Gambit: December 28, 2021

December 28, 2021 January 3, 2022 Volume 42 Number 51

BULLETIN BOARD

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 1

2

1110 ERATO STREET, UNIT 3 • LOWER GARDEN DISTRICT $474,500

STUNNING, ELEGENT, BRIGHT, LIGHT FILLED CONDO w/ 360 DEGREE VIEWS and 12 CEILINGS. Only a short distance to Warehouse District.

2 Bdrm, 2 Bathroom Unit is the entire top flr of 3-Unit Bldg. Hardwood Floors Throughout. Floor to Ceiling bookcases.

High-end, recently installed Bosch Appls (silent dishwasher!). In-Unit W&D. Every Inch of this Condo has been maximized and stylized. Large Patio area is shared with the two lower units.

KATE FRIEDLER

504-430-9116

kfriedler@latterblum.com Licensed in LA

504-895-4663 | Garden District, 2734 Prytania Street, NOLA 70130 Immigration. Criminal Law. Traffic Tickets

Call Eugene Redmann 504.834.6430 2632 Athania Pkwy., Met., LA 70002 Se Habla Espanol www.redmannlawnola.com

MJ’s

REAL ESTATE FOR RENT

Cristina’s

Family owned and operated since 1996

Cleaning Service

Let our crew help you with all your cleaning needs!

• Disinfecting/Sanitation Services Available • • General House Cleaning • • After Construction Cleaning • Residential & Commercial • Licensed & Bonded

504-232-5554 cristinascleaningnola@gmail.com

L A V I N R CA TIME!

IT’S

1/2 BLOCK TO MAGAZINE

1 & 2 bedrooms available in ideal location and ROOMS BY THE MONTH with PRIVATE BATH. All utilities included monthly. Call 504-2020381 for appointment.

FOR RENT 1556 N. Rocheblave. 2 bdrm, 1 ba, washer/dryer, microwave, refrigerator, stove. 2 min. from Jazz Fest, 8 min from French Quarter! Call 504.717.7394.

Free WIFI! Free Utilities & Earn Free Rent! Stay where you are appreciated! Ex-

tended stay living, furnished Studio, 1 & 2 BDRM units w/ FLEXIBLE payment options, no leases, courtesy patrol, laundry on site.

Call now 504-688-3554.

Door Hangerss $18.99 - $39.99

EMPLOYMENT Salon Du Beau Monde in the Warehouse

District on St. Charles and Julia is in search of a new team member. The hairstylist should be up to date on current trends in hair cutting, styling, hair color and highlighting. as well as cutting men’s hair. Barber experience is a plus. We also offer apprentice training for those new to the industry. We have 4 chairs available, if you want to be your own boss. If interested come by to drop off your resume, check out the salon and schedule an interview.

Elementary Spanish Immersion Teacher Metairie, LA. Teach all subjects to

elementary school students, entirely in the Spanish language. Bachelor’s Education or related field; LA Teaching Certificate or eligible (Elementary Spanish); native or near native fluency in Spanish. MUST follow these specific application instructions to be considered: Send CV & cvr ltr to evonne.mitchell@jpschools.org or Evonne Mitchell, Jefferson Parish Schools, 501 Manhattan Blvd., Ste. 1200, Harvey, LA, 70058 within 30 days and reference Job #2021-145

Flags $9.99 - $29.99

MJ’s

Switch Mats Inserts - $9.99 Base - $19.99

METAIRIE SHOPPING CENTER 1513 Metairie Road • 835-6099 mjsofmetairie.com

NOW OPEN Mon.- Fri. 10-5 & Sat. 10-3

MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR PRODUCER

|

MJSMETAIRIE

12 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

to place your ad in the

SERVICES

GAMBIT EXCHANGE

Private Duty Sitter for elderly clients, available Monday through Friday 8:30 - 4:30, Orleans & Jefferson Parish. For more info call Lillian Sennett at 504-237-0158.

PRINTADVERTISING WORKS

504.722.7640 LATTER & BLUM | NEW ORLEANS | 504.891.6400 Licensed in Louisiana and Mississippi

call 486-5900

3

90 WINE & SPIRITS

Rondel Brut Cava Spain 750ml

8.99

Over 445 bottles of bubbly!

90 La Marca Prosecco Italy 750ml

10.99

SAVE $5.00

Borrasca Premium Cuvee, Rose Cuvee France 750ml

19.99

NOW OPEN BATON ROUGE

WINE & SPIRITS

La Vostra Prosecco Italy 750ml

BEVERAGE DYNAMICS

9.57

90

BEVERAGE DYNAMICS

92

Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut Spain 750ml

Champagne Duntze Brut Reserve France 750ml

29.97

Tesoro della Regina Prosecco Italy 750ml

12.17

94 BEVERAGE DYNAMICS

De Margerie Grand Cru Brut France 750ml

43.99

19.99

90 WINE SPECTATOR

Mailly Brut Reserve Grand Cru France 750ml

47.99

Jacqueline Leonne Rose New Mexico 750ml

14.99

Chandon California Brut Sparkling California 750ml

15.47

Global supply chain delays mean there are shortages. But our commitment to bringing you an amazing selection of sparkling remains the same.

24.99

Earn 10 points for every $1 you spend Explore 4 stores in Louisiana or visit TotalWine.com

METAIRIE LAFAYETTE MANDEVILLE BATON ROUGE

WE’RE HIRING Apply in store or online at TotalWine.com/Careers An Equal Opportunity Employer

Prices valid 12/29/2021 - 1/2/2022. Total Wine & More is not responsible for typographical or human error or supplier price increases. Prices may vary. Rebate offers vary. While supplies last. Limit one offer per transaction.

Rebate offers valid in-store only, see store for details. It is illegal to sell alcohol below cost in the State of Louisiana. Products while supplies last. We reserve the right to limit quantities. Loyalty points not redeemable on gift cards, classes, samplings, deposits, rentals and ice. Total Wine & More is a registered trademark of RSSI. © 2021 Retail Services & Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Please drink responsibly. Use a designated driver.

2021_1229GO_TAB_NOL_GO6180

For more details, visit TotalWine.com/rewards

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

Our shelves are popping

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

4

MAY 2022 BRING

good health, happiness & joy

DECEMBER 28 — JANUARY 3, 2022 VOLUME 42 || NUMBER 51

CONTENTS

NEWS

TO YOU and YOUR FAMILY

Opening Gambit ...............................7 Clancy DuBos...................................11 Blake Pontchartrain.....................13

CLOSED 12/25/21 - 1/2/22

FEATURES

CURRENT HOURS: MON-FRI 7am-1pm /// SAT 7am-Noon

Arts & Entertainment ....................5

PUPS on the PATIO!

Eat + Drink...................................... 27 Music Listings................................ 35 Music ................................................ 36

The FIRST Saturday of EVERY Month!

PHOTO BY CL ANCY DUBOS

DRINKS FOR HUMANS • TREATS FOR PUP

WEEKLY DRINK SPECIALS!

203 HOMEDALE ST.

♣

LAKEVIEW

♣

(504) 483-0978

OPEN 11 AM TILL

LIVE ON FACEBOOK EVERY WED AT 7PM!

New Year’s Looks

15

Film ...................................................38 Puzzles............................................. 39

Susan Hutson

New Orleans’ new sheriff speaks with Gambit

COVER PHOTOS BY D AV I D G R U N F E L D A N D CHRIS GR ANGER COVER DESIGN BY DOR A SISON

DOWNLOAD OUR APP

S TA F F

Publisher | JEANNE EXNICIOS FOSTER

EDITORIAL (504) 483-3105// response@ gambitweekly.com Editor | JOHN STANTON Political Editor | CLANCY DUBOS

SHOP ONLINE AT NOLABOO..COM OR ON OUR APP!

Arts & Entertainment Editor | WILL COVIELLO

FOLLOW US!

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

Italian Cooking

OPEN ON NEW YEAR’S EVE & NEW YEAR’S DAY CALL TODAY FOR RESERVATIONS!

134 N CARROLLTON • 488-7991 • VENEZIANEWORLEANS.NET

Administrative Assistant | LINDA LACHIN

ADVERTISING

Advertising Inquiries (504) 483-3150 Advertising Director | SANDY STEIN BRONDUM

Staff Writers | JAKE CLAPP,

KAYLEE POCHE, SARAH RAVITS

(504) 483-3150 [sstein@gambitweekly.com]

Intern | RAE WALBERG

Sales Representatives

Contributing Writers | IAN MCNULTY

KELLY SONNIER (504) 483-3143

PRODUCTION

CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR WITH A TASTE OF HOME STYLE

BUSINESS & OPERATIONS Billing Inquiries 1 (225) 388-0185

Creative Director | DORA SISON Traffic Manager | JASON WHITTAKER Web & Classifieds Designer |

MARIA VIDACOVICH BOUÉ

[ksonnier@gambitweekly.com]

CHARLIE THOMAS (504) 636-7438

[cthomas@gambitweekly.com] Sales and Marketing Coordinator

ABIGAIL SCORSONE

[ascorsone@gambitweekly.com]

Art Director |

CATHERINE FLOTTE

Senior Graphic Designer | SCOTT FORSYTHE

Graphic Designers |

EMMA VEITH, TIANA WATTS

@The_Gambit @gambitneworleans @GambitNewOrleans

Gambit (ISSN 1089-3520) is published weekly by Capital City Press, LLC, 840 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130.

(504) 486-5900. 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.

5

Dizzy Dozen

A Dirty Dozen and Dizzy Gillespie show at the Orpheum lives on in vinyl

|

by Jake Clapp

THE TIPITINA’S RECORD CLUB’S CURRENT RELEASE , “Dirty Dozen

Brass Band with Dizzy Gillespie: Live in New Orleans,” brings up some old memories for Gregory Davis. The Dirty Dozen trumpeter and co-founder remembers when Gillespie in the early 1980s stopped into the Glass House, the Central City bar where the brass band reigned on Monday nights.

“I don’t remember who it was that brought him up there, but he came.

And I saw him standing off at the bar, and I remember him just hanging for whatever set we played,” Davis says. “I didn’t know he was there at first, but then I realized that that person just standing there and listening was Dizzy Gillespie.”

Gillespie would see the Dirty Dozen a few times when he was in town, at the Glass House and the Blue Room at the then-named Fairmont Hotel, Davis says. And when the Dirty Dozen traveled to Europe, playing the same festivals as Gillespie and his group, the brass band got to know the iconic trumpet player.

“I can see it like it was yesterday, us sitting out there on the beach and talking,” says Roger Lewis, Dirty Dozen’s baritone saxophonist. He has a photo of himself with Gillespie and saxophonist James Moody hanging out in Nice, France.

Gillespie would later appear on the Dirty Dozen’s 1989 classic “Voodoo,” but before that, he joined the band for an exciting night at the Orpheum Theater in 1986. It’s possible the gig could well have faded into a “You should’ve been there” memory, but the show was recorded — both Davis and Lewis say they had no idea — and the cassette was recently rediscovered. Now, the concert has a new life on vinyl through the Tipitina’s Record Club.

The club will present the Dirty Dozen Brass Band for a concert Wednesday, Dec. 29, at Tipitina’s.

Last year, Ben Ellman, Rob Mercurio and their Galactic bandmates created the Tipitina’s Record Club, a sidearm of the storied music venue that they own. The club is dedicated to pressing collectible vinyl albums of rare, unreleased and re-issued New Orleans music. The vinyl records, released bi-monthly, are first sent to club subscribers, and it’s rare to find copies available outside of the club.

In its first year, the club has pressed live recordings of James Booker and The Radiators,

PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

Professor Longhair — in an intimate concert at home with family and friends — and re-issues of Ernie K-Doe’s self-titled album and Galactic’s “Coolin’ Off.” Ellman and Mercurio came across the cassette of Dirty Dozen and Gillespie in the personal collection of Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis.

“I don’t think another copy of that existed other than on a hand-scribbled cassette,” Ellman recently told The Times-Picayune.

Ellman and Mercurio produced the new release, which was mastered by Brent Lambert. Pressed to red vinyl, the packaging also includes liner notes by Kalamu ya Salaam.

The nine-song album features the Dirty Dozen and Gillespie taking on songs like “Lil Liza Jane” and Dirty Dozen’s “My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now” as well as Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk,” Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and Gillespie’s own “A Night in Tunisia.”

“The Dirty Dozen repertoire,” ya Salaam writes, “is any damn song they feel like funking with, from traditional tunes jazzed up like they do ‘Lil’ Liza Jane’; to their deep investigations of classic compositions like ‘Night Train’ or ‘Caravan.’”

Songs like “Blue Monk” and “Night Train” were part of the Dirty Dozen repertoire at the Glass House for months and years, Gregory Davis told Gambit. It was the Dirty Dozen’s willingness and ability to experiment and incorporate bebop and other genres that elevated the brass band.

‘Hadestown’

OVER A DECADE, SINGER-SONGWRITER ANAIS MITCHELL TRANSFORMED HER STORY of “Hadestown” from a small

musical production in Vermont to a well-received concept album to a Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical. The grandeur of the storytelling has obviously changed, but the central story, influenced by Greek myths, is the same: The bard Orpheus and his wife Eurydice live a happy but poor life, until a harsh winter approaches and Eurydice is lured away to Hadestown by the promise of work and food. Orpheus must venture into the dystopian company town to save Eurydice, who is snared in the trap of never-ending work. A touring production of “Hadestown” runs Tuesday, Dec. 28, through Sunday, Jan. 2, at the Saenger Theatre. Show times vary. Find tickets and information at saengernola.com.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band plays Tipitina’s on Dec. 29.

