Gambit Spring Fashion Issue '21

April 27-May 3 2021 Volume 42 Number 17

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with a sore paw back in March. She is a gentle giant who will steal your heart with one glance. She is a very happy girl who loves people and attention. She enjoys frolicking in the yard and hopes she will have lots of room to play in her forever home. Lily can’t wait to meet her forever family and hopes that they find her soon.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, we have moved our adoption process to appointment only.

Fill out the adoption application on our website, www.la-spca.org, and a staff member will call you back within 24 hours to schedule your appointment.

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Mom’s Special Day

CONTENTS

APRIL 27 — MAY 3, 2021 VOLUME 42 || NUMBER 17

UPGRADE YOUR PANDEMIC SWEATS WITH THESE HOT LOOKS 15

IS AROUND THE CORNER!

INSIDE THE NORMALIZATION OF GENDER 21 FLUID FASHION

Send your love with flowers

INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST & FASHION DESIGNER B-MIKE 27

ORDER YOUR MOTHER’S DAY ARRANGEMENTS TODAY!

NEWS

OPENING GAMBIT

6

COMMENTARY 10 CLANCY DUBOS

SPECIALIZING IN

FEATURES

HOT PASTRAMI & CORNED BEEF FALAFEL • CHOPPED LIVER MATZOH BALL SOUP

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 5 EAT + DRINK

32

EVENTS 37

BUY 1 SANDWICH & GET FREE FRENCH FRIES!

FILM 38 PUZZLES 39

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OPEN 7 AM – 7 PM “Best New York Deli in New Orleans” 3519 SEVERN 888-2010

Order drinks online for pickup or fresh roasted coffee shipped to you from

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@The_Gambit @gambitneworleans

Gen Z is here to strut their stuff and teach y’all olds a thing or two about fashion.

STAFF

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@GambitNewOrleans

COVER PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER COVER DESIGN BY DORA SISON

Publisher | JEANNE EXNICIOS FOSTER

EDITORIAL (504) 483-3105// response@gambitweekly.com Editor | JOHN STANTON Political Editor | CLANCY DUBOS Arts & Entertainment Editor | WILL COVIELLO Staff Writers | JAKE CLAPP, KAYLEE POCHE,

OPEN FOR

EXCHANGE 39

SPRING FASHION ISSUE

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Gambit (ISSN 1089-3520) is published weekly by Capital City Press, LLC, 840 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130. (504) 4865900. We cannot be held responsible for the return of unsolicited manuscripts even if accompanied by a SASE. All material published in Gambit is copyrighted: Copyright 2021 Capital City Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

Watch the footwork

‘Symphony of Horror’ ‘NOSFERATU’ IS A LANDMARK 1922 FILM that introduced an unlicensed adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula” to the silver screen. Though originally subtitled “A Symphony of Horror,” much of its original score was lost. It screens at the Broadside with an improvised live score performed by Nolatet with Aurora Nealand, as part of the Scatterjazz series of original music.

At 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 28. Find tickets at broadsidenola.com.

Dawn Richard leads an electro revival on ‘Second Line’

BY JAKE CLAPP EARLY ON HER NEW ALBUM “SECOND LINE,” Dawn Richard softly asks,

“What does it mean to second line?”

“To give the good footwork with the good work,” she replies over the light, bouncy synthesizer opening of the song “Nostalgia.” “It’s a celebration. An opportunity for us to do us.”

The beat picks up and she’s off: “I’m gonna get you to move.”

It’s a sentiment constantly reflected in the songs on “Second Line: An Electro Revival” — and in the nature of the album itself. Richard is taking influence from and celebrating personal history and traditions she grew up around in New Orleans, but all of the mentions of second line don’t in any way mean this is a traditional album. “Second Line” is the artist breaking genre and pop industry expectations and going where she wants.

“I’ve been built in this world, especially musically and artistically, where people give you rules and a structure, and they say, ‘You follow this structure and this will bring you peace and success,’ ” Richard recently told Gambit. “But I come from a city where we follow the feeling, and that feeling is completely different. It’s not a set thing.”

Richard releases “Second Line” on Friday, April 30, through Merge Records, her first release on the label.

It’s the sixth solo record for Richard, the co-founder of Danity Kane and Dirty Money, a duo with Kalenna Harper that performed closely with Diddy. Richard has created music independently since 2013, shaking off the rigors of the music industry system. And from 2013 to 2016, she released a well-received, loose trilogy: “Goldenheart,” “Blackheart” and “Redemptionheart.” Richard was based in Los Angeles, but influences and musicians from her hometown New Orleans, including Trombone Shorty and PJ Morton, found their way on to those records.

“Second Line” feels like the next installment in a new trilogy that started with “New Breed.” The acclaimed 2019 album blended pop and hip-hop with Afrobeat and funk, and featured samples from her father

Right atmosphere THE NEW ORLEANS NIGHTCRAWLERS won this year’s Best Regional Roots Music Album Grammy Award for 2020’s “Atmosphere.” The band performs at Broadside at 8 p.m.

Thursday, April 29. Find tickets at broadsidenola.com.

Art jam P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y P E T R O S KOY

Dawn Richard will release her new solo album, ‘Second Line,’ on Friday.

Frank’s New Orleans band, Chocolate Milk. Richard explored Black Masking Indian traditions and her family’s history in the culture. There’s high anticipation for her upcoming album, with recent profiles in The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Similar to how she lightly traces her father’s influence on “New Breed,” Richard focuses on her mother on “Second Line.” Short clips of Richard interviewing her mother, Debbie, dot the new album, and the two talk about second line culture, Creole identity, family history and love. “How many times have you ever been in love?” Richard asks at the beginning of the cinematic groove “Mornin | Streetlights.” “One time … your father,” Debbie replies.

“I’ve found that I love the idea of series, chapters — many opportunities to tell the same message,” says Richard, who recently made a full-time move back to New Orleans.

“So here again, I moved back home.

I didn’t expect to do a trilogy, but I think ‘New Breed,’ I had so much information. I got re-acquainted with New Orleans in a different way, and I saw that the conversation couldn’t take one album.

“I wanted to tell the heritage and roots of each part of my family to kind of explain why I’ve become this unconventional artist within the industry.”

Afrofuturism pervades “Second Line,” and Richard incorporates soul, house, Chicago footwork and bounce, as well as nods to the Black artists

that pioneered electronic music. The album subtitle, “An Electro Revival,” is a clear tip to the styles Richard is exploring.

“That [subtitle] celebrates the fact that there is a true opportunity for Black culture to thrive in this space,” Richard says, “because we are the people who created it, like Chicago footwork, bounce music — ballroom culture, all of that is house and dance — but you look at the genres and most of the time, it’s white and male.

It’s really trying to push that avenue.”

Richard introduces the persona King Creole on “Second Line.”

An animator — and the first Black artist to be a creative consultant for Adult Swim — Richard worked with Ceaux Young to design the look of the character.

King Creole is an “assassin of stereotypes” occupying a post-apocalyptic New Orleans, Richard says, a half-human, half-android, non-binary person (using she/they pronouns) from the Lower 9th Ward who is pursuing her path in life. King Creole parallels Dawn Richard, but the King Creole mantle also is waiting to be picked up by any number of Black girls and non-binary folk pursuing the electro revival.

“There is no set genre because of the color of my skin that I need to do with this process,” Richard says.

“I want to give you something that makes you feel good. So what does that encompass? Many things. Just like our city, when it comes to culture, we’re many things.”

THE ARTS DISTRICT OF NEW ORLEANS’ annual Jammin’ on Julia event is an all-day fete this year, with galleries open from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 1, and most of them hosting live music. Some will offer drinks and some festivities extend outdoors with social distancing in mind. Participating galleries are clustered along Julia and Camp streets, and Stella Jones Gallery at 201 St. Charles Ave. also opens a show. There’s also an online auction.

Visit artsdistrictneworleans.com.

Side by side SIDEFEST IS AN IMPROVISED MUSIC festival at the SidePorch (425 S. White St.) on Saturday, May 1. Performers include Helen Gillet and Boyana Trayanova at 1:30 p.m., Johnny Sansone at 4 p.m. and a set to be led by keyboardist Brian Haas with Aurora Nealand, Brad Walker and Dan Oestreicher at 6 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs and their own booze to the outdoor event. Food is available from SideGrill NOLA. Visit scatterjazz.com for information.

Wife’s tales HANNAH PEPPER performs the original work “Di Yiddishe Vayb,” based on Bertolt Brecht’s anti-Nazi oneact “The Jewish Wife” and Yiddish folktales about the fools of Chelm.

The piece is inspired by questions of assimilation, the Jewish diaspora and stumbling upon wisdom in foolishness.

Performances are outdoors in City Park at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 1-2. Find tickets on eventbrite.com.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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OPENING GAMBIT N E W

O RL E A N S

N E W S

+

V I E W S

We’re still not sure how Jeff Landry got a “law degree”

# The Count

Thumbs Up/ Thumbs Down

Brian Sands, a New Orleans artist and theater critic, raised more than $40,299 for Covenant House during this year’s virtual Crescent City Classic as part of the 10K race’s Run For It charitable fundraising program.

Sands has been the top fundraiser during the Crescent City Classic for eight years, raising over $142,000 for Covenant House, which serves unhoused and at-risk youth.

303 The number of people in Louisiana serving life sentences without parole for crimes they committed as juveniles, according to 2017 data.

F I L E P H OTO B Y T E D J AC K S O N

Former DA Leon Cannizzarro has decided against retirement, opting instead to spend his golden years under Jeff Landry at the AG’s office.

Why not just get into golf, brah?

AG Landry hires controversial former New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro Gov. John Bel Edwards last

week said he would not support the anti-transgender bills being pushed by Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature. Republican state lawmakers have filed draconian bills in recent weeks that would prohibit trans and gender-nonconforming Louisianans from participating in school sports and bar trans teens from accessing health care without both parents’ consent.

LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF LANDRY announced April 20th that he was hiring controversial former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro as co-director of the state’s criminal division. Cannizzaro, who retired after being accused of numerous civil rights abuses, is replacing longtime Landry crony Pat Magee, who left the office after being credibly accused of sexual harassment.

Cannizzaro is being sued by civil rights attorneys over his use of fake subpoenas to pressure witnesses and victims alike to cooperate with authorities in criminal investigations.

The former DA is a longtime devotee of the “tough on crime” criminal justice philosophy, which led to an explosion of the nation’s prison population and has increasingly been rejected in favor of more humane approaches to law enforcement. — JOHN STANTON

Author and former Lusher teacher Blake Bailey accused of rape, sexual misconduct and ‘grooming’ middle school girls

That number will surely rise after the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled judges don’t have to hold a hearing to determine if juveniles are “permanently incorrigible,” removing a failsafe that could prevent sending a kid to jail for the rest of their lives.

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Attorney General Jeff Landry last week used his time

to call a press conference and attack the employees who blew the whistle on former criminal division head Pat Magee for sexual harassment. Magee resigned in March after multiple sexual harassment complaints were made against him, and Landry has since worked hard to discredit the people who have come forward. He also has attacked The Advocate for reporting on those allegations.

Blake Bailey has been accused of raping at least two women, committing unwanted sexual advances toward others and of “grooming” former middle school students.

In the wake of the initial allegations, four of which were reported April 20 by the Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, several more women have also come forward to national periodicals including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, with stories detailing their own traumatic experiences with Bailey.

At least six former students — who are now in their 30s and 40s, and most of whom spoke under conditions of anonymity — shared similar claims that Bailey initially earned their trust as a charismatic mentor when they were in his eighth-grade English class. They say he kept in contact with them throughout their adolescence, often checking in to ask questions about their romantic lives and the status of their virginity — but also offering career advice and taking an interest in their writing.

PAGE 9

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OPENING GAMBIT Bailey himself also denied allegations to the New York Times, calling them “categorically false and libelous.”

Despite these statements, there is mounting, well-documented evidence of disturbing behavior primarily targeting young women.

Though he denies illegal activity, Bailey has admitted to previously engaging in “deplorable” behavior.

One woman, who spoke under conditions of anonymity to the Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, says she confronted Bailey through email about a sexual encounter when she was younger.

He responded with, “Whatever the rumor mill says, I had sex with no minors or students who were my students at the time...My behavior was deplorable, but I did nothing illegal.”

Peyton, the former student and the first woman to speak on the record accusing him of rape, had also previously confronted Bailey through email, to which he responded: “For what it’s worth, you weren’t in 8th grade when the night in question occurred; you were in your 20s and I was in my 30s (just), and for the record I wasn’t attracted to you when you were in 8th grade and have never laid a glove on any student, while she was my student, including college and grad school students.”

Bailey also told Peyton he was suffering from an unspecified mental illness at the time.

Peyton and others say Bailey told them when they reached adulthood that he had been attracted to them since they were his students.

The Lusher administration has denied knowledge of Bailey’s alleged misconduct during his teaching days, but as allegations continue to surface, and former students grapple with years of trauma, there is now a petition calling for an investigation of the top-ranked school. At least one parent at the time says she complained to the school about Bailey’s treatment of her daughter.

Jackie Delamatre, author of the petition, wrote that she would like to see the school “engage in a full and thorough investigation of Blake Bailey’s actions while he was a teacher and after he was a teacher when those actions were related to former students.”

Delamatre and those who have signed the petition are also calling on Lusher to make changes to its charter to “try and prevent this kind of behavior from happening in the future” and are asking for “whistleblower protection and trainings for all teachers and students on how to identify and report inappropriate behavior.”

— SARAH RAVITS Ed. Note: Sarah Ravits is a friend and former colleague of Eve Crawford Peyton.

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Eve Crawford Peyton, a former student who says Bailey took advantage of her trust as a youth and then raped her when she was a 22-yearold journalism graduate student in 2003, recalled how he would often leave notes in class journals about how “funny and smart the girls were, which made them feel special,” according to the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate.

Others have claimed that he pressured them into having sex once they reached legal adulthood.

In some cases, they have been reluctant to categorize it as assault but were nevertheless aware of a problematic power imbalance that made them feel like they could not safely turn down his advances.

Elisha Diamond, a former Lusher student, recalled to the TimesPicayune | The New Orleans Advocate a night out with Bailey during her freshman year of college.

She said she went to a bar with him but didn’t drink alcohol, despite him urging her to do so. Diamond said Bailey spent the evening inquiring about her sex life and making “suggestive” remarks before running his hand up her skirt. She left the scene shortly the incident.

Valentina Rice, not a former student but a publishing executive who met Bailey as an adult through the East Coast literary scene, has also accused the now-disgraced author of rape.

Rice said in an April 21 New York Times story that she met Bailey during an overnight stay in 2015 at a literary critic’s house in New Jersey, and that Bailey entered the bedroom where she was staying and raped her as she attempted to fight him off.

Bailey is now 57 and lives in Virginia, where until recently he was celebrating an illustrious and successful literary career.

Earlier this month he published a biography on writer Philip Roth, which quickly earned glowing reviews and ascended the New York Times bestseller list.

Some of the allegations against Bailey had surfaced in the comments section of an April 16 blog post by Ed Champion, which had coincidentally criticized the biography for being “drenched in casual misogyny.”

Bailey’s career has since came to an abrupt halt: His publisher, W.W. Norton, stopped distribution and promotion of the book last week, and his literary agency, The Story Factory, fired him immediately after learning of what it calls “disturbing allegations.”

Bailey has retained New Orleans attorney Billy Gibbens, who told the Times-Picayune| The New Orleans Advocate that Bailey “never acted inappropriately with any student and has never received any complaints” about his time at Lusher more than 20 years ago.

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COMMENTARY

Republican attacks on trans rights are an attack on us all

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TRANSGENDER AND GENDER-NONCONFORMING CITIZENS have long been at the

forefront of fights for human rights, equality and freedom in the United States. Not just for themselves, but for all Americans. From Albert Cashier in the Civil War to Marsha P. Johnson at the Stonewall uprising to young trans and nonbinary people leading protests against police violence in America today, virtually every effort to end discrimination and injustice has seen trans and gender-nonconforming people putting their lives on the line.

Sadly, through most of that history, trans and gender-nonconforming people could not count on their fellow citizens to show them the same measure of empathy and patriotism.

Their long fight for human rights, civil rights and basic human dignity has been a lonely one.

Thankfully, as Americans of all ages — particularly Gen Z — have embraced enlightened notions about gender and sexuality, that dynamic has begun to change. More and more citizens now realize that trans rights are human rights; that protecting the fundamental rights of gender-nonconforming people protects their own rights; that if we are ever to live up to promises of the Declaration of Independence, we must secure the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all, not just those with whom we identify.

Predictably, the entrenched, narrow-minded forces of prejudice and hatred aren’t giving in without a fight. In their current annual session, state lawmakers will consider at least four bills that would further discriminate against trans and gender-nonconforming Louisianans.

Most disturbingly, these bills — all of which are authored by Republicans — target children. Two of the bills would restrict trans minors’ access to healthcare; two others would bar trans women from participating in organized sports at all academic levels.

Although beside the point, the timing of these bills may appear odd, given the fact that Louisiana has seen no public controversy involving trans athletes or healthcare for trans minors. But to simply write these measures off as pandering to the basest, most hateful impulses of some voters would be a mistake.

P H OTO B Y DAV I D G R U N F E L D / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E | T H E N E W O R L E A N S A DVO C AT E

A sign supporting transgender and LGBTQ rights is placed where the former bust of John McDonogh sat in Duncan Plaza after protesters defaced it, tore it down and tossed it into the Mississippi River.

Truth is these bills are nearly identical to measures enacted by Republican-majority legislatures in Arkansas, Texas and other states. As trans and gender-nonconforming people have become increasingly visible — and their right to exist normalized in popular culture and mainstream thinking — anti-human rights voices have mounted a defense of the old ways.

To his credit, Gov. John Bel Edwards has stepped forward to oppose the anti-trans bills, calling them “unnecessary and discriminatory and very hurtful.” The governor correctly notes the measures would hurt Louisiana economically.

The NCAA has issued a statement declaring its support for transgender student athletes and saying it will choose locations for its championship games “where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination.” New Orleans is scheduled to host the NCAA’s Final Four basketball tournament next year.

Hopefully, enough lawmakers will muster the moral and political courage to defeat these bills — or at least enough to sustain a righteous veto by the governor.

CLANCY DUBOS

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@clancygambit

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Council turning up the heat on bumbling Entergy THE NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL IS POISED THIS WEEK to

launch a major investigation into Entergy New Orleans’ bungled “load shedding” event (read: blackouts) on Mardi Gras night earlier this year.

If the council’s other recent investigations are any guide, this one will likely end with yet another significant fine against the utility.

No one outside ENO’s boardroom will shed any tears.

ENO has been hit with $6 million in penalties in recent years as a result of “prudence investigations” by the council, which regulates the utility. The prior fines resulted from deliberate acts or omissions by ENO — its astroturfing or “paid actors” scandal in 2017 and its years-long failure to maintain its distribution system, which caused outages even on fair-weather days.

By contrast, the forthcoming investigation appears to be based on ENO’s technical and operational screwups.

Council president and utilities committee chair Helena Moreno will ask her colleagues to officially launch the investigation at the council’s April 29 meeting. That move comes after the council’s legal and technical advisers, along with council staff, presented a preliminary report alleging that computer glitches caused ENO to cut off nearly four times as many customers as necessary on the night of Feb. 16.

The report also concluded that ENO failed to regularly check its computers for problems; that it failed to notify customers of the blackout until it was nearly over; and that it inadvertently cut power to the Sewerage and Water Board, which should not have been subject to the emergency shut-off.

The report further notes that ENO mislabeled its own power “feeders” within its computer system and failed to understand the amount of power behind several of its substations — failures which caused unnecessary power outages across the city.

The case against ENO looks to be open-and-shut. The utility admitted to operational failures in a letter to the council last month.

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Entergy workers

In fairness, ENO was required to cut power or “shed load” during the cold snap that gripped mid-America the week of Mardi Gras. ENO and other utilities in the Mississippi Valley belong to a power-sharing entity called MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator). MISO’s operating agreement authorizes it to direct member utilities to cut power when emergencies push demand beyond normal limits. The aim is to spread shortages across member states to avert rolling blackouts across the entire system.

When Entergy got word to cut power on Mardi Gras night, about 7,800 of its New Orleans customers should have lost power — with advance notice. Instead, some 25,000 of them lost power, with no advance notice. The council’s advisers recommend investigating whether to penalize ENO for the excessive blackouts.

In addition to the newest inquiry into ENO, the council has filed a $1 billion case against Entergy Corp.

(ENO’s parent company) and its subsidiaries in the wake of performance and safety problems at Entergy’s Grand Gulf nuclear generation plant in Mississippi. The council also continues to review ENO customers’ huge billing swings during this past winter.

It may be springtime, but ENO is feeling some serious heat these days.

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BLAKE PONTCHARTRAIN™ Hey Blake,

FEEL THE FEST

Is it true there was once a Drago’s restaurant in Lakeview?

Dear reader,

There was indeed a restaurant named Drago’s on Harrison Avenue in Lakeview for nearly 20 years. It wasn’t owned by Drago Cvitanovich, patriarch of the now well-known restaurant family, but he did work there. The restaurant’s namesake was his brother-in-law, Drago Batinich.

Batinich was born in Molat, Croatia, and came to New Orleans in 1939. In 1947, he married another Croatian immigrant, Gloria Cvitanovich. Like many Croatian immigrants, members of her family had settled in Plaquemines Parish. In 1946, she had the honor of being named the first queen of the Plaquemines Parish Fair and Orange Festival.

In 1951, the Batinichs opened Drago’s Restaurant and Bar at 789 Harrison Ave. “Drago’s is an excellent neighborhood restaurant which uses the abundance of New Orleans seafood with elan,” wrote New Orleans Underground Gourmet restaurant critic Richard Collin in 1970. Favorites included the fried seafood plate and broiled whole trout with bordelaise sauce.

After fleeing Yugoslavia’s Communist regime, serving in the U.S. Army and living in Canada, Gloria’s brother Drago Cvitanovich relocated to New Orleans in 1964.

He came here with his wife Klara

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Junior’s on Harrison now stands at 789 Harrison Avenue in Lakeview.

