Anthony Deshautelle is proud of his championship boxing belts, but he doesn’t keep them all. Instead, two of the prized belts shine from inside of a trophy case at the Alexandria Police Department headquarters, engraved with the names of fallen…
Some towns are cut from a different cloth than the state they inhabit. Obviously, New Orleans is different from other parts of Louisiana, Austin is still a bit different than the rest of Texas, and, within the borders of the…
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — with its dozen of stages and countless purveyors of art, crafts and yummy lunches — is just one of many music festivals around Louisiana throughout the year, but it is by far…
Lent is upon us, and probably just in the nick of time. The human body can only take so much Mardi Gras before it spirals into an altered state. Someone once said that Louisiana itself is an altered state of reality,…
With his rock star persona, tattoos marking culinary milestones, penetrating eyes and an easy laugh that obscures an indefatigable, serious work ethic, Chef Ryan André is at the top of his game at Soji Modern Asian in Baton Rouge. Opened…
Several factors make Roberto's River Road Restaurant in Sunshine memorable. For starters, the location — it is nearly impossible to find to the extent that it can start to feel like a prank as you drive and drive, seemingly going…
Age is just a number. People are living longer, staying active later in life. They don’t age; they mature. They’re not “over the hill;” they’re climbing it — or even running up it. There are 84-year-olds doing half-marathons. There are…
It’s the height of crawfish season, and as much as we love our weekly crawfish boils, we also enjoy those little crustaceans in other preparations. For a change of pace, try a crawfish etouffée enriched with shrimp and lump crabmeat,…
Magazine publisher Jay Covington describes the previous state of the house he shares with his partner Hugh Johnson as “Versailles Over the Top.” When the couple built the Georgian-style house in 1998, their tastes leaned toward heavy furnishings, French embellishments,…
The long-neglected and nearly-forgotten “Fountain of the Four Winds” — one of Louisiana’s most spectacular, yet controversial Great Depression-era New Deal works of art located at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport — is at last being restored to its former…
Stacked three and four high and all around Blake Haney are brown boxes of just about everything: stickers, T-shirts, hats, socks — everything. Leaning back in his chair and turning his attention from his computer for what looks like the…
Parents are the experts when it comes to showing love and support, from caring for a child’s skinned knee and cooking family dinners to teaching life lessons and lending a helping hand. Roles often reverse as parents age, and adult…
My career has taken me numerous places throughout the United States and always — always — I’m asked about our decadent festival known as Mardi Gras. Why do we celebrate in the middle…
Nature is resilient. Life rebounds and prospers, with or without humans. Nothing seems more evident of this than Briarwood Nature Preserve northeast of Natchitoches, once the home of acclaimed Louisiana naturalist Caroline Dormon. A tornado ripped through the 210-acre preserve…
Mardi Gras parades have long gone to the dogs. We can’t celebrate the Carnival season without our pets! Yes, we parade anything and everything here in Louisiana. Most of the pet krewes features the canine variety but a few, such…
So many times when I’m driving through the Louisiana backroads, I catch a glimpse of bayous, lakes and rivers and vow to return to explore whatever lurks behind the trees and houses I pass. Heading from New Iberia to Lafayette…
I remember reading “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy, in which the main character Binx Bolling in the award-winning novel remarks at how a place doesn’t exist unless it’s been in a film. Naturally, New Orleans exists, having been the setting…
Winter remains mild this year, so the birds at my window are the usual suspects — resident cardinal and wren couples, tufted titmouse, chickadees and the sparrows I can never name (they all look alike!) I’m waiting for the temperature…
In Shreveport, revelry goes double as the Krewe of Harambee celebrates Carnival along with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And this year, the krewe marks its 20th anniversary. Festivities happen over the Martin Luther King Weekend, Jan. 19-20,…
Louisiana is a great birding destination year-round but particularly interesting in the winter, when birds are craving a warmer climate and flock to the Bayou State. Here are a few South Louisiana hotspots birding enthusiasts will want to visit. The…
When Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley tells people what he does for a living, he often fields the following query: That’s a full-time job? It certainly is — and then some, Hundley says. As the newly tapped head of…
Built in three sections, the McRaven Mansion in Vicksburg has been labeled the “Time Capsule of the South.” And rightly so. The original 1797 structure remains next to the 1836 addition with an elaborate Greek Revival front, constructed in 1849.…
The Bicentennial celebration called “No Man’s Land, Becoming Louisiana” is now entering its second year of festivals, special events and driving tours through Sabine River territory (for decades cursed with border disputes and rampant crime). The 24-month observance is a…
