Louisiana Life July-August 2014

contents

16 in every issue 4 From the Editor

Roar of the Crowd on Bayou Lafourche

6 Rural Life

City Girl, Country Girl

Appeasing a city slicker on the farm

8

louisiana Labeled

Spices

From the ground up and into the pot

10 Biz Bits

20

Business News

Yes, We Have Bananas

12 great louisiana Chef

Dave Evans

Luna Bar & Grill, Lake Charles

14 roadside dining

Cajun Claws and Hawk’s

16 Kitchen Gourmet

Condiments and Companions

Summer sauces

24 Art

The Mysterious Man of Bayou Petit Cailou

The reclusive Kenny Hill left an artistic legacy in Terrebone Parish.

28 Traveler

High Cotton at Frogmore

Exploring a storied plantation

77 Around Louisiana

Events and highlights

84 lifetimes

Statewide Calendar

July/August events, festivals and more.

86 quirky places

Goliath Glipper

The world’s largest Ronald Reagan statue watches over Tammany Trace.

88 A Louisiana Life

Tom Harmeyer

20 Home

40

Old Growth; New Luxury

Randall and Barbara King’s Charpentier District Home is a Lake Charles treasure.

features

SPECIAL SECTION

32 Tracking the tigers

49 gulf coast wine + dine

A guide to LSU road game destinations

By Cheré Coen, John N. Felsher and Tim McNally

By Adam Norris

37 Top hospitals

Our annual list

40 seafood greats

Top seafood chefs share recipes

By Christopher Jennings

on the cover Chef Cory Bahr of restaurants Nonna and Cotton in Monroe p. 40 Photographed by Romero & Romero

2 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

May/June 2014 Volume 34 Number 6 Editor Errol Laborde MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Ravits Art Director Sarah George Associate Editor Melanie Warner Spencer web editor Lauren LaBorde Contributing Editor Paul F. Stahls Jr. Food Editor Stanley Dry Home Editor Bonnie Warren INTERNS Hannah McIntyre, Lexi Wangler sales manager Kathryn Beck Sanderson kathryn@louisianalife.com

traffic manager Erin Duhe Production/Web Manager Staci McCarty Production designerS Antoine Passelac, Ali Sullivan Chief Executive Officer Todd Matherne President Alan Campell Executive Vice President/ Editor-in-chief Errol Laborde VIce President of sales Colleen Monaghan Director of marketing & Events Kristi Ferrante administrative assistant Denise Dean distribution manager Christian Coombs subscriptions/receptionist Sara Kelemencky (504) 828-1380

Gold Award Winner for Companion Website 2012 Tiffani Reding Amedeo, Silver Award Winner for Overall Art Direction 2011

Renaissance Publishing 110 Veterans Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005 (504) 828-1380 Louisiana Life (ISSN 1042-9980) is published bimonthly by Renaissance Publishing, LLC, 110 Veterans Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005; (504) 828-1380. Subscription rate: One year $10; Mexico and Canada $48. Periodicals postage paid at Metairie, LA, and additional mailing entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Louisiana Life, 110 Veterans Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005. Copyright 2014 Louisiana Life. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. The trademark Louisiana Life is registered. Louisiana Life is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos and artwork, even if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope.

The opinions expressed in Louisiana Life are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine or owner.

LouisianaLife.com | 3

from the editor

Roar of the Crowd on Bayou Lafourche

By Errol Laborde

4 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Curtain time is not always an easy moment when you operate a theater on the edge of a bayou. At the Bayou Playhouse in Lockport, about a half hour away from Thibodaux, guests wait for the theater doors to open on a deck that overlooks Bayou Lafourche. A few times, Perry Martin, the theater’s founder, recalled show time had to be delayed. The guests were too engrossed with a group of alligators hanging out nearby. Only after the gators disappeared into the night could the show begin.

Upon entering the theater guests might notice that the numbers on the chair are not in sequence. That’s because the seats came from the pre-renovated Saenger Theater in New Orleans. Martin recalled seeing a work crew piling the discarded chairs outside the theater.

When Martin asked how much the seats sold for, a worker told him to get his truck and take what he needed. Martin needed a small theater’s full.

Quirky to the max, it would be easy to dismiss the Bayou Playhouse as a rural spoof of real theater, except for the fact that it is not only very real, but a very good theater. A recent production of Driving Miss Daisy won great reviews. The three performers were all well-known in the New Orleans area theater community. Janet Shea

(Miss Daisy) has been a longtime fixture on local stages. Pretending to be driving Miss Daisy was Lance Nichols, performing the role first popularized

by Morgan Freeman. Nichols was one of the fixtures in the HBO series, Treme, in the role of dentist Larry Williams.

Spud McConnell is an area radio personality who has drawn audiences with his one-man show of Huey Long.

The cast was so high-faulting that Perry Martin faced another obstacle, beyond alligators. The performance the following Saturday night was going to have to be rescheduled because both Nichols and McConnell had movie calls.

Getting quality actors takes connections and commitment, and Martin, a longtime veteran of theater who openly jokes about his sight problem, has had great vision.

For any town, having a community theater is an amenity that makes your town a little better, a little more civil, especially if the town provides support.

To date the Bayou Lafourche community has helped disprove what many thought would never work.

Alligators will still delay the openings from time to time, but not always. On another night the theater crowd was captivated by a different spectacle. No matter how good your theater is going to be, it is hard to compete with eagles. n

on the web

LouisianaLife.com Louisiana Life Photo entry Are you an amateur, professional or “just for fun” photographer with some Louisiana photos to share?

We want to hear from you! We want to see some great Louisiana photos, whether they’re of people, landscapes, food, culture or even animals. Don’t miss your chance to have your photo featured in the pages of our magazine for all of our readers to see.

Send in your photos by going to myneworleans.com/ Louisiana-Life/Louisiana-Life-Photo-Contest. Please note that the URL is case-sensitive.

Our readers’ photographs

may Lizard: Bernadette Murphy of Jennings captured this lizard displaying his dewlap in Andrus Cove.

june Three Pelicans Over Intracoastal Waterway: shot by Timothy Fontenot of Lake Charles LouisianaLife.com | 5

rural life

City Girl, Country Girl Appeasing a city slicker on the farm

By Melissa Bienvenu

For 22 years now, I have been a farmer’s wife.

We grow horse hay on our 225-acre farm in rural Louisiana. I can drive a tractor. I can milk a cow.

I have delivered newborn calves and shoveled manure and sold watermelons in my front yard by the highway.

6 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

As anyone can plainly see, I’m a country girl. Since I get paid to write a magazine column about our life on the farm, you might even say I’m a professional country girl.

Unfortunately, there is at least one person who isn’t buying any of that country girl business. I have known

this smirking skeptic my whole life. When I try to impress her with my country girl credentials, she laughs in my face. No matter how many decades of farm life I have under my belt, she never lets me forget that I grew up in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, where my father wouldn’t even let me operate the lawnmower for fear I might hurt myself.

She is always bringing up my un-country past as a magazine journalist in Atlanta. This merciless critic never tires of telling me that I am a big, fat phony among country girls.

City Girl, as I call her, lives inside my head. City Girl – or “CG” for short – is also the cause of many of my failings as a country girl.

Take the canning thing.

If I were a real country girl, CG likes to say, I would have a pantry stocked with preserved fruits and vegetables. No doubt, I should hang my head in shame that, despite all the vegetable gardens we’ve made (heck, at one time we were in the homegrown produce business), I don’t know even know how to can. A friend tried to teach me once, but CG kept complaining that this was ‘way too much work for a few cans of green beans.

Especially when they are two-for-$1 at the grocery store. CG is lazy.

CG makes fun of me for claiming to be a hotshot farmwife when the only livestock we own are dogs and cats. Apparently, she forgets the 200 head of dairy cattle that roamed this land just a few short years ago. Those 200 cows had to be milked twice every blooming day of this world, fed, vaccinated, doctored and occasionally rounded-up on the highway in the middle of the night. Deep down, CG knows that, like homegrown green beans, cows are an awful lot of trouble for something that isn’t a necessity.

But that doesn’t stop her from throwing horses in my face, too. CG loves to taunt me with the fact that, when I was a little girl who read a lot of horse books, I vowed I would own a horse farm when I grew up. Yet look at me now, CG says. I’m a grown-up with a farm – a horse hay farm, of all things – and no horse. Again, I blame CG. She has been on the horse hay scene long enough to know that horses are like cows, only a lot more trouble. Plus, now that she is older and wiser, CG knows something they don’t tell you in all those romantic children’s horse books: jane sanders illustration

Horses can kill you.

Same with the chickens we don’t have. As CG is so fond of saying, there is no excuse for that. A real country girl would certainly be producing her own fresh eggs right there in the yard. Her children would be learning whatever valuable life lessons you learn from chickens. And just as a bonus, she would be in style, thanks to the backyard chicken fad made popular by the Martha Stewart crowd. Yet here again, every time I consider the possibility of getting some yard birds, CG can only think of the mess, the hassle, the smell and the inconvenience.

Plus, back during the bird flu epidemic, CG found out that chickens can kill you, too.

That was pretty much the end of cutesy chicken idea.

CG won’t even let me enjoy dressing like a country girl.

For the last couple of years, our farm has helped sponsor a local rodeo. I was looking forward to sponsoring our first rodeo, partly because it was the perfect opportunity to wear my new cowboy boots. Miss Smartypants had to go and ruin it by pointing out that real cowgirls don’t buy boots on the clearance rack at Macy’s.

CG makes it tougher on my country kids, too. She prevents them from doing certain things their friends

get to do, like owning fourwheelers, because she thinks it is dangerous. She gripes at them for using popular yet improper terminology such as “he don’t” or “hindcatcher” to refer to the baseball player who squats behind homeplate.

And CG is almost certainly the reason I am the worst 4-H mom in recorded history.

Last spring, my 10-year-old came home from school with the news that he had exactly one day to complete the 4-H book he was supposed to have been working on all year. Not only was I unaware of this neglected project, I was only vaguely aware that he was 4-H member.

Oh, all right, as long as I’m being honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what 4-H was. I kind of thought it had something to do with farm animals. Or maybe not. Either way, my son was one of two or three kids his class who didn’t get to go to 4-H Day, all because his mother, the professional country girl, completely failed to fulfill her duties. I could lose my country girl card over that, and I know CG will never let me live it down.

It’s not always easy to be a country girl with a city girl living inside her. Still, I know things could be much, much worse.

I could be canning. n LouisianaLife.com | 7

louisiana labeled

Spices From the ground up and into the pot

By Jenny Peterson

Spices are a foundation of Louisiana cuisine and the telltale sign in every bite of Cajun cooking.

It’s what elevated the rustic Cajun cuisine of Acadian settlers, who would sprinkle spicy mixtures on rice and beans. Today, Cajun chefs use these same “magic” ingredients to create their distinctive, flavorful dishes.

Cajun seasonings are a blend of salt with a variety of spices, with cayenne pepper and garlic being the most common.

The unmistakable spicy heat comes from the cayenne pepper, but flavor can be tweaked with various amounts of bell pepper, paprika, celery, green onions, parsley and more. Chefs use Cajun spices as others use salt and pepper.

The complex flavors of Cajun spices work perfectly with

8 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

simple, prevalent ingredients like rice and chicken but it’s also mixed with fish fry batter for an extra kick. From do-ityourself Cajun seasoning mixes to pre-blended exotic mixes found at local grocery stores, it’s easy for cooks to get Cajun dishes seasoned to their special tastes.

Louisiana-style spice blends have caught on throughout the country, gracing tables nationwide. In 2010, spices exported from Louisiana helped account for a $12 million industry, according to the World Trade Center New Orleans data.

The spice market is poised to increase even more as it has been steadily expanding to an international market with a growing number of more home cooking and more adventurous palates. Authentic Cajun spices continue to

be manufactured right in Louisiana.

One of the more recognizable brands in Cajun seasoning is the Tony Chachere’s brand, which still makes its Creole Seasoning at its facility in Opelousas. Tony Chachere’s Creole Foods began in 1972 as a retirement hobby for chef Tony Chachere. He soon began to manufacture his blend, and a sketch of his likeness is on the label, standing next to a big pot of Cajun cooking. Tony Chachere’s Creole Foods is still owned by his family and operates out of its Lombard Street site – a 40,000 square foot facility with over 75 full-time employees.

Tony’s grandson, Don, spearheads the growing business, which has expanded primarily through supermarket and mass-merchandise chains throughout the Southeast.

Zatarain’s, another brand synonymous with Cajun seasoning all over the country, was started Gretna, a New Orleans suburb, by Emile A. Zatarain Sr. and has been an important part of New Orleans–style cooking for more than 100 years. More than 200 products are now offered, and although McCormick & Company, the world’s largest

spice maker, bought the business in 2003, Zatarain’s brands are still manufactured in Gretna.

Louisiana Chef Paul Prudhomme has also made a name for himself – literally – in the Cajun seasoning market by manufacturing spice blends in his own name. The blends at his flagship restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, were a hit, and he would make up little batches to give away.

He decided to manufacture and market his special recipes in 1983, and a 125,000-squarefoot plant outside of New Orleans still blends Chef Paul’s dry spices and Magic Seasoning Blends to all 50 states and 37 countries around the world.

More Cajun spice blends have come on the scene, including “Slap Ya Mamma” seasoning, manufactured by Walker & Sons. Started in 2001, the blend is made in Ville Platte, in the heart of Cajun country. The endless variations of Louisiana Cajun spices speak to their necessity in the kitchen, for no Louisiana cook wants to create a humdrum meal. With just a few dashes, Cajun spices are a true “wake up” for traditional and tasty dishes. n

OTHER LOUISIANA COMPANIES • The Red Stick Spice company is based in Baton Rouge.

• Louisiana Fish Fry Products of Baton Rouge was founded as an offshoot of the company’s retail seafood operation, Tony’s Seafood.

• Southern Seasonings / Ragin’ Cajun Foods is located in Central South Louisiana.

• Mr. Pete’s Cajun Spices is a family-owned operation delivering authentic Cajun flavors in its seasoning blends in Houma.

• Cajun Land Brand,a retail product of Deep South Blenders Inc., is a spice company located in New Orleans.

•Deep South Blenders Inc. has been blending spices for almost 30 years.

• Barataria Spice Company has been owned and operated by Mike Hymel since 1993.

• Rex Fine Foods of New Orleans ground its first batch of fresh spices back in 1888 and claims to have been the first to offer a fully seasoned fish fry.

biz bits million logistics facility soon to take shape at the France Road Wharf. About 160 new jobs are expected to result as the company enlarges on its local plastics packaging and export business.

Yes, We Have Bananas New business ripples through the state

By Kathy Finn

Louisiana reached its highest ranking yet in a nationwide assessment of the best states for business.

Chief Executive magazine recently placed the state at No. 9 in its annual ranking.

Meanwhile, a survey in quarterly corporate site selection magazine Area Development cited the state for an impressive record of business growth. The magazine ranked Louisiana second in the country for incentive programs, third for overall business environment and fourth for “cooperative state government.”

Here’s a look at some of the projects and announcements that recently have helped buoy the state’s stature in national and international economic development circles.

Chiquita is Back in Town NEW ORLEANS – The Port of New Orleans experienced something of a dream come 10 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

true in May when a long-lost client confirmed it would return “home.” Chiquita Brands International Inc. announced the company will relocate its shipping operations from Gulfport, Mississippi, to New Orleans, where it will sharply increase the volume of container cargo handled by the port.

Chiquita is returning to New Orleans after a nearly 40-year absence, having moved to Gulfport in the 1970s. Before that, the company’s banana boats had docked at local wharves for more than seven decades. Up to 350 new jobs are expected at the port as Chiquita ships some 70,000 containers to and from New Orleans, representing about a 15 percent increase in container volume through the port. The new business also is expected to strengthen Louisiana’s trade ties with Central America.

The port also landed an expansion project in the form of TCI Plastics’s new $36

Working on the railroads SPRINGHILL – A Texas-based maker of composite railroad products will bring 300 new jobs as it relocates its corporate headquarters to Webster Parish. IntegriCo Composites Inc. has enjoyed fast growth as a manufacturer that recycles plastics to create long-lasting railroad ties, rail crossings and industrial mats. The company will renovate the former Trane Commercial Systems building and an adjacent structure at the North Webster Industrial Park.

Springhill Mayor Carroll Breaux called the project “a game-changer” for the community.

Financial services pump up north Louisiana RUSTON – Two years into its northern Louisiana experience, a mortgage services company has decided to expand its footprint and add jobs. Mortgage Contracting Services currently employs 90 people at the 10,000-square-foot service center it opened in Ruston in July 2012. Now, having doubled the center’s size, the company will hire an additional 90 workers, whose duties will include property inspections and maintenance services for mortgage servicing firms. Company CEO Caroline Reaves, a graduate of Ruston-based Louisiana Tech University, said both Louisiana Tech and

Grambling State University have provided high-quality graduates to fill the local jobs.

Keeping data safe BATON ROUGE – Data center and cloud-based services firm Venyu recently opened a new $14 million, 23,000-squarefoot center aimed at boosting the data storage capacity and security the company offer its Baton Rouge-area clients. CEO Scott Thompson said the center features a 24-hour surveillance system to heighten security, and redundant heating, cooling and fire-protection systems designed to ensure exceptional data preservation services. The expansion strengthens a growing core of technology-centered businesses choosing to set up shop in the capital city.

Building a tech-savvy work force LAFAYETTE – Information technology company CGI Group Inc. will become the anchor tenant for a 140-acre research park at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the company announced recently.

The center is expected to offer 400 jobs in the development of business process and IT solutions for a range of clients. Montreal-based CGI operates throughout the world and counts major government agencies and corporations among its clients. The collaboration in Lafayette will enable the university to build on its computer science educational assets and increase its ability to meet the needs of technology companies throughout the region, a university official said. n

great louisiana chef

Tuna Cassidy 8-ounce yellowfin tuna filet, seasoned to taste with lemon pepper, herbs and Creole seasoning 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon seafood stock 1 cup water 4 to 5 large Gulf shrimp 4 to 5 quartered artichoke hearts (jarred) 1/4 of small tomato, chopped 3 jumbo button mushrooms, sliced ¼ to 1/2 half teaspoon Creole seasoning ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic Warm a shallow skillet to medium-high.

Season fish then sauté to medium rare (two to three minutes on each side). In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cook over medium-high heat until shrimp are fully cooked and mushrooms are tender.

Plate fish. Pour sauce over. Garnish plate with parsley and paprika.

Note: Pairs perfectly with Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc wines.

Chef Dave Evans Luna Bar & Grill, Lake Charles

Chef Dave Evans of Lake Charles’ popular Luna Bar & Grill thrives on creativity. At his restaurant, which he has owned and operated since 2004, he fuses flavors and cooking styles from all over the country. Born in Lake Charles, the father of three is also is also a talented musician who also operates Luna Live, a music joint. He says, “I cook adventurously. There are no boundaries with what I like to do in the kitchen.” He isn’t afraid of mishaps on the stove, either: “That is where and when the magic happens! I learn from it.”

12 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Luna Bar & Grill 719 Ryan St., Lake Charles (337) 494-5862. romero & romero photography

LouisianaLife.com | 13

roadside dining

Cajun Claws in Abbeville Bad News: Crawfish Season is over. Good News: Next Season is Only Six Months Away

By Bernard Frugé III

There comes a time in the yearly cycle of every Louisianian that they have to face the cruel truth that crawfish season is over. By July the shells on what crawfish are left have turned hard – nature’s way of saying it is time to move on. Usually the peak of the season is from February to June, so it is not too late to start planning ahead. Here are two places to put on your list (and if you don’t have a list, make one) for next season.

After an unseasonably cool spring that has pushed crawfish season a little later, this article contains tips on how to eat what are arguably the bestboiled crawfish on the planet at Cajun Claws in Abbeville.

Abbeville is a town of about 12,000, located 20 miles south of Lafayette. The timing here is crucial. If you miss the first seating, you will have to wait an extra 90 minutes. Cajun Claws runs out of crawfish 14 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

virtually every day, thus it is advised to make it to the first seating to ensure that you get your tray of mudbugs.

Wait in the parking lot until 4 p.m., when the doors open and you can place your name on the list for the first seating. Bring a book or a tablet or a smartphone with enough battery power to see you through this unfortunate yet necessary step.

When the doors open and you place your name on the list, you can sit at the tiny bar attached to the dining area and have a beer. You can also try the secondarily famous butterflied fried shrimp while you wait. The shrimp recipe, like the crawfish seasoning recipe, is a closely held and mysterious family recipe of the owners, the Choate family. The shrimp are huge and fresh, the batter is perfectly golden and crispy in a tempura-y way. Be forewarned, the shrimp are

not primarily why you are here. Save room for crawfish!

Seating starts at 5 p.m., and if you followed the above steps correctly, you will be seated by 5:15 or so.

Order five pounds of crawfish at your desired level of spiciness. I find that “medium” is not spicy enough and that “spicy” is the correct heat level and is not overly spicy. You can, of course, order three pounds of crawfish, but I cannot in good conscience recommend eating less than five. Make your dipping sauce. If you are a crawfish newbie, it typically consists mainly of mayonnaise and ketchup, with Worcestershire, horseradish, and various hot sauces added to taste.

Enjoy the fruits of this complicated, lengthy process and eat the crawfish. The owner, Donni Choate, is a crawfish broker and handselects all the crawfish served at Cajun Claws. The ones deemed insufficient are sold

to restaurants and distributors. The crawfish are then purged for at least a day in fresh water to cleanse them.

They are then seasoned and cooked according to another mysterious family recipe.

Cajun Claws serves up huge, thoroughly purged crawfish, but it is this cryptic step in the preparation process that truly makes them special. It is fairly common to encounter boiled crawfish that are caked with Cajun seasoning blends, most of which winds up on your hands/clothes and discarded shells. Cajun Claws serves crawfish that is completely infused with their signature blend. The delicate shellfish meat is enhanced without being overpowered. Every tray of crawfish is true wizardry.

Brag to your friends at work the following Monday, exhibiting pictures on your phone of monstrous, steaming crawfish, recounting your culinary adventure with a wizened twinkle in your eye.

1928 Charity St., Abbeville n

Hawk’s in Rayne Hawk’s is, as indicated by its slogan, “located in the middle of nowhere!” In this instance, the middle of nowhere is a small road off of a country highway roughly between Eunice and Rayne. Hawk’s also uses the purging process by which the crawfish are flushed with fresh water for a day or so. The proprietors similarly pride themselves on their selectivity about the crawfish they choose to serve. In peak season they can be gigantic.

There is some debate in southwest Louisiana as to the effectiveness of purging. I find that it really makes a difference, and after eating enough purged crawfish I found it difficult to revert to typical crawdads.

The primary purpose is often cited as the removal grit from the shell and digesta from the intestinal tract, resulting in a cleaner product. I find that it also augments the taste in some way, perhaps allowing the seasoning to penetrate more deeply into the meat. At any rate, Hawk’s boiled crawfish are some of the best-tasting I have ever encountered.

Hawk’s is worth the temporal investment of driving out to the country.

And although it’s a bit of a hike, it has expanded over the years, and there is rarely a wait if you get there reasonably early.

Information, 415 Hawks Road, Rayne

LouisianaLife.com | 15

kitchen gourmet

Condiments & Companions Summer sauces

By Stanley Dry

July and August are two months when no one wants to spend much time standing over a hot stove. More often than not, we’ll use the outdoor grill or buy a rotisserie chicken at the store, rounding out our meal with salad, French bread and plenty of something cold to drink. Appetites flag in the heat and humidity, as does our desire to try a bunch of new recipes.

However much we love them, grilled foods and roast chicken can get monotonous. Moreover, those of us who enjoy cooking still want to prepare something in the kitchen. We can deal with both situations by making a few condiments and sauces that will enliven our summer fare and satisfy our culinary desire. Relishes, chutneys, salsas and cold sauces are fairly quick and easy to prepare, many of them don’t actually involve any cooking (a blessing in the summer) and they can accompany a variety of foods.

This month’s recipes are all good companions for grilled or roasted foods. Any one of them will enliven a simple weekday dinner or several can accompany a more elaborate menu when entertaining. But they will also inspire impromptu improvisational meals and snacks.

For instance, several of these recipes work well as spreads for sandwiches or canapés. A personal favorite is an open-faced sandwich of rye bread slathered with sauce verte, topped with sliced hard-boiled egg and anchovies. Another delicious combination is a sandwich of whole grain bread, guacamole, smoked turkey, tomato and alfalfa sprouts. Of course, guacamole is such a wonderful creation that it will enhance almost anything it is served with.

One of the recipes is for a spicy cilantro and coconut chutney. In his invaluable reference work, Herbs, Spices and Flavourings, the late Tom Stobart waxed eloquently over a breakfast of chapattis (Indian whole wheat flatbreads) spread with cilantro chutney and honey syrup. The chutney and honey are also delicious with whole-wheat tortillas, which are probably easier to find. Recently, I made a breakfast of warm white corn tortillas wrapped around cream cheese enlivened with cilantro and coconut chutney, accompanied by a glass of mango nectar and strong black coffee. It was a delicious meal that I will repeat in the future.

The following recipes include serving suggestions, but they only scratch the surface of possibility. The real fun comes in finding other uses for these condiments and sauces. In the process, you may find that you want to alter the recipes themselves, and that is where the real joy of cooking resides. Personalizing a recipe and making it your own is, ultimately, what all cooks want to do. n eugenia uhl photograph

LouisianaLife.com | 17

recipes Avocado and Mango Salsa This simple preparation can accompany grilled meat, poultry or fish.

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and diced 1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced ¼ cup red onion, diced 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon lime juice Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper Cayenne pepper In a mixing bowl, place avocado, mango, onion, olive oil and lime juice, and toss to combine. Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne. Serve chilled. Makes about 2 cups.

Cilantro And Coconut Chutney This spicy chutney will enliven all manner of grilled meats, poultry and vegetables. It can also be served as a dip. ½ cup shredded, unsweetened coconut ½ cup boiling water 1 teaspoon minced serrano pepper, or to taste ½ cup chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 teaspoon honey Coarse salt In a small bowl, pour boiling water over coconut and set aside to soften, about 30 minutes.

In a blender, combine all ingredients except salt and blend. Season to taste with salt and additional serrano pepper, if desired. Makes about 1 cup.

18 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Guacamole Guacamole can be served with almost anything – as a dip, relish, taco stuffing or sandwich spread. ¼ cup diced onion ½ cup peeled, seeded and diced tomato 2 teaspoons chopped cilantro 2 medium avocados Juice of 1 lime Coarse salt to taste Finely minced jalapeño pepper to taste Combine onion, tomato and cilantro in medium bowl. Halve avocados, remove seeds and, using a spoon, scoop out the avocado and add to bowl. Mash avocado with fork and combine ingredients. Season with salt and jalapeño. Makes about 2 cups.

Toasted Pecan Sauce This is particularly good drizzled over grilled or steamed vegetables. The sauce will thicken when refrigerated; if desired, thin with additional broth.

1 cup chopped pecans ½ cup panko bread crumbs ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice Coarse salt Freshly ground black pepper Heat pecans in skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Let pecans cool before proceeding.

Combine toasted pecans and panko bread crumbs in food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Add olive oil, broth and lemon juice, and process until blended.

The sauce should still have some texture from the pecans. Season to taste with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. Makes about 1½ cups.

Peppered Pineapple And Basil Relish This bracing condiment combines a range of taste sensations – acidic sweetness from the pineapple, smokiness from both the paprika and chipotle pepper, heat from the pepper and a soothing coolness from the basil. It goes particularly well with grilled pork or sausage.

2 cups fresh pineapple, cubed ½ teaspoon smoked paprika ½ teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper 12-16 basil leaves Combine pineapple, smoked paprika and chipotle chile pepper and toss to coat. Tear basil leaves over pineapple.

Serve chilled. Makes about 2 cups.

Sauce Verte This assertive preparation goes well with grilled meats and poultry. The anchovies provide enough salt for the recipe.

1 cup loosely-packed Italian parsley leaves 1 cup loosely-packed watercress leaves ½ cup chopped green onion tops or chives 1 clove garlic, minced 4 anchovy filets, drained 2 teaspoons capers, drained and rinsed 2 hard-boiled egg yolks, mashed 1 ⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice Freshly ground black pepper Combine all ingredients except pepper in food processor and process to a coarse puree.

Season to taste with black pepper. Makes about 1 cup.

LouisianaLife.com | 19

home

Old Growth; New Luxury Randall and Barbara King’s “Charpentier District” home is a Lake Charles treasure.

By Bonnie Warren / Photographed by Craig Macaluso

The stately home of Barbara and Randall “Randy” King is located in the heart of the historic Charpentier District of Lake Charles.

“Charpentier is the French word for carpenter, and it honors the individual builders or carpenters who constructed many of the early homes in the area,” explains Barbara, a preservationist who has lived in one of the finest homes in the area since 1998. “We both fell in love with authenticity of the home.”

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Known as the Arthur L. Gayle house, it was built in 1909 and features four tall Doric fluted columns with a balcony above the six-part entrance door. The home is constructed of long-leaf yellow pine and cypress.

Randy, a mechanical engineer who works for a local petrochemical company in Lake Charles, says, “The wood is old-growth timber and very hard. It is local lumber cut by the ‘Michigan Men’ who brought their trade to

Louisiana after the lumber industry slowed down in the state of Michigan.”

Both Barbara and Randy were impressed when they first saw the home that it remained intact. “The home had not received extensive modifications over the years and generally looks like the early 20th century photos we have of it,” Randy says.

Step inside the Kings’ home, and you will marvel at the distinct architectural features that include grand openings

between the main first-floor formal rooms topped with multi-panes of glass and classic molding. Even the sun room repeats a matching top row of windows as does the French doors between the room and the living room.

While the couple has carefully preserved the important architectural features of the house, one of the noteworthy updates has been the all new kitchen built by Randy. He spent four years getting everything just

Facing page: The cheerful breakfast room opens onto the brick patio through French doors. A large swimming pool is featured in the rear garden. Top: Located in the historic Charpentier District of Lake Charles, the home was built in 1909 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. Bottom, left: The light-filled corner sunroom features walls of windows overlooking the lush gardens and historic live oak trees. Bottom, right: Barbara and Randall “Randy” King

right in the state-of-the art kitchen that includes a Wolfe gas stove with six burners and a double oven and a Sub-Zero refrigerator-double door freezer that Randy clad

in oak to give it just the right “style” for the room. “My favorite thing about the new kitchen is that we replaced most of the lowers cabinets with deep drawers,” Barbara

says. “It’s more convenient to have drawers than to always be pulling things out of the back of the lower cabinets.”

Randy used his engineering skills to construct the library track around the room for the ladder that provide easy access to the new upper cabinets.

Barbara called in Lake Charles interior designer Sheila Whitson to help her create the elegant, yet

comfortable, spaces she wanted. “Sheila did a great job helping us create just the right look we like,” Barbara says, while Sheila adds, “Barbara was delightful to work with and I am still amazed that she made every one of the beautiful drapes in the entire house.” It is easy to understand why Barbara says the upstairs former sleeping porch that is now her sewing room is

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her favorite space in the house. ”The room has nine windows overlooking the huge live oak trees in the yard,” she says. “It is truly a dream sewing room.”

While the front of the house is pristine and an architectural treasure, the rear of the home is also handsome, and a two-story guest house with an outdoor living room and a swimming pool completes the unique estate property. “It’s a wonderful home where our now grown daughters – Magdalena ‘Maggie’ and Sarah – grew up,” Barbara says. “We feel fortunate to be the caretakers for a time of this wonderful historic property.” n

Top, left: The new kitchen was totally built by Randy, who is known for his

fine carpenter skills. He designed and built the metal ladder railing around the room that provides easy access to the upper cabinets. Top, right: A Sub-Zero refrigerator and double door freezer received a new face by Randy to add character to the room. Lower drawers replaced the original cabinets. The pass-through provides easy access to the breakfast room. Bottom, left: A collection vintage bird prints is displayed on the original fireplace mantel and ledges. Facing page, top: The rear of the house features a large swimming pool. Facing page, bottom: A large 18-light crystal chandelier illuminates the elegant dining room that adjoins both the living room and sun room.

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art

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The Mysterious Man of Bayou Petit Caillou The reclusive Kenny Hill left an artistic legacy in Terrebonne Parish.

By John R. Kemp

An unusual garden sits on a small patch of land along the east bank of Bayou Petit Caillou in Terrebonne Parish.

It’s not the typical beds of flowers and shrubs or even vegetables. It is a garden of one man’s spirit and selfreflection where life-sized images of concrete angels and monuments rise from the banks of the bayou like some apocalyptic Old or New Testament struggle between damnation, redemption and salvation. It is, borrowing the words of poet W. B. Yeats, a garden “where a soul is at ease” – the soul of bricklayer Kenny Hill.

Hill is a mysterious figure with immense natural talent who showed up in Chauvin in the late 1980s to find work on local construction sites. There, a local landowner let him settle on a little plot of land along the bayou where he first pitched a tent and then built a small cabin from materials he found and salvaged from the local countryside. That is when Kenny Hill’s story in Chauvin begins.

Over the next decade, Hill fashioned his garden of angels and spiritual figures from concrete, mortar and paint that he found or local people donated. All the while, he

remained a mystery to his neighbors. They knew little about him, and he never talked about himself or why he created his magical garden. Yet, long after he was gone, they described him as a “genius” but a loner and a quiet person who worked in his sculpture garden from sun up to sun down before and after a day on the job and on weekends. Then one day in January 2000, Kenny Hill walked away with nothing but the shirt on his back, never again to be seen in Chauvin.

After the kindly man who owned the property where Hill lived died, the parish evicted him from his little plot. He sat in front of his house for a couple of days and then left as mysteriously as he arrived. Local folks, however, remain grateful for the spiritual but enigmatic gