known for caves. The state is flat, wet, plus built on sediment that does not…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 7

The sign out front says donuts. The display case inside confirms it with rows of glazed originals stacked…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 6

Walking through the narrow aisles feels like stepping into a different century. Olive oil bottles line wooden shelves,…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 6

Some restaurants serve food. Others serve a view that makes the food secondary. These thirteen Louisiana patios fall…

By Laura Benton · Jul 6

Most visitors to this part of Louisiana head straight for the French Quarter without knowing that twenty minutes…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 6

You know a restaurant has serious pull when nobody at the table needs to “check the reviews” before…

By Lenora Winslow · Jul 5

The first thing you notice is the consomé. It arrives in a small cup alongside the birria tacos,…

By Dane Ashford · Jul 5