At the Orpheum, Gillespie “wanted to play what we were playing, the kind of music we were playing,” Davis says. “He wanted to play with us and what we were doing.”

The group and Gillespie had talked a couple of times over the phone about the night’s set list, Davis says, but the night of the show, there was some issue with Gillespie’s travel and the Dirty Dozen had to sound check without him. When Gillespie made it to the Orpheum, they had just enough time to meet in the dressing room, talk about the songs, and then it was show time.

“The energy, it was high energy, man,” Lewis says. “It was a great show.”

Davis says the show didn’t quite sell out — although Lewis thought it had — but that didn’t matter. The people were on their feet dancing.

“Dizzy Gillespie — you’re talking about a beautiful human being.

Not just a great musician, but just a beautiful spirit,” Lewis says. “One of my dreams was to play with one of the fathers of the bebop era. Just to be on stage with that guy, it was mind blowing for me.”

Dirty Dozen Brass Band plays 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 29, at Tipitina’s. Tickets are $18 at tipitinas. com. For more information about the record club, go to tipitinasrecordclub.com.

P H O T O P R O V I D E D B Y B R O A D WAY I N NEW ORLEANS

The touring Broadway production of ‘Hadestown’ opens on Dec. 28 at Saenger Theatre.

DJ Soul Sister’s NYE Soul Train

PARTY MASTER AND “QUEEN OF THE RARE GROOVE” DJ SOUL SISTER will welcome

in 2022 with classic funk and soul music, video projections of vintage “Soul Train” clips and the Booty Patrol Dancers. DJ Soul Sister’s 19th Annual New Year’s Eve Soul Train starts at 10 p.m. Friday at the Civic Theatre. Tickets are $40 at civicnola.com.

PAGE 37

Events are subject to change due to Covid. It’s best to confirm information before show time.

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

A R T S + E N T E R TA I N M E N T

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

6

*) * && %

-( +)'(- & -

- .) #/ # / / # / $ ! / $ / - #/ / / / / / $ " / " ! / .) #/ / / /#/ / ' , %

, . , % , , ,+ , +

" " ,! "" ,

, & "

* , ," # . # , ,+ . # , , , , , . ,,*

+

, , + ,+ . "

, +, % , , , , # ,,+ # "

, , , , #,

! ," ), "

, , , + ," , ,

+, . , ,, +

" $ ! /$

, ,

!

"

!

"

' - -( & -, " + "" , " , ( "" , , - $

7

NEW ORLEANS NEWS + VIEWS

Happy New Year? Hope it’s better than 2021 ... ¯\_( ツ )_/¯

#

T H U M B S U P/ THUMBS DOWN

15

DistrictAttorneyJasonWilliams

has tasked his civil rights division with reviewing all cases Michelle Odinet handled as a New Orleans prosecutor in the mid-1990s.

Odinet, now a Lafayette City Court judge, was caught on video making racist slurs and is now on unpaid suspension pending an investigation by the Louisiana Judiciary Commission.

Odinet worked for two years as an assistant district attorney under former DA Harry Connick — whose own tenure was marked by prosecutorial misconduct.

Hannah Frank, a bat expert and

assistant professor at Tulane University’s School of Science and Engineering, will share in a $1.25 million award for new research related to animal-borne infectious diseases — especially important given the development of COVID19. Frank will join university researchers from Oklahoma and Arizona, and the team will use the funding to study bats living in Ecuador, Belize and Costa Rica and the pathogens they might be carrying.

Louisiana currently has almost

300 people serving life without parole in prison because of the discretion state law gives prosecutors to increase sentences for so-called “habitual offenders.” In 40% of those cases, the person is serving time for a non-violent crime, The Times-Picayune reported. Further, prosecutors have disproportionately used those laws against Black people — 83% of those serving life as habitual offenders are Black.

THE COUNT

THE NUMBER OF MINUTES THAT PASSED BEFORE ALL FOUR DISTRIBUTION SITES IN THE CITY RAN OUT OF FREE, RAPID COVID-19 TESTS ON DEC. 22.

SCREENSHOT FROM GOOGLE MAPS STREET VIEW ©2021 GOOGLE

National Federation of the Blind headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.

National Federation of the Blind gave leader accused of sexual misconduct a role in investigations THE NATIONAL FEDERATIONOF THE BLIND(NFB)GAVEALONGTIMELEADER a

role in investigating sexual misconduct allegations within the organization, despite the fact he’d been previously punished for allegedly pressuring a young blind woman to have sex with him in exchange for a higher paying college scholarship, according to an NFB document obtained by Gambit.

In fact, the document shows it wasn’t until the woman, Lynn Baillif, spoke with the Des Moines Register in January that the group finally stopped the leader, Scott LaBarre, from participating in sexual misconduct investigations.

“I just wanted to protect other victims from this man being in charge of their investigations, because I felt like it was the fox in the henhouse,” Baillif told Gambit about why she decided to come forward. “I didn’t want the fox in charge.”

But it appears LaBarre has faced few other repercussions from the organization — which is in the midst of a sprawling, nationwide rape and sexual misconduct scandal stretching back for decades.

The website for the Colorado Center for the Blind, one of three NFB-affiliated training centers, lists LaBarre as its board chair. It also says he served as president of

the Colorado National Federation of the Blind from 2005 through 2021, though it is unclear if he still holds that title.

LaBarre did not respond to multiple email inquiries and calls to his law office from Gambit, nor did NFB spokesman Chris Danielsen answer a list of questions Gambit sent via email. Danielsen also did not return a voicemail message and text from Gambit. When a reporter tried getting ahold of LaBarre through the Colorado Center for the Blind, a spokesperson replied, “I think you’ve already got his information, and I don’t know any other way to get ahold of him except for those,” before quickly ending the call.

The Colorado center is just one of three NFB-affiliated training centers — where blind and low vision people go to learn Braille, cane travel and other life skills — that have been hit by allegations of rape, sexual assault and misconduct and other forms of abuse against blind teenagers and young adults.

Ruston, Louisiana, which is home to the Louisiana Center for the Blind, the National Blindness Professional Certification Board — which is loosely affiliated with LCB — and Louisiana Tech’s institute which trains people to work PAGE 9

Health officials later that day hosted another giveaway at citywide libraries, handing out a total of 6,000 tests before running out again. Rapid tests have been hard to find at pharmacies, as demand has increased, but officials say they are working with federal partners to ramp up distribution and this week will host more giveaways. Check ready.nola.gov for more information.

C’EST W H AT

?

What was the best bright spot of 2021?

13.9%

24.1%

THE KREWE OF HOUSE FLOATS

ZAILA AVANT-GARDE WON THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE

51.9%

VACCINES BECAME WIDELY AVAILABLE

6.3%

INDOOR LIVE MUSIC RETURNED

3.8%

HOT LINEMEN SEPTEMBER

Vote on “C’est What?” at www.bestofneworleans.com

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

OPENING GAMBIT

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

8

••• DISCOVER THE •••

SHOPPING • RESTAURANTS • EVENTS

SIX HISTORIC BLOCKS OPEN DAILY! Visit our boutique shops and farmers & flea markets for clothing, jewelry, confections, arts and crafts, home decor, children’s toys, unique gifts, souvenirs, and more!

Shops, restaurants, and daily vendors are operating in accordance with City and State Covid-19 guidelines.

French Market New Orleans

FrenchMktNOLA

LEARN MORE @ FRENCHMARKET.ORG

9 2 0 21. . . i t ’ s a

PAGE 7

in the blindness rehabilitation field, has been an epicenter for allegations. Those allegations range from claims of racist and homophobic abuse to rape, and have resulted in at least one man being arrested this year.

In a Dec. 7 letter to Baillif, NFB confirmed they only removed LaBarre from his role in sexual misconduct investigations after Baillif spoke publicly about the alleged incident. The letter revealed the results of an investigation that took place this year after Baillif reported the incident to NFB again this summer — this time through the organization’s Code of Conduct process adopted in January 2018.

“After Ms. Baillif publicly shared her story on social media and with the press earlier this year, the independent investigator in consultation with the NFB’s external legal counsel informed the Office of the President that Mr. LaBarre should refrain from participating in Code of Conduct investigations involving allegations of sexual misconduct and the President immediately reassigned the responsibilities Mr. LaBarre had been performing in connection with those matters to someone else,” NFB President Mark Riccobono said in the letter.

Baillif said the alleged incident took place in 1987, after she won a college scholarship from NFB. She was 17, and it was her first introduction to the organization, which is the nation’s largest group of blind and low-vision people.

As per the organization’s scholarship process, NFB officials assigned LaBarre, then 18, to be Baillif’s mentor. Based on his interactions with her at the organization’s annual national convention, he and the other committee members would determine her scholarship amount at the end of convention.

According to Baillif, during the convention LaBarre invited her to his hotel room to chat, and once inside told her he would try to get her a higher scholarship if she had sex with him. When she declined and tried to leave the room, LaBarre tried to block her exit, she said.

“He’d been drinking, and I managed to push him to the side and get out,” she said. “And I immediately went down to the lobby because I really didn’t know where to go and told a friend of mine who had friends on the committee.”

She said her friend told the scholarship committee chairperson, and that NFB leadership took LaBarre off the scholarship committee for roughly a decade. After that, then-President Marc Maurer put him back on the committee. LaBarre’s hiatus from the scholarship

committee didn’t seem to have much bearing on his standing in the NFB. In the following decades, he went on to hold several leadership positions in the organization and to serve as its legal counsel. “[Maurer] told me that he had grown out of it,” Baillif said.

In the letter NFB sent to Baillif, NFB’s external investigator Tonya Bana said that when questioned, LaBarre said “he was attracted to Ms. Baillif and wanted to get closer to her. He also recalls ‘hitting on’ her but reports that he has no recollection of propositioning her. Further, he maintains that he does not generally engage in the type of ‘quid pro quo’ behavior Ms. Baillif attributed to him and there is no evidence that he has been the subject of any other allegations of sexual misconduct.”

Baillif said not only did leaders and committee members know about the alleged incident, but many members were also aware.

“The whole incident was actually very public because he was removed from the scholarship committee at that time, and the whole committee knew about it,” she said. “[The] Federation is a small community … Everybody knew about it.

It was not a secret.”

Nevertheless, LaBarre had a role in NFB sexual misconduct investigations through at least midJanuary 2021.

In the letter, Bana reported finding Baillif’s claims to be “unsubstantiated” because she found both “Ms. Baillif and Mr. LaBarre to be equally credible” and “their divergent accounts of their interaction to be equally plausible.”

At the same time, Bana concluded that the NFB punished LaBarre appropriately at the time and recommended the organization take no further disciplinary action against him.

“Regardless of whether the specific misconduct Ms. Baillif attributed to Mr. LaBarre occurred, the evidence shows that the NFB disciplined Mr. LaBarre for the misconduct Ms. Baillif reported,” the letter said.

Baillif echoed what others, both NFB members and experts, have told Gambit before: For there to be a real cultural shift in the organization moving forward, there needs to be consequences for both abusers and leaders who failed to respond adequately to abuse allegations.

“We have these [policies] going forward and they look nice on paper, but I just don’t think that it really instills trust because there is no accountability for what did happen,” Baillif said. — KAYLEE POCHE

wrap!

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

OPENING GAMBIT

7732 m a p l e 865 . 9625 mon - sat 10 - 5:30

shop @gaetanasnola

O U R B I G G E S T S A L E T H I S H O L I DAY S E A S O N !

$8ES

W IN

ON SA LE

NOW

SELECT WINES ON SALE FOR JUST $8 NEW ORLEANS | METAIRIE | MANDEVILLE | BATON ROUGE

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

10

Cellebra ate the Holid H days THIS YEAR AND GIVE THE TH HE GIFT GI OF TITO TITO’SS

EXP 12/31

PU URCHASE 100 0 GIFT CARD RECEIVE $ 20 2 0 GIFT CERT. & GLASS OF WINE

GIFT CARDS AVAILABLEE

$

E S T. 2 017

# ) &) )" ) ) ) ) &

(

% &) )

)

)

) " )( & ( ) & ) ) ' ) ) ") ) &) )) ) ( * (

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

) * ) ( () &) & ) & ) & ))

HAPPY HOUR M-FR 3 PM TO 6 PM MON-THURS- 11:30AM -9:00PM FRI & SAT- 11:30AM - 10:00PM SUNDAY BRUNCH - 10:30AM-3:00PM CALL US FOR YOUR GIFT CARDS, RESERVATIONS OR TAKE OUT.

$ ") ) ) ( ) ( ) ) )( !

5015 MAGAZINE STREET • 504-267-7612 TITOSCEVICHEPISCO.COM

11

@clancygambit

The Top 10 (Plus 2) Political Stories of 2021 THIS PAST YEAR ONCE AGAIN PROVED THAT WE LIVE IN “INTERESTING TIMES”

in Louisiana. Strange as it was, 2021 wasn’t so much the fulfillment of some ancient curse as it was a combination of bad luck and reaping what we’ve sown.

Time for my annual look back at the Top 10 Political Stories of the Year — 2021 Edition. This year I included two additional top stories.

It was that kind of year.

P H O T O B Y D AV 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

Susan Hutson’s defeat of 17-year incumbent Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman Dec. 11 was one of the biggest political stories of 2021.

1. NEW ORLEANS’ NEW SHERIFF — Susan Hutson’s upset win against 17-year incumbent Sheriff Marlin Gusman in the Dec. 11 runoff was a high point for local progressives.

Hutson, the former independent police monitor for NOPD’s federal consent decree, got a big boost from deep-pocketed national allies.

Progressives have high hopes that her election, along with DA Jason Williams’ criminal justice reform bona fides, will usher in a new era for the local criminal justice landscape. Hutson takes office on May 2.

2. THE MAYOR AND THE MALAISE — As expected, Mayor LaToya Cantrell posted a huge (65%) re-election margin in the Nov. 13 primary against a field of nobodies, but the 28% turnout was the lowest in memory for a mayoral contest. New Orleanians voted with their feet, proving that Heronner correctly diagnosed New Orleans’ “malaise” in the wake of Hurricane Ida. The symptoms of that malaise are easy to spot but difficult to address — rising crime, the trash

pickup debacle, pot-holed streets, water bills that don’t make sense, and above all a feeling of hopelessness that things will ever change.

3. COVID-19 — The pandemic continues to reshape our politics — from how candidates run for office to how voters cast their ballots to how GOP legislators try to derail Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards.

It also changed how the rest of us live and work.

4. LOUISIANA’S FIRST VETO OVERRIDE SESSION — GOP legislative leaders whiffed in their attempt to smack Gov. Edwards over his vetoes of an anti-trans bill, an open-carry gun bill, and 26 other measures. Instead of weakening and embarrassing JBE, it handed him a huge win. Meanwhile, state Rep. Ray Garofalo, R-Chalmette, was removed from his Education Committee chairmanship after a bumbling “both sides” statement about slavery amid the GOP’s fevered opposition to Critical Race Theory.

5. BILL CASSIDY BREAKS HIS TRUMP FEVER — Louisiana’s senior U.S. senator voted to convict The Former Guy after the Jan. 6 putsch, and Cassidy seemed to revert to his old moderate self as the year wore on. He played a huge role in negotiating passage of President Biden’s infrastructure bill. Could it presage a run for governor in 2023?

PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

People gather in Congo Square during the protest against the proposed move of City Hall to the Municipal Auditorium Thursday, June 17, 2021.

6. THE CITY HALL RELOCATION FIGHT — Cantrell doesn’t like being told “No,” but she appears to have finally grasped that she can’t put a new City Hall in Armstrong Park.

It took months of constant pressure from neighborhood groups in Treme and across the city, and

P H O T O B Y S C O T T T H R E L K E L D / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell celebrates her re-election Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, at the Zony Mash Beer Project in New Orleans. an increasingly independent City Council, to convince her. Now she and the new council will have to figure out where to put — and how to pay for — a new City Hall.

7. SCANDALS — LSU’s Title IX scandal easily tops this list. The university’s leadership — from the Board of Supervisors to the ranks of the athletic department — set a new standard of failure when it comes to addressing sexual assault on campus, particularly when the offenders are athletes. On other fronts, Grammy-winning jazzman Irvin Mayfield and his artistic partner Ronald Markham pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1 million from the public library foundation; former St. Tammany Sheriff Jack Strain was convicted of multiple sex crimes; the FBI raided the Sewerage & Water Board’s plumbing department; and City Hall still struggles to gain traction in the never-ending saga of the Hard Rock Hotel collapse.

8. ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES — Troy Carter won election to Congress in the spring, turning Team Cedric into Team Troy. Despite a change in pitchers, insiders know the game remains the same: flexing local political muscle.

More recently, voters elected five new City Council members, foreshadowing more council checks on Cantrell during her second term.

9. UTILITY REGULATION — STATEWIDE, Entergy Louisiana faces nearly $2.5 billion in costs to rebuild its transmission grid after two years of devastating hurricanes.

Locally, Entergy New Orleans must rebuild both its dysfunctional distribution system — at a cost of more than $125 million — as well as its reputation with voters and council regulators after embarrassing failures during a February hard freeze and Hurricane Ida in August.

10. MITCH GETS HIS GROOVE BACK — Former Mayor Mitch Landrieu landed a sweet gig as the overlord of Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure program. Landrieu’s biggest challenge will likely be managing expectations.

PLUS TWO MORE — On the surface, St. Tammany’s casino referendum was not a New Orleans story, but voters’ lopsided rejection of Pacific Peninsula Entertainment’s proposed Slidell casino (63% against) was a big win for local gambling interests.

P2E and its allies spent millions trying to change people’s minds but ultimately failed to move the needle.

Elsewhere, Louisiana voters rejected a proposed sales tax reform, but they adopted a related constitutional amendment authorizing big income tax changes for individuals and businesses. In Louisiana, reform comes in fits and starts, and never easily.

Happy New Year!

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

CL ANCY DUBOS

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

12

13

@GambitBlake | askblake@gambitweekly.com

NEW ORLEANS - METAIRIE

Hey Blake,

I’m in my 70s now and as a child I visited a penny arcade in the French Quarter. I think it was on Bourbon or Royal Street. Can you tell me the history of that arcade?

— THOMAS

Dear Thomas,

MANY NEW ORLEANS KIDS, TEENS — AND YES, EVEN ADULTS

REAL EXPERIENCE

MATTERS.

SALVADOR M. BROCATO, III ATTORNEY AT LAW PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE HISTORIC NEW O R L E A N S C O L L E C T I O N , T H E F R A N C K- B E R TA C C I COLLEC TION, 1994.94.2.37

BROCATO LAW FIRM, PLC

Archive photo of the Pennyland Arcade

— spent too many hours inside Pennyland, the penny arcade located at 131 Royal St. for more than 70 years.

Opened in 1931, the arcade was for many years open 24 hours a day.

It featured dozens of luck and skill games, including something called a “Drivemobile machine,” a photo booth, fortune telling machine and sports-themed games such as bowling, basketball and hockey.

A 1947 newspaper ad also advertised voice recording booths. That year, a young Tennessee Williams joined his companion Pancho Rodriguez in one booth. They recorded eight cardboard discs of jokes, poems, skits, songs and even a scene from “A Streetcar Named Desire.” In the recording, Rodriguez reads Stanley Kowalski’s lines, while Williams portrays Blanche DuBois.

The discs are now in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound at The New York Public Library.

The arcade is also mentioned in John Kennedy Toole’s 1980 “A Confederacy of Dunces.”

Legendary protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly “wandered into the Penny Arcade on Royal Street,” Toole writes. Reilly is disappointed to find his favorite game, the miniature mechanical baseball game, missing. He recounts a previous visit where the game malfunctioned and management returned his nickel “after some argument,” and being “base enough to suggest that Ignatius had himself broken the baseball machine by kicking it.”

In 1993, Pennyland’s name was changed to the Penny Arcade.

According to The Times-Picayune, its owners, New Orleans Novelty Co., completed a $200,000 renovation of the arcade, which featured 51 video games and pinball machines. The arcade closed sometime in the early 2000s.

PERSONAL INJURY CIVIL

DWI CRIMINAL

CRIMINAL TRAFFIC

BROCATOLAW.COM

504-832-7225

Lift & Smooth w/PDO Threading!

BL AKEVIE W THE 88TH ANNUAL ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL WILL BE PLAYED IN THE CAESARS SUPERDOME ON NEW YEAR’S DAY, which gives us a chance to share some

Sugar Bowl history.

The idea for the Sugar Bowl was first proposed in 1927 by the publisher and sports editor of the New Orleans Item, Col. James M. Thomson and Fred Digby. The pair and other city leaders, including businessman Warren Miller, organized the New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association in 1934. Digby suggested the name Sugar Bowl due to the importance of the sugar industry in Louisiana.

On Jan. 1, 1935, Tulane University defeated Temple University before a crowd of 22,026 at the inaugural Sugar Bowl in Tulane Stadium. In its early years, the success of the Sugar Bowl helped finance additional seats and enhancements for the stadium, eventually making it the largest stadium in the South. The game moved to the Superdome in 1976.

Throughout the game’s history, it has welcomed 51 Hall of Fame coaches, 19 Heisman Trophy winners and dozens of All-Americans, playing for 28 national championship teams.

In addition to college and high school football, the Sugar Bowl also has sponsored local basketball, track, sailing, rowing, boxing and tennis competitions. It also sponsors the Crescent City Classic and other road races.

This year’s Sugar Bowl, featuring Baylor and Ole Miss, kicks off Saturday at 7:45 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.

Minimal discomfort. Little to no bruising. All the collagen.

Call for your appointment!

SAINTLY SKIN

3000 Kingman St. #101 | Metairie 504.475.5510 | saintlyskin.com

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

BLAKE PONTCHARTR AIN™

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

14

Sipping in a

ButteR rum Latte

15

‘I WANT TO KEEP MY PROMISES’ B Y

C L A N C Y

Susan Hutson, the first Black woman elected sheriff in Louisiana, is feeling the weight of history — and plans on making more

D U B O S

A N D

J O H N

F

ormer Independent Police Monitor Susan Hutson pulled off the upset of the political season by defeating 17-year incumbent Sheriff Marlin Gusman on Dec. 11. After spending a decade tracking NOPD’s compliance with a federal consent decree, Hutson on May 2 will take on the task of overhauling the city’s long-troubled jail — itself the subject of a federal consent decree.

Less than 24 hours after her election, Hutson sat down with Gambit editor John Stanton and political editor Clancy DuBos in an exclusive interview.

GAMBIT: Did you ever see yourself running for office before this year?

HUTSON: No, I did not.

What made you decide to do it?

H: Just conversations with people I trust in this community, people I have a lot of respect for, and just something I started considering. I started P H OTO B Y C H R I S G R A N G E R / T H E T I M E S - P I C AY U N E

The Orleans Justice Center

S T A N T O N doing some homework on it and speaking to people I trust to see what they thought about me in that position, how did they see me as the sheriff, and got great feedback. It was very gratifying, but that also solidified it for me that, yeah, this is the job I should be doing.

You won this election just a day ago, but what are the first things you’re going to try to do once you take office?

H: Everything starts with the money. Everything that

we need to do costs money. That’s been a point of contention between the city and sheriffs in the past.

So when I looked at the budget last year and at the budget this year, I still have tons of questions, and I don’t think the numbers add up.

For instance, I see a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of legal bills. That doesn’t seem like enough. As a lawyer, that does not seem like enough for a consent decree. All the lawsuits that are going on — that could be appropriate. I mean, maybe he cut a great deal, but it just doesn’t seem like all the numbers are there. So we want a complete audit of all the funding that’s available and what are we spending it on. We want to look at invoices, and we want to look at the work that contractors are doing. And we want to fix that bidding process and that contracting process so it’s more public, fairer, with everybody having an opportunity to be a part of that. But we start with the numbers. That’s very important.

Second is recruiting, recruiting, and recruiting.

We’ve got to get folks in here. At times there’ll be deputies on a pod by themselves with 20 more folks who are in custody for them to take care of. I’ve heard them tell me things like, “I’ll be alone on that pod, and I can’t get out of it because it’s locked, and the person who’s watching and controls the doors goes on break.” That is simple administration — putting together a roster for the day. Safety is always at the forefront, making sure the deputies are safe, and a lot of that has to do with numbers. We’ve got to get

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

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

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

16

COVER STORY

more folks here. And we think we’ll get a number of them to come back.

You mentioned auditing and trying to figure out ways to fix the contracting. Will bringing in a new approach result in having to also hire up on the administrative side of things?

H: Probably so, but one of the

things that I’ve always believed, in my years as a police monitor, is that we have cops doing things that civilians can do. I want our deputies to be doing deputy work.

So, yes, we’ll probably lose some folks who don’t want to come back to work, doing deputy work, but we’ll probably need to do that because we’re going to get them back to doing what deputies are supposed to do. A lot of the administrative stuff is going to be handled by civilians who are professionals at doing that work.

‘I think traditional policing and custodial policing don’t necessarily have the same goals, although they probably should.’

You mentioned that you’ve spoken to a lot of deputies.

Do you have a sense of where they’re at in terms of how they view you and your philosophy?

H: I want my team to have all the

tools they need to do their job, and I want them to be paid appropriately. I want them to be able to take care of their families so that they can concentrate on doing this job.

So, yes, there are going to be some people who leave. Those who were favored in the current administration may not be favored in my administration, which is going to be a fair one. I’ve already heard so many times about people who’ve been passed over for promotion or not getting the details that help them feed their family, or the sexual harassment. We talked about that type of behavior that doesn’t support deputies in their work.

In fact, yesterday we were getting out in the streets trying to get out every vote we could, and we talked to some deputies who were like, “Yeah, we’re down.” Especially the African-American women saying, “We need something different. We need something fair.”

Well, is there anything that’s going on over there right now that you don’t want to change, that maybe you might even end up expanding?

H: No. Right now, no. And I’ve got

to be honest with you: The more the layers are pulled back, the more I see, administratively, things just not working well. So, before you make any changes, you want to come in and look. I remember as a

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

Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman at the Orleans Justice Center.

police monitor here, it was at least four months before I made my first recommendation.

I want to find out, in this particular case, how much do they actually know about this consent decree, and how many of them are actually able to perform according to the consent decree standards.

So I’m going to look a lot first. The audit — that’s really the eyes and ears for me to find out what’s going on in there. We’re going to look at everything first before we make significant changes.

You’ve got about a four-month transition period before taking office in May. How do you think you can best use that time?

H: I already started. We have a list of about 20 functions of the sheriff’s office. So we’ve got a lot to look at, and provided the current sheriff works with us on transition, we want to be able to see what’s actually going on in these different sections of the office. This is a very important time for me, just being able to see what’s going on in detail. I’ve heard an earful on the campaign trail, but that’s why I’ve got this list.

But actually being able to see the documentation, the policies and procedures — I haven’t seen any policies and procedures online for the sheriff — we need to see what those look like. Do they actually mirror what the consent decree says? We’ve got a lot of work to do.

One of the things you mentioned in the runoff was using sheriff’s deputies to help NOPD as supplemental patrols. How do you envision that playing out — and have you gotten any blowback from progressive groups for this idea?

H: I haven’t gotten any blowback.

I know people ask me questions about that, because our community asked me over and over and over again, “Will you help?” And I said, “Whatever our community asks for, I’m going to do it if it’s within my power to do. But we’ve got to get the jail straight first.”

That’s what I always said. And then as we heard more and more and more, as people continued to get shot and carjacked, we said, “OK, yeah, we’ve got to do something better than that. We’ve got to help the entire system.”

So we’ve got to figure out staffing at the jail, which is a big part of it. Everybody has to be rowing in the same direction on that jail.

We have to have bodies in there to keep it safe, and then we can start looking at patrolling as well. Those are both priorities.

Do you have a good relationship with Chief of Police Ferguson?

H: I do. I had a very good rela-

tionship with him as the police monitor. Of the three chiefs I had worked with, I felt he understood.

Of course, they all were wanting to get out of the consent decree, but I think he saw that we could be a partner if they worked with us on it.

So, yeah, I had a good relationship with him.

Still, it must have been combative at times.

H: I was here 11 years. It’s difficult

to critique them. It’s very hard to be critiqued. And that can cause some hard feelings. But overall they knew that we were there to help them. If there was any gap between the police and the community they serve, we were glad to be between them to try and help fill that gap.

Regarding deputies supplementing NOPD — would that be something that they would be required to do, or could they say, “I don’t feel comfortable doing this. I signed up to be a deputy who works in the jail. I don’t want to be out on the street”?

H: Yeah, initially I believe it would

be voluntary, and then, of course, we’ll reassess as we go along. We want people who want to do that job first, and there are many of them who do — that I’ve talked to over these past eight months — who do want to do it. They’re very excited. “We want to do some,” as they say, “real police work” and stuff like that. I’m like, “OK. It’s all real. But we got to take care of this house first, and then we’ll take care of the streets.”

It does seem that people don’t really look at the corrections side of this equation as being “real police.”

H: I think traditional policing and custodial policing don’t necessarily have the same goals, although they probably should. We have to create a culture change here about custodial policing, which is that we are here to help people. These

‘Job number one is recruit, recruit, recruit — get some folks in here.

Number two, we want to see what we can do to bring down the jail size.’ are people [in the jail] that are our neighbors. Sometimes family members are in there. These are folks that we want to come out better, that we want to help, and most importantly keep them safe while they’re in there.

I want to change the mindset [among sheriff’s employees] and get them to buy in. There are a number of ways that you do that.

You get them invested in the “attaboys” and the rewards that go with doing these things, as opposed to … when there’s an officer-involved shooting, and an officer is involved in that — maybe they’ve killed somebody, maybe they shot somebody, maybe they missed — they get awards. The police departments would give them awards, and sometimes it looked like they were giving them an award for having killed somebody.

So many community members didn’t think that was a good thing.

We want to give awards for lack of in-custody deaths over a certain

time period. We want a minimum amount of force being used to get to our objective. We want to make sure that they understand their promotions are tied to that, and we want them to understand the value of that.

I had several conversations with deputies about why people act out in jails, and there’s an underlying reason for it. They’re not safe, so they’re trying to get moved.

Maybe they’re detoxing and they’re trying to get to [University Medical Center] to get real drugs instead of whatever they’re getting here in the jail. There could be a number of reasons. We need to get to those underlying reasons and do something about that. That brings that behavior into line with what we’re looking for. That’s what I want — to get the staff to buy in.

One of the things that your predecessors have had a problem with is money, and the tension between the sheriff and the City Council and mayor. What is your relationship with the mayor and the council? Do you think you can look to them for help?

H: There’s always been a ten-

sion about how much money the sheriff has asked for. Once I got into this race and started looking at the budget, and I saw why there is a tension. If I were on the City Council, I would have a bunch of questions as well.

I went to the [sheriff’s] budget hearing this year, and there was some information given out about what we’re getting for $83 million — something like that. What are we getting for that dollar amount?

I didn’t feel like there was enough

17 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

COVER STORY

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

18

Rise,Shine and Brunch

Y TURDA A S Y R AY! E D V E N U S D N A

M A K E YO U R W E E K E N D P L A N S W ITH U S !

1051 ANNUNCIATION ST., WAREHOUSE DISTRICT • 504.582.9544 • INDOOR & OUTDOOR SEATING • THEMILLNOLA.COM

New Years Day LIVE EntertainMENt Featuring:

Gina Brown & ANUTHA LEVEL BAND

Performing the best in New/Old School R&B, Jazz and the Blues

SATURDAY JANUARY 1, 2022

9pm Showtime FMI or to reserve a table: (504)975-6200

1234 N Claiborne Ave, NOLA

information. So my game plan is to be more detailed about what we’re spending money on. And the audit, again, is very key to seeing where we need to be putting our money — and being very transparent about that.

I’ve said over and over on this campaign trail I do not want to charge people for phone calls, because that helps with behavioral issues, and it helps with the recidivism rate. It’s going to cost $2 million for the [new] phone system.

We’re not going to pay for that on the backs of families. Same for the commissary. If we’ve got to go to Costco and get a bunch of chips, at cost, we’re not going to be having an overpriced commissary. This is what it costs to run a safe and constitutional jail.

That’s the way I know to do business, and that’s the way I plan to do business. I think that will resonate with them. We’ve got a new council coming in here, and I hope that does resonate with those who are coming on board.

Who on the incoming council would you consider your natural allies?

H: We worked with Helena

[Moreno] on the whole alternative responders for mental health, but we never really worked on money issues. When you deal with money, it can be different. I’m not able to identify natural allies about that because we never really dealt with that. But on different issues, Helena’s been one who’s championed some good work. Jason [Williams] did a really good job when he was there, but he’s not there anymore, so we’ll see. I like the way Jay [Banks] was fighting Phase III. I think that there will probably be issues that different ones will ally with us on.

What’s your relationship with the mayor?

H: She and Jared Brossett [as

council members] co-authored the ordinance and bought the pressure to have the inspector general and the police monitor split, so they were a big part of us becoming independent. I’ll always have a fondness for her and respect for her, but there haven’t been of lot of issues for us to have to deal with since she’s been the mayor. She’s got her hands full, but I’ve worked with her Police Department and the Office of Families and Children.

They’re doing good stuff. We were looking at policing, the Health Department, talking about trying to

BRUNCH

SUNDAYS 10AM - 3PM

AT

IS A

A E LWAY S D I A GOOD

P H OTO B Y C L A N C Y D U B O S

have alternatives for mental health, her office of violence prevention — just folks that I, as the police monitor, naturally lined up with. I think it’ll be a good relationship.

Another big question is construction of Phase III and the court’s order to build it.

What steps do you think you can take to get the judge to let you guys change the consent decree?

H: We have to be very efficient

with what goes on with deputies.

One of the biggest issues with the consent decree and mental health — this need for Phase III — is about those who are in custody getting to therapy, getting to their appointments, which right now is caused by deputies having to walk them to it. They have not had enough bodies to be able to do that. I don’t think we need to build a whole building to get that done, especially when we don’t have enough people. I don’t think that new building is going to fix that.

What I want to show the judge is that we can fix that without it. So job number one is recruit, recruit, recruit — get some folks in here.

Number two, we want to see what we can do to bring down the jail size. One of the things we’ve been able to identify is there are about 300 people who were charged with serious crimes, who if found guilty will be going to the penitentiary. And with Covid, a lot of those trials were stalled or postponed. We want to work with the courts and the DA and the public defenders to get those cases moving again. It’s really important

MON - SAT 11AM - 9PM | SUN 10AM - 3PM 3001 Magazine Street | JoeyKsRestaurant.com | 504-891-0997

ENTERTAINING FOR

New Year’s Eve!

Mon-Fri 10am-6pm | Sat 10am-4pm Curbside & Delivery Still Available!

5101 W. ESPLANADE • 504.407.3532 at Chastant • Metairie

3001 ORMOND BLVD • 985.603.4011

at entrance to Ormond Estates • Destrehan www.nolagiftsanddecoronline.com @nolagiftsanddecor

19 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

COVER STORY

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

20

COVER STORY

that we get those cases moving so that those folks, if they are going to the penitentiary, can go, and bring down the jail population here even further. If we can even get a hundred of those done, that would really help us a lot. I want to work with them, and I’m hoping to have a lot of those conversations during transition.

Is there a point at which you’ll figure that we’re going to have to move forward with the consent decree language as-is?

H: I do not want to expand this

Monomin Voted Best locally owned Women’s Boutique 2 Years in a Row

jail. I don’t intend to acquiesce in it in any way. I intend to fight as much as I can. I know I’m an officer of the court, like every other lawyer, so in the long run, if the order is still there, then I’ll have to comply with it. But we want to show the court we’re going to comply with [other parts of] this consent decree right now.

Eight years of dealing with this and still seeing issues such as not searching people appropriately or not having the proper critique of serious incidents go on — those are all things that are right in my wheelhouse. That’s what police departments under consent decrees do. I know that backwards and forwards.

As we show the court that we’re complying, and if we can figure out a way to bring down this population and get more deputies in here to escort people to their appointments and get them the mental health care they’re supposed to get, I think we’ve got a really compelling argument for him: “We are complying with almost everything else in your consent decree except this one part that we don’t really need.”

Is there any point at which you say, “OK, we’ve got to do this, but this is how I would do it?”

H: I think that’s where we start

2104 Magazine St

monomin.com

504.827.1269

@monominshop

having conversations about alternatives. Does Phase III have to look just like this? Can it be something else? Can it be more of a hybrid-type building? Mental health care and substance abuse are big issues in our community. Can this be the Orleans Parish treatment facility for addiction and for mental health? Maybe we could use that facility with the city’s help. It could be a hybrid or shared space with the city. It could also be

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

Susan Hutson and her campaign manager Deborah V. Chapman hug after beating incumbent Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman.

diversion centers for those coming into the jail whose main issues are addiction and mental health.

As a police monitor, I saw people who get nervous just being addressed by NOPD, and maybe they get combative or they won’t comply with something, and then they end up in jail or there’s a use of force when they really weren’t committing any crime to begin with. We want to make sure that if those types of things happen, we’re getting them diverted to the help that they need as opposed to locking them up in this jail, which is not going to make them better.

You are the first Black woman to be elected as a sheriff in Louisiana. Do you feel a burden of history as a result of that?

H: We’ve been talking about it a

lot the last couple of months, so I’m kind of wearing it naturally. This morning we went to churches to say, “Thank you,” and there were a number of little girls there, and the pastors would say, “This is the first Black woman to be elected.” And then I said, “But I won’t be the last, right? I’m going to open this door, and then you can be whatever you want to be.” That hit home today.

And those little girls just smiling — that gets your heart strings. So, yeah, it has definitely set in, the magnitude of it. I want to be always cognizant of that. I opened this door. I don’t want to close it behind me. I don’t want to do anything to make it more difficult for somebody else to walk through — and I want to keep my promises. That’s most important to me.

21

4 to 6 PM

( open EARLY for games )

141 Delaronde Street | 504.605.3365

2347 Metairie Rd. (504) 831-8637 Open daily at 4pm

JUST STEPS AWAY FROM

THE ALGIERS POINT FERRY!

THANK YOU FOR VOTING US BEST NEIGHBORHOOD BAR FOR 8 YEARS!

504-488-PALS

•

949 N. RENDON ST. PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

•

OPEN DAILY 3PM-3AM

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

HAPPY HOUR

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

22

Happy Hour

OYSTER HAPPY HOUR! TUES-THURS | 4PM-6:30PM

Dining

View with a

with a

View

OPEN TUESDAY-SUNDAY 11AM-9PM

Party SLIDELL NOW OPEN!

withh a

View

Call the restaurant for more information, or email info@thebluecrabnola.com

THEBLUECRABNORTHSHORE.COM 118A HARBOR VIEW CT. SLIDELL 985-315-7001

LIVE MUSIC SCHEDULE ON THEBLUECRABNOLA.COM

THEBLUECRABNOLA.COM 7900 Lakeshore Dr. • New Orleans • 504-284-2898

23 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

24

Brunch

IN THE

NEW YEAR

SPONSORED BY

THE COUNTRY CLUB

CURIO

FLAMINGO-A-GO-GO

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES & EGGS

EGGS PONTCHARTRAIN

The Country Club is a beautiful New Orleans restaurant and bar delivering legendary Creole cuisine & exquisite food and drink in sophisticated surroundings.

Drag Brunch is back every Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy classics like Fried Green Tomatoes and Eggs made with crispy green tomatoes, poached eggs, cherry tomato salsa, tomato butter, & hollandaise.

Brunch on Curio’s Royal Street balcony is quickly becoming a favorite of locals and visitors alike. Curio’s brunch menu features Eggs Pontchartrain, Royal Street Breakfast, and the Bayou Lafourche Omelet.

Soak in Royal Street’s offerings with bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys.

No place does brunch quite like Flamingo A-Go-Go. With outdoor seating, bottomless frosé, margaritas, and mimosas, Flamingo is bringing the flock party to the Warehouse District.

thecountryclubneworleans.com

curionola.com

flamingonola.com

BROUSSARD’S

JOEY K’S

CRISPY CHICKEN BLT

LEGACY KITCHEN’S CRAFT TAVERN

STEAK AND EGGS

CHICKEN BISCUIT

EGG BENEDICT

Since 1920, Broussard’s sensational French-Creole cuisine and historic French Quarter architecture have delighted locals and visitors alike. Enjoy brunch in the courtyard or dinner in our elegant dining rooms. Broussard’s offers an extensive brunch and cocktail menus carefully crafted by Executive Chef Jimi Setchim.

A true New Orleans neighborhood restaurant located in the heart of the Garden District. Enjoy Creole classic dishes 7 days a week and brunch every Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm. Pictured: fried chicken biscuit covered in white sausage gravy.

Brunch is served daily until 12 p.m. Craft Classics include Egg Benedict — classic eggs benedict built over an english muffin.

broussards.com

joeyksrestaurant.com

legacykitchen.com

25

MOTHER’S

DEBRIS WITH CHEESE GRITS

NEYOW’S CREOLE CAFÉ CLASSIC BREAKFAST

RUBY SLIPPER

HOT HONEY HAM & GREENS BENEDICT

Mother’s offers brunch all day with a selection of favorite menu items served over cheese grits. The most popular is Debris with Cheese Grits — beef trimmings that fall into the au jus while the meat is roasting (same as on the Famous Ferdi Special po’ boy). Debris, now widely used around town, originated at Mother’s. Other popular toppings include Crawfish Étouffée and Shrimp Creole.

You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu at Neyow’s Creole Café. Authentic Creole cuisine in the heart of Mid-City. Brunch is served every Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm.

Ruby Slipper is famous for bringing New Orleans flair to brunch classics. Our Winter Seasonal menu features a Hot Honey Ham & Greens Benedict, made with Mike’s Hot Honey glazed ham, buttermilk cornbread, smothered collard greens topped with poached eggs & hollandaise.

For every dish sold in the NOLA area we’re donating $1 to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Open daily.

mothersrestaurant.net

neyows.com

therubyslippercafe.net

THE MILL NOLA

TITO’S CEVICHE & PISCO

WAKIN’ BAKIN’

CRAB SCRAMBLE

SHRIMP & GRITS AND AVOCADO TOASTS

SHRIMP ÉTOUFFÉE & GRITS

Some real #southerncomfortfood: Louisiana lump crab, soft scrambled eggs with buttery toasted French bread and lobster oil…take your brunch game up a few notches at The Mill this weekend.

We serve a delicious array of Peruvian signature dishes.

Join us for brunch and enjoy customer favorites like Louisiana Gulf shrimp served in creamy Peruvian corn grits, with aji panca cream sauce and finished with chimichurri & finely chopped cilantro. Or try our Two Avocado Toasts topped with fried eggs & served with mixed green salad tossed with avocado vinaigrette.

Breakfast, brunch, and lunch that’s fresh and fun!

Come by for Shrimp Étouffée & Grits — A rich red gravy étouffée with LA local shrimp served over our creamy grits & topped with poached eggs. Wakin’ Bakin’s own homemade Sourdough toast on the side.

themillnola.com

titoscevichepisco.com

wakinbakin.com

KATIE’S RESTAURANT

ANDREA’S RESTAURANT

Katie’s offers chargrilled oysters on the brunch menu!

Choose ½ dozen or dozen. Also available: Oyster Slessinger — chargrilled oysters topped with creamy provel shrimp, spinach and bacon.

Andrea’s offers the finest in New Orleans local seafood, authentic northern Italian, and continental cuisine. Enjoy brunch at Andrea’s every Sunday starting at 11:00 a.m. with $14 bottomless Mimosas and classic dishes like Eggplant Crabcakes — with two fried eggs topped with hollandaise sauce.

Pink, popping, perfection! The KORBEL Grapefruit Mimosa combines two parts KORBEL Brut with one part grapefruit juice for a refreshing reason to raise your glass. Check out more Mimosa recipes at korbel.com.

katiesinmidcity.com

andreasrestaurant.com

korbel.com

OYSTER SLESSINGER

KORBEL

EGGPLANT CRABCAKES

GRAPEFRUIT MIMOSA

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

26

! ! !

! % ! $

$ $

!" $ $!#

UR Y YO YDA ER CH EV RUN T B PO S

27

On the Town

FORK + CENTER

American Townhouse serves a crowd-pleasing menu on the edge of the French Quarter THE OPENING OF AMERICAN TOWNHOUSE RESTAURANT AND BAR at

1012 N. Rampart St. marks a rite of passage for Matt Giglio, a realized dream that he’s thrilled to achieve at the age of 50.

“If I could have written a wish list, this place is it,” Giglio says.

Giglio has literally grown up in bars in New Orleans, working in them since he was a kid, first at The Mint on Esplanade Avenue and then for many years at the Bourbon Orleans.

He opened his own place in a leased building at 700 Burgundy St. when he was 36. He named it the 700 Club, an LGBTQ-friendly lounge that had zero in common with the Christian talk show of the same name.

“We wanted to buy the building, but that wasn’t going to happen,” Giglio says.

Instead, he purchased the 1857 Greek Revival townhouse on North Rampart in April 2019, and with the help of his husband Bryce Scholl, transformed the space into something magical. “We took it down to repointing the bricks,” he says.

Downstairs, an expansive bar and dining area opens onto a lit and landscaped brick courtyard.

Upstairs, there’s an event space that includes a balcony overlooking Rampart Street. Beautiful wood floors, original art by David McPherson, 14-foot ceiling, funky lighting and the warm texture of aged brick come together to create a beautiful space.

Giglio is happy to see many of his French Quarter regulars at the new bar. “We have an eclectic clientele,” he says.

He also invited the lead cook from the 700 Club kitchen to join the team at American Townhouse.

Zach McGee, 26, is a Florida native whose family is all from New Orleans East. He moved to New Orleans a little more than five years ago, taking a job at the Faubourg Cafe, the leased kitchen space in the 700 Club, which closed in December 2019.

Giglio and McGee wanted to keep some of the popular menu items

| by Beth D’Addono

from the Burgundy Street location while expanding in a few areas.

“We wanted to be more diverse than the typical French Quarter fare, not just jambalaya and red beans and rice — although we might feature those kinds of dishes as specials,” McGee says.

The expanded menu starts with snacks including blistered shishito peppers and black garlic truffle potato chips dusted with Cotija cheese.

Under the category Bar Faves, there are nachos, loaded waffle fries and house marinated and dredged chicken fingers.

The chicken and waffle appetizer is also available as a Death by Waffle sandwich, featuring buttermilk battered fried chicken spiked with Crystal hot sauce which is drizzled with hot honey and Steen’s and sandwiched between two hot waffles.

There also are more fresh options along with vegetarian and vegan choices. Impossible Burger meat, the plant-based meat substitute, is a protein choice along with chicken, shrimp, pulled pork and wagyu beef. There are three salads including a kale Caesar, a taco salad and Asian chicken salad made with kale, arugula, red cabbage, bell peppers and cilantro, all tossed in a peanut dressing. Diners can top salads with a choice of proteins, including catfish and poke tuna.

A handful of dishes bear a South of the Border influence. There is house-made salsa with chips and an elote dip, a nod to the Mexican

Email dining@gambitweekly.com

Winter Freeze

GREAT GELATO HAS JUST THE RIGHT BLEND OF CREAMY DENSITY, vivid fla-

vor and velvety texture, and that’s certainly the case for the gelato served at Piccola Gelateria.

The scenes around the little shop these days, however, have been unabashedly sweet.

Every other time the door swings open, it seems co-owner Ria Turnbull is greeting a familiar young face as if it’s a niece or nephew arriving. She wants to know how school is going, she’s impressed by how much they’ve grown.

They get their gelato — tiramisu, lemon, Amarena cherry, mint stracciatella or maybe “cookies black” (made with chocolate cookies blended in); then the door opens and again the warm greetings flow over the freezer case.

Ria and her husband Ross Turnbull have been going like this for five years now, though this

PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER

Chef Zach McGee serves a burger and a waffle sandwich.

street snack, which combines roasted corn, crema and jalapeno topped with Cotija cheese. The Townhouse trio rounds up three dips to share. Street tacos also come three-to-an-order, and crispy tostados are topped with grilled chicken and guacamole.

A lineup of burgers includes one that McGee couldn’t let go of from the 700 Club days. “The peanut butter and bacon burger is just the best,” he says. Wagyu beef is stacked with applewood-smoked bacon, a layer of peanut butter, onion, house-made pickles, tomatoes and arugula on a bun.

“I’d say we have something for everybody,” Giglio says.

?

WHAT

American Townhouse

WHERE

1012 N. Rampart St., (504) 354-8533; atnola.com

WHEN

Lunch, dinner and late-night daily

HOW

Dine-in and outdoor seating available

CHECK IT OUT

A casual spot on the edge of the French Quarter

P H O T O 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

month they moved Piccola Gelateria from its original Freret Street home to a new Magazine Street location about a mile away.

The shop was out of action for just a few weeks, but the interactions over the gelato counter during its first week back felt like homecomings after a much longer duration.

“We’ve made it through the years, we’ve made it through everything, because of the loyal following,” Ria Turnbull says. “We are so grateful to them.”

Ross Turnbull makes the gelato in small batches. That preserves its consistency and texture.

Ross built his first career as a chef and got an early start in the field as PAGE 28

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

E AT + D R I N K

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

28

FORK & CENTER PAGE 27

Thank You We wish to thank all of our customers for their continued patronage and for another great holiday season.

— The Fisher Family “WHERE THE UNUSUAL IS COMMONPLACE” 5101 W. ESPLANADE AVE. | 1 BLOCK OFF TRANSCONTINENTAL METAIRIE 504.885.4956 | FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK

a teenager enrolled in hotel school in Switzerland. During that time, he traveled to Palermo, where he learned to make gelato from an old Sicilian master of the craft. His career took him to luxury hotels around the world.

The new shop has a few tables outside and a few inside. The giant teddy bears from the old location also made the move, and now they lounge around the counter and windows.

So did the bank of crepe irons, where the Turnbulls cook savory and sweet crepes lickety-split and prepare piadine, the grilled Italian flatbreads folded around some of the same savory crepe fillings.

As before, the espresso machine works up just-ground beans from the Brooklyn-based roaster Sey Coffee.

The new spot has a Magazine Street address, though its small storefront opens to Jena Street.

It feels tucked away, but regulars have had no problem finding their way there, and plenty of newcomers have been joining them.

— IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

Temporary Closures ON A BUSY HOLIDAY WEEKEND, STAFF AT RESTAURANTS ACROSS THE CITY

3332 Bienville Street | 504-827-5474 | neyows.com Sun 11am - 7pm - Brunch til 2pm | Sunday Brunch 11am -2pm Mon-Thursday -11am -9pm • Fri & Sat 11am-11pm

were working the phones, calling people who had reservations to dine. They weren’t calling to confirm, but rather to deliver the news that their restaurants had temporarily closed.

After learning of COVID exposures among employees, many restaurants have been shutting down to allow others on staff to get tested. One was Rosedale, chef Susan Spicer’s restaurant in the Navarre neighborhood, which shut down on a recent Saturday after some of the kitchen staff reported positive test results.

“We just decided to shut down until Thursday (Dec. 23),” said Spicer, who on Dec. 20 said she had tested negative herself. “We were having a great week, but it’s more important to shut down now rather than mess up people’s Christmas plans.”

State health officials report that the number of new coronavirus cases have doubled in one week.

Early studies suggest that the omicron variant now on the rise is more easily spread and more likely to result in breakthrough cases, or infections among those who have been vaccinated. Hospitalizations statewide remain relatively low but are rising.

As with the previous surges, this one is registering swiftly in hospitality businesses.

Many local restaurants made similar temporary closing decisions last week, from upscale spots like Saba and Patois to more casual places like Stein’s Deli, Cherry Coffee Roasters and Marjie’s Grill, all of which have since reopened.

The list of temporary closures seems to grow constantly. A closure of a day or two is the most common course as staff get tested, though some businesses are taking different steps.

The Maple Leaf Bar is shut down through Dec. 30, with a reopening tentatively scheduled for New Year’s Eve. At the Warehouse District steakhouse La Boca, manager Lorenzo Reef was alarmed to see many restaurants shutting down after exposures, so he decided to bring back a protocol from earlier Covid surges. La Boca now requires face mask use for customers when they’re moving around the restaurant, and employees are getting a rapid test once a week.

La Boca has not closed from a Covid exposure through the course of the pandemic.

The moves are on top of the city’s own proof-of-vaccination mandate for indoor dining, which Reef has enforced. The restaurant was one of several to start its own such vaccination policy prior to the city’s mandate.

“We’ve always taken our role as purveyors of public health seriously, even before the pandemic.

It’s what you do every day to make sure people don’t get sick,” he says, referring to sanitation and food safety practices.

Shutting down even for a day or two means losing revenue while staff depending on hourly wages and tips lose shifts.

But even when restaurants are able to reopen quickly, they are sometimes working with a further reduced staff if some employees continue to test positive and have to quarantine.

Patois reopened with some key people still out, and chef/owner Aaron Burgau says the rest of the staff has been stretching to keep the restaurant running.

Making such calls is woefully familiar to restaurant people, as the sector has weathered changing conditions, policies, and protocols throughout the pandemic. A similar slew of temporary closures rippled through the industry in late summer as the delta variant surged. — IAN McNULTY / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE

29

Cheers

DOMAINE CARNEROS

BY TATTINGER BRUT $29.99 750 ML

NICOLAS FEUILLATTE RESERVE ROSÉ $49.99 750 ML

NICOLAS FEUILLATTE RESERVE BRUT $39.99 750 ML

G.H. MUMM BRUT GIFT SET $34.99 750 ML

CHANDON BRUT $16.99 750 ML

LAMARCA PROSECCO $12.09 750 ML L

MUMM NAPA BRUT $16.99

ZONIN PROSECCO 3 PACK $8.99

750 ML

750 ML

187 ML

LAMARCA PROSECCO ROSÉ P $12.09

MUMM NAPA BRUT ROSÉ $16.99

750 ML

ZONIN PROSECCO $10.99 750 ML

VEUVE CLICQUOT ROSÉ $59.99 750 ML

BOLLINGER SPECIAL CUVÉE $69.99 750 ML

SAINT-HILAIRE BRUT $14.99 750 ML

SAINT-HILAIRE BRUT ROSÉ $15.99 750 ML

LOUIS PERDRIER BRUT 7.99 750 ML

710 VETERANS MEMORIAL BLVD. | METAIRIE | DORIGNACS.COM (504) 834-8216 | Open 7am-8pm Everyday

LOUIS PERDRIER BRUT ROSÉ $7.99 750 ML

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

W E N To A YEAR

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

30

FREE SAME DAY DELIVERY & MULTI-DOSE PILL PACKING

Lakeview, New Orleans

Vaccinations Auto Monthly Refill E-Script Available Friendly Knowledgeable Staff Accept Most Insurances Curbside Pick Up

CALL TODAY (504)435-1422 C OV ID -1 VAC C IN A 9 TI AND BOO ON S TE R S H O TS AVA IL A B LE

Transfer Online at MICHOUDPHARMACY.COM

1818 Veterans Blvd, Metairie, LA | 504.888.2300 | nordickitchens.com

HOURS Mon - Fri: 9am to 5pm • Sat: 9am to 2pm • Sun: Closed 4646 Michoud Blvd, D5

Welcome Sugar Bowl Fans

NOW G IN H IR

Open New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day

THANKS FOR VOTING US

OPEN DAILY 7AM-9PM FRI & SAT 10PM VALIDATED PARKING

Dine In & Takeout Dliverynola.com

BEST SMOKE SHOP

PLEASE VISIT

Ely Navarro Hernandez

OF THE

WEEK

Chef

by Will Coviello AS THE CHILD OF A CAREER AIR FORCE OFFICER, ELY NAVARRO HERNANDEZ

moved often. She grew up across the U.S. and lived in Korea and Japan. But her mother’s Cuban cooking was a constant. After attaining a culinary degree, she came to New Orleans and worked at restaurants including Mopho and Luke as well as Whole Foods and The Roosevelt Hotel. She didn’t start making her mother’s flan recipe for anyone besides family and friends until she hosted a pop-up Cuban dinner at Wakin’ Bakin’ during the pandemic. People liked the flan, and eventually she started the pop-up Only Flans, serving traditional and original versions. Find information about the pop-up at @onlyflansbychefely.

How did you get interested in cooking?

ELY NAVARRO HERNANDEZ: My mom is an outstanding cook.

We did family meals, seated at the table every night. She did all of the cooking — all the Cuban recipes I grew up with. We ate her flan yearround. Before I left for college, I got this journal to sit down and write everything down. I was like, “Walk me through everything.”

That’s what my flan recipe is handwritten in.

I left college to get into culinary school — the Texas Culinary Academy. It’s a Cordon Bleu school in north Austin. I shot out of school and worked at a lot of places in a lot of different styles. I really liked the lifestyle.

My first job was this amazing tea house and restaurant in Austin called The Steeping Room. It was a wonderful place. I learned so much. (I was) coming from a French culinary school and building all your flavors on cream and butter. They had everything there, but it was also focused on vegan items. I learned how to make flavors out of none of the things I was trained professionally to do. I learned to do spring rolls and Asian-inspired dishes, and things like cashew Caesar salad or tomato-coconut soup. The pastry department was amazing. They had a great vegan carrot cake.

I was pretty fresh out of culinary school when I saw an ad on Craigslist for a sous chef to open

a Mexican-style restaurant here in New Orleans. I had an interview in a Starbucks and had one week to move my entire life to New Orleans. I was used to moving from my parents’ military life, so I literally packed myself up into my little Volvo and moved here in one week by myself at 21 years old.

Why did you focus on flan?

H: I am not really great with desserts and pastry. I am a savory gal. This is the only thing I had in my pocket by way of dessert.

Flan is very similar to a creme brulee. It’s cooked in a water bath. I find that a lot of different cultures and nations have flans, and they change whether you get one from Cuba or Mexico or the Philippines. The texture of mine is more on the creamy side. It’s between a panna cotta and a cheesecake.

The syrup is a caramel. It solidifies before you put your custard in.

Through baking, when you flip it, it comes out that beautiful texture.

I always use my mom’s recipe as a base, but I get to play a lot. All of my flavors I do year-round, but some are good for special holidays.

I have a sweet potato one that is good for Thanksgiving. When I did a Doomsday dinner with Que Pasta at Barrel Proof, I got to play with squid ink and I did a black flan. It tasted like a salted caramel finish, but it was black all the way through. I am open to playing with different things now.

How did you start your pop-up?

H: During the pandemic, I started working with Wakin’ Bakin’. I got to host a five-course Cuban dinner. I made all the courses and flan was the dessert. That menu was all my

Stags’ Leap 2018 Petite Sirah P H O T O P R O V I D E D B Y E LY N AVA R R O H E R N A N D E Z

mom’s recipes. The Wakin’ Bakin’ dinner was the first time I made a flan in New Orleans.

After that dinner, I got requests for whole flans. Then the clever name came about, and it shot up.

I have a friend who has a pop-up called Umami Mami out of Pal’s Lounge every Sunday. That was the first pop-up I did. I was at Pal’s on Sunday with her selling slices. It grew from there. People started seeking me out to order a whole one. With the clever name (Only Flans), it’s easy to get someone to try it.

Currently I am making maybe 10 flan a week. I can only bake four at a time. I am going every Tuesday through Friday with Que Pasta at Barrel Proof, and she is at R Bar for Saints games. If you see her, my flan is on the menu. I am at Pal’s on Sundays with Umami Mami. Recently I have been out with Lufu with slices, and in the new year we’re going to be doing a collaboration.

Hernandez takes direct orders for flan through her Instagram page and via ely.culinary@gmail.com.

Petite Sirah is a varietal that is enhanced by the deliberate diversity of our vineyard sites.

Grapes from the vineyards located on our estate’s deep, rocky soils make up the backbone of this Napa Valley Petite Sirah. Carefully selected fruit from both northern vineyards in Calistoga and St. Helena and southern vineyards in Oakville, Oak Knoll and Coombsville are added to intensify and broaden the wine’s profile to include floral, spice and fruit characteristics.

DISTRIBUTED BY

31 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

WINE

3 COURSE INTERVIEW

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

32

COMING SOON TO NEW ORLEANS

Become a Founding Member With Special

PRE-OPENING RATES! 504-930-4730

JOIN THE FAMILY TODAY!

897 ST. JOSEPH STREET NEW ORLEANS, LA 70113 mayweather.fit/downtown-nola downtownnola@mayweather.fit @mayweatherfitdowntownnola

301 Royal at Bienville Q cur ionola | cur ionola.com

SCAN THE CODE

33

C O M P L E T E L I S T I N G S A T W W W. B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M Out 2 Eat is an index of Gambit contract advertisers. Unless noted, addresses are for New Orleans and all accept credit cards. Updates: Email willc@gambitweekly.com or call (504) 483-3106.

CBD

Juan’s Flying Burrito — 515 Baronne St., (504) 529-5825; juansflyingburrito.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. Outdoor dining available.

No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.Tue. $$

CARROLLTON

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

Delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Mikimoto — 3301 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 488-1881; mikimotosushi.com — The South Carrollton roll includes tuna tataki, avocado and snow crab. Delivery available. Lunch Sun.-Fri., dinner daily. $$

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. $

FRENCH QUARTER

Desire Oyster Bar — Royal Sonesta New Orleans, 300 Bourbon St., (504) 586-0300; sonesta.com/desireoysterbar — The menu features Gulf seafood in Creole dishes, po-boys char-grilled oysters and more. Reservations recommended. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. $$

JEFFERSON/RIVER RIDGE

The Rivershack Tavern — 3449 River Road, (504) 834-4938; therivershacktavern.com — This bar and music spot serves burgers, sandwiches and lunch specials. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily. $ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 1212 S. Clearview Parkway, Elmwood, (504) 733-3803; theospizza.com — Choose from specialty pies, salads, sandwiches and more. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $

LAKEVIEW

The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 7900 Lakeshore Drive, (504) 2842898; thebluecrabnola.com — The menu includes sandwiches, fried seafood platters, boiled seafood, shrimp and grits and more. Outdoor seating available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Lakeview Brew Coffee Cafe — 5606 Canal Blvd., (504) 483-7001; lakeviewbrew.com — This casual cafe offers coffee, pastries, desserts, sandwiches and salads. Delivery are available. Breakfast and lunch daily. $

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.

Delivery available. Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Sun. $$$

$ — average dinner entrée under $10 $$ — $11-$20 $$$ — $20-up

Chef Ron’s Gumbo Stop — 2309 N. Causeway Blvd., Metairie, (504) 8352022; gumbostop.com — The seafood platter includes fried catfish, shrimp, oysters, crab balls fries and a side.

Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Kosher Cajun New York Deli & Grocery — 3519 Severn Ave., Metairie, (504) 888-2010; koshercajun.com — New Yorkstyle deli sandwiches feature corned beef, pastrami and more. Lunch Sun.Thu., dinner Mon.-Thu. $ Martin Wine Cellar — 714 Elmeer Ave., Metairie, (504) 896-7350; martinwine. com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch daily. $$ Nephew’s Ristorante — 4445 W. Metairie Ave., Metairie, (504) 533-9998; nephewsristorante.com — The CreoleItalian menu features dishes like veal, eggplant and chicken parmigiana.

Reservations required. Dinner Tue.-Sat. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 2125 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, (504) 510-4282; theospizza.com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Short Stop Po-Boys — 119 Transcontinental Drive, Metairie, (504) 885-4572; shortstoppoboysno.com — Fried Louisiana oysters and Gulf shrimp are served on a Leidenheimer loaf.

No reservations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat. $

MID-CITY/TREME

Angelo Brocato’s — 214 N. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-1465; angelobrocatoicecream.com — Try house-made gelato, spumoni, Italian ice, cannolis, fig cookies and other treats. Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 4724 S. Carrollton Ave., (504) 486-9950; juansflyingburrito.com — See Uptown section for restaurant description. Outdoor dining available. No reservations. Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Katie’s Restaurant — 3701 Iberville St., (504) 488-6582; katiesinmidcity.com — Boudreaux pizza is topped with cochon de lait, spinach, red onions, roasted garlic and scallions. Delivery available.

Lunch and dinner Tue.-Sun. $$ Mid City Pizza — 4400 Banks St., (504) 483-8609; midcitypizza.com — Shrimp remoulade pizza includes spinach, red onion, garlic, basil and green onions on an garlic-olive oil brushed curst.

Delivery available. Lunch Thu.-Sun., dinner Thu.-Mon. $$ Neyow’s Creole Cafe — 3332 Bienville St., (504) 827-5474; neyows.com — The menu includes red beans with fried chicken or pork chops, as well as seafood plates, po-boys, char-grilled oysters and more. Lunch daily, dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4024 Canal St., (504) 302-1133; theospizza. com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

NORTHSHORE

The Blue Crab Restaurant and Oyster Bar — 118 Harbor View Court, Slidell, (985) 315-7001; thebluecrabnola.com

— See Lakeview section for restaurant description. No reservations. Lunch Fri.Sat., dinner Wed.-Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 70488 Highway 21, Covington, (985) 234-9420; theospizza.com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $

UPTOWN Joey K’s — 3001 Magazine St., (504) 891-0997; joeyksrestaurant.com — Sauteed trout Tchoupitoulas is served with shrimp, crabmeat, vegetables and potatoes. Delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Juan’s Flying Burrito — 2018 Magazine St., (504) 569-0000; 5538 Magazine St., (504) 897-4800; juansflyingburrito.com — The Flying Burrito includes steak, shrimp, chicken, cheddar-jack cheese, black beans, yellow rice, salsa la fonda, guacamole and sour cream. Outdoor seating available. No reservations.

Lunch and dinner Thu.-Tue. $$ Martin Wine Cellar — 3827 Baronne St., (504) 894-7444; martinwine.com — Sena salad includes pulled roasted chicken, golden raisins, blue cheese, pecans and field greens tossed with Tabasco pepperjelly vinaigrette. No reservations.

Lunch daily. $$ Red Gravy — 4206 Magazine St., (504) 561-8844; redgravycafe.com — Cannoli pancakes are filled with cannoli cream and topped with chocolate.

Reservations accepted. Dinner Wed.Sat., brunch Sun. $$ Theo’s Neighborhood Pizza — 4218 Magazine St., (504) 894-8554; theospizza.com — See Jefferson section for restaurant description. $ Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco — 5015 Magazine St., (504) 267-7612; titoscevichepisco. com — Peruvian lomo saltado features beef tenderloin tips sauteed with onions, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce and pisco, and is served with fried potatoes and rice. Outdoor seating and delivery available. Lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat., brunch Sun. $$$

FINE ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES KRATOM • CBD 3137 CALHOUN ST. MON - SAT 11-7

•

504-309-4717

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT Annunciation — 1016 Annunciation St., (504) 568-0245; annunciationrestaurant.com — Fried oysters and skewered bacon are served with meuniere sauce and toasted French bread.

Reservations required. Dinner Thu.-Sun. $$$ The Mill — 1051 Annunciation St., (504) 582-9544; themillnola.com — Short ribs are braised with red wine and served with risotto. Reservations accepted.

Dinner Thu.-Sat., brunch Sat.-Sun. $$

WEST BANK Asia — Boomtown Casino & Hotel, 4132 Peters Road, Harvey, (504) 364- 8812; boomtownneworleans.com — The menu of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes includes a Lau Hot Pot with a choice of scallops, snow crab or shrimp. Reservations accepted. Dinner Fri.-Sun. $$ 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.

Dinner Wed.-Sat. Cash only. $$$

ADVERTISE WITH US Call Sandy Stein (504) 483-3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

O U T T O E AT

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

34

YOUR GO-TO FOR BOOZY BRUNCHIN IN THE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT

Local Family p Owned & Operated

Breakfast, Brunch and Lunch that’s fresh and fun!

ENJOY BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH WITH UNLIMITED MIMOSAS, MARGARITAS, AND FROSE IN OUR SPACIOUS COURTYARD

Our mission to provide fresh, uniquely classic meals in our sunny, casual environment would not be possible without the combination of a great team, tried & true technique, and a crazy streak.

We are honored to partner with local & statewide industry leaders to support our community as thoroughly as possible through locally sourced product, expertise, and our new apprenticeship program!

MIDCITY

BYOB 4408 Banks St. 504-252-0343 UR

TRY O

UPTOWN

G -WINNIN 3625 Prytania St. AWARDDY MARY 504-534-5698 BLOO !

WN UPTO

FRENCH BYO QUARTER

B

900 Dumaine 504-233-3877

THURSDAY - SUNDAY 7AM-2PM

869 MAGAZINE ST - FLAMINGONOLA.COM

Dine-in * Take out * Delivery

35

F O R C O M P L E T E M U S I C L I S T I N G S A N D M O R E E V E N T S TA K I N G P L AC E I N T H E N E W O R L E A N S A R E A , V I S I T C A L E N D A R . G A M B I T W E E K LY. C O M To learn more about adding your event to the music calendar, please email listingsedit@gambitweekly.com

Note: Due to COVID-19, events may have certain restrictions or may be postponed; we recommend checking out a venues social media sites or call before you go for the most up to dateinformation.

TUESDAY 28 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 7 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm THE BROADSIDE — Johnny Vidacovich, Brad Walker, Mike Dillon, Thomas Helton, 7 pm

WEDNESDAY 29 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Trio, 7 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Tin Men, 6 pm; Walter "Wolfman" Washington & the Roadmasters, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm GASA GASA — Gooseteeth with Slade and Calamansi, 9 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — The Tower Project: A Tribute to Tower of Power, 8 pm SANTOS — Swamp Moves with Russell Welch, 8 pm THE BROADSIDE — The New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, 7 pm TIPITINA'S — Dirty Dozen Brass Band, 8:30 pm

THURSDAY 30 BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Peter Harris Quartet, 8 pm BOURREE — Dusky Waters, 2 pm BUFFA'S — Tom McDermott and Marla Dixon, 7 & 9 pm CARNAVAL LOUNGE — Leroy Jones, 7 pm CASA BORREGA — Matt Johnson, 6:30 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Secret Six , 6 pm; The Quickening, 9 pm

TAKEOUT and DELIVERY

FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Doyle Cooper Trio, 2:30 pm; John Saavedra Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm LE BON TEMPS ROULE — Soul Rebels, 10 pm NEUTRAL GROUND COFFEE HOUSE — T.J. Eubanks, 9 pm PEACOCK ROOM, HOTEL FONTENOT — Da Lovebirds with Robin Barnes, 8 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Bucktown Allstars, 8:30 pm SIDNEY'S SALOON — DarkLounge Ministries, 6 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Dr. Lonnie Smith tribute with Joe Krown, Rickie Monie, Joe Ashlar, Donald Harrison Jr., Detroit Brooks, Joe Dyson, 8 & 10 pm THE BROADSIDE — John "Papa" Gros, 7 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Brass-AHolics, 7:30 pm TIPITINA'S — The Lord Is Waiting and the Devil Is Too 10th Anniversary, 8 pm

FRIDAY 31 ACE HOTEL NEW ORLEANS — Flow Tribe, 10:30 pm BAYOU BAR AT THE PONTCHARTRAIN HOTEL — Simon Lott's We Gon Do Dis, 8 pm BOUCHERIE — Dusky Waters, 6 pm BUFFA'S — Vintage Sex Box, 7 & 9 pm CARNAVAL LOUNGE — The Painted Hands, Midriff & Berlin Taxi, 9 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Soul Brass Band, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Sam Friend Trio, 12:30 & 2:30 pm; Lee “Plink” Floyd, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm

GASA GASA — People Museum and Moquito Eater, 10 pm HYATT REGENCY NEW ORLEANS — Big Night New Orleans New Year's Eve, 9 pm MARDI GRAS WORLD — The Revivalists NYE, 9 pm REPUBLIC NOLA — Whipped Cream, 9 pm ROCK 'N' BOWL — Cowboy Mouth, 9 pm SNUG HARBOR JAZZ BISTRO — Topsy Chapman and Solid Harmony, 8 & 10 pm THE JAZZ PLAYHOUSE — Funkin' into the New Year with Big Sam, 8 pm THE MAISON RESTAURANT AND MUSIC CLUB — Soul Rebels, 10 pm THE SPOTTED CAT MUSIC CLUB — Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band, 10 pm TIPITINA'S — Galactic New Year's Eve, 10 pm

SATURDAY 1 BUFFA'S — Some Like It Hot, 11 am & 1 pm; Walter "Wolfman" Washington, 7 & 9 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Little Freddie King, 10 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Lee Floyd and Thunderbolt Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 9 pm SOUTHPORT HALL LIVE MUSIC & PARTY HALL — Ryan Foret & Foret Tradition, 8 pm

PROVIDED PHOTO BY M E L I S S A S T E WA R T

Galactic performs at Tipitina’s on New Year’s Eve.

THE HOWLIN' WOLF — Mystikal, Juvenile & Friends, 12 am; THE TOULOUSE THEATRE — Revivalists New Year's Eve Afterparty with Pocket Protection, 12:45 am

SUNDAY 2 BUFFA'S — Some Like It Hot, 11 am & 1 pm; Shake Em Up Jazz Band (Leslie Cooper Birthday Bash), 9 pm D.B.A. NEW ORLEANS — Palmetto Bug Stompers, 4 pm; Treme Brass Band, 9 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Richard “Piano” Scott, 12:30 pm; Joe Kennedy Trio, 2:30 pm; Marla Dixon Trio, 6 pm; Fritzel's All Star Band, 8 pm; LE BON TEMPS ROULE — Doctor Lo, 8 pm THE MAX — Bobby Cure and the Poppa Stoppas, 5 pm

MONDAY 3 BUFFA'S — Doyle Cooper Trio, 7 pm FRITZEL'S EUROPEAN JAZZ CLUB — Twisty River Band, 8 pm

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

MUSIC

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

36

MUSIC

Generationals Hall

by Will Coviello

IN THEIR JUST OVER A DOZEN YEARS TOGETHER as the

...with you through hell and high-water since 1997.

Generationals, Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer have never performed at the Saturn Bar, though they’ve hung out at the scruffy Bywater bar and have seen other bands there. After playing just one unannounced local performance this year, they’re scheduled for a New Year’s Eve show at the recently reopened bar, along with Chris Lyons and Ben Jones and some DJ sets.

The duo spent much of the pandemic writing and recording, and in November, they released the four-song EP “Ileana.”

The band was just finishing a tour in the Midwest in support of its 2019 album, “Reader as Detective,” when pandemic mitigation measures shut down clubs in March 2020. But that didn’t change their immediate plans.

“The tour happened to end just as we were going back into writing and recording mode,” Joyner says.

“After lockdown happened and the dust settled, we were like, we’re going to be inside for a while, [let’s] just generate a ton of ideas and get started. Once a handful of things came together and were finished, we felt good about that batch (of songs), and we wanted to just call it an EP and put it out.”

The songs combine shimmering guitars and synthesizers, fuzzy drumbeats, electronic sounds and often wispy, echo chamber vocals.

Though its lyrics are about letting go of apprehensions, the energetic opener “I Was a Tunnel” has a fast tempo and catchy hook. “Lost Cities” has a ghostly feel, high-pitched vocals and electronic flourishes.

The electro pop tune “Tryin’ to Reach Ya” features vocals by singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe, whom the band toured with before the pandemic. It’s the first time since the band’s early years that Joyner and Widmer collaborated with another songwriter.

“We had just been on tour with Sarah,” Joyner says. “We got back in touch and said let’s take a stab at writing together. The idea took shape fast. She laid the vocals down — we weren’t even in the same state, and someone else mixed it.

But that wasn’t nearly as strange as it sounds. When you grab hold of something that everyone is digging,

PHOTO PROVIDED BY T H E G E N E R AT I O N A L S

you might as well be in the same room, because you’re focused on this one idea together. It somehow feels as personal.”

Writing remotely is not new to them, especially since Widmer moved to Madison, Wisconsin. The two met while attending Jesuit High School, and they were in a band together while at LSU, but after the pop outfit The Eames Era broke up, Widmer and Joyner returned to New Orleans and formed the Generationals. They released their debut album, “Con Law,” on Park the Van records in 2009, and they’ve put out new music at a steady pace ever since, much of it on the Polyvinyl label.

They work on new music constantly and share ideas electronically — a process that has not been hindered by the pandemic — and they get together when they have songs to work on recording.

“We very rarely get in the room with nothing and start jamming out ideas,” Joyner says. “So much of it is screw-tightening and trying to make it incrementally better. You’re always looking for it to be a big epiphany moment where it goes from nothing to being this beautiful gem. That’s really rare and not in anyone’s control.”

After playing so few shows since the end of the last tour, Joyner is looking forward to performing again. While the uncertainty of Covid continues, the band hopes to announce new touring and recording plans in the new year.

The Generationals’ New Year’s Eve show starts at 9 p.m. at Saturn Bar. Tickets are $22.50 via generationals.com.

PAGE 5

The Sugar Bowl

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY FACES OLE MISS IN THE SUGAR BOWL at 7:45

p.m. Saturday, Jan. 1, in the Caesars Superdome. But there also are events leading up to the match-up of Top 10 college football teams. There’s a Mardi Gras-style parade with floats and marching bands starting at 2:45 p.m. Friday, Dec. 31. on Elysian Fields Avenue. The route takes the parade by Jackson Square to Canal Street. Before the game, there’s the Allstate Sugar Bowl Tailgate Town in Champions Square. It features bands from both schools, entertainment, games, food vendors and more, beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Visit allstatesugarbowl.com for details.

People Museum

PEOPLE MUSEUM, THE ELECTRO-POP BAND ANCHORED BY CLAIRE GIVENS

and Jeremy Phipps, has had an eventful 2021. The band released a new EP, “I Could Only See Night,” in April, opened for Big Freedia at the Broadside, and their Tiny Desk video was highlighted on NPR Music’s social media. People Museum celebrates the New Year with Mosquito Eater at Gasa Gasa.

The show starts at 10 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 31. Tickets $20 on ticketweb.com.

Mystikal, Juvenile & Friends

A GROUP OF NEW ORLEANS HIP-HOP LEGENDS CELEBRATE THE FIRST DAY OF 2022 with a show at The Howlin’

Wolf. Along with Mystikal and Juvenile, the lineup includes Jubilee, Partners N Crime, Cheeky Blakk, DJ Ro, Ghetto Twiinz and Ms. Tee. Radio personality Downtown Lesli Brown hosts, and the show includes a tribute to 5th Ward Weebie, who passed away in early 2020. The show starts at 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 1. Tickets are $65 advance at thehowlinwolf.com and $75 at the door.

CNN New Year’s Countdown

CNN ANCHOR AND BATON ROUGE NATIVE DON LEMON WILL SPEND NEW YEAR’S EVE in New Orleans once

again, this time at The Howlin’ Wolf with fellow CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota and comedian Dulce Sloan, who is a correspondent on The Daily Show. Rebirth Brass Band and Jon Cleary & The

Absolute Monster Gentlemen will perform. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 31, and there’s an open bar until 2 a.m. Saturday.

Tickets $90 on ticketweb.com.

Bubbles Brown

THE CHICAGO DUO OF GUITARIST AND BANJO PLAYER BUBBLES BROWN and

percussionist Washboard Ben got their start busking. They focus on stripped down blues and folk styles, from the raw chords of old Hill Country blues styles to slow picking ballads.

New Orleans’ The Crybabies open at 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 2, at Gasa Gasa. Tickets $10 on ticketweb.com.

BOTTOMLESS CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH $14 EVERY SUNDAY! 37

rate New Year’s Eve b e l e C WITH Est. 1985

Andrea’s Restaurant and Catering LIVE MUSIC • DINNER & DANCING Sit Down Dinner at 7pm COMPLIMENTARY

Champagne and Party Favors at Midnight!

Big Night New Orleans

BIG FREEDIA, TANK & THE BANGAS AND BRASS-A-HOLICS headline

the New Year’s Eve celebration.

There also are DJs, burlesque, an open bar, a mock casino and more. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 31, at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Find tickets starting at $89.99 at bignightneworleans.com.

The Lord is Waiting and the Devil Is Too

JOHNNY SANSONE, ANDERS OSBORNE AND STANTON MOORE reunite to

celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of Sansone’s bluesgrounded 2011 album. Osborne produced and played on the album. The show is at 8p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 30. Tickets are $28 at tipitinas.com.

OPEN NEW Y E AR ’S DAY RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED OPEN EVERY DAY FOR LUNCH & DINNER • CHAMPAGNE SUNDAY BRUNCH

3100 19TH STREET (North Causeway at Ridgelake) • Ample Free Parking 504.834.8583 • www.andreasrestaurant.com

BRING THE FAMILY

to brunch at

New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars

THE NEW ORLEANS KLEZMER ALLSTARS DRAWS ITS MEMBERS from

various New Orleans jazz, funk and rock bands. The group closes out a roller coaster of a year with their energetic, fresh take on Yiddish folk music.

Show is at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 29. Tickets are $12-$15 at broadsidenola.com.

New Orleans Nightcrawlers

THE NEW ORLEANS NIGHTCRAWLERS WON THE 2021 Best Regional Roots

Music Album Grammy Award for “Atmosphere.” They kick off the new year with a free show on New Year’s Day. At 4 p.m. at the Broadside.

SUNDAY BRUNCH 10AM3PM

18 DIY MIMOSAS

$

3701 IBERVILLE ST • 504.488.6582 • KATIESINMIDCITY.COM MONTHURS 11AM9PM • FRI & SAT 11AM10PM

G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

A R T S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T

38 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E W O R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 2

FILM

Noir Alley

by Mike Scott LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, STEP RIGHT UP and experience a

NOW OPEN!

501 TCHOUPITOULAS Inside the new Kimpton Hotel Fontenot

Live Music Every Thursday 8pm - 10pm Da Lovebirds, featuring Robin Barnes and Pat Casey Live Music every Sunday 6pm-9pm featuring Jordan Anderson

504.324-3073 • peacockroomnola.com

Winter DINING GUIDE

RATES STARTING AT $202 RESERVE SPACE

JANUARY 14 ISSUE DATE

JANUARY 25

Contact Ad Director Sandy Stein 504.483.3150 or sstein@gambitweekly.com

one-of-a-kind entertainment.

Inside this particular tent, you’ll witness something both fantastical and disturbing all at once.

A wholly transportive experience, it dawns amid the alcohol-fueled despair of a traveling Depression-era freak show. From there, it whisks viewers along on an increasingly dark but entirely engrossing journey directly into humankind’s heart of darkness.

The film “Nightmare Alley” is director Guillermo del Toro’s pitch-black ode to the film noir classics of old.

It’s a remake of the 1947 noir drama of the same name, which was based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham. While it maintains many of the standard themes of the genre, del Toro stylishly knocks away any cobwebs or mustiness, replacing them with his singular visual style and rock-solid storytelling sensibilities.

As with his “Shape of Water,” “Crimson Peak” and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Nightmare Alley” displays del Toro’s firm grasp of, and affection for, the magic of cinema done right.

Make no mistake, “Nightmare Alley” is cinema done right, a magnificently crafted demonstration of del Toro’s ability to make everything outside the theater’s four walls melt away for 2 1/2 hours.

It starts with a dead body. We don’t know whose it is or what sent them into the hereafter. All we know is what we see: the body being dragged to a hole cut in the floorboards of a ramshackle farmhouse

by Bradley Cooper’s main character — a flinty-eyed schemer named Stan Carlisle — who then sets the whole thing afire.

From there, Stan joins a traveling carnival show, where he earns his meager keep by helping to water horses, hoist tents and the like.

Between shows, he makes it a point to pick up the finer points of the sucker-born-every-minute business from the walking tragedies that tend to be employed by such outfits.

In this case, they’re portrayed by a Hollywood dream cast: Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman and David Strathairn.

Mara’s “Electric Girl” strikes Cooper’s Stan as particularly interesting.

More importantly for storytelling purposes, the knowledge held by Strathairn’s booze-addled mentalist,

K E R R Y H AY E S P H O T O P R O V I D E D BY 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS

named Pete, strikes Stan as particularly useful.

After gleaning Pete’s secrets, Stan parlays his parlor tricks into something bigger — and more cynical — than Pete had ever dreamed.

Then Cate Blanchett enters the picture, upping the glamor factor and making it clear to anyone paying attention that she was born to play the sultry “spider woman” archetype populating so many films noir. Blanchett brings an understated menace to del Toro’s film that almost threatens to overshadow Cooper’s lead character.

If anyone working in Hollywood today looks more natural with the shadow of venetian blinds across their face, I’m not aware of them.

Credit there is due to the men and women who created those shadows, as well as the elegant costumes Blanchett wears — to say nothing of those who designed the beautiful, often-gilded art deco sets, all of which enrich del Toro’s vision.

If there’s a criticism to be leveled, it’s that “Nightmare Alley” doesn’t generate much sympathy for its characters. There are a few who are to be pitied, but for the most part, they’re unlikeable.

That includes Cooper’s Stan, who — in something of a departure from film noir norms — isn’t an everyman victimized by fate or by a single poor decision. He is a charlatan, driven by greed, and so few hearts will break when bad things happen to him.

It’s a movie for those in the mood for a little Christmas counterprogramming. Like those film noir gems forged in the hardscrabble run-up to World War II, this is by no means a feel-good movie. It is, however, one heck of a well-made bit of entertainment. ”Nightmare Alley” runs at The Broad Theater, The Prytania Theatres at Canal Place and AMC Palace theaters. Mike Scott can be reached at moviegoermike@gmail.com.

CARROLLTON SPECIAL

2617 S. ROBERTSON STREET

7937 OLIVE STREET

CLASSIC, COZY N.O. P W STYLE SHOTGUN NE HOME! Central Air! Wonderful Front Porch w/ Small Gated Front Yard. 2 BD/1 FULL BATH. Great Backyard Space. Wood Floors in Front 2 Rooms. Refrigerator, Gas Range, W&D ALL Included! $189,000 E

C RI

WELL MAINTAINED 17 YR OLD HOME 3BR/2BA. Open Floor Plan w/ Hardwood Floors in Living area. Kitchen has convenient Island Dining. Plenty of Space for Table in Breakfast area. New Luxury Vinyl Tiles in ALL BRs. En-Suite Primary Bathroom.

Lrg, cov’d bkyd area. Lovely Front Porch. Parking for 2 cars - Carport for 1. Centrally located. $225,000

TOP PRODUCER

(504) 895-4663

GARDEN DISTRICT OFFICE 2016, 2017 & 2020

ABR, CRS, GRI, SFR, SRS

! " " "

!

( ' # "

%&& '%'& ! $

PREMIER CROSSWORD PUZZLE WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS

By Frank A. Longo

ACROSS 1 Golf tourney 7 “Nonsense!”

12 Wordplay bits 16 Jump 19 Tiny country in Europe 20 Similar 21 Woodwind instrument 22 Spring mo.

23 Prima ballerina who received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989 26 Winning sign 27 Sinuous 28 2003 Tony winner for “Movin’ Out” choreography 30 Vamp player in “Singin’ in the Rain”

36 Choose 37 Writer Jaffe 38 Vast period 39 Doggy doc 40 Part of TNT 42 “The Wedding Singer” director Frank 44 Magical land of C.S. Lewis 46 Noted performer in a Greek tunic and bare feet 50 “Honest” prez 51 Southwestern grassy plain 54 Feature of “Christmas” 55 Raises 56 San — Zoo 58 Soda holders 60 Inflict on

61 “Su-u-ure” 62 1947 Tony winner for “Brigadoon” choreography 66 Suture 67 Throng 68 Zodiac cat 69 “Water” star Michael 71 Greek vowel 73 Imitated 76 Camera type, in brief 79 “Top Hat” co-star 85 Fishing aids 86 Take to heart 88 “Horrors!”

89 Rival of U.S. Grant 90 Rink surface 91 Laundromat dryers, e.g.

94 Radio booth notification

DOWN 1 Thurman of Hollywood 2 Fa follower 3 Undivided 4 — Romana (peace) 5 Digital money 6 Unrelated to maritime armed forces 7 Sit down, slangily 8 Makes laugh loudly 9 Shrouded 10 Nickname lead-in 11 Proceeded 12 Coral colony member 13 Curved fastening bar 14 — Scotia 15 Marine fish of the western Atlantic 16 West Indies’ largest city 17 Outerwear for some high-culture shows 18 Get ready 24 Have the gall 25 — Jima 29 Tooting thing 30 Trudeau’s country 31 “About this large,” informally

32 Original Mouseketeer — Tracey 33 Channel for Wolf Blitzer 34 Parts of city grids: Abbr.

35 Noted times 41 Tyrant Amin 42 Structure for storing music 43 Some ctrs. of learning 45 “You win” 46 Charged, as particles 47 From long ago 48 Autos from long ago 49 Kitty chip 52 Maven 53 “Rambo” war zone, in brief 57 Neuters, as a stallion 59 Smelting junk 61 GIF or JPEG 63 Throw a few back in a bar 64 52, to Livia 65 Kin of -ess 70 Goad 72 Baseball executive Joe 73 Jungian inner personality 74 Sticky, nutty treats 75 Endlessness 77 Onetime teen idol Garrett 78 Nevada city 80 Suffix with Caesar 81 Nutrition amt.

82 Texas city 83 1990s “caught on tape” series 84 Belgrade site 87 Dress in 91 In a pillared structure 92 Educ. org.

93 Onetime rival of Atari 95 Diagrams for brainstorming 98 Infatuated 99 Deep longing 101 — Kan (classic dog food brand) 104 Typewriter formatting aid 105 Apple tablet 108 Kind of navel 109 T-bone, e.g.

110 Brooks of film 112 A lack of musical skill 113 Actress Vivian 114 Jump 115 French river 116 Electric jolts 120 “OB-viously!”

121 NYSE event 122 — laude 123 Enabler of web access 124 Once named 125 Mutt’s noise

ANSWERS FOR LAST ISSUE’S PUZZLE: P 2

PUZZLES

96 Golf standard 97 Royal Ballet legend awarded the 1977 Shakespeare Prize 100 City due west of Chicago 102 Historical records 103 Birthday topic 104 Ascot, e.g.

106 — Spumante 107 Sauce brand 108 Doctrine 111 Prima ballerina famous for her “Dying Swan” 114 Courtesan whom King Ludwig I made Countess of Landsfeld 117 Bush replacer 118 Yale alum 119 “The Twelve Days of Christmas” gift (and what this puzzle features) 126 Mtn. statistic 127 Yemen locale 128 Cocooned stages 129 Many a web surfer 130 Mind-related, in combinations 131 Smell bad 132 Deficient 133 “— Fi” (Marines’ motto)

39 G A M B I T > B E S T O F N E WO R L E A N S . C O M > D E C E M B E R 2 8 - J A N UA R Y 3 > 2 0 2 1

QUAINT COTTAGE