Gambit Digital Edition: February 19, 2024

February 19-25 2024 Volume 45 Number 8

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FEB. 19 — FEB. 25, 2024 VOLUME 45 || NUMBER 8

NEWS Opening Gambit ............... 6

Corinne Robin Fox

Commentary ................... 7

REALTOR

Clancy DuBos .................. 9

TOP PRODUCER

Blake Pontchartrain.......... 11

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F E AT U R E S Arts & entertainment ........ 5 eat & Drink.....................18

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Music Listings................. 24 Music............................ 25 STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE

13 MORGAN CITY | FRANKLIN | BERWICK | PATTERSON | BALDWIN | CHARENTON

Home Stretch

Helena Moreno focuses on accountability as she enters her final year as Council President

Film.............................. 26 Puzzles ......................... 27 C OV E R P H O TO S BY M A X B EC H E R E R A N D DAV I D G R U N F E L D C OV E R D E S I G N BY D O R A S I S O N

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Exhibitionists

Hiss Golden Messenger

M.C. Taylor grew up in California and played in punk and rock bands before moving to North Carolina to study folklore. In the Triangle, he returned to focusing on music, settling into Americana, country and folk sounds as Hiss Golden Messenger. He still fronts the collective, and the latest album, 2023’s “Jump For Joy,” is an upbeat follow-up to the introspective pandemic project “Quietly Blowing It.” Taylor also draws on personal reflections despite the fictional alter ego, Michael Crow, at the heart of the storytelling. Color Green opens. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, at Tipitina’s.

Tickets $21 via tipitinas.com.

The NOLA Project presents ‘The Colored Museum’ | by Will Coviello WHEN THE QUEER PERFORMER MISS ROJ ENTERS IN GEORGE C. WOLFE’S “The

Colored Museum,” she delivers her concise view of the world.

“God created Black people, and Black people created style,” Miss roj says, before describing her powers as a “snap queen.”

“We joke, but Miss roj is right out of the Bywater,” says Torey Hayward, who is co-directing the NOLA Project’s production of the play along with Tenaj Wallace. “She would be performing at the AllWays Lounge.”

In “The Colored Museum,” Miss roj says she performs at a New york bar called The Bottomless Pit. The short vignette is one of 11 “exhibits” in the play’s conceptual museum. The NOLA Project is partnering with the New Orleans African American Museum to present the show at the Treme institution Feb. 22-March 9.

Wolfe’s landmark drama was first produced in New york in 1986. It explores stereotypes of Black people and culture and debates within Black culture as well as framing them within Black history. In the opening scene, called “Git on Board,” a Black flight attendant welcomes guests aboard “Celebrity Slaveship.”

In a biting, satirical pre-flight welcome, she lays out safety instructions that conjure a history of the middle passage from the Gold Coast to stops in Bahia, Brazil, Haiti and Havana.

Passengers need to obey the “fasten shackles” sign and there’s no drumming allowed in the cabin, she says. That journey also moves forward in time to contemporary issues.

Wolfe is known for writing “The Colored Museum” and the books for the musicals “Jelly’s Last Jam” and “Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk.”

But he’s best known for his award-winning directing work, which included productions of New york productions of both parts of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” and “Caroline, or Change.”

Though “Colored Museum” is nearly 40 years old, much of the work was ahead of its time and aged very well.

The drag performer Miss roj is one excellent example.

“Miss roj is a character I remember reading,” Hayward says. “When I was 19 reading the play, it felt like a period piece. Now you hear the lingo she uses in a play that was written in 1986, and now those words are in a Beyonce song. Black artists have become more

PROVIDED PHOTO BY CHRIS FRISINA

empowered in theatrical spaces and in music on the radio. That empowerment has allowed the language and characters George wrote in the ’80s to now be in the forefront of media, possibly in a way they weren’t in 1986.”

The play is presented as if the audience are walking through a museum looking at exhibits. Hayward and Wallace are literally moving audiences through the African American Museum, with its 11 scenes taking place across six rooms.

The introduction to Celebrity Slaveship and the final piece remain in the original order, but they have changed the order of other segments.

Characters in the drama and “docents” direct the movement through the space. Two performances run each day, almost overlapping as one group enters the museum and another exits.

One of the play’s more central exhibits is called “The Last Mama-onthe-Couch Play.” It was written as a scathing critique of formula dramas about Black people, particularly Lorraine Hansberry’s “A raisin in the Sun,” about a Black family in Chicago in the 1950s trying to realize their dreams to open their own store and move into a white neighborhood.

While that drama may not be familiar to younger audiences, the scene still resonates, Hayward says.

“Now we have Tyler Perry,” he says. “‘Last Mama’ feels like a jab at Tyler

PROVIDED PHOTO

BY BRIAN EGLAND

Perry now, even though it was written as this farce of ‘A raisin in the Sun.’ It’s been pretty powerful to see how that critique of Lorraine Hansberry’s work can be transferred onto one of the largest drag characters in Black culture.”

The exhibits also feature a cooking show, a singer, a photoshoot, a piece on hairstyles and more.

The directors have cast the work to include familiar local actors but also comedians and musicians.

The NOLA Project had originally pitched a production of “The Colored Museum” at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The theater company had developed a relationship with the museum over a dozen years of productions of Shakespeare and original works in the sculpture garden as well as numerous works inside the museum.

In August 2023, the NOLA Project announced it was ending its partnership with NOMA, saying in press release that the “Colored Museum” proposal was rejected by NOMA. The NOLA Project has since presented an outdoor work on the Lafitte Greenway. This is its first production in partnership with the African American Museum.

Tickets $10-$38 via nolaproject.com.

Shows run Feb. 22-March 9 at the New Orleans African American Museum at 1417 Governor Nicholls St.

Agua Mole Pedra Dura — Brazilian Connections

Marigny Opera Ballet presents two works focused on the rhythms of 19th-century Brazilian music. The title is translated as “soft water, hard rock” and is from a Portuguese proverb about perseverance. The pieces were choreographed by Jarina Carvalho, the company’s ballet master, and Diogo de Lima, a former company member, and the music was composed by guitarist Geovane Paiva Santos for his Orkestra Maria Fumaca. At 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, through Sunday, Feb. 25, and March 1-3. Find tickets and information at marignyoperahouse.org.

Tinsley Ellis and Marcia Ball

Atlanta bluesman Tinsley Ellis built his reputation on a steady stream of blues rock albums starting in the early 1980s.

He released “Naked Truth,” his first solo acoustic project, earlier this month. The album is heavy on folk blues and slide guitar work. He’s joined by fellow Alligator records artist Marcia Ball for a show at the Broadside. Both will play music from their own deep catalogues before doing a set together. At 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23.

Tickets $25 via broadsidenola.com.

‘Black Angels Over Tuskegee’

The drama tells the story of six Black airmen who worked to overcome segregation and become pilots in the united PAGE 23

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OPENING GAMBIT

NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Who’s got the good hook up for some cheap crawfish?

# TC OH EU N T

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

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Queen Tahj Williams of the Golden Eagles designed the official Super Bowl LIX logo, a red, green, purple and silver piece that Williams created using beads. The Black Masking Indian queen is the first artist from outside the NFL that the organization has tapped to design a Super Bowl logo. Super Bowl LIX takes place in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025.

The McMillan-Stewart Foundation, which supports projects and organizations that develop Black leaders and promote African and AfricanAmerican culture, has donated $300,000 to Xavier university of Louisiana to establish a new scholarship fund for students facing economic challenges. The Genevieve McMillan-reba Steward Foundation Scholarship was created in memory of rosa Parks, and it will help full-time students who are facing financial needs.

Gov. Jeff Landry is filling many important state positions overseeing Louisiana’s natural resources with fossil fuel company executives, signaling a hard, business-friendly shift in favor of those industries and away from coastal conservation and battling climate change. Landry also has added “energy” to the Department of energy and Natural resources and appointed oil exec Tyler Gray to lead the agency.

THE NUMBER OF DAYS BETWEEN MARDI GRAS 2024 AND MARDI GRAS 2025.

The holiday next year falls on March 4, which means revelers have just over a year to restore their livers, plan costumes and practice dance moves. This year’s Carnival season was only 39 days, while next year’s will be 58. Carnival always starts Jan. 6, but Mardi Gras day is determined by the lunar calendar.

C’EST W H AT Screen shot from Facebook

New Orleans police investigating cop who assaulted L.B. Landry musician during Muses Mardi Gras Parade THE NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT IS INVESTIGATING

the assault of a member of the L.B. Landry marching band by one of its cops during the Muses Mardi Gras parade earlier this month as the band stopped briefly on St. Charles Ave. Multiple people caught the incident on video, which were posted to social media. In those videos, as the band was preparing to resume marching and make the corner of Canal and St. Charles. As the band started playing, an NOPD officer shoved one of the teens hard enough to knock him out of line and into another band member.

NOPD last Saturday announced they had suspended the officer

from parade duty and were investigating the assault, though he appeared to remain on active duty and was being paid. The boys family has continued to push for stiffer penalties for the officer.

The two students exchanged words with the officer, at which point a second NOPD officer shoved the second student, before the band began marching and the two young men moved off. the student and the officer did not appear to have any interactions prior to the assault.

Based on the videos reviewed

by Gambit, it does not appear that the student and the officer had any interaction prior to the assault.

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When it comes to kids, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry chooses cruelty THE PATHWAY TO POLITICAL HELL IS PAVED WITH BAD INTENTIONS. Consider, for example, the decision by

Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration to reject federal Summer electronic Benefits Transfer (eBT) funds that would have given low-income Louisiana families money to feed their kids over the summer.

It reflects the sort of cruel policy decisions we and others warned Landry would make once elected, and it will achieve nothing good for Louisiana. It will, however, punish children and families simply for being poor.

There is zero public benefit in stripping poor families of much-needed money, let alone in starving their children. It doesn’t foster a sense of responsibility, nor does it encourage families to pick themselves up by their mythical bootstraps, as Landry has claimed.

The very idea that children will learn “responsibility” by going hungry for three months is beyond absurd. Were it not so monstrously cruel, it would be clownishly laughable. But this is no laughing matter. Children will suffer.

So, let’s call this decision what it is: the Landry Doctrine.

Moreover, the Summer eBT program is a proven success. It helps families nourish their kids during the summer, and good nutrition improves kids’ ability to learn. That makes it a wise use of state funds.

The program has additional benefits. For conservatives who preach the “rising tide lifts all ships” economic gospel, it means more money spent at local grocery stores — some $130 million in added economic impact.

Supporters of the Landry Doctrine say the decision to reject Summer eBT funds will save the state about $2.5 million in administrative costs. That view only considers the program’s relatively small cost, not its enormous benefits.

The $2.5 million “savings” is, um, small potatoes compared to the more than $71 million in federal funds the program would bring to the state — and hardly worth the harm Louisiana will inflict upon around 600,000 of its poorest children.

The decision becomes even more illogical considering Landry’s plan to send 150 National Guard troops to the

Gov. Jeff Landry speaks during a press conference on his plan to deploy national guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas on February 8.

PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS / THE ADVOCATE

Texas-Mexico border — at a cost of at least $3 million. And for what? The Louisiana National Guard has no business patrolling that border, and its presence there will provide no economic benefit to Louisianans.

Quite the contrary, in fact. Forcing 150 working men and women who belong to the Guard to leave their jobs and their families will do great harm to them, their employers and their families.

Only one person will benefit from such political showboating: Landry, who seeks to elevate his national profile among conservatives and is willing to waste taxpayers’ money to achieve that goal.

These two decisions are eerily reminiscent of the kind of short-sighted, cruel policies implemented by another Louisiana governor who was more concerned with his national profile than the welfare of his constituents: Bobby Jindal. He left office as one of America’s worstrated governors and flopped as a presidential candidate.

If he won’t reverse course, Landry should at least find ways to help local governments access eBT funds.

Otherwise, he will be destined to follow Jindal down the pathway to political hell.

And deservedly so.

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Redistricting cases could again upend Louisiana’s political landscape FEDERAL JUDGES WHO STRUCK DOWN THE WAY LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS DREW legisla-

tive, congressional and other district maps forever changed the state’s political landscape in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

Now, the latest round of litigation could have the same tectonic effect.

The rulings handed down decades ago initially came in response to claims that the state violated the “one person, one vote” principle of equal representation, the equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the u.S. Constitution and the Voting rights Act of 1965.

Those cases led to the elimination of multi-member legislative districts, which Louisiana once used to dilute Black voting strength and give sparsely populated rural parishes outsized influence. They also gave Black citizens significant representation in the Legislature, on state and local governing bodies, and in the judiciary.

But redistricting remains a fundamentally political process. It’s often said that every four years voters choose their legislators — and every 10 years legislators choose their voters. That only hints at what really drives redistricting: politicians’ self-interest.

If the essence of the physician’s oath is “First do no harm,” that of the politician is “First do no harm — to myself.”

That explains why lawmakers in 2022 adopted legislative and congressional redistricting plans that maintained the status quo. even though nearly a third of Louisiana’s voting-age population is Black, they drew five majority-white (read: republican) congressional districts and only one majority-Black district; and only 11 of 39 state Senate districts and 29 of 105 state House districts are majority-Black.

That led to separate legal challenges. u.S. District Judge Shelly Dick of Baton rouge struck down both plans, starting with the congressional map. After appeals affirmed her decision, she ordered lawmakers to draw a new plan that included a second majority-Black district by Jan. 30 — or she would do it for them. They reluctantly complied, with some political intrigue.

Press Robinson, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit arguing Louisiana should have a second majority-Black congressional district, spoke on the steps of the State Capitol on the first day of a special legislative session on redistricting.

PHOTO BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN / THE ADVOCATE

At Gov. Jeff Landry’s behest, lawmakers created a meandering second majority-Black district that favors state Sen. Cleo Fields and disfavors u.S. rep.

Garret Graves, both of Baton rouge.

Fields, a Black Democrat, is a behindthe-scenes ally of Landry; Graves, a white republican, is despised by Landry.

Dick must now decide if the new congressional plan meets constitutional standards.

Meanwhile, a group of Graves supporters recently challenged the new congressional plan in another federal judicial district. That new challenge has yet to play out.

On Feb. 8, Dick voided the state legislative districting plan for the same reason she struck down the congressional plan. Five days later, the plaintiffs asked her to order new legislative elections in the fall. That would require lawmakers to fast-track the remapping process, which republicans oppose because it would threaten their super-majority in both legislative chambers. even if Dick orders new elections, a lengthy appeals process makes it unlikely they will happen this fall.

It’s a long shot right now, but not impossible, that we could see new legislative elections in the autumn of 2025.

That, along with a second majority-Black (read: Democrat) congressional district, would upend Louisiana’s political landscape once more.

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@GambitBlake | askblake@gambitweekly.com

Hey Blake,

While walking back from an Uptown Mardi Gras parade, on Perrier Street we passed a building with the words “H. Weil Baking Co.” on its exterior.

There must be a story there. What can you tell me?

Dear reader,

THE H. WEIL BAKING COMPANY HAS BEEN GONE from uptown New

Orleans for decades. For more than 50 years, however, it operated in the 4900 block of Prytania Street.

The rear of the bakery, which housed a garage and stable, faced the 4800 block of Perrier, where the name remains.

Henry Weil learned the baking business in his native Germany. He came to America and began working in bakeries around New Orleans before opening his own in 1897.

According to a 1952 New Orleans Item article, Weil and his wife moved to 4908 Prytania, across from the old Prytania streetcar barn. They set up a bakery on the first floor and lived above the business. The bread they produced was delivered in horse-drawn wagons and sold under the name Sally Ann Bread.

l o h o c l A S ki p th e e!

The H. Weil Baking Company was once located in Uptown New Orleans.

t s a T e h t t o N

PHOTO BY ERICA SEEMANN

According to the Item article, Weil was the first local bakery to wrap and slice bread. In 1946, Weil licensed the Holsum name and began producing bread under that name. A short time later, the bakery moved from uptown to a plant at 4700 Howard Avenue, where it remained until the 1980s.

