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Danny Heitman AT RANDOM
From my perch, I live with Christmas all year long I’ve been a magazine editor for the past five years, working on a second floor fashioned from what was once an attic. It’s a quiet, peaceful place where, with my closeness to the roof, I’m the first to learn when rain arrives to drum the shingles. My private roost has other quirks. A low space where the beams meet the eaves isn’t good for much else, so we use it to store odds and ends, including the office Christmas decorations. That’s how, in a small and abiding way, I’ve come to live with Christmas all year long. It’s there in April as I walk to my desk with a cup of coffee and spot a plastic tub of holiday ornaments sealed in their seasonal dormancy, like tulip bulbs waiting to sprout. In the depths of August, when temps here in Louisiana reach triple digits, I take comfort in the Christmas tree carefully boxed in cardboard a few feet from my keyboard. Its presence points to the cycle of time — how summer, whatever its perils and pleasures, will eventually yield to something else. There’s solace in knowing that nothing, even hurricane season, lasts for long. Autumn nudges me to see the holiday treasures beneath my office roof with new eyes. When the air cools and the afternoons grow shorter, I know that winter is arriving in a few weeks. For months now, like a fairy-tale kingdom in the trance of sleep, Christmas has rested silently in its nest of cartons and crates. Soon, the spell of the calendar will wake it up. As the man who counts Christmas as his constant companion, I get to be the one who breaks its slumber. Each December, I start fetching the office decorations from their dusty corner and hauling them downstairs. Before the migration began this month, I stood at the top of my workplace stairs for a bit and savored the moment. Memories returned from distant Decembers when I perched at the top of other stairs and longed for Christmas to bloom. My childhood bedroom was on the second floor, and I’d join a sister in our chilly stairwell each Christmas morning and wait for permission to clamber down the steps and see our presents. Those mornings taught me the magic of anticipation, the essence of any happy soul. In a world wounded by worry, Christmas renews our sense of life as an exercise in expectation rather than dread.
STAFF PHOTOS BY JAVIER GALLEGOS
Braised pork shank, clockwise from left, the house salad and chef’s bruschetta are on the menu at Nino’s.
PASSION & PURPOSE As our Restaurant of the Year, Nino’s finds new life without losing its soul BY LAUREN CHERAMIE
F
Staff writer
rom the street, Nino’s appears to be an unassuming restaurant, but it has long been a steady presence in Baton Rouge dining for over 20 years. This year, the Italian restaurant took on new life under the ownership of Shannon and Jason Lopez, whose combined experience, attention to hospitality and respect for what came before earned Nino’s the newspaper’s Restaurant of the Year. The couple bought the restaurant in July 2024 after a date night at the Bluebonnet Boulevard restaurant in 2022. They were both at a point in their careers where they wanted to work for themselves. When they came across a “convoluted” listing for a restaurant for sale, they suspected it was Nino’s. The couple scrapped plans to build something new and chose to invest in a place that already mattered to its customers. “We never imagined the reception that we would truly receive,” Shannon Lopez said. “We have held on to most of the Nino’s old regulars, and the coolest compliment
Owners Jason and Shannon Lopez purchased Nino’s in July 2024. from them is how relieved they are that it went to people who would love it and improve it. Because there are people in Baton Rouge who have more than 20 years of memories wrapped in this place.” That balance of continuity and thoughtful change is central to why Nino’s stood out this year. Under the Lopezes, the restaurant has remained familiar while sharpening its focus on hospitality, consistency
and food that resonates emotionally with diners. The essence of Nino’s, in many ways, captures the zeitgeist of Baton Rouge. There’s more to it than what meets the eye. Sometimes it’s overlooked, but it’s most certainly moving, shaking and growing. It has hospitality at the top of mind, and it’s full of people who love good food.
ä See NINO’S, page 2G
ä See AT RANDOM, page 2G
Did 1940s sightings lead to plans for a UFO conference in La.? While UFO sightings were rampant in central Louisiana between 1947 and 1955, reports were coming from throughout the state. Mystery still surrounds saucer-like lights snapped by the Coast Guard in 1952. FILE PHOTO
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
During the Atomic Age, launched in 1945, the detonation of the atomic bomb ushered in Cold War politics, nuclear energy and Godzilla. That’s also when objects began appearing seemingly en masse in the sky throughout Louisiana, particularly in Alexandria, a fact that prompted Kyle Watt’s inquiry.
“I once heard that a national conference on UFOs was once organized in Alexandria but never happened,” the Zachary resident said. “It was supposed to happen in the 1940s. Is this true? And if it is, why not?” Yes, it’s true, and the year was 1947, long before the 2020s, when popularity of unidentified flying objects have soared to an all-time high through such popu-
lar television series as “Ancient Aliens.” These days, the mysterious flying machines are officially known as unidentified anomalous phenomena or unidentified aerial phenomena, but most people still use the term UFO. Mention UFO, and people begin thinking of spaceships, specifically flying saucers. “And that’s what most people
ä See CURIOUS, page 2G
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Christmas à la Louisiane: It’s a bit unique BY MYRNA BERGERON Contributing writer
There is no snow, the grass is still green, but the calendar insists that it is December — this is Christmastime in Louisiana. Once twinkling outdoor lights begin to appear in our neighborHuman hoods, we enter Condition into the spirit of joy with our community. It is amazing that we welcome the same holiday stories, the same Yuletide music and still look forward to hearing them. The time has come to pull down those noisy attic stairs and climb up to retrieve all the ornaments, ceramic Santas and tinsel needed to decorate our houses. The old crèche set is a family treasure. Even though one of the figures, a shepherd, has only one arm and one of the sheep is missing a leg, it will still have a place of honor near our Christmas tree. How enchanting it is to decorate our homes with the variety
of fresh greenery available in our area. Glossy dark green magnolia leaves, scented bright green pine branches, sprays of red holly berries with their jagged green leaves and chocolate brown pinecones. They’re all beautiful and plentiful. Many of the fir trees that we use as Christmas trees
will have traveled many miles to get to us. The very idea of bringing an entire, live tree inside our living space is an outlandish but exciting. Christmas was not always peaceful within our household of two adults, seven children and two cats. Stuff happens! Like the
NINO’S
Continued from page 1G
Food, emotion and experience
Collectively, Shannon and Jason Lopez have more than 30 years of restaurant experience. Shannon Lopez began working in restaurants at 14, inspired in part by her mother, who was a server. “I was in restaurants before I was the legal age to be in restaurants,” she quipped. Her first legal restaurant job was at Cracker Barrel in Hammond. She later studied music education in college, a discipline she still sees as closely connected to food. “The cool thing about music is that it connects us on a visceral level,” she said. “For me, the only other thing that does that is food. Food is emotional in a way that words aren’t.” That connection between food and emotions became clear when she began hosting dinner parties for friends in college. When she could no longer afford to cook for everyone, her guests began buying ingredients so the gatherings could continue. “They would go and buy the ingredients, and we would have dinner parties every night,” she said. “It’s funny, looking back at that time and realizing that that’s exactly what I wanted to do for a living — and here I am.”
CURIOUS
Continued from page 1G were reporting in Louisiana in 1947 — saucer-shaped spaceships,” said Michael Wynne, author and central Louisiana historian. “There were so many of these sightings, and they were all reported by Alexandria’s local newspaper, The Town Talk.”
The UFO capital of the world In fact, it was the newspaper’s managing editor and columnist, Adras Laborde, who organized the national conference. Laborde was inducted into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame in 2012 after a career stretching from the mid 1940s to the early 1990s. He was fairly new at the newspaper when he supported the idea of staging a national UFO conference at Alexandria’s downtown grand hotel, the Hotel Bentley. “He was one of its biggest promoters,” Wynne said. “It was going to be the first of its kind, but it didn’t happen. Why? Because Adras Laborde and his committee required at least 10 out-of-state people who had made sightings to commit to coming to Alexandria, but they only two out-of-state people signed up.” Meanwhile, almost 80 Louisianans who had filed sightings registered for the event. And central Louisianans continued filing their reports. Wynne has transcribed these reports in his book, “It Came From Outer Space!: Flying Saucers Visits To Louisiana,” for which he did extensive research not only on the conference but the sightings. “The mass sightings were only for a short period, from August to December in 1947,” Wynne said. “Adras had scheduled the conference for December of that year. Alexandria was considered the UFO capital of the world, and it’s kind of ridiculous to have called off the conference because they only had two out-of-state people
time when, just before guests were to arrive for our annual extended family gathering, the electric meter partially fell off our house, leaving us without electricity. There were no lights, no oven to cook in, and teenage girls needing hair dryers. Thanks to an electrician willing to work on Christmas Eve, we regained electric power. For a short while, we were in panic mode. During Yuletide, the kitchen is one of the busiest places with all the holiday food preparation. The kitchen delivers delicious aromas as well as joyous noises throughout the house. What will the entrée be, tender pork roast or perhaps the customary roast turkey? Whatever is decided upon, it will be preceded by a cup of steaming gumbo with rice and followed with a cup of rich, hot Louisiana coffee. Here in south Louisiana, tradition plays an important part in our lives and Christmastime presents us with a unique legacy. On Christmas Eve, we look forward to the arrival of Papa Noel or
Father Christmas to town by placing great, bright bonfires along the top of the levees bordering the Mississippi River. Participating family groups begin building their bonfire creations weeks ahead. What an enchanting sight it is to see the winter darkness speckled by blazing fires lighting the way for miles along both sides of our great river. What a wonderful time of the year. All the colors, lights, sounds and traditions of the season fill our hearts with love and happiness. Each Christmas brings new memories to treasure. Bon Noël! Merry Christmas! — Bergeron lives in Baton Rouge.
my first chef’s knife,” he said. That shared background informs how the Lopezes divide responsibilities at Nino’s. Jason runs the kitchen, alongside chef Jon Devillier, while Shannon focuses on tasting, service and the overall guest experience. Sometimes, Jason will prepare a dish and hand it to Shannon without tasting it himself. “I talk to Baton Rouge, and I have for the last four years,” said Shannon Lopez, who has worked with Proverbial Wine Bistro, Supper Club and The Colonel’s Club. “I listen — and, honestly, we have very similar palates, me and Baton Rouge.”
and I take a bite of this food, and it was like full-on man tears,” he said, still a little teary-eyed today as he talks about it. “She was like, ‘What is wrong with you?’ I was like, ‘I just really hope that one day someone takes a bite of my food and gets so emotionally attached to it that it brings them to tears.” That philosophy shapes daily life at Nino’s. While the restaurant continues to evolve, the focus remains on making guests feel seen and cared for. Looking ahead, the Lopezes have ideas for expansion, including the possibility of a fast-casual concept called Pico Nino and maybe a second location. Any growth, they say, will be deliberate. “We’re going to do it low and slow and make sure that we’re making the best calculated decision possible,” Shannon said. “We haven’t found it yet.” For now, their focus remains on the 60-person dining room in front of them. Any plans for growth will come later. What matters most is what happens each night when the room fills and service begins. Under the Lopezes, Nino’s continues to evolve, but its purpose is steady: to be a place people return to not just for a meal, but for the way they’re received — and for what unfolds once they sit down.
Hospitality as a philosophy Cap steak feature is served at Nino’s. Shannon Lopez attended culinary school before leaving to take a management position at The Cheesecake Factory in California. In 2014, she helped open the Metairie location, where she met Jason, who was working in the kitchen. Over the next eight years, they worked for the company in different roles and locations, including the Midwest, the East Coast and Dubai. Jason Lopez, who is from South Texas, did not attend culinary school. Instead, he talked his way into his first restaurant job after
STAFF PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS leaving a sales position at a sporting goods company. “I walked into a restaurant, and they said, ‘What do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I want to be a server.’ And they said, ‘Well, we don’t hire servers without two years of experience.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but I’m going to be really good at it,’ ” he said. “I literally talked myself into a job.” He credits much of his culinary education to The Cheesecake Factory, which operates a full-scratch kitchen with an expansive menu. “That’s where I discovered my love for food. It’s where I bought
ena in the lower Louisiana region, which, at the time, was still Spanish territory,” Wynne said. The phenomenon allegedly passed in Baton Rouge at night on April 5, 1800. Dunbar’s description of the sighting is detailed: “It was first seen in the South West, and moved so rapidly, passing over the heads of the spectators, as to disappear in the North East in about a quarter of a minute. It appeared to be of the size of a large house, 70 or 80 feet long. ... “It appeared to be about 200 yards above the surface of the earth, wholly luminous, but not emitting sparks; of a colour resembling the sun near the horizon in a cold frosty evening, which PROVIDED IMAGE BY THE LOUISIANA may be called a crimson red. POLITICAL HALL OF FAME When passing right over the heads of the spectators, the light on the Adras Laborde, managing editor surface of the earth, was little and columnist for the Alexandria short of the effect of sun-beams, Daily Town Talk, spearheaded the though at the same time, looking effort to stage a national UFO another way, the stars were visconference in Alexandria in 1947. ible, which appears to be a confirmation of the opinion formed of its who signed up between 60 and 80 moderate elevation. In passing, a in-state people who had commitconsiderable degree of heat was felt but no electric sensation.” ted to it.”
A phenomenon in the sky
The Air Force gets involved
But, as noted in Wynne’s book, sightings were taking place throughout the state, one as far back as 1801. “The first documented sighting was in a letter sent to Thomas Jefferson in 1801,” Wynne said. “And that sighting was in Baton Rouge.” The letter was from Natchez, Mississippi, resident Thomas Dunbar, who sent it about a month before Jefferson’s presidential inauguration. Jefferson also was serving as president of the American Philosophical Society, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The organization published Dunbar’s letter in Volume 6 of its newsletter, “Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.” “Dunbar was a member of the society and was also a diligent investigator of natural phenom-
The object was seen crashing in a wooded area, but caused no cataclysmic damage. Could it have been a meteorite? Wynne says no. “It is believed that what Dunbar describes, if accurate, was not a meteorite, because an object of this size, entering Earth’s atmosphere at a speed typical of objects falling to earth from space, would have left a much larger trace of itself,” Wynne said. “For example, scientists estimate the size of the iron meteor that created Arizona’s Meteor Crater at roughly 50 meters.” As for the reason for the influx of 1940s UFO sightings in central Louisiana, Wynne said there is no definitive explanation. The area was home to England Air Force Base, which logged the reports through the Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which have recently been released by the Na-
Advocate readers may submit stories of about 500 words to The Human Condition at features@theadvocate.com or The Advocate, Features, 10705 Rieger Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. There is no payment, and stories will be edited. Authors should include their city of residence.
Their approach to hospitality is intentional and personal. Shannon Lopez draws inspiration from Will Guidara’s “Unreasonable Hospitality,” aiming to make each visit memorable — which can mean recreating a dish a guest remembers from a past special, celebrating a milestone birthday or surprising a table with Champagne. For Jason Lopez, food is also deeply personal. While visiting New Orleans for Shannon’s birthday while they were engaged, the couple had dinner at Ken, an Asian Cajun fusion restaurant that has since closed. On the walk back to their hotel, they stopped at Bouch- Email Lauren Cheramie at erie, where Jason ordered boudin. lauren.cheramie@theadvocate. “We make it back to the hotel, com.
tional Archives. “And the sightings were extremely detailed, not only the statements from the people, but also in how the Air Force addresses these cases,” Wynne said. “And then the Air Force, in turn, investigated the people who reported the sightings.” Wynne also researched data from the National UFO Reporting Center, which documented reports from throughout Louisiana. “It’s just raw data that hasn’t been investigated,” he said.
Flying objects with orange lights Finally, he zeroed in on central Louisiana through The Town Talk’s barrage of news reports. “The Air Force would just downplay them, saying, ‘Oh, there was a weather balloon or there were airplanes in the area, and we can’t talk about it at this time,” Wynne said. “But the accounts just proliferated from, from ‘47 through as late as 1955. In fact, the sightings became so overwhelming that they became old hat. People stopped paying attention, and it just died out.” That is, until 1978, when Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” hit movie theaters. “That reinvigorated the sightings,” Wynne said. “People weren’t embarrassed to talk about them anymore.” Looking now at all the descriptions, Wynne has found a running theme — most people identified the flying objects as saucershaped with orange lights. Did they really see these spaceships? Well, the people who saw them apparently believed it, so much that they were willing to bear witness at a national conference. Do you have a question about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
Workers assemble a towering Christmas tree in the atrium of One Canal Place in New Orleans on Nov. 16.
AT RANDOM
Continued from page 1G All of this came to mind the other day as a work friend climbed our office stairs to help me bring down Christmas. Others joined us, and before long, the splendor of the season was spilling into the room. Blue and silver baubles claimed their perfect spot on the resurrected tree, its lights a constellation that we admired as avidly as Magi scanning the desert sky. Christmas had risen from its boxes, claiming our hearts once again. Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.
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A lifelong connection to Lake Pontchartrain Kristi Trail drives conservation work along the shore
BY JAN RISHER
Staff writer
Long before she ran Pontchartrain Conservancy, Kristi Trail was a kid on the lakefront, swimming in water most people learned to avoid because of its pollution. Even so, that early connection to the lake shapes the work that led to her 2025 Inspirit Award. Trail has served as the executive director of the Pontchartrain Conservancy for nine years. The award recognizes her work protecting the water, land and communities across the 16 parishes in the Pontchartrain Basin. During her tenure, the organization has nearly doubled its staff from 16 to more than 30, reflecting its expanding environmental and education work. As the organization has grown, Trail keeps returning to the thought that first drew her to this work: how people are able to experience the lake itself. Trail says that when it comes to lakefront swimming, the northshore has easier access than the southshore which is complicated because of the amount of infrastructure. That access question, she said, is part of a larger conversation about reconnecting people with the lake — a conversation that often leads to Lincoln Beach, a place many residents haven’t been able to access for decades. Trail is pleased that the city of New Orleans is working hard to reopen Lincoln Beach, which is expected to be done in 2026, because the space holds a significant place in New Orleans’ history. Established
PROVIDED PHOTOS
Kristi Trail, executive director of Pontchartrain Conservancy, winner of 2025 Inspirit Award
INSPIRIT WINNER in 1938, it provided a haven for the Black community. For Trail, its reopening represents a step toward restoring not just access, but the relationship people once had with the lake. “We take credit for cleaning up the lake and are so excited for people to go out and enjoy our beautiful lake,” Trail said. Trail remembers the “Save our Lake” campaign that started in 1989, when a group of residents and scientists came together to raise concern of the region’s environmental challenges. That effort led to the creation of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, the organization that later became the Pontchartrain Conservancy. Those early efforts laid the groundwork for the monitoring and restoration work the Pontchartrain Conservancy focuses on
today. One of Trail’s goals is for the lake to become top of mind again for people in south Louisiana. She believes the organization’s long-term water-quality improvements are helping move it in that direction. “Sometimes people don’t even think about the lake because they don’t look at it,” she said. “We want to make it beautiful — to make it something people want to look at.” Since 2001, Pontchartrain Conservancy has released weekly water-quality reports to help residents understand conditions at swimming spots and other recreational areas around the basin. “The lake is a very dynamic system,” Trail said. “It changes on a daily basis, but on a long-term trend, it’s good and improving.” But Trail and her staff are using their resources to educate and inform beyond the shores of Pontchartrain by offering teacher training
Lincoln Beach in New Orleans is not yet open to the public, but the city of New Orleans is expected to reopen it in 2026. across the state. The trainings focus on a variety of water issues — from marine debris, the effect of microplastics, water quality, types of flooding and more. The staff development classes usually take place on Saturdays at the Lighthouse Museum — or in schools across Louisiana. Teachers receive a $100 stipend for participating in the training, plus a kit of supplies to take back to their classrooms. “Our goal is to work with teachers teaching earth sci-
ences to build hyper-local activities so they can teach about the wetlands in south Louisiana,” Trail said. She said the number of students visiting the interactive Lighthouse museum for hands-on programs continues to grow each year. “Under Kristi’s leadership, Pontchartrain Conservancy was awarded an EPA Gulf Guardian Award (given to agencies making positive impacts on the Gulf of Mexico’s health) for its work in STEM education in 2024, showing how
impactful this work is not just in Louisiana but across the Gulf coast,” wrote board chair Dickie Brennan in his nomination of Kristi Trail for the Inspirit Award. Trail says she loves the work — the unpredictability of the days, the conversations with residents and the chance to explain what’s happening in and around the basin in large groups and one-on-one. Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.
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TIGERS WIN EIGHTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK
The Tigers celebrate after defeating Coastal Carolina 5-3 in game two of the College World Series finals in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday. The roar is restored. When Jay Johnson took over as the LSU baseball coach in 2022, the six-time national champion Tigers were in the midst of a 13-year title
STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK
drought. The Tigers returned to the top of college baseball during the 2023 season. LSU survived
LSU center fielder Chris Stanfield, right, celebrates with catcher Luis Hernandez as they both score on a two-run single by left fielder Derek Curiel in the fourth inning of Game 2 of the College World Series finals against Coastal Carolina on Sunday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. LSU scored four runs in the decisive inning and won 5-3 to earn its second title under coach Jay Johnson in four years.
a dicey regional that went to a winner-take-all final at Alex Box Stadium against upstart Little Rock. Then LSU dominated, sweeping the super regional and College World Series in seven games.
BY KOKI RILEY
blossomed under legendary coach Skip Bertman. No. 8 is on its way to Baton Rouge. ä SEE COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE TIGERS’ COLLEGE WORLD SERIES WIN. PAGE 1B
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OMAHA, Neb. — To call anything a dynasty requires a certain level of consistent, championship excellence. The Boston Celtics in the 60s, New York Yankees in the 90s and UConn women’s basketball in the 2010s certainly fit the description. LSU winning five national championships in 10 years under Skip Bertman definitely qualifies. Coach Jay Johnson’s Tigers aren’t quite there yet, but what LSU accomplished Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field was remarkable nevertheless and potentially the beginning of another baseball dynasty in Baton Rouge. For the eighth time in program history, and for
the second time in three seasons, LSU won the national championship. The Tigers took down Coastal Carolina 5-3 in Game 2 of the College World Series final to secure the 2025 title. “Unbelievable. I’m so proud right now,” Johnson said. “It’s not to be taken for granted being here two years ago. That was special. Greatest night of my life. “This is equal and maybe even tops it in some ways.” The win secured Johnson’s second title in four years at LSU, making him the first coach in college baseball history to accomplish that feat at the same school. The Tigers did it despite bringing back just 12 players who appeared in a game from last year’s team, adding 12 players from the transfer portal,
three junior-college recruits and 10 freshmen in the offseason. “We (added) really talented freshmen ...,” Johnson said. “In a month’s time, we were able to add Chris (Stanfield). We were able to add Anthony (Eyanson), Zac Cowan, Luis Hernandez, Danny Dickinson to those 12 guys who were the right 12 guys.” With the score tied 1-1, the fourth inning proved to be the difference between a coronation and a Game 3 on Monday. The Tigers scored four runs on a walk, a hit by pitch and four singles to take a 5-1 lead. Sophomore Jake Brown led off with a walk before a single from junior Jared Jones and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for the junior Stanfield.
Rabalais: These Tigers measure up to LSU’s towering expectations, Page 4C
Braswell’s fingerprints all over Tigers’ College World Series title, Page 5C
See which Tigers made an appearance on the All-CWS team, Page 5C
Staff writer
After Sunday and Johnson’s second national title, he has LSU threatening to reboot a dynasty that
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