The building once housed Drago’s Restaurant and Bar.

(also a Croatian immigrant) and two sons, Tommy and Gerry. Drago would go to work at his sister’s Lakeview restaurant for the next few years.

In 1969, Drago and Klara Cvitanovich opened their own restaurant, also named Drago’s, in Fat City. Now run by son Tommy — who invented the signature dish, charbroiled oysters, in 1993 — the Metairie restaurant is one of five Drago’s locations. Although Drago died in 2017, Mrs. Cvitanovich is still active in the business.

The Batinichs retired and sold their Lakeview restaurant in 1970.

For many years it was Landry’s, then Cava. It is now Junior’s on Harrison.

Drago Batinich died in 1997. His wife Gloria died in 2006.

BLAKEVIEW MAY MARKS 100 YEARS SINCE A BAKER NAMED SIMON HUBIG came to New Orleans from Texas, bringing with him his small fried glazed pies. Hubig’s Pies would become a delicious piece of local history.

A May 28, 1921, article in The Times-Picayune, headlined “New Orleans becomes pie making center,” explained that Hubig, who started his business in Fort Worth, Texas, had signed a 10-year lease for a bakery building in the 2400 block of Dauphine Street in Faubourg Marigny. He bought the building in 1924.

In his early ads, Hubig called himself “Simon the Pie Man,” offering his honey fruit pies for 10 or 15 cents. Favorite flavors included apple, lemon, peach, pineapple, chocolate and coconut.

An August 1921 article in The New Orleans States said Hubig was “well known coast to coast as an expert in the baking line.” In addition to New Orleans, Hubig, who died in 1926, established a regional bakery chain that included many outlets in Texas and stretched to his hometown of Cincinnati. All of the factories folded after World War II, except for the New Orleans location. It stayed in business until a disastrous fire in July 2012.

Members of the Bowman and Ramsey families who owned the bakery pledged to return from the fire, but a family split led to many years of delays.

A new facility is preparing to open soon in Elmwood. In March, owner Andrew Ramsey told The Times Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate the bakery would be open “in a matter of months.”

Follow @gambitneworleans on Instagram and tag your ffavorite friends to fest with on our “Feel the Fest” posts for f your chance to enter to win a spring festival season w prize pack.

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CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO, STARTING NEW TRENDS, rolling

your eyes at the stupid things The Olds do: These will always be staples of of youth culture, no matter what generation. And perhaps there’s no place where it’s more apparent than the world of fashion.

For years, Gambit would run semi-regular fashion issues, but as is the case with good taste, invulnerability to hangovers and all the other trappings of youth, somewhere along the line in our 40 years of publication we stopped doing them.

When we decided to do this issue, we were faced with a daunting question: WTF even is fashion anymore — especially during a pandemic that has kept many of us cooped up in our sweatpants for months on end?

We decided to do the most sensible thing: Ask the youths.

This week’s issue features work written by students of JRNOLA, a local nonprofit that teaches journalism and an ongoing partner of Gambit. In the following pages and the extended online version, they are both models and authors. They delve into the fads we’ve all come to embrace including athleisure, and the concept that looking good can also be comfortable. They also explore the rise of gender-fluid fashion, drag culture and the emergence — and importance — of supporting Black-owned clothing lines in New Orleans.

Each section speaks to socio-political trends that go beyond springtime florals or where to part your hair. This issue is very much a reflection not only of current trends, but also of the generation that has come of age during an ongoing push to dismantle systemic racism and inequality, the nightmare of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the constant, internecine generational war between Boomers and Millennials (Gen X, as is their habit, are largely sitting this out and complaining that they’re all a bunch of idiots).

And the photos, we hope, reflect the poise and moments of joy this generation has shown despite adversity — something adults could certainly learn from.

In a future wrought with ongoing challenges, fashion will certainly continue to make statements.

And one thing will always ring true: teens are just gonna dress — and think — cooler than you.

Check out our web-exclusive fashion content, too, over at bestofneworleans.com/springfashion2021.

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IN THE 1980S, ARTHUR SEVERIO was pioneering “gender-fluid

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An outfit designed by Melanie Reupke

fashion” on the streets of the French Quarter, though at the time he didn’t know it. That’s because back then, there wasn’t a term yet for his gender-defying style.

At the time, Severio, now 54, fashioned his hair into a shoulder-length bob, dyed what he describes as “red-red-red-red.” He would often wear skirts with men’s button-down shirts. Makeup, hoop earrings and leather were also popular at the time, influenced by the punk scene. People would sometimes approach Severio in a store and say, “Excuse me, ma’am,” only to correct themselves to “sir,” after he lifted his head.

“I was just me,” Severio says. “I wasn’t thinking of this, that, or the other.”

For decades, the mixing of traditionally gendered clothing and accessories was considered at best a niche style — and at worst, an excuse to target people with anti-LGBTQ abuse and harassment. For much of society it was a quirky signifier of punks, glam rockers and queer culture.

But over the last decade those conventional notions of the intersection of fashion and gender have increasingly been left behind. Now, gender-fluid fashion is trending with young pop culture icons — Billie Eilish, Jaden Smith, Ezra Miller and Harry Styles come to mind — as they appear in clothes at photo shoots,

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WHETHER IT’S ON THE COVER OF VOGUE, FRENCH QUARTER STREETS OR IN THE HALLS OF LOCAL SCHOOLS, GENDER-FLUID FASHION IS ABOUT SHOWCASING INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION AND ACCEPTANCE.

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P H OTO B Y J E R N E B A R R A / P R OV I D E D B Y M E L A N I E R E U P K E

Sam Springston

Designer Melanie Reupke

on stage, and in their everyday lives that defy conventional, gendered fashion.

Predictably, those trends have seeped into the lives of the non-rich and famous as well, particularly with younger people who have begun bringing gender-fluid styles into the mainstream.

While this fashion movement may simply appear to concern the arrangement of fabrics, it’s ultimately a fight for creative expression and identification. It enables freedom to make choices and is a platform for not just a fashion statement, but a political statement — and often one of acceptance.

Unsurprisingly, New Orleans has been at the forefront of gender-fluid fashion. After all, costuming here isn’t something only done on Halloween or Mardi Gras. On any given Tuesday, you’re as likely to see someone decked out in

sequins and glitter as you are to see a threepiece suit. It’s a city well-known for artists, entertainers and musicians who showcase a melange of colorful, eclectic styles.

Bounce music, for example, has been especially accepting to openly non-cis gendered artists.

Big Freedia, a gay man with a feminine stage persona and fluid pronouns, has become the de facto face of the genre in the city.

Add that to the social-barrier-breaking nature of Carnival, and it’s no small wonder that the city naturally blurs the lines of gender in fashion. But various generations of New Orleanians have approached their own particular brand of gender-fluid fashion in completely different ways.

“We really need to pay homage to the people that came before me — our ancestors,” Severio

PAGE 25

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says of gender-fluid dressing Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation.

As late as the mid-20th century, New Orleanians were jailed for even approaching a form of gender-fluid fashion as part of the broader persecution of the LGBT community. In 1952 on Halloween night, 21 men were arrested because “city ordinance 3121 prohibits a person from wearing clothing of the opposite sex in public,” according to a story in The Times-Picayune at the time. The only exception for that rule, the city claimed, was for Fat Tuesday.

“Back in the day, the girls wouldn’t even talk to the gays because they’d get clocked,” Severio says, referring to people outing others’ gender and sexual identity. “In that way, they would know their tea.”

The terms and gender identification from those days have evolved dramatically since the 1950s.

“I think that gender fluidity, even though it’s not really a new concept, is suddenly being talked about on a larger scale,” designer Melanie Reupke says. “And people don’t really know what to do with that.”

Reupke, 37, spent her childhood poring over fashion magazines, playing dress-up and drawing, so it was only natural that she was drawn to fashion. A few years ago, Reupke found herself at a fashion show where Daquine, a non-binary drag princess, announced that The Material Institute of New Orleans was accepting new students.

She jumped at the opportunity and has been with the institute for a year and a half.

Reupke’s inaugural collection, Dreamweaver, drew inspiration from elegant, drapey materials, showcased with male or non-binary models. She has been inspired by pop culture icons and people who embody a “genderless” vibe.

But she also made sure to keep it local by conversing with New Orleanians who operate outside of social norms.

“Why does elegance and grace and beauty have to be attributed to a specific gender?”

Reupke says. “I don’t think it needs to. I want the clothes I design to be for everybody.”

With her own wardrobe, Reupke tends to sport thrift shop finds — not “super girly,” she says, but not quite “tomboy,” either. She gravitates toward old Boy Scout shirts paired with cargo shorts, although she sometimes favors vintage dresses.

Reupke describes her style as eclectic, choosing clothes based on what feels natural to her at a particular time — she always dresses for herself.

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25 Sam Springston, a 33-year-old studio artist and drag queen, loves to dazzle in clothes that he selects and designs for himself. He describes his style as “trashionista meets body glover; a Kmart version of Leigh Bowery,” and isn’t subtle on his outfit details.

Springston doesn’t require a process when designing his outfits, per se. He simply thinks to dress as a person before anything else — for him, it’s more about maintaining an aesthetic.

Springston looks to more androgenous designers like Iris van Herpen, Manish Arora and Gareth Pugh.

One could say that Gen-Z is fortunate to have had the boundaries of gendered fashion lowered by the generations before them, but they’re also trailblazing on their own.

Niko Brown, a 15-year-old student at Lycee Francais de la Nouvelle-Orleans, draws her style from both goth and drag culture. She says it’s important to be able to outwardly project her interests and passions through clothing because it makes her feel complete. It also enables her to express herself in a platform that she uses in her daily life.

Typically, Brown prefers to contrast a tight article of clothing with a loose article to create a balanced look.

She suggests creating things that are “boxier” to hide the figure, noting some gender-fluid people aren’t completely comfortable with tight-fitting, revealing clothing.

And not all gender-fluid people present as gender-fluid. She says that designing gender-fluid and inclusive clothing calls for variance: it should include feminine, masculine, and gender-neutral aspects in its color palette, shape and overall design.

Walker Argao, a 16-year-old student, also at Lycee, says he wears whatever makes him comfortable. He doesn’t put much thought into his outfits but wears what he gravitates to in the moment.

Although he describes a good bit of the clothes he wears as leaning more toward the masculine side, he’s open to both clothes found in the female and male section. Fashion, for Argao, is such an everyday, basic way to show others another side of himself — without the need to participate in something grandiose.

TAKEOUT and DELIVERY

“It’s pretty surprising to see Mardi Gras fashion,” Argao says. “Not in a bad way; I like the chaotic nature of Mardi Gras fashion. It makes me feel proud to live in a city with all these awesome crazy people who make these extravagant costumes.”

New Orleans’ drag culture and Mardi Gras in particular certainly have had such a large impact on gender-fluid fashion — across generations. Both have welcomed in the LGBTQ community and provide events and platforms for a diverse assortment of people to express themselves in unapologetic ways.

Like the Bourbon Street Awards, for example, which dishes out prizes to the best in leather, group, and drag, among other categories.

“This is kind of a mix between gender and sexuality,” Springston says. “Something along the lines of peacocks, male peacocks having the brightest feathers and like flying that plumage to flag what they’re looking for. And I feel like that’s something I resonate with in my fashion: trying to find that otherness, that flamboyancy in dress.”

Springston says he feels his drag helps him understand how he can push boundaries.

“Everyone has that right, and I think it’s really beautiful because you see so many people walking down the street dressed so differently,” Brown, the 16-year-old, says of New Orleans.

“Clothing can be a mask — but it can also be a reflection of one’s inner self.”

Severio looks back to his time growing up in rural Louisiana in the 1970s and ’80s as a young, gay man — a particularly painful time as he was the brunt of judgment and bullying during his time in school.

“I wasn’t trying to be feminine,” Severio says.

“I tried to be male, but there were even pictures of me in the yearbook where they labeled me as a girl.”

Severio thankfully had the guidance from an older generation in his big brother, a gay man 20 years his senior. His brother brought him to New Orleans, where he was introduced to drag culture and gay people, and he felt like there was a bit of salvation for him.

“It was such a different culture than what I grew up in,” Severio says. “There was one of everything … and that was so cool for me.”

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A p r i l 27 - M ay 3 > 2 0 2 1

PAGE 23

P H OTO B Y J O N AT H A N T R AV E S I A / P R OV I D E D B Y M E L A N I E R E U P K E

An outfit designed by Melanie Reupke

Despite his hardship growing up, Severio says that he’s optimistic about the direction younger generations of New Orleanians are going in — not just in terms of their open sexuality, gender and fashion sense, but also in their sense of identity as humans.

“I’m hoping that with the internet, that their generation found freedom for themselves and acceptance,” Severio says. “I hope that the kids in the country don’t have to go through what I went through. Just be yourself and live out loud.”

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119 Transcontinental • Metairie • 504-885-4572 N E A R A I R L I N E D R I V E • C AT E R I N G AVA I L A B L E

Order online! www.shortstoppoboysno.com/order

'& # ! ! & $

'& # ! ! & $

BY CHRIS TAYLO R |

JRNOLA

Relax on our

BRANDAN ODUMS, AKA B-MIKE OF STUDIO BE, is perhaps best known

for his brightly colored, larger than life murals and public artwork that can be found around New Orleans.

His art often incorporates imagery of pop culture icons and civil rights leaders and showcases Black empowerment and the continued push for equality during an era of ongoing racial injustice and police brutality.

The Bywater-based artist also has expanded into the fashion world in recent months, selling T-shirts and hoodies using his own designs and some commissioned by Black women artists.

GAMBIT: What inspired you to start making clothing?

O: In order to sustain this space, we had to find ways to make money on the lower end. The artwork is available and it’s for sale, but the artwork can be higher up in price, thousands of dollars. We wanted to create things that people could take with them after they experienced the space, so we created the gift shop.

[It’s] something people can take with them to remind them and represent that time they spent at the studio.

G: Why is embodying historical figures, sayings and movements important to the clothing you wear and produce?

BO: I think we’re all students of those moments, and we’re all excited about how those moments are forever with us. The name of the show in Studio BE is called the “Ephemeral Eternal,” and ephemeral is defined as the short or temporary, and eternal lasts forever. The thought is that we celebrate these individuals by reminding us that their legacy is eternal and there’s so much we can continually learn from them.

When people choose to get dressed, they’re curating a statement. What I appreciate about fashion and about wardrobe is that we make decisions every day about our bodies. We figure out what messages we are trying to communicate with our clothes ... I always gravitated toward clothes that were communicating messages about history, message, movement and about what it means to be Black. When I was thinking about things to make for the gift shop, it was like, yo, I want to make stuff that I would wear.

G: How is giving African Americans a face like their own within your merchandise so important for

TROPICAL COURTYARD OR SIDEWALK SEATING

with a fresh cocktail, wine or dinner!

P H OTO P R OV I D E D B Y B R A N DA N O D U M S

Brandan Odums

the Black children who see and buy your clothing?

BO: It’s super important. We talk about representation all the time in terms of seeing your things represented in spaces where you wouldn’t have been and how important that is to see, locking them into a possibility ... Our imagination is one of the most powerful tools we have to reach liberation. And those things that aid our imagination — seeing what’s possible or seeing representation and understanding aspects of your story — those are all ingredients that help unlock our own imagination.

The blueprint to tomorrow is in our imagination. These are just the seeds to help unlock that potential.

BAR OPENS AT 4PM DAILY • DINNER SERVICE 5PM-10:30PM WEEKDAYS & UNTIL 11PM ON WEEKENDS 720 ORLEANS AVE. • 504.523.1930 • WWW.ORLEANSGRAPEVINE.COM

G: How do you feel about the many Black-owned clothing companies on the rise?

BO: It’s important that we continue to support Black creatives, Black designers, Black brands and also continue to show people that they have the agency to create the things that they might not have seen themselves represented in. A lot of these up-and-coming designers have ideas, they’re doing it differently … A lot of what I’m excited about is these new brands and younger brands have a vision.

G: If you had one outfit to wear forever, what would it be?

BO: There’s a pair of black jeans I got and probably some type of dark hoodie. I’m really a fan of a few brands right now. One, Cactus Plant Flea Market — her stuff is super dope. I like the way she has puff prints on the hoodies. And then definitely a pair of Nike high tops.

My favorite Nikes right now are the Fear of Gods — I just loved the way they’re super high. They remind me of Dragon Ball Z. This interview has been shortened from its original version. For the full interview, visit bestofneworleans. com/springfashion2021

B OT H LO C AT I O N S N O W O P E N !

MONDAY 3:00PM - 10:30PM THURSDAY - SUNDAY 11:00AM - 10:30PM

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A p r i l 27 - M ay 3 > 2 0 2 1

Q&A:

27

B-Mike on his new clothing line & Black empowerment

FAS H I O N STO R I E S // PRO M OT IO N A L FE AT URE

For over 36 years, MJ’s on Metairie Road has been offering reasonably priced jewelry, shirts, flags, home decor and gift items with Louisiana flavor. MJ’s has exclusive designs of jewelry, including the NOLA Street Tile Collection. With many unique items in store, MJ’s always has something new to offer local customers, visitors and tourists, alike.

Playing off the retro hype this season, these bracelets were inspired by a popular watch band style from the 80’s. The perfect bangle to mix, match, layer & stack for a pop of color!

Watch band stackable bangles - $14.99 ea 1513 METAIRIE RD. | METAIRIE | 504-835-6099 www.mjsofmetairie.com

EYE WARES Attention fair-weather fashionistas! Eye Wares has the hottest styles in designer and independent frames and sunglasses. Both Old Metairie and Mandeville locations are running their annual Spring Sale – Up to 50% off select frames and sunglasses!

Metairie (800 Metairie Road): April 24 - May 8 / Mandeville (3601 U.S. Hwy 190): May 3 – May 15. Locally owned and operated, Eye Wares has the most sophisticated technology in the industry. Schedule online or call for more information! Visit EyeWaresNola. com to book your appointment or get information on events and special offers! Follow Eye Wares Nola on Facebook and Instagram!

800 METAIRIE RD. | METAIRIE | 504-301-1726 3601 US-190 E. | MANDEVILLE | 985-624-3314 www.eyewaresnola.com

LASALLE & JACKSON™

PHOTO PROVIDED BY L A SALLE & JACK SON

MJ’S OF METAIRIE

Spice up your spring/summer wardrobe with a Lasalle & Jackson™️ one-of-a-kind wrap bustier. Sweet and sassy, it will keep you cool and cute all season. Adriane Butler, owner/designer of Lasalle & Jackson™️, sources West African cotton wax prints and vintage fabrics to create one-of-a-kind pieces you will love to wear.

www.lasalleandjackson.com

ALICE & AMELIA

Springtime is Bowtie time here in New Orleans! Gentlemen, it’s time to dress dapper with fun bowties full of personality! Alice & Amelia has authentic New Orleans gifts, local art and gifts from small family owned businesses throughout the country. Also the home of Nola Girl products!

4432 MAGAZINE ST. | NEW ORLEANS | 504-502-6206 www.shopaliceandamelia.com

FAS H I O N STO R I E S // PRO M OT IO N A L FE AT URE

THE KREWE BARBER SHOP

MONOMIN Harlow Clutch $68

The KREWE, keeps you in style and looking sharp for any occasion.

We focus on men’s haircuts and beard trims, specializing in difficult hairstyles like fades, flattops and beard trims.

Our unique one on one consultation, provides the best service and experience for all of your grooming needs.

Monomin is a thoughtfully curated women’s boutique located in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans on Magazine Street in the most premier shopping district in the city. Locally owned and designed by architect, Rachel Taravella, the shop is an extension of her architectural aesthetic. The word Monomin derives from the two fundamental design themes of Rachel’s work, Monochromatic and Minimal.

Monomin features an affordable collection of modern apparel, shoes, and accessories hand selected from around the globe. New to the boutique is “Monomini”, a children’s clothing collection in sizes Newborn - 6T.

3348 W. ESPLANADE AVE. #305 METAIRIE | 504-645-0454 2104 MAGAZINE ST. | NEW ORLEANS | 504-827-1269 www.monomin.com

SAINTLY SKIN Beauty is always in fashion! Owner/ Esthetician Megan Naccari believes beautiful skin is within everyone’s grasp! That’s why she developed the Saintly Skin Club, an affordable package that will keep you at the top of your beauty regimen every month. Save on Botox, Xeomin, fillers, laser treatments and so much more! Saintly Skin MedSpa also provides the best in IPL Hair Removal, Cellulite Reduction, Acne solutions and spa facials. Their certified and trained skin care experts are ready to help you turn back the hands of time. Call for a free consultation.

3000 KINGMAN ST. STE 101 | METAIRIE | 504-475-5510 www.saintlyskin.com

GAE-TANA’S

The Tie Dye Maxi Dress $88

Comfy and flowy maxi dresses are always a warm weather favorite.

This is a great color tie-dye dress with a beautiful trim that will make you feel feminine and in style. gae-tana’s has a huge selection of cotton dresses that will get you through the New Orleans summers.

Serving New Orleans since 1984, gae-tana’s Maple Street Clothing has built a reputation for the perfect combination of selection, service, and price.

7732 MAPLE ST. | NEW ORLEANS (504) 865-9625 facebook.com/gaetanasnola @gaetanasnola

FAS H I O N STO R I E S // PRO M OT IO N A L FE AT URE

NOLA BOO

HUSTLER HOLLYWOOD Presley Alpine Skirt $82

Hey Boo! Get the latest (and cutest) spring and summer outfits, shoes and accessories at Nola Boo on Metairie Road! BuddyLove prints are the best. Our Presley skirt is where it’s at this spring season. Her elastic waist detail and ruffled edge make for a flattering fit. Add our Uma Black bodysuit or a graphic tee for the cutest edgy girly look. A shop for all sizes and price ranges!

For the latest looks you’ve got to shop NolaBoo in store or online at nolaboo.com.

Also follow us on Instagram @shop_nolaboo.

517 METAIRIE RD. | METAIRIE | 504-510-4655 www.nolaboo.com

FISHER & SONS

Since 1977, Fisher and Sons has always put their customers first - treating each customer like family and making their experience wonderful every time they walk in the store. From custom made, one of kind pieces to name brands, Fisher and Sons carries a wide selection of diamonds, bridal sets, unique fashion pieces, pearls and timepieces. Come check out the “Paperclip Collection” available in different lengths in sterling or 14k gold.

At HUSTLER Hollywood you can always expect the unexpected. Give your wardrobe some love with the hottest, head-turning trends including risque apparel, tongue-in-cheek accessories, patent leather heels, and dazzling jewels. Plus, you can bring your passion for fashion to the bedroom with our tasteful, high-end selection of lingerie, and cutting-edge novelties and toys. So go ahead, take a walk on the wild side, because HUSTLER Hollywood offers more than you think.Visit us at 111 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, or shop online www.HUSTLERHollywood.com

111 BOURBON ST. | NEW ORLEANS | 504-561-9969 www.hustlerhollywood.com

NOLA GIFTS & DECOR Dat Mambo Shirt, Sailboats and Crabs – On Sale Was $79.99 NOW $71.99

The Dat Mambo Shirt is a perfect way to show your Southern style whether you’re at the beach or just dining outside! Nola Gifts & Décor also has styles for Mardi Gras, Black & Gold, Festivals and more! A locally owned boutique, specializing in New Orleansinspired home décor, gifts, accessories & Jolie Home Paint, also has a great selection of leggings, socks and shirts. Now with two locations – the original location in Metairie past Transcontinental and their newest location at the entrance to Ormond Estates in Destrehan. Stop in to Nola Gifts and Décor when in search of everything New Orleans!

5101 W. ESPLANADE AVE. | METAIRIE | 504-885-4956

5101 W ESPLANADE AVE #17 | METAIRIE | 504-407-3532

www.fishersonsjewelers.com

www.nolagiftsanddecoronline.com

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SPONSORED CONTENT

BY AMANDA MCELFRESH | amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS. Each day, University of New Orleans graduates play a critical role in maintaining and advancing the area’s economy. Whether they attended UNO during their undergraduate years, for an advanced degree, or both, their impact can be seen in all of New Orleans’ major economic sectors. Many of these graduates are now in leadership roles in their respective industries and are continuing to look to UNO to fill positions, since they know first-hand that graduates will be productive, determined and ready to work on day one.

Here are six stories of New Orleans business leaders who used their UNO education as a major step in their professional development and personal growth.

TRACEY SCHIRO

Executive Vice President, Chief Risk and Human Resources Officer Ochsner Health

Schiro has had two UNO educational experiences. She earned her bachelor’s degree in management with a concentration in human resources, then later returned to school for the Executive Master of Business Administration program.

In both cases, Schiro was impressed with the real-world experiences her professors brought into the classroom.

That helped her see how her education would translate into the workforce and particularly, human resources.

“Many of the professors had worked outside of academics, so they would often talk about how something in our lessons applied to the industry and share case studies and examples,” Schiro said. “That also made them very approachable, because we could discuss real-world situations instead of only what was in the textbook.”

Today at Oschner Health, Schiro works alongside many other UNO graduates, including leaders in the health system’s finance, marketing and accounting departments.

To help continue that pipeline, Schiro encourages current UNO students to participate in campus activities and take advantage of career development opportunities.

“They have a wonderful career center and can help students get internships in their industry,” she said.

“They also offer coaching about business etiquette, resume writing and more. So many alumni are willing to come back and offer that expertise. I think it’s important for students to take advantage of those resources on campus that will help them prepare for their careers outside of UNO.”

PHILLIP R. MAY President and CEO Entergy Louisiana

Phillip May was already in the workforce when he enrolled in UNO’s Master of Business Administration program. May had a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, but realized he would need an MBA if he wanted to further his career.

It was a busy time for May. He balanced his night classes

at UNO with a full-time job, a family and a house that was under renovation.

“It taught me to carefully manage my time and work hard,” he said. “The thing was that my story was not unique. Many of my peers were in similar situations, yet we all had the perseverance to overcome those obstacles.

That was a great part of the experience.”

The experience also taught May how to work more closely with people from different backgrounds. His classmates came from diverse industries, with jobs such as lawyers, accountants, health care professionals, manufacturing professionals and more.

“I think it provided a great cross-section of insights that I didn’t have before,” May said. “My experience was enriched because of their outlooks. That made me appreciate the value of teams and working together and taking everyone’s input into consideration.”

May believes current UNO students and recent graduates share many common traits, including tenacity, a strong work ethic and problem-solving skills.

“If you are a UNO student, you are there with a real purpose and a desire to improve your career opportunities,” he said. “UNO is an ideal place to allow you to fulfill that potential.”

SHEBA TURK

Morning news anchor, WWL-TV Author, “Off Air: My Journey to the Anchor Desk”

UNO holds a special place in Sheba Turk’s heart. The New Orleans native admits she “overlooked” the university when she was considering colleges for her undergraduate degree. She ended up at New York University, but dropped out after a little more than a year to return home.

“I decided to go to UNO and realized I should have gone there in the first place,” she said. “It was the perfect place to get my degree.”

Turk majored in English, where she developed strong relationships with many of her professors, all of whom were supportive. In fact, when she couldn’t afford the textbook for a class about life in a newsroom, she approached the professor about her predicament. The two bonded, and that connection ultimately led Turk into a successful career in broadcast journalism.

“When I ended up at UNO, I never thought I would discover this career field,” Turk said. “I would tell the students now that you are surrounded by great professors who care about you and have so much knowledge about their industries. I would encourage them to connect with those professors because you never know where it will lead you.”

BRANDON NELSON

Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking Department Hancock Whitney

When Brandon Nelson was ready to move his finance

Tracey Schiro

Philip R. May

Sheba Turk

Brandon Nelson

Julie Stokes

Brian Rotolo

career to the next level, he enrolled in UNO’s Master of Business Administration program. The choice was driven by several factors. Nelson knew other UNO graduates and had seen how their education had positively impacted their careers. He also had heard how a UNO education would provide both theoretical knowledge and case studies from the real world.

“I think UNO does a great job of providing an affordable education without someone having to worry about student loans for the next two decades,” Nelson said. “The MBA program was a great mixture for me. It provided a foundation in financial analysis, organizational behavior, marketing and more. I felt like it gave me the education I needed to be a good manager.”

In addition, Nelson appreciated that his professors and fellow students embraced his own real-world experience and encouraged him to share stories and examples in classes.

“I was about six years into my career at that point, and the professors were not threatened by that at all,” he said.

“They appreciated that I could add practical knowledge and speak to the application of the theory being taught.

It was enjoyable to have my input embraced.”

Nelson said that kind of open-minded attitude permeates throughout the UNO campus and helps students learn skills that they can then translate into their careers, such as communication and inquisitiveness.

“No matter where you are in your career or your education, I think it’s important to show that desire to learn,” he said. “Self-improvement does not end upon graduation.

It can and should be a lifelong journey.”

JULIE STOKES

CEO of Flame Consulting, CFO of Stokes & Associates, Founder of Ellevate Louisiana, Co-Founder of the Cancer Advocacy Group of Louisiana, Former Louisiana Legislator

When Julie Stokes thinks back to her time at UNO, what stands out the most are the relationships she developed with other students, particularly in her sorority. The Jefferson Parish native was able to use that opportunity to learn about communicating, building relationships, expanding her worldview and lead others, all of which informed her future professional life.

“I was lucky enough to be able to run for offices, and those were some of the first real leadership positions I took,” Stokes said. “It really sowed that seed in me of leading others and working as a part of a team.”

As an undergraduate, Stokes majored in accounting, which has long been considered one of UNO’s top programs.

“I’d put it up against any accounting department in the country,” Stokes said. “They also have a very close relationship with large accounting firms and a very robust recruiting system.”

Combined with UNO’s other strong academic programs, Stokes said she considers the university to be “the

public educational heart” of New Orleans.

“I think UNO is absolutely essential to the greater New Orleans area,” she said. “It is serving students in this urban setting and I think that is absolutely critical to our city and our economy.”

BRIAN ROTOLO

Managing Partner, New Orleans | Assurance Ernst & Young LLP (EY)

Brian Rotolo can trace his current career success to the education he received as an undergraduate at UNO. Those lessons in the fundamentals of accounting and business became the bedrock for his professional career.

“It’s a foundation that has served me well,” Rotolo said.

“I have spent 30-plus years in public accounting. I think the high-quality education I received at UNO absolutely prepared me for that.”

These days, Rotolo and his colleagues at EY are working to recruit the next generation of financial talent. Rotolo said the firm regularly recruits from the university.

“UNO has a great reputation for preparing its students to take and pass the CPA exam, and that is a pretty important milestone in any accountant’s career,” he said.

“I attribute much of that to the faculty in the business and accounting departments. The professors and instructors have always had diverse backgrounds filled with wide-ranging experiences.”

With UNO’s strong academic reputation in other departments as well, Rotolo said he sees the university as a major economic engine in the New Orleans area.

In particular, it provides locals a chance to gain a solid educational foundation and work experience that many then parlay into careers with local companies.

“Many UNO students and graduates do tend to be from this area and they want to pursue their careers here,” Rotolo said. “I see UNO as crucial to the economic development of our region. I think the depth and breadth of the various colleges at UNO are impressive and they provide opportunities for everyone.”

Those opportunities also include the chance to become involved in extracurricular activities. For Rotolo, that was intramural sports, which was a fun activity that also taught him lifelong lessons about balancing work and school with personal interests.

“Some of those priorities have changed. Instead of playing sports, it became about my family and children and spouse,” Rotolo said. “But those skills I learned at UNO are still well used today. It’s so important to balance life and work and family while focusing on your well-being. That is one thing our firm really does focus on, and I feel like I developed those skills at UNO.”

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A p r i l 27 - M ay 3 > 2 0 2 1

Success Stories: How a UNO education is impacting the local economy, from finance to media to health care and more

EATDRINK

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > A p r i l 27 - M ay 3 > 2 0 2 1

32

Full boil Chris ‘Shaggy’ Davis serves crawfish and barbecue in Gentilly

BY B E T H D ’A D D O N O WHEN CHRIS “SHAGGY” DAVIS MULTITASKS, he brings together two

favorite food groups. The man is the “King” of both barbecue and boiled crawfish, and as of January, he’s ruling over new brick-and-mortar digs.

Davis opened NOLA Crawfish King Seafood & Barbecue at 5321 Franklin Ave., next to Fiorella’s Cafe. The idea for twin businesses came while he was running his food truck at the gas station next door, trying to hustle an income during the pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, Davis was a road warrior, catering large events and festivals, dishing crawfish to thousands of eaters at the likes of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee.

His M.O. was for he and his partner Kat Brennan to work like hell for six months and then the pair would take off the rest of the year to pursue their passion for diving in places like Thailand and Mexico.

When Covid shut everything down last year, he was in Houston, about to boil 10,000 pounds of crawfish at a festival.

“By mid-March, it was clear we were in trouble,” he recalls. “Money started flying out of the bank as we gave everybody their deposits back.”

Desperate times called for desperate measures. He asked friends if he could set up one of his trucks in their Gentilly parking lot and wound up boiling up to 2,000 pounds of crawfish per day during the pandemic, he says. One day, he went to Fiorella’s for lunch and noticed the abandoned building next door. “I tried the door and it was open, so I went inside,” he says. “The place was a real mess. It was raining inside — nasty.”

After some negotiations, the long-shuttered building was his, and Davis oversaw the six-month renovation. The resulting space is clean, spacious and functional, with deli cases for his house-made andouille, boudin

and hog’s head cheese.

There’s lots of room to store both boiled and live crawfish, and the boiling stations are in the back. Business is primarily takeout, but customers can eat their seafood or sandwiches on picnic tables outside.

The menu is a hearty one. Most sandwiches are served on Leidenheimer rolls, with names like the Pit Boss, featuring low-and-slow smoked brisket dressed with onions, pickles and house-made barbecue sauce. The Gentilly Reuben has house-smoked brisket pastrami with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and special sauce on marbled rye. Egg rolls are filled with the likes of ground brisket, cheese and diced jalapenos, or smoked pork and macaroni and cheese with sauce. The swamp roll bursts with crawfish boudin and “soul sauce.” Smoked ribs, wings and pulled pork come with sides, and the crab-boil potato salad deserves attention. Those meats also are available in a Pontchartrain picnic pack, with enough for five people.

Boiled crawfish, crabs and shrimp are available by the pound.

The fact that the Chicago native learned the art of the boil and his way around a barbecue pit says a lot about the kind of guy Davis is. Davis, who worked as a cook at Port of Call for 15 years, arrived in New Orleans “accidentally” in 1991, when his car broke down while he was following a Grateful Dead tour. He eventually rented a one-bedroom shotgun on Robert Street for $225 a month and put down roots.

When Davis discovered boiled seafood at King Roger’s Seafood and Deli in Marigny (where Today’s Cajun Seafood currently stands), he asked the owner to show him his secrets for boiled seafood. A series of “hippie parties” with plenty of beer kicked off what became a catering business.

WHAT

WHERE

5321 Franklin Ave., (504) 259-0828; crawfishking.com

WHEN

11 a.m.-7 p.m. daily

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

Hobnobbing ASK PAUL TIMPHONY HOW BUSINESS HAS BEEN at his Hobnobber’s

Variety Bar & Restaurant and he might hold up the day’s receipt pad, all thumb-worn and filled with completed orders crossed out in ink.

“There’s been a pop, no doubt about it,” he says. “People remember us.”

C H E RYL G E R B E R

Kat Brennan scoops crawfish at NOLA Crawfish King.

“Me and mudbugs, we just blew up in the 2000s,” Davis says.

A similar tack towards barbecue involved catering for a jam band/ smoked-meat-themed cruise out of Miami. “Figuring that out was a lot more expensive,” he says. “I ruined a lot of briskets.” Keeping company with some skilled pit masters on the circuit upped his game. Davis became a regular at the annual Hogs for the Cause fundraiser, heading up the Hog Dat Nation barbecue team.

Six years ago, he started the annual NOLA Crawfish Festival, a mudbugs-meets-music event in spring that drew thousands of attendees.

Davis and Brennan have been working nonstop getting the Gentilly business off the ground, and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon. The notion of taking time off and suiting up with scuba gear seems unattainable at the moment.

“We’ll get there though,” Davis says with a sigh. “Sooner or later.”

?

NOLA Crawfish King

FORK CENTER

HOW

Takeout and outdoor dining

CHECK IT OUT

A new barbecue and boiled seafood restaurant in Gentilly

P H OTO B Y I A N M C N U LT Y/ T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E | T H E N E W O RL E A N S A DVO C AT E

The Hobnobber’s Variety Bar & Restaurant serves mustard greens with a paneed pork chop as a Tuesday special.

Hobnobber’s certainly is memorable. Tucked into a gritty stretch of Carondelet Street, just off Canal Street, this all-but-hidden restaurant serves a repository of down-home Creole cooking, with a daily-changing menu that includes dishes rarely seen away from the family table, never mind at other downtown restaurants.

Heaps of mirliton and shrimp casserole fill plates on Wednesdays, followed by smothered turkey wings with dirty rice on Thursdays, giving a hint of Creole Thanksgiving any time of year.

Every day, there’s a long list of breakfast plates and fried seafood plates, po-boys, bread pudding and comfort food in carton-testing portions — like mustard greens thick with pickle meat, seeping potlikker into the cornbread around it, with a paneed pork chop on top and a scoop of potato salad. It’s a lot of food for $10.

For the uninitiated though, visiting the Hobnobber can require a leap of faith. Customers enter either through the Variety Bar, an unabashed dive where Mardi Gras decorations are never fully stowed and daylight never seems to fully

EAT+DRINK

Docking on the Northshore WHEN THEY WERE LOOKING TO EXPAND, the family behind the

Blue Crab Restaurant & Oyster Bar knew they needed a location with waterfront access, which after all is a defining feature of their New Orleans restaurant.

In Slidell, they found an ideal perch that is actually surrounded by water.

The Asprodites family is developing this second Blue Crab at 118 Harbor View Court in Eden Isles, a neighborhood of wending channels and waterfront homes.

The new restaurant is slated to open by late summer. The location once was home to a restaurant called the Dock. It sits on a peninsula at the mouth of channel where Eden Isles connects to Lake Pontchartrain.

“We’re sticking with what we do best, and this is an excellent fit for the concept,” says Nick Asprodites, who is working with his father and their partners to develop the new restaurant.

ST R AW BER RY N A P OL EON

ONLINE ORDERING AVAIL ABLE • 214 N. CARROLLTON IN MID CITY A NGEL OBROCAT OICECRE A M.COM • 504.486.1465

HAND GRENADE

®

NEW ORLEANS MOST POWERFUL DRINK®

P H OTO B Y B R E T T D U K E / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E | T H E N E W O RL E A N S A DVO C AT E

The Blue Crab Restaurant & Oyster Bar

The restaurant has its own cluster of five beach volleyball courts, where league and tournament play has long been a draw.

It also sits beside a boat launch and fronts a stretch of dock space where boaters can tie up and visit. It will host live music on the weekends.

The original Blue Crab is on a dockside stretch of Lakeshore Drive in New Orleans. When it opened in 2013 it helped revive a section of the West End where little redevelopment had happened since Hurricane Katrina. That same year, Brisbi’s opened just down the channel, and this later became a location of Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar, a name famous from the French Quarter.

The new restaurant will have a similar menu of traditional New Orleans seafood dishes, like barbecue shrimp and whole stuffed flounder, and house specialties, like blue crab pasta and crab and spinach dip.

It will have an oyster bar attached to the main bar, with views of the waterways just outside.

“Boats, bushwhackers, family-friendly dining, that’s us at our best and that’s what we’re bringing here,” Asprodites says.

— IAN McNULTY/THE TIMESPICAYUNE | THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE

PICK UP &

DELIVERY MON, WED, THURS & SUN 11AM-10PM FRI & SAT 11AM-11PM

2315 ST. CLAUDE AVE

383-HEAT 4 3 2 8

DRINK LOCAL Little Tropical Isle 435 BOURBON Tropical Isle Original 600 BOURBON Tropical Isle’s Bayou Club 610 BOURBON Tropical Isle 721 BOURBON Bourbon Street Honky Tonk 727 BOURBON Orleans Grapevine 720 BOURBON

Sicilian • Creole Italian

OWNER/CHEF FRANK CATALANOTTO

4445 W. METAIRIE AVE. (504) 533-9998

OPEN FOR DINNER TUES - SAT • 5:30PM - 10PM

NEAR CLEARVIEW PKWY

VALET AVAILABLE

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penetrate, or you venture down a long corridor lined with delivery bikes.

Either way, you arrive at the counter where Timphony and his wife Cheryl work in the galley-like confines of a small kitchen hemmed behind a plastic screen, installed long before coronavirus protocols saw such barriers proliferate.

Many Hobnobber’s regulars work in offices that are slowly re-populating. They also work in French Quarter restaurants and downtown hotels, where employees there like the cheap prices and delivery service when they can’t leave their own worksites.

Timphony, now 55, has been cooking here since he was a kid, back in 1985. It’s in his blood.

Different branches of his family have run restaurants for decades, including the Hobnobber Cafe in Metairie.

Making sure all these dishes are ready to serve for the lunch rush while also preparing short-order breakfasts means getting an early start. Timphony is up at 3 a.m. each morning.

“That’s the only way you can do it, if you want to do it right, and that’s the only way we’re doing it here,” he says Hobnobber’s re-opened in June, when it hardly seemed like anyone was back downtown. It stayed that way for months, with the phone quiet and the streets empty. Timphony sold his fishing camp to keep some cash flow going.

Now though, the upswing is evident and, like so many others in the business, his main concern currently is hiring back staff. A business that once employed 17 is operating with five people today.

“It’s a lot of work, but this is us,” he says. “We’re going to do it right.”

Hobnobber’s Variety Bar & Restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

— IAN McNULTY/THE TIMESPICAYUNE | THE NEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE

awberr y Louisian a StrSEASON

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ENJOY

EAT+DRINK

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3-COURSE INTERVIEW

Vivi Nguyen Baker VIVI NGUYEN GREW UP IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA and lived in

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several areas of the state before she moved to New Orleans last summer.

After working for nonprofits and in journalism, she started her own baking business, Radical Joy Bakery.

She makes cakes, cookies, mochi brownies and other vegan treats by direct order and at pop-ups. She’s also worked with a team of women to present brunch pop-ups featuring mainly vegan Vietnamese dishes.

She’s socially active, from donating goods for community refrigerators to participating in recent rallies protesting anti-Asian hate. Radical Joy Bakery pops up at the Bayou Yacht Club market on Saturday, May 1, at Dumaine and Moss streets, and at Undergrowth Coffee (4332 Magazine St.) on May 8.

How did you get interested in baking?

VIVI NGUYEN: I started baking at 15, because I left home at 15 and baking was a way for me to ground myself and to create something and have moments of joy at a time that was hard for me as a youth. The first thing I made was banana bread, and I still bake it to this day.

Baking and cooking was something I did for myself and my friends. Folks had birthdays and started getting married, and I am someone that cherishes acts of service and giving people things that are meaningful.

For a lot of my friends, I started providing birthday cakes, inspired by things they really like. I have a friend who really likes Guinness, so I created a Guinness beer cake for her birthday. Another friend got married — she actually eloped without her parents knowing. They didn’t have much money to get married, so I was like, “Don’t buy a wedding cake. I’ll make you one.”

How has Radical Joy developed?

N: I started experimenting with cookies and mochi brownies. Friends started ordering them from me. And it was like, “Oh, wait, these are really good.” I started shipping cookies and doing pop-ups.

I had no idea I was going to start a bakery. I just want to be happy. I want to have a space where I feel I am connected with a community and there is something I can do with my hands.

I started making cakes, and they just blew up. Making cakes for me is about people celebrating any special moment in their life — just being alive, opening a business or celebrating their birthday. The way I go about my cakes is I tell people these are the signature flavors that I have, and I also have a build-your-own-cake menu. It started with me asking people, “Tell me about the person this cake is for.” And they’d tell me their favorite song, or this is why I love them so much. That would be the inspiration for the cake. it’s a very personal experience.

There was a couple and the woman wanted to commission a cake for her boyfriend. They explained they have only been living in New Orleans for a couple years. One of them wanted to become a baker and the other wanted to become a musician, and they felt that New Orleans was the right place for them to do that. They got a lot of disapproval from their family and friends and were taking a huge risk (in moving here). Now they’re both basically working hard toward their dreams.

It was about three weeks after Mardi Gras ended, and I made it in a Bundt shape, and I think I was influenced by seeing so many king cakes. It was an olive oil chiffon cake. I free-styled it with rose water and turmeric buttercream because I really like floral notes. I decked it out with tons of edible flowers that I sourced from local farmers.

This cake is a celebration of these people starting their new lives, and they’re adventurous.

I experiment a lot. I also make vegan muffins. My mochi brownies are vegan and gluten free.

Vegan cheesecakes are a big one.

I don’t make them all of the time because it’s labor intensive to make a cheese-like thing without cheese in it. I made a vegan pumpkin cheesecake back in October and November and people really liked that, so I think I’ll do that again in the fall.

PR OV I D E D B Y V I V I N G U Y E N

How did you come up with the name Radical Joy? N: It comes from a book called “Pleasure Activism,” which is written by a Black queer feminist (adrienne maree brown). It really resonates with me because the world feels like it’s burning down, and there are so many things we could be doing and there isn’t enough time. And sometimes it’s overwhelming and you can get burnt out. I was thinking, “How can I make this work joyful?” One of the ways that we can think about the issues of the world and our place in it in a way that is joyful is looking to people, or causes or movements that are doing that work, so it doesn’t feel like we’re doing everything alone. Why is it so radical to be happy? As a person of color, as a queer person, it is really radical to be happy, because sometimes the system doesn’t want you to (be) — it’s weighing you down. The reason I started the bakery is because I have gone through so many things in my life. I have been houseless. I have been alienated from my family. I have had to deal with harassment. I just decided it is a huge risk for me — I was doing my salaried job, but I was not happy. I took a huge risk in opening the bakery. That’s why I call it Radical Joy. This is a radical act for me to basically bet on myself and for other people to believe in my dream. — WILL COVIELLO For more information, visit radicaljoybakery.com.

TO

Contact Will Coviello wcoviello@gambitweekly.com 504-483-3106 | FAX: 504-483-3159 C O M PL E T E L I S T I N G S AT W W W. B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M Out 2 Eat is an index of Gambit contract advertisers. Unless noted, addresses are in New Orleans and all accept credit cards. Updates: email willc@ gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

Notice: Due to COVID-19, dining at restaurants is impacted, with limited indoor seating and other recommended restrictions. All information is subject to change. Contact the restaurant to confirm service options.

BYWATER Luna Libre — 3600 St. Claude Ave., (504) 237-1284 — Roasted chicken enchiladas verde are filled with cheese and served with house-made cheese dip. The menu combines Tex-Mex and dishes from Louisiana and Arkansas. Curbside pickup is available. Breakfast Sat.-Sun., dinner Wed.-Sun. $

CARROLLTON Mid City Pizza — 6307 S. Miro St., (504) 509-6224; midcitypizza.com — See MidCity section for restaurant description.

Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$ Pyramids Cafe — 3151 Calhoun St., (504) 861-9602 — Diners will find Mediterranean cuisine featuring such favorites as shawarma prepared on a rotisserie. Takeout and delivery available.

Lunch and dinner daily. $$

CITYWIDE Breaux Mart — Citywide; breauxmart.com — The deli counter’s changing specials include dishes such as baked catfish and red beans and rice. Lunch and dinner daily. $

FAUBOURG MARIGNY Kebab — 2315 St. Claude Ave., (504) 3834328; kebabnola.com — The sandwich shop offers doner kebabs and Belgian fries. A falafel sandwich comes with pickled cucumbers, arugula, spinach, red onions, beets, hummus and Spanish garlic sauce. No reservations. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Wed.-Mon. $

FRENCH QUARTER Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu features Gulf seafood in traditional and contemporary Creole dishes, po-boys and more. Char-grilled oysters are topped with Parmesan, herbs and butter. Reservations recommended. Takeout available.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11 to $20 $$$ — $21 or more

HARAHAN/JEFFERSON/ RIVER RIDGE The Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, (504) 834-4938; therivershacktavern.com — This bar and music spot offers a menu of burgers, sandwiches and changing lunch specials. Curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 7333803; theospizza.com — There is a wide variety of specialty pies and toppings to build your own pizza. The menu also includes salads and sandwiches. Curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $

LAKEVIEW Lakeview Brew Coffee Cafe — 5606 Canal Blvd., (504) 483-7001; lakeviewbrew.com — This casual cafe offers coffee, pastries, desserts, sandwiches and salads. Tuna salad or chicken salad avocado melts are topped with Monterey Jack and Parmesan. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. Breakfast and lunch daily. $ Lotus Bistro — 203 W. Harrison Ave., (504) 533-9879; lotusbistronola.com — A Mineko Iwasaki roll includes spicy snow crab, tuna, avocado and cucumber topped with salmon, chef’s sauce, masago, green onion and tempura crunchy flakes. The menu also includes bento box lunches, teriyaki dishes, fried rice and more. Takeout and delivery are available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$

METAIRIE Andrea’s Restaurant — 3100 N. 19th St., Metairie, (504) 834-8583; andreasrestaurant.com — Chef Andrea Apuzzo’s speckled trout royale is topped with crabmeat and lemon-cream sauce.

Capelli D’Andrea combines house-made angel hair pasta and smoked salmon in cream sauce. Curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$ Kosher Cajun New York Deli & Grocery — 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie, (504) 888-2010; koshercajun.com — This New York-style deli specializes in sandwiches, including corned beef and pastrami that come from the Bronx. Takeout available. Lunch Sun.Thu., dinner Mon.-Thu. $ Mark Twain’s Pizza Landing — 2035 Metairie Road, Metairie, (504) 832-8032; marktwainpizza.com — Mark Twain’s serves salads, po-boys and pies like the Italian pizza with salami, tomato, artichoke, sausage and basil. Takeout and curbside pickup are available. Lunch Tue.-Sat., dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie,

MID-CITY/TREME Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream. com — This sweet shop serves its own gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, fig cookies and other treats. Window and curbside pickup. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Brown Butter Southern Kitchen & Bar — 231 N. Carrollton Ave., Suite C, (504) 6093871; brownbutterrestaurant.com — Sample items include smoked brisket served with smoked apple barbecue sauce, smoked heirloom beans and vinegar slaw. A Brunch burger features a brisket and short rib patty topped with bacon, brie, a fried egg, onion jam and arugula on a brioche bun. Dine-in, takeout, curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Wed.Sat., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$ Doson Noodle House — 135 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 309-7283; facebook. com/dosonnoodlehouse — Bun thit is Vietnamese-style grilled pork with cucumber, onions, lettuce, mint, cilantro and fish sauce served over rice or vermicelli. The menu includes pho, spring rolls and more. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery are available. $$ Five Happiness — 3511 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 482-3935; fivehappiness.com — The large menu of Chinese dishes includes wonton soup, sizzling seafood combinations served on a hot plate, sizzling Go-Ba and lo mein dishes. Takeout and delivery available. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — Favorites include the Cajun Cuban with roasted pork, grilled ham, cheese and pickles pressed on buttered bread. The Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic and scallions. Takeout, curbside pickup and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; midcitypizza.com — The neighborhood pizza joint serves New York-style pies, plus calzones, sandwiches and salads. Signature shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onion on an garlic-olive oil brushed curst. Dine-in, takeout and delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes New Orleans favorites such as red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as grilled or fried seafood plates, po-boys, raw or char-grilled oysters, pasta, salads and more. Dine-in and takeout available. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Nonna Mia — 3125 Esplanade Ave., (504) 948-1717; nonnamianola.com — A Divine Portobello appetizer features chicken breast, spinach in red pepper sauce and crostini. The menu includes salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza and more. Curbside pickup and delivery are available. Dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

NORTHSHORE Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza.com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

UPTOWN CR Coffee Shop — 3618 Magazine St., (504) 354-9422; crcoffeenola.com — The selection includes Coast Roast coffees

made with beans roasted in antique roasters, and the sweet vanilla cream cold brew is a signature item. There also are pastries and snacks. Indoor and outdoor seating, online ordering and delivery available.

Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. $ Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 8910997; joeyksrestaurant.com ­— The menu includes fried seafood platters, salads, sandwiches and red beans and rice.

Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is topped with shrimp and crabmeat and served with vegetables and potatoes. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Red Gravy — 4206 Magazine St., (504) 561-8844; redgravycafe.com — Thin cannoli pancakes are filled with cannoli cream and topped with chocolate. The menu includes brunch items, pasta dishes, sandwiches, baked goods and more.

Takeout available. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; theospizza. com — See Harahan/Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco.com — The Peruvian menu includes a version of the traditional dish lomo saltado, featuring beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and served with fried potatoes and rice. Dine-in, outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant. com — The menu highlights Gulf seafood in Creole, Cajun and Southern dishes.

Fried oysters and skewered bacon are served with meuniere sauce and toasted French bread. Reservations required.

Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$$ Carmo — 527 Julia St., (504) 875-4132; cafecarmo.com — Carmo salad includes smoked ham, avocado, pineapple, almonds, cashews, raisins, cucumber, green pepper, rice, lettuce, cilantro and citrus mango vinaigrette. The menu includes dishes inspired by tropical cuisines. Takeout and delivery are available.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ NOLA Caye — 898 Baronne St., (504) 302-1302; nolacaye.com — The menu features Caribbean-inspired dishes and Gulf seafood. Seared ahi tuna is served with mango, avocado, mixed greens, citrus vinaigrette and sesame seeds. Takeout, delivery and outdoor seating available.

D daily, brunch Sat.-Sun. $$$ Provisions Grab-n-Go Marketplace — Higgins Hotel, 500 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 528-1941; higgingshotelnola. com — The coffeeshop serves salads, sandwiches, pastries and more. Takeout available. Service daily. $

WEST BANK Mosca’s — 4137 Highway 90 West, Westwego, (504) 436-8950; moscasrestaurant.com — This family-style eatery serves shrimp Mosca, chicken a la grande and baked oysters Mosca, made with breadcrumbs and Italian seasonings.

Curbside pickup available. Dinner Wed.Sat. Cash only. $$$ Specialty Italian Bistro — 2330 Belle Chasse Hwy., Gretna, (504) 391-1090; specialtyitalianbistro.com — The menu combines Old World Italian favorites and pizza. Paneed chicken piccata is topped with lemon-caper piccata sauce served with angel hair pasta, salad and garlic cheese bread. Takeout and delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $$

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OUT EAT

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GOING OUT

BY KELSYN PARKER FESTIVALGOERS GET READY: Crawfish,

rides and live music are coming back to Chalmette.

The Louisiana Crawfish Festival is the first big area festival to return as COVID-19 cases decline and vaccinations increase.

The St. Bernard Parish annual event is scheduled for four days at the Frederick Sigur Civic Center, Thursday, April 29, to Sunday, May 2. Last year, the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the usually busy spring festival season in Louisiana, including the Crawfish Fest.

The festival began in 1975 as a way to raise funds for the St. Bernard community. It quickly turned into a Louisiana tradition known for its Cajun cuisine, bands, crafts and amusement rides.

As the event approaches its 45th year, the committee that runs it decided to establish the Louisiana Crawfish Fest Foundation, a nonprofit organization.

“The Louisiana Crawfish Fest Foundation bases its efforts on one theme: charity,” says Cisco Gonzales, vice president of the foundation.

“We are here to be charitable.”

The fest has a permit from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, but it will be scaled down due to COVID19 restrictions with a limited number of people. Still, up to 12,800 festivalgoers will be allowed.

Masks must be worn, and visitors entering the festival gates will be monitored via a tracking app.

“We think we’re going to have a packed house. Usually, we get 100,000 people in four days,” Gonzales says. “We’re going to have a line outside. Everyone wants something to do.”

The festival will have more than 32 food vendors and a long list of crawfish-based dishes. Organizers plan on boiling more than 30,000 pounds of crawfish. But there will be a wide selection of festival foods.

“We have hot dogs, hamburgers, any food you want,” Gonzales says.

The festival features many of its usual attractions. Attendees can enjoy amusement rides, peruse handmade crafts and listen to live music. There also are children’s pageants.

P H OTO B Y S O P H I A GERMER/THE TIMESP I C AY U N E | T H E N E W O RL E A N S A DVO C AT E

Boiled mudbugs are a highlight of the Louisiana Crawfish Festival in Chalmette.

The music lineup includes accordionist Bruce Daigrepont and his Cajun band at noon on Saturday.

Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. is the main attraction on Sunday. The schedule also includes Six Gun Solution and Zita on Thursday, and Rick Mocklin & The Southern Voice and Karma on Friday. Nashville South and No Idea perform on Saturday afternoon. Junior and Sumtin’ Sneaky opens Sunday’s lineup at noon, and MoJeaux begins the festival’s final set at 6 p.m.

Festival admission is $5, with the exception of Thursday, when it is free. Carnival rides will be $15 that day. The all-day pass for rides will cost $30 every day afterward.

All money raised from the festival will be given back to the community after expenses are paid.

The fest has always had a charitable aspect. In the past, funds have been donated to Children’s Hospital, Ochsner Pediatric Care, the American Cancer Society and other charities.

Organizers hope the event will be a symbol of goodwill.

“Whether that is through hosting our annual toy giveaway or donating to help individuals overcome addiction or advancing technology in the NICU of Ochsner, our biggest importance is charity,” Gonzales says. “It’s time to give back.”

For more information, visit louisianacrawfishfestival.com.

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FILM Spud McConnell makes a cameo in ‘Roe v. Wade.’

Ill conceived

BY KEVIN ALLMAN NEARLY THREE YEARS AFTER ITS CONTROVERSIAL FILMING in New

Orleans, the drama “Roe v. Wade” has quietly made its way onto several streaming services, and the reception hasn’t been good. An ”atrocious anti-abortion propaganda piece,” says Variety. The Guardian cites ”inarticulate editing, cheap patriotic tableaux, repetitive flat compositions, ineffectual camera zooms and mawkish grandiose speeches that ring as hollow as the filmmakers’ promise to tell the truth.” And even the Catholic Review, which one would assume catered to the film’s target market, says ”even those movie fans most committed to the cause of life will be unable to overlook its aesthetic shortcomings.” It currently sits at 0% on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

All this and the movie debut of Mr. My Pillow, Mike Lindell.

I offered to watch this much-delayed, New Orleans-shot movie for Gambit. This proved to be a mistake.

But before that, let’s refresh ourselves on the filming history of “Roe v. Wade” in the Crescent City.

First, the Tulane Hullabaloo reported on the hullabaloo when the producers wanted to film on campus.

The director quit on the first day and was replaced by producers Nick Loeb and Cathy Allyn.

Then there’s the money. The producers filed with the state of Louisiana for entertainment tax credits, of course, estimating the production would pump $5.84 million into the state economy (using the working title “1973” rather than the more incendiary “Roe v. Wade”).

Movie writer Mike Scott crunched the math and concluded, “Assuming its Louisiana expenditures pass muster with a state audit, that would qualify the film for $2.3 million in state-issued tax incentives.” (Congratulations, Louisiana taxpayer: you are a producer of “Roe v. Wade.”)

But as late as last month, local Screen Actors Guild members said they were not paid for their 2018 work on “Roe v. Wade,” according to The Hollywood Reporter: “After The Hollywood Reporter posted an interview with Loeb on Feb. 23, actress Susan LaBrecque reached out on social media to share concerns that she and as many as nine other actors have yet to be paid for their work more than two years after the job. The production filmed in New Orleans in 2018, and many of the actors are known to be local actors from the area who worked for scale.

“After receiving “every kind of excuse” from production, they ultimately took the issue to SAG-AFTRA which, per LaBrecque, investigated

and sent it to arbitration. She says the judgment came down in their favor and they are now expecting to be paid scale rates with added fees, but that has yet to happen.”

Anyway. Let’s pop some corn, pay $7 for a fountain Coke and watch this sucker. (If you have a New Orleans Public Library card, you can stream it free on the Hoopla platform, as I did.)

I warn you, however, that the editing in this movie seems to have been done on a boat in Lake Pontchartrain during a tropical storm, and there’s more green screen action than Margaret Orr sees in a year.

And we’re off!

0:02 — Wait. Steve Guttenberg is in this??? “Police Academy” Steve Guttenberg? And John Schneider, one of the O.G. “Dukes of Hazzard”?

0:03 — I have never seen this many executive producers in one movie.

0:04 — Producer/director/star Loeb plays Bernie, a Jewish college student who got his girlfriend pregnant. Uh-oh. Next thing you know she’s getting out of a taxi in a dress that looks like she spilled strawberry gelatin in her lap and Bernie is carrying her inside. He explains that’s why he became an obstetrician ... soon to become the face of Big Abortion.

This is the origin story of a man who would be known as “The Scraper.”

0:06 — Now we’re in New York City, 1970 — which looks pretty much like the steps of the Roosevelt Hotel to me.

0:07 — What? Now we’re in New Jersey in the 1920s, where Margaret Sanger is talking about sterilizing “Nig-ah-roes” while standing in front of a burning cross. (Yes. “Nig-ahroes.”) But “Margaret’s” hair and outfit is pretty much modern Uptown Rich Lady. (Where in New Orleans did they burn a cross for this scene?)

0:10 — Someone refers to “abortion on demand” as “the full enchilada.”

0:14 — The Union Passenger Terminal stands in for New York’s Port Authority. And there’s Stacey Dash as Dr. Mildred Jefferson, the first Black graduate of Harvard Medical School.

0:17 — A white Irish-looking priest assures Dash’s character (who is Black) that they’re “comin’ for the unborn” and points out, “This is akin to slavery. And you know the topic.”

0:21 — Uh-oh. “The Scraper”’s clinic is performing 70,000 abortions per year. That’s one every seven minutes round the clock for a year. That’s a lot for one guy. I call shenanigans.

0:23 — First big cameo! Right-wing provocateur/crank Milo Yiannopoulos is playing a cartoon London abortionist who has perfected the art of one abortion every three minutes, due to some miracle new abortion machine.

“You can thank the Chinese for this,”

he sneers. So far Milo is the worst actor in this, and that’s saying a lot.

0:27 — And here’s comedian Jamie Kennedy playing abortion advocate Larry Lader. Now we’re in St. Croix or somewhere Caribbean via terrible greenscreen. Between the time and place switches, it’s largely incoherent.

0:31 — Two attorneys meet with Norma McCorvey, the ‘Jane Roe’ in Roe v. Wade, at a Texas pizza restaurant, and discuss abortion while we have close-ups of hands pulling apart red-dripping pepperoni slices.

Symbolism, people!

0:35 — Local actor alert! It’s Spud McConnell, playing a Texas judge named Goldberg.

0:39 — Here come the big guns: Jon Voight as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger and Mr. Dukes of Hazzard as Justice “Whizzer” White.

0:44 — Dr. Bernie’s hospital decrees doctors can only do 20 abortions per week, which would cut into his 70,000 per year (abortions, not dollars). Incensed, Dr. Bernie sputters, “Dr. Berg won’t do abortions! Let me use his!”

0:48 — At a house party, Dr. Bernie performs a song he used to sing in medical school: “There’s a fortune/ In abortion/Just a twist of the wrist/ And you’re through. ...” Before long, everyone is singing along. With piano accompaniment. This will be reprised.

0:50 — The MyPillow guy! Cameo as a member of the Mainstream Media! That’ll show ‘em.

0:52 — An all-star Supreme Court scene: Corbin Bernsen, Robert Davi, Steve Guttenberg and more. Most of the budget must have gone to these veteran character actors, since it didn’t go to hair, makeup or costumes.

0:56 — Playing the role of the U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal District Court at Tulane Avenue and Broad Street. Take a bow, Tulane and Broad!

0:58 — Now the justices are debating Roe in chambers, which could be electrifying drama, but — spoiler — it’s stultifying. It’s so bad that a narrator has to explain it color-commentator style.

1:03 — Another cameo! Roger Stone — yes, that Roger Stone — as a “Washington Post” reporter, conniving with the Supreme Court to ensure “Roe” gets passed.

1:04 — Now the bus station is playing the role of an airport! Is there nothing it can’t do?

1:05 — A scene at the Playboy mansion!

1:06 — Anti-Semitic stereotype! A Jewish abortionist says “We control the media,” while lolling on a beach drinking a tiki cocktail. Ouch.

1:13 — Now some Chicago abortionist is illegally operating an abortion theater out of ... the Roosevelt Hotel?

Grim cops are running through the lobby and carrying out metal buckets filled with dismembered babies.

1:15 — Cameo alert! Dr. Alveda King (Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter) is playing Stacey Dash’s mother.

And she’s quoting “Dr. King.” And now the two of them are watching the episode of “Maude” where Bea Arthur’s character gets an abortion, and Alveda King is so shocked she drops and breaks her baking dish, in what seems like an homage to the “Good Times” episode where Florida smashed the punchbowl.

1:32 — Walter Cronkite announces the Roe decision, allowing women to have legal abortions within their first three months of pregnancy. A somber montage ensues.

1:36 — Whoa! In a flashback, we see Dr. Bernie once performed an abortion on a girlfriend who was carrying his child. He then goes to a giant empty church and sasses God: “Why do You keep creating new souls? I mean, You must be bored, right? I’ve killed babies for the greater good.”

1:39 — Dr. Bernie gets his first look at modern ultrasound technology while in the middle of an abortion.

Dropping his tools, he has a Charlton Heston-esque breakdown moment: “It is a person! It’s a person! God, forgive me, what have I done!” Et voila, he is converted to the anti-abortion cause.

1:42 — Dr. Bernie confesses to a reporter that he always knew it was murder, and then is baptized in a Catholic church as a title card informs us that “61 million babies have been aborted since Roe v.

Wade.” A few “where are they now” wrapups and: roll credits.

Summary — This was not fun. At all. A clever home editor might patch together a four-minute highlight reel of ridiculousness, but this is one of the few movies I’ve ever seen that’s both turgidly slow and somehow frenetic. It’s virtually unwatchable but, Louisiana taxpayer, since you’re a producer of this messianic mess, you might want to see it.

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