Sunbeam bread was added to the product line in the 1960s.

Once the bakery relocated to Howard Avenue, other businesses operated at the Perrier Street address. In the 1950s and ’60s, they included A&M Pest Control, owned by Denny Miller, better known as “Miller the Killer,” whose jingle many New Orleanians can still recall. In recent years, the Perrier Street property was converted into two townhomes.

BLAKEVIEW THIS MONTH WE REMEMBER NEW ORLEANS CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER and attorney A.P. Tureaud, who was born 125 years ago on Feb. 26, 1899.

Alexander Pierre Tureaud was born in New Orleans and educated in the city’s public schools. At age 17, he moved to Chicago, where he worked on the railroads before relocating to New york. There, he became familiar with the work of the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), which influenced his next career move: law school. He earned a law degree from Howard university in 1925.

After practicing for a short time in Washington, D.C., he returned to Louisiana, where he was one of only four Black lawyers in the entire state. He would spend the rest of his legal career fighting against racial discrimination. As an attorney for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, Tureaud filed numerous lawsuits to desegregate schools, businesses and public facilities. He later became president of the NAACP’s local chapter and was a mentor to ernest “Dutch” Morial, New Orleans’ first Black mayor.

Tureaud died in 1972. u.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, a colleague of Tureaud’s earlier in his career at the NAACP, delivered the eulogy at his funeral. According to a Times-Picayune article, Marshall said, “In this age of civil rights, we got where we are today by the efforts of men like A.P. Tureaud, who made himself a leader. That man’s courage was unbelievable.”

In 1981, a stretch of London Avenue from St. Bernard Avenue to N. Broad Street was renamed in Tureaud’s honor. A life-sized statue of him by Sheleen Jones was unveiled in 1997. It stands in a park at A.P. Tureaud and St. Bernard avenues.

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Helena Moreno focuses on accountability as she enters her final year as Council President

BY JOHN STANTON | G A M B I T E D I T O R

G

ETTING THINGS DONE IN NEW ORLEANS is never easy.

The levers of government tend to shift slower than in other places — and certainly slower than most folks would like. But over the last several years, the situation seems to have gotten worse, even as the City Council has pushed through a number of measures to reform city government and speed up processes.

That resistance to fixing problems is weighing heavily on Council Member Helena Moreno as she enters what is likely her final year as president of the council. For all the legislative wins she’s had over the last several years, like finally helping relocate the Gordon Plaza families to approving a plan to clean up and redevelop Lincoln Beach, basic functions of city government seem to not just be struggling but actively declining.

“That’s what’s so incredibly discouraging about what we’re seeing, as far as things actually getting done by this administration and making sure that [basic] operations work in the city,” Moreno told Gambit earlier this month.

The interview happened just days after a rainstorm resulted in massive

flooding across th he city during the first weekend of Carnival parades in Uptown — which resulted in significant part because the adm ministration failed to spend more than $10 million the council had set aside specifically for cleaning the city’s catch baasins.

“I think what’s really aggravating for the City Council is that we are at a time right now, w where for the first time ever, we actually don’t have a money problem. We havve the ability to spend dollars, to mitigatte problems like we’ve never been able tto do in quite some time,” Moreno saays. “We allocated $10 or $12 million tow ward catch basin cleaning, and theen they didn’t spend the moneyy.”

Moreno says co ouncil members don’t undersstand why once they allocatte money, it doesn’t quicklyy go to solving the probleems it was meant to solvve, though they are aware of some hu urdles. In some cases, city departmentss are having trouble finding compaNew Orleans City Council member nies to do the Helena Moreno jobs needed.

PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

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“Sometimes, we’re hearing that it’s just companies that don’t want to work with the City of New Orleans,” she says. “One of the reasons they don’t want to work with the City of New Orleans is they don’t get paid on time.”

The problem became so bad that the council unanimously agreed to a request from Moreno to bring the state’s legislative auditor in.

According to Moreno, the auditor has been tasked with figuring out “why we can’t get money out the door” and what steps can be taken to speed up the process of implementing muchneeded projects.

The problem isn’t just related to the Department of Public Works.

Last summer it came to light that air conditioning systems in a number of city-owned buildings had been broken for months or even years, resulting in them becoming unusable during the heat wave. That included several police precinct buildings, which were essentially abandoned for weeks or months at a time.

Similarly, despite years of complaints about a lack of enforcement against illegal short-term rentals in the city, the council in 2022 used its control of city spending to force the administration to increase the number of staff and other resources devoted to enforcement. (Somewhat ironically, those staff are basically sitting on their hands now, thanks to a federal judge.)

“But at the end of the day, when you don’t pay your contractors on time, guess who gets hurt the most?”

Moreno argued the glacial pace of spending by the administration is also negatively impacting minority-owned businesses and small businesses in the city who can’t afford to wait long periods without getting paid for their work.

“So often it’s talked about by this administration about how it wants to be an administration that’s helpful to small businesses and minority businesses,” she says. “But at the end of the day, when you don’t pay your contractors on time, guess who

gets hurt the most? It’s not the really big companies like Boh Brothers who can survive, right? It’s the subs now who don’t get paid. It’s the smaller companies. It is the [disadvantaged businesses] that really have a struggle to make it when you don’t get paid for six months after you send your invoice in.”

Moreno says she hopes to have the auditor’s recommendations in hand this spring and says the council will take them up quickly to get reforms in place. Doing so will not only help get projects already on the books back on track, but also make new ordinances and projects easier to implement, she argues.

For instance, the Sewerage and Water Board is expected to ask voters to approve a new stormwater management fee to help pay for upgrades and maintenance to the system.

Moreno acknowledges that fee is likely necessary — but she doesn’t want it to simply be put on existing rate payers, many of whom are struggling to pay their bills as it is. Rather, she and others want the new fee to also apply to the many nonprofits and otherwise constitutionally exempt entities in the city, which would significantly increase the amount of funds available and potentially reduce the burden on homeowners.

“It would be a complicated formula, but I think it is doable,” Moreno says.

But in order to accomplish that, S&WB and city officials will need to be able to convince the public they can not only properly manage the money but also actually spend it.

“The problem is when we see [S&WB], or the Department of Public Works not be able to manage their finances correctly, then it’s like how do you make the argument for more money to be given to them? And so that hurts that argument,” she says.

“I think both [S&WB] and Public Works ultimately need to show to the public that they can do a better job with operations.”

Beyond greater accountability and efficiency issues, Moreno says she will also focus this year on a number of economic development efforts.

For instance, earlier this month she introduced a new ordinance that would require certain events that receive at least $150,000 in incentives from the city to spend 30% of their budget on local businesses. That would include the Super Bowl.

“What we’re saying is if you’re going to be receiving incentive money, public dollars, to put on your event, then we’re asking you to set a local hire goal,” Moreno says.

That can include professional services, production companies,

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > F e B r u A ry 1 9 - 2 5 > 2 0 2 4

HOME STRETCH

New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno dances with the Zulu Tramps on Fat Tuesday this year.

PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

From left: Pam Fortner, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Council President Helena Moreno greeted Allie and her foal Ti during a reveal ceremony in City Park in 2018, where the NOPD introduced two new members to the force’s mounted unit.

PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

musicians and other entertainers.

The aim, she says, is to “ensure that our local folks are the ones really being able to directly benefit from tourism impacts.”

According to Moreno, the ordinance came out of discussions she began having with local businesses and musicians, including Juvenile, who have advocated for a greater role for local acts and small businesses.

Moreno will also continue efforts on assisting “disadvantaged business enterprises,” like minority-owned companies, including getting an online “report card” up and running that tracks how the various city-run entities do business with these companies.

Moreno acknowledges that effort has been slow going because of a lack

of tracking by agencies, but says they hope to have it in place this year. That should pave the way for additional reforms by the council.

Moreno also says the council wants to focus on “incentive reforms” for development projects in the city.

“One of the issues that I hear about all the time, and whether it’s perception or reality depends on who you ask, is that those who get the projects, and those who get incentives for projects, and those who get the work are those who are ‘in the know,’ politically. So how can we change that?” Moreno says.

Along with Council Vice President JP Morrell, Moreno has begun studying how other municipalities like New PAGE 17

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York City handle incentives and contracts in the hopes of designing a new system “where decisions are based on objectives and not just subjective decisions.” She envisions a checklist of criteria companies will need to meet to qualify for incentives.

In New York, for instance, the city has a number of criteria, from what neighborhood a project is being proposed in to how much affordable housing it would create. They then use those metrics to determine whether a project should be given an incentive from the city.

“They have a much more objective approval process,” she says.

While Moreno notes the effort won’t “be easy,” she and Morrell are working with stakeholders including GNO Inc. to begin developing a menu for a new approval process.

Moreno says the council will also have an eye on eliminating the sorts of loopholes many developers use to avoid meeting affordable housing goals. Those goals are often baked into incentives but are rarely, if ever, met in major development projects.

Meanwhile on public safety, Moreno says the city has seen significant gains in reducing violent crime— even as many critics of the city and conservatives continue to paint New Orleans as being unsafe.

That portrayal has begun to set off alarm bells within the city’s tourism industry and among other city leaders.

Moreno says that while crime obviously remains a serious issue — as does NOPD’s continued struggles with responding to calls for assistance in a timely manner — the data show a much different picture.

“Chief [Anne] Kirkpatrick has been putting out information about different crime reduction [efforts], and overall as I talked to people in the city, they’re starting to feel a difference or see a difference,” Moreno says. “That’s not to say that of course, cars aren’t getting broken into and windows smashed and things like that because, of course, I get those calls all the time too: Why didn’t police make it out when my car window got smashed?”

Moreno says.

Like many New Orleanians, Moreno is clearly worried about exactly what Gov. Jeff Landry’s insistence on bringing the state police to the city will mean.

For instance, Moreno says if state police focus on highways, it could be a boon to NOPD and the city.

“I have been asking for state

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Council Vice President JP Morrell with Council President Helena Moreno.

PHOTO BY MAX BECHERER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

police on the interstates for I don’t even know how long,” she says.

“If we have state officers on the interstate, whether it’s Department of Public Safety or whether it’s state police, that right there would actually be incredibly impactful to our NOPD because they spent tens of thousands of manpower hours just dealing with disabled vehicles, car accidents, things like that.”

On the other hand, Moreno made it clear she’d be concerned with having state police “roaming around the French Quarter, because that’s not really the job that they signed up for” nor have they undergone the sort of training needed for that sort of policing.

But so far, she says Landry’s administration has been at best vague when it comes to the details of what they are planning.

“We haven’t received any answers to what exactly is going to happen, and I’m not sure that the chief knows yet exactly how it’s going to happen,’ she says. “And from the comments I’ve actually seen from the governor, I’m not sure he knows the exact plan either.”

As for electoral politics, Moreno — who will be term-limited out of office after 2025 — remains coy.

She is widely expected to run for mayor in that election, and as of her latest campaign finance filing, she has more than $327,000 on hand after taking in $100,000 over the last reporting period. But she’s still not officially saying so one way or another.

“I’m certainly getting encouraged everywhere I go and supported to look at that position seriously,” she says. “That’s something that I’ll certainly look at very seriously, and I appreciate the amount and level of support that I’m getting to run for that position,” Moreno says.

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E AT + D R I N K

Fresh Catch

FORK + CENTER

A new Thai restaurant in the CBD | by Beth D’Addono AT THE BEGINNING OF THEIR INITIAL ROMANCE IN THAILAND, Aom Srisuk

and Frankie Weinberg liked to get away from the city to put their toes in the sand on Ko Samet island. “We were young, and bungalows there were cheap,” chef Srisuk recalls.

“That was 23 years ago, when Frankie was making $250 a month. We would eat seafood cooked on the beach and talk about having a seafood restaurant of our own. But I never thought it would happen.”

Although the sand is conspicuously absent, last month Srisuk and Weinberg opened Good Catch Thai urban Bistro at 828 Gravier St. in the CBD. This is their second Thai restaurant, a follow-up to Pomelo, which they opened in uptown in 2021.

Good Catch took over the space that was home to Singha Thai for more than a decade.

The modern, airy restaurant is triple Pomelo’s size, with a full bar, soft lighting and rattan accents. There is a bigger kitchen with a wok station and a hood for ventilation. “Aom must be so creative at Pomelo because she cooks on induction burners,” Weinberg says. “Some dishes she can’t make there. Here we have gas appliances, even a small walk in.

There are many more menu options.”

Despite falling hard for each other in 2000, the romance sputtered.

Weinberg, who was in Thailand teaching english, had to return to America, and Srisuk was working at her family’s restaurant. “I wasn’t ready to leave Thailand,” she says. Fast forward 17 years, and Weinberg, then a professor in international studies at Loyola university New Orleans, reached out to her on a work trip. Timing being everything, Srisuk was ready to rekindle the romance and move to New Orleans. The pair wed in December 2018 and settled in uptown, close to where their first restaurant is.

Srisuk was born in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, where she ran her own Japanese-style izakaya, a bar and restaurant catering to workers at the local Japanese auto parts factory. She

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

describes her cooking as a “capital city style that incorporates many kinds of regional dishes both from the north and south.”

Good Catch offers a northern favorite, khao soi udon, a fragrant dish made with noodles, pickled mustard greens, ground chilies and aromatics. It is served with vegetables and tofu, or diners can bump up the protein with the addition of mixed seafood, seared scallops or pork shoulder.

Her green curry has roots in the south. Its rich coconut broth is studded with tender enoki mushrooms, crisp kernels of sweet corn, Chinese eggplant and broccoli, all topped with a slab of grilled salmon or another protein.

Another southern specialty is her yellow curry, served over gluten-free mung bean noodles, long beans and mustard greens, the flavor and color informed by turmeric. It’s topped with lumps of sweet crabmeat.

Srisuk is thrilled to have a kitchen equipped to fry a whole sea bass, which she serves with a sweet and spicy bird chili sauce, bright with citrus and garlic. There also is steamed sea bass with chili, garlic and lime.

“It’s fun to try new preparations,” she says. “When I plan the menu, I come up with what I love and what I miss that most places here don’t really have.” Another specialty is glass noodles and shrimp baked in a clay pot with bacon, ginger and shiitake mushrooms, served with piquant seafood sauce on the side.

The menu includes a fried oyster plate with bean sprouts and green onion and shrimp pad thai using glass noodles. Seafood ramen arrives flavored hot-and-sour in the style of tom

‘Top Chef’ challenge

CHEF CHARLY PIERRE HAS MADE A SPLASH with his Haitian-inspired

restaurant Fritai in Treme. Now locals can watch him cook on the new season of Bravo TV’s “Top Chef.”

The cooking competition airs every Wednesday beginning March 20.

The show’s 21st season was filmed in Wisconsin, and the weekly challenges take the 15 contestants through the restaurant scenes in Madison and Milwaukee and incorporate the state’s culinary output, including dairy and farming products.

The finals take place on a short cruise in the Caribbean. The winner receives a $250,000 prize, and emeril Lagasse is among the season’s guest judges.

It’s Pierre’s second TV cooking competition. He previously won an episode of Food Network’s “Chopped.”

Aom Srisuk focuses on seafood at Good Catch Thai Urban Bistro.

PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

yum. Jumbo lump crab fried rice is loaded with crabmeat. A fisherman’s platter swims with shrimp, calamari, oysters and catfish tossed in sweet chili sauce.

The menu includes some of her Pomelo customers’ favorites, including street-food-style noodle dishes.

Chewy pok pok glass noodles are spiked with roasted barbecue pork shoulder, shrimp, baby bok choy, peanuts and chili. Northern Thailandstyle laab uses crispy rice in a minced pork salad full of vegetables, spices and herbs. A salad of mango and shrimp is bright with cilantro, onion, lime and mint. Som yam soup delivers the sour-and-sweet flavor punch that distinguishes so many Thai dishes.

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Chef Aom Srisuk expands her Thai menu at second restaurant

Chef Charly Pierre opened Fritai in the Treme neighborhood.

PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Pierre is a native of Boston, where his father worked as a chef. Pierre went to cooking school and worked in Boston restaurants before moving to New Orleans, where he worked at Angeline and Bayona.

He started Fritai as a pop-up showcasing Haitian food. He then moved it to a stall at St. roch Market and later opened the current restaurant at 1535 Basin St. Its menu includes his take on Haitian street food dishes as well as roasted whole fish and more.

Pierre was a 2023 semifinalist for a James Beard Foundation award

19

FORK & CENTER

Reitz stuff

A RESTAURATEUR WHO HAS RACKED UP IMPRESSIVE ACCOLADES in the

Charleston, South Carolina, dining scene has a new project underway in New Orleans that’s out to bring new life to a compelling address in Faubourg St. John.

Brooks reitz and his business partners plan to open The Bell at 3125 esplanade Ave. It’s slated to open in late spring (though likely not in time for Jazz Fest, held nearby).

That was most recently a restaurant, called the Post, which lasted just a few months before closing last year. Prior to that it was the pizza spot Nonna Mia for more than a decade.

The building is a picture book-cute cottage settled in a cluster of other neighborhood businesses, and one that drew much local speculation over what could come here next. reitz is well known in Charleston for his restaurants, which focus on classic American, Southern and Italian flavors respectively; though in New Orleans, The Bell will be drawn up differently from those earlier projects. reitz says the Bell will be “a neighborhood restaurant with an english accent.”

The design inside will be along the lines of a cozy pub, but don’t start picturing pub fare like fish and chips and shepherd’s pie.

“We don’t want to open an english pub, but the idea is to take some inspiration from some of our favorite places in england, and filter that through a sensibility of where we are, which is New Orleans,” reitz says.

“I’ve had some of the best meals of my life in england,” he says. “The food

is simple, seasonal and super delicious.

That’s the guiding principle here.”

It will be casual enough for anytime visits, and reitz hopes it will fill a niche between the other restaurants around it. rietz operates three restaurants in close proximity in downtown Charleston: Leon’s Oyster Shop, Little Jack’s Tavern and Melfi’s.

Little Jack’s Tavern, home of a much-loved burger, made the national lists of best new American restaurants from Southern Living and Bon Appetit after its debut in 2016.

Leon’s, which has a specialty in fried chicken, oysters, whole fish and Champagne, was a nominee for the James Beard award for outstanding hospitality in 2020. Melfi’s, the newest of the bunch, is an Italian restaurant for fresh pasta and woodfired pizza.

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Brooks Reitz will open The Bell at 3125 Esplanade Ave. PHOTO BY IAN MCNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Bringing an english concept to New Orleans comes in part through rietz’s business partners, Tim Mink and Andrew Bell, who each have close family ties to england and who each now live in New Orleans. The esplanade Avenue property itself and its neighborhood setting sealed the deal, reitz says.

The homey cottage-like building still retains some of the layout of an old home, with small dining rooms finished with ornate woodwork, stained glass and a wrap-around porch overlooking a large, gated patio.

“I’m so excited to do this,” reitz says.

“New Orleans is such an awesome town, and I see a lot of similarities to Charleston. I’ve felt at home there.”

The Bell will be open daily.— Ian McNulty / The Times-Picayune

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for Best Chef South. Fritai was a 2022 semifinalist for a Best New restaurant award from the Beard Foundation.

Several New Orleans chefs have competed on “Top Chef,” including Nina Compton, Issac Toups and Justin Devillier. Season 11 was filmed in New Orleans, and Compton was a finalist and voted fan favorite. She then moved to New Orleans and opened her first restaurant, Compere Lapin, and Bywater American Bistro, which she recently retooled as BABs. — Will Coviello

20 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > F e B r u A ry 1 9 - 2 5 > 2 0 2 4

3 COURSE INTERVIEW

Thuy Pham

NOLA Nite Market founder

by Will Coviello THUY PHAM HAS A DAY JOB DOING CONTRACT WORK for the state of Louisiana,

JAZZ

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Contact Sales and Marketing Manager Abigail Scorsone Bordelon 504.483.3150 or abigail.scorsone@gambitweekly.com

but when she saw the need for an Asian-focused food event, she started the NOLA Nite Market. After the first market in fall 2019, she quickly organized a market to celebrate the Lunar New year. The next NOLA Nite Market is a Lunar New year celebration on Feb. 23-24 at the Westwego Farmers Market. There will be fireworks, music and roughly 20 vendors, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and panAsian concepts as well as a few nonAsian dishes. Admission is free. (NOLA Nite Market is not associated with other nite markets in the region.) Visit nolanitemarket.com or @nolanitemarket on Instagram for information.

Why did you start NOLA Nite Market?

THUY PHAM: For my birthday, I went out to Los Angeles. There’s a lot of Asian food out there. It’s very diverse. They also have really huge night markets. I was like, why doesn’t New Orleans have this? We have Fried Chicken Fest. We have Jazz Fest. We have all kinds of fests, but we don’t have a festival that’s diverse and about Asian food. So I thought I need to do something about it.

I threw together the first event in like two months back in 2019. We did the first one at the Gretna Farmer’s Market. I thought, everything is on the other side, why not bring some business to the West Bank?

I did one in fall, and then at the very last minute I decided to do one for the Lunar New year. One of the churches decided they were no longer going to do a Lunar fest. I was like, we’ll do it, but it’s not going to be at a church or temple, and it’s not going to be just Vietnamese food.

We had Indian food, Burmese and Malaysian food. I had Wishing Town bring Chinese food. Plume Algiers was at the first event. Laksa NOLA was there in our first year as well.

It was hard to get people to do it.

When you start something new, you have to prove that it’s worth doing.

The crowd was surprising. It was a big turnout.

How have you developed the markets?

P: To grow, you need to make sure you’re headed in the right direction. I

PHOTO PROVIDED BY THUY PHAM

was thinking that some fests are doing good. The Asian food fests might benefit the church or temple, but what are we doing for the community or small business owners?

It changes from market to market, but we’ve done markets to benefit First Tee. For the first one, we chose Boys & Girls Clubs (of Southeast Louisiana) and responsibility House, so one is for children and one is for adults.

The Lunar New year markets are mostly Asian vendors. But the one in the fall is more diverse. A lot of the vendors we try to get say they don’t have the manpower. I have a customer who is Nigerian, and I said I wanted some Nigerian food at the event. He said he didn’t have the manpower. I have reached out to a lot of restaurants. I want it to be as diverse as possible.

What will there be at the upcoming market besides food?

P: We have fireworks and cultural performances. We have artists coming from Canada and Houston, and they play the traditional zither. Zither is a Vietnamese string instrument, and the Chinese also have a version of it.

We’ll have traditional Indian dancers and some K-pop dancing groups. We have singers from Atlanta and Dallas, and local musicians.

We have an eating contest. It’s going to be spicy noodle soup. you want to educate people through culture, but mostly through food.

People love to eat. Most are openmined and some are afraid to try, but there’s something for everybody.

C O M P L e T e L I S T I N G S AT W W W. B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M

Out 2 eat is an index of Gambit contract advertisers. unless noted, addresses are for New Orleans and all accept credit cards. updates: email willc@gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

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Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Acorn — Louisiana Children’s Museum, 12 Henry Thomas Drive, (504) 218-5413; acornnola.com — Blackened shrimp tacos are topped with arugula, radish, pineapple-mango salsa and cilantro-lime sauce.

No reservations. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sun. $$ Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream. com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, biscotti, fig cookies, tiramisu, macaroons and more.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant. com — Gulf Drum yvonne is served with brown butter sauce with mushrooms and artichoke hearts. reservations recommended. Dinner Thu.-Mon. $$$ Banana Blossom — 500 9th St., Gretna, (504) 500-0997; 504bananablossom.com — Jimmy Cho’s Thai dishes include smoked pork belly and pork meatballs in lemon grass broth with egg, green onion, cilantro and garlic. reservations accepted for large parties except weekends. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Bamboula’s — 514 Frenchmen St.; bamboulasmusic.com — The live music venue’s kitchen offers a menu of traditional and creative Creole dishes, such as Creole crawfish crepes with goat cheese and chardonnay sauce. reservations accepted. Lunch, dinner and late-night daily. $$ The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 284-2898; thebluecrabnola.com — Basin barbecue shrimp are served over cheese grits with a cheese biscuit. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lakeview: Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. Slidell: Lunch Wed.-Fri., dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$ Broussard’s — 819 Conti St., (504) 581-3866; broussards.com — rainbow trout amandine is served with tasso and corn macque choux and Creole meuniere sauce. reservations recommended. Outdoor seating available.

Dinner Wed.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ Cafe Normandie — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The menu combines classic French dishes and Louisiana items like crab beignets with herb aioli. No reservations. Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ The Commissary — 634 Orange St., (504) 274-1850; thecommissarynola.com — A smoked turkey sandwich is served with bacon, tomato jam, herbed cream cheese, arugula and herb vinaigrette on honey oat bread. No reservations. Outdoor seating available. Lunch Tue.-Sat. $$ Curio — 301 Royal St., (504) 717-4198; curionola.com — The creative Creole menu includes blackened Gulf shrimp served

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11-$20 $$$ — $20-up with chicken and andouille jambalaya. reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — A menu full of Gulf seafood includes char-grilled oysters topped with Parmesan and herbs. reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House — 144 Bourbon St., (504) 522-0111; bourbonhouse.com — There’s a seafood raw bar and dishes like redfish with lemon buerre blanc. reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner daily. $$$ Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse — 716 Iberville St., (504) 522-2467; dickiebrennanssteakhouse.com — A 6-ounce filet mignon is served with fried oysters, creamed spinach, potatoes and bearnaise. reservations recommended. Dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$ Down the Hatch — 817 St. Louis St., (504) 766-6007; 1921 Sophie Wright Place, (504) 220-7071; downthehatchnola.com — The Texan burger features a half-pound patty topped with caramelized onions, smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and a fried egg.

No reservations. Lunch, dinner and latenight daily. $$ Dragonfly Cafe — 530 Jackson Ave., (504) 544-9530; dragonflynola.com — The casual cafe offers breakfast plates, waffles, salads, coffee drinks and more. Delivery available. reservations accepted. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sat. $$ El Pavo Real — 4401 S. Broad Ave., (504) 266-2022; elpavorealnola.com — The menu includes tacos, enchiladas and sauteed Gulf fish topped with tomatoes, olives, onion and capers, served with rice and string beans.

Outdoor seating available. No reservations.

Lunch and early dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar — 739 Iberville St., (504) 522-4440; 7400 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 304-4125; felixs.com — The menu includes raw and char-grilled oysters, seafood platters, po-boys and more.

No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Frey Smoked Meat Co. — 4141 Bienville St., Suite 110, (504) 488-7427; freysmokedmeat. com — The barbecue spot serves pulled pork, ribs, brisket, sausages and and items like fried pork belly tossed in pepperjelly glaze. No reservations. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Froot Orleans — 2438 Bell St., Suite B, (504) 233-3346; frootorleans.com — There are fresh fruit platters and smoothie bowls such as a strawberry shortcake and more using pineapple, berries, citrus and more. No reservations. Outdoor seating available.

Breakfast and lunch daily. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; 8140 Oak St., (504) 897-4800; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar jack cheese, black beans, rice, guacamole and salsa. Outdoor seating available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — The

eclectic menu includes a Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, ham, cheese and pickles.

Delivery available. reservations accepted for large parties. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Kilroy’s Bar — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The bar menu includes sandwiches, salads and flatbreads, including one topped with peach, prosciutto, stracciatella cheese, arugula and pecans. No reservations. Dinner Wed.-Sat. $$ Legacy Kitchen’s Craft Tavern — 700 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 613-2350; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes oysters, flatbreads, burgers, sandwiches, salads and a NOLA Style Grits Bowl topped with bacon, cheddar and a poached egg. reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Legacy Kitchen Steak & Chop — 91 Westbank Expressway, Gretna, (504) 513-2606; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes filets mignons and bone-in rib-eyes, as well as burgers, salads and seafood dishes. reservations accepted. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$ Luzianne Cafe — 481 Girod St., (504) 2651972; luziannecafe.com — Cajun Sunshine Beignets are stuffed with eggs, bacon, cheese and hot sauce. No reservations.

Delivery available. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Sun. $$ Martin Wine & Spirits — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — The deli serves sandwiches and salads such as the Sena, with chicken, raisins, blue cheese, pecans and Tabasco pepperjelly vinaigrette.

No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. The menu also has noodle dishes, teriyaki and more. reservations accepted. Delivery available. Lunch Sun.Fri., dinner daily. $$ Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves Italian dishes and specialties including chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca. reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$ Mother’s Restaurant — 401 Poydras St., (504) 523-9656; mothersrestaurant.net — This counter-service spot serves po-boys, jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice and more. Delivery available. No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as seafood platters, po-boys, grilled oysters, salads and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Nice Guys Bar & Grill — 7910 Earhart Blvd., (504) 302-2404; niceguysbarandgrillnola. com — Char-grilled oysters are topped with cheese. The menu also includes wings, quesadillas, burgers, salads, seafood pasta and more. No reservations. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$ The Original Italian Pie — 3629 Prytania St., (504) 766-8912; theoriginalitalianpieuptown.com — The Italian Pie combo includes pepperoni, Italian sausage, ground beef, PAGE 22

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mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, black olives, mozzarella and house-made tomato sauce.

No reservations. Dinner and late-night Tue.-Sat. $$ Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar & Bistro — 720 Orleans Ave., (504) 523-1930; orleansgrapevine.com — The wine bar’s menu includes Creole pasta with shrimp and andouille in tomato cream sauce. reservations accepted for large parties. Outdoor seating available.

Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$ Palace Cafe — 605 Canal St., (504) 523-1661; palacecafe.com — The contemporary Creole menu includes crabmeat cheesecake with mushrooms and Creole meuniere sauce.

Outdoor seating available. reservations recommended. Breakfast and lunch Wed.-Fri., dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$$ Parish Grill — 4650 W. Esplanade Ave., Suite 100, Metairie, (504) 345-2878; parishgrill.com — The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, pizza and sauteed andouille with fig dip, blue cheese and toast points. reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $$ Peacock Room — Kimpton Hotel Fontenot, 501 Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 324-3073; peacockroomnola.com — Black lentil vadouvan curry comes with roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and basmati rice. reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.-Mon., brunch Sun. $$ PrimoHoagies — 8228 Oak St., (504) 3151335; primohoagies.com — The menu of hot and cold sandwiches includes a classic Italian hoagie with prosciutto, salami, hot capicola, provolone, lettuce, tomato and onion.

Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $$ Rosie’s on the Roof — Higgins Hotel, 480 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higginshotelnola.com/dining — The rooftop bar has a menu of sandwiches, burgers and small plates. No reservations. Dinner daily. $$ Tableau — 616 St. Peter St., (504) 9343463; tableaufrenchquarter.com — Pasta bouillabaisse features squid ink mafaldine, littleneck clams, Gulf shrimp, squid, seafood

broth, rouille and herbed breadcrumbs.

Outdoor seating available. reservations recommended. Dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Thu.-Sun. $$$ Tacklebox — 817 Common St., (504) 827-1651; legacykitchen.com — The menu includes oysters, and dishes like redfish St. Charles with garlic-herb butter, asparagus, mushrooms and crawfish cornbread. reservations accepted. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 7333803; 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; 4218 Magazine St., (504) 8948554; 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza.com — A Marilynn Pota Supreme pie is topped with mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, mushrooms, bell peppers and onions. There also are salads, sandwiches and more. Delivery available.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 1433 St. Charles Ave., (504) 354-1342; 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco.com — Peruvian lomo saltado features sauteed beef, onions, tomatoes, soy sauce and pisco, served with potatoes and rice. Outdoor seating available on Magazine Street. Delivery available. reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$ The Vintage — 3121 Magazine St., (504) 324-7144; thevintagenola.com — The menu includes beignets, flatbreads and a veggie sandwich with avocado, onions, arugula, red pepper and pepper jack cheese. No reservations. Delivery and outdoor seating available.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$ Zhang Bistro — 1141 Decatur St., (504) 826-8888; zhangbistronola.com — The menu of Chinese and Thai dishes includes a Szechuan Hot Wok with a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp or tofu with onions, peppers, cauliflower, jalapenos and spicy sauce. reservations accepted. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$

PAGE 5

States Army Air Forces during World War II. The characters are a fictionalization of the pilots who trained at the Tuskegee Institute in the early 1940s and escorted and defended bomber missions in Italy during the war. The touring show comes to the National World War II Museum at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, and Saturday, Feb. 24, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25. Tickets $40 via nationalww2museum.org.

Donavon Frankenreiter

Almost following in the wake of Jack Johnson’s success, Donavon Frankenreiter is a singer-songwriter and surfer. He’s got a laid-back style and upbeat sound. He’s gotten some attention for touring with Devon Allman recently, but here he’s touring with a backing band. Folk rock outfit Goodnight, Texas also performs. At 7 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 21, at Toulouse Theatre. Tickets $25 via toulousetheatre.com.

The Floozies

Kansas’s electro-funk duo of brothers Matt and Mark Hill can seem like they’re going for irony with some their snarky titles and musical and lyrical flourishes. They frequently dip into different genres blending guitar and synth work in their brand of digital funk.

Previous albums have featured guest appearances by Tech N9ne and others.

Their latest, “Porty Hord,” released in fall, features Big Freedia on “Wiggle in the Middle.” The duo performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at Joy Theater.

Find tickets via thejoytheater.com.

Thrillville

The travelling midway is at the Shrine on Airline. The highlights are an array of fast-spinning, high-flying amusement rides, and there also are carnival games, food and more. Thrillville is open through Feb. 25 at 6000 Airline Drive. Visit kisselentertainment.com for details.

Jourdan Thibodeaux

The Acadiana native is known for his fiddling and has built a following on Instagram for his occasional patois French lessons and Francophile humor.

He performs at 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, at d.b.a. Tickets $10. Find information at dbaneworleans.com.

Ocean Glapion

Comedian Ocean Glapion left New Orleans 20 years ago to hone his skills in Los Angeles’ comedy scene. Last fall, he and Donnivin Jordan launched the “Since everybody else Got a Podcast” podcast. He’s back in his hometown for

two shows at Comedy House. At 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23. Tickets $20 via comedy.house.

LOV E T HE

WATERFRONT LIFE?

TNA Wrestling

One of the country’s largest wrestling promotions returns to the area for two nights. TNA hosts its tentpole No Surrender event on Friday, Feb. 23, with wrestler Quinn “Moose” Ojinnaka facing Alex Shelley for the TNA World Champion belt. More matches are planned for Saturday, Feb. 24, which is themed “Bayou Blast.” Both shows start at 7 p.m. at the Alario event Center in Westwego. Tickets start at $35 per night via eventbrite.com.

Zoomst

New Orleans rock-fusion project Zoomst takes listeners on a cosmic journey with their groove-filled sound.

The band came together in 2021 and have already racked up extensive time on local stages and the road, and they’re now finishing up a debut album. Zoomst plays with Zita with Mike Lemmler at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, at the Maple Leaf. Tickets are $15 via mapleleafbar.com and $20 at the door.

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LPO plays Sibelius

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius initially wrote his fifth symphony for his 50th birthday in 1915. A national figure, the Finnish government wanted to celebrate the composer and commissioned his piece. But Sibelius wasn’t entirely happy with the first performance and spent another four years revising the now-celebrated work. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra performs the symphony along with Atlanta-based composer Carlos Simon’s “The Block” and Margaret Bonds’ “Montgomery Variations” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, at the Orpheum Theater. Jeri Lynne Johnson will conduct. Tickets start at $28 via lpomusic.com.

Tab Benoit

South Louisiana bluesman Tab Benoit is warming up for a busy festival season with a show at Tipitina’s. Singersongwriter J.D. Simo also performs. At 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at Tipitina’s.

Tickets $32 via tipitinas.com.

‘Mania: The ABBA Tribute’

This celebration of ABBA’s music was born in London and grew into an internationally touring show performing the music and mimicking the looks of the Swedish pop group. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, at Jefferson Performing Arts Center. Tickets $38$98 via jeffersonpac.com.

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MUSIC FO r CO M P L e T e M u S I C L I ST I N G S A N D M O r e e V e N T S TA K I N G P L A C e IN THe NeW OrLeANS AreA, VISIT C A L E N D A R . G A M B I T W E E K LY. C O M

To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com

MONDAY 19 BOURBON O BAR — The Villians, 4 pm; Tiffany Hall, 8 pm

TUESDAY 20 BOURBON O BAR — Dr. Zach, 4 pm; Ingrid Luccia, 8 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Arrowhead Jazz Band, 2 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Javier Olondo & Asheson, 8 pm THE RABBIT HOLE — rebirth Brass Band, 10 pm

WEDNESDAY 21 BLUE NILE — New Breed Brass Band, 9:30 pm BOURBON O BAR — Gary Brown, 4 pm; Serabee, 8 pm JEAN LAFITTE NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK VISITOR CENTER, NEW ORLEANS JAZZ NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK — Silverbook with Saskia Walker and Oscar rossignoli, 2 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Charmaine Neville, 2 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Funkin' It up with Big Sam , 7:30 pm TOULOUSE THEATRE — Donavon Frankenreiter, 7 pm

THURSDAY 22 BJ'S LOUNGE BYWATER — Hunter Hicks, Sequoia, 9 pm BLUE NILE — Where y'at Brass Band, 9 pm BOURBON O BAR — Tiffany Hall And The Jazz Masters, 8 pm CAPULET — Mia Borders Acoustic Trio, 6:30 pm NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM — Piano Hour, 2 pm PEACOCK ROOM, HOTEL FONTENOT — Da Lovebirds with robin Barnes and Pat Casey , 8 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Geno Delafose & French rockin' Boogie, 8 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Brass-AHolics, 7:30 pm TIPITINA'S — Hiss Golden Messenger, Color Green, 8 pm

FRIDAY 23 BJ'S LOUNGE BYWATER — Little Freddie King, 9 pm BLUE NILE — The Caesar Brothers, 8 pm; Kermit ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers, 11 pm BLUE NILE BALCONY ROOM — Trumpet Slim & Brass Flavor, 10 pm BOURBON O BAR — ellen Smith & April Spain, 4 pm; The rhythm Kings, 8 pm BOURBON STREET HONKY TONK — The Bad Sandys, 8 pm NOLA BREWING TAPROOM — LPO Happy Hour, 6 pm OKAY BAR — The Chloé Marie Band, Mars & Other Planets, Sari Jordan, 8 pm PUBLIC BELT AT HILTON NEW ORLEANS RIVERSIDE — Phil Melancon, 8 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — rock Show NOLA, 8:30 pm THE BROADSIDE — Tinsley ellis and Marcia Ball, 6 pm THE PRESS ROOM AT THE ELIZA JANE — richard Knox New Orleans Jazz Organ Trio, 5 pm

THE RABBIT HOLE — Friday Night Late, 11:30 pm

SATURDAY 24 BJ'S LOUNGE BYWATER — Conjunta Tierra Linda, 9 pm BLUE NILE — George Brown Band, 8 pm BOURBON O BAR — Brian Wingard, 4 pm; The Blues Masters, 8 pm MAPLE LEAF BAR — George Brown, 10 pm NOLA BREWING TAPROOM — Marc Stone, John Mooney, 7 pm PUBLIC BELT AT HILTON NEW ORLEANS RIVERSIDE — Phil Melancon, 8 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Pocket Chocolate plus Paradigm, 8:30 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — The Nayo Jones experience , 7:30 & 9 pm THE JOY THEATER — The Floozies, 8 pm THE PRESS ROOM AT THE ELIZA JANE — Dr. Michael Torregano, 5 pm THE STALLION BAR — Makin' Groceries, 9 pm

Little Freddie King plays BJ’s Friday, Feb. 23.

PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

SUNDAY 25 BLUE NILE — The Baked Potatoes, 8 pm; Street Legends Brass Band, 10:30 pm BOURBON O BAR — Marc Stone, 4 pm; Kenny Brown & the KB express, 8 pm BOURBON STREET HONKY TONK — The Bad Sandys, 8 pm NOLA BREWING TAPROOM — Desert Nudes, 5 pm SANTOS — SwampGrave, Muscle and Bag, 7 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Big Joe Kennedy, 7:30 pm TIPITINA'S — Hurray for the riff raff, NNAMDI, 8 pm

SCAN FOR THE COMPLETE GAMBIT CALENDAR

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MUSIC

Not even past

by Jake Clapp

HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF’S MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN for the outsiders.

Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Alynda Segarra’s storytelling is often directed toward uplifting and celebrating the people living and building communities on the margins of society.

That’s especially true on “The Past is Still Alive,” Hurray for the riff raff’s personal new album, which is filled with notes about the impactful people Segarra has met in their years of hopping freight trains, hitchhiking across the country and finding a new home in New Orleans.

“I was thinking so much about outsider cultures and art world; there are just so many unknown legends,” Segarra says.

They wanted to use “song as a way to have these memory boxes for people. you can’t possibly explain how important somebody was or how hilarious or how beautiful somebody was, but (we can) at least have moments in song that pay tribute to people.”

There are more abstract references to friends and groups in songs like “Alibi” and “Snake Plant,” which has a direct call to “Test your drugs / remember Narcan.” And the single “Colossus of roads,” written after the devastating Club Q shooting in Colorado, is an emotional love song for the people marginalized by America.

More directly, the song “Hawkmoon” speaks about Miss Jonathan, a trans woman Segarra met in Jackson Square soon after arriving in New Orleans.

“She was just a really incredible force,” they say. “I’m sure we only spent a couple of months [together] … the older I get the more I think about how that was lucky to meet her at such a time in my life where I felt really vulnerable.”

“The Past is Still Alive” is out Friday, Feb. 23, via Nonesuch records, and Hurray for the riff raff kicks off a long tour on Sunday, Feb. 25, at Tipitina’s.

The music starts at 8 p.m. with Chicagobased alt-pop artist NNAMDI. Those accounts of the people who have left a mark on Segarra are intertwined with intimate, raw stories from Segarra’s perspective. Taken together, the album reflects on how these experiences live on and continue to impact Segarra today.

For “The Past is Still Alive,” Segarra dug into personal memories in a way they hadn’t before — maybe out of fear of being too radical or being misunderstood.

Or maybe the timing just wasn’t right.

“I definitely think it was time and it was maturity. especially [in New Orleans], we run into so many beautiful people and have these really interesting experiences,

Hurray for the Riff Raff releases ‘The Past is Still Alive’ on Feb. 23.

PROVIDED PHOTO BY TOMMY KHA

and it’s all pretty fleeting and it happens really fast. I don’t think I understood how special a lot of it was without the distance of time,” Segarra says.

Throughout the album of gripping folkrock, Segarra shares scenes from their winding, eventful and unexpected travels.

Segarra, who is of Puerto rican heritage, was born in the Bronx and raised by their aunt and uncle, blue-collar folk.

Around 17, Segarra turned runaway, finding community in queer spaces and the punk scene. They soon after went out West and began hopping trains across the country, eventually landing in New Orleans.

Segarra began busking, fell in with the Dead Man Street Orchestra (whose members went on to create Tuba Skinny) and formed Hurray for the riff raff in 2007. Frequent performances, a prolific output and a loyal crowd helped steadily build Hurray for the riff raff into a national spotlight.

Segarra recorded “The Past is Still Alive,” Hurray for the riff raff’s ninth studio album, in North Carolina with producer Brad Cook, who also produced 2022’s “Life on earth” and plays bass on this latest record.

It was an emotional experience: Shortly before recording the album, in early 2023, Segarra’s father died.

Segarra felt driven by the songwriting and dedicated the album to their father, Jose enrico “Quico” Segarra, who himself was a musician.

“Just to have experienced the loss of a lot of beautiful people, I think, I’ve learned how precious a lot of these moments were,” Segarra says.

Hurray for the Riff Raff plays Sunday, Feb. 25, at Tipitina’s. Tickets are $26 via tipitinas.com.

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GOING OUT

French accents

by Will Coviello

THE PRICE OF CRAWFISH HAS SHOCKED LOCALS this season, but it’s nothing like the Shrimp War of 1938.

Back then in Bayou Lafourche, fishermen had the opposite problem, as the Depression drove down the price of shrimp. Fishermen were squeezed by companies paying only $6 for a 210-pound barrel of shrimp.

Many fishermen organized to hold out for more, but the struggle divided families and neighbors as they chose sides to either join or break the strike.

The battle over shrimp prices and fishermen’s livelihoods is the subject of one of local filmmaker Glen Pitre’s early films, “$8.50 a Barrel (Huit Piastres et Demie!).”

Fishermen in his own family lived through the events on Bayou Lafourche, and the film recounts the story from both sides. It’s one of two recently restored Pitre films in Cajun-French that are in the line-up of the New Orleans Film Society’s New Orleans French Film Festival.

The festival includes 14 feature films and 10 shorts, with recent and classic works and documentaries from the Francophone world, with entries from the u.S., europe, Canada and Africa. Films screen at The Prytania Theatre Feb. 22-28, and are available virtually through March 3. Films are subtitled in english.

Pitre’s films both draw on his family history, and they’re important films touching on Cajun history. “La Fievre

‘$8.50 a Barrel (Huit Piastres et Demie!)’

PHOTO PROVIDED BY NEW ORLEANS FILM SOCIETY

Jaune,” or “yellow Fever,” is a 30-minute film he made in 1978. In the drama, two Cajun men try to return home along the bayou during an outbreak of yellow Fever, but they are initially stopped by authorities who have quarantined the area. The Cajuns don’t understand why they’re being stopped because of the language barrier, and they attempt to sneak in to reunite with their family. For the film, Pitre enlisted amateur actors.

“La Syndicaliste” is a 2022 thriller based on actual events in which a union representative was targeted as she tried to expose a scandal in the French nuclear power industry and government. French actress Isabelle Huppert stars as the determined whistleblower.

In “Omen” or “Augure,” Koffi, after years living in Belgium, returns to visit his family in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic republic of the Congo, and confronts their beliefs in curses and sorcery in a film full of magical realism.

A drag performer whose career is beginning to soar finds himself dragged down by complicated relationships

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in the Canadian film “Solo.” Simon falls for Olivier, a new performer in their Montreal drag club. At the same time, Simon’s mother, a renowned opera singer, moves home after 15 years, and he tries to reconnect with her, juggling the demands of both difficult relationships.

The festival’s handful of classic films include the Oscarnominated 1978 French and Italian version of “La Cage aux Folles.” In the film, a gay couple operates a drag nightclub in Paris. When their son is about to marry, Albin slips into drag for the wedding, playing the boy’s mother so the bride’s conservative family won’t object to the marriage.

The festival also screens the landmark culinary documentary, “Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troisgros.” A four-hour epic, it chronicles the work in the kitchen and farm of the Troisgros family’s restaurant in the French countryside near Lyon. The restaurant has had three Michelin stars since 1968, and director Frederick Wiseman captures their exquisite approach and devotion to cooking.

Cyril Leuthy’s 2022 documentary “Godard Cinema” examines the various phases of the career of legendary French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.

Thefestival’sslateofshortfilmsincludesmorework byLouisianafilmmakers.InsistersChasahandCharliese West’s“Heritage,”awomanendsupexploringherown Creoleancestrywhensheencountersavisitorwithastrange accent.DrakeLeBlanc’s“Footwork”profilesBlackand CreolecowboysinLouisianaandtheirworkwithhorses.

The festival also features interviews and live music before many screenings.

For a schedule and tickets, visit neworleansfilmsociety.org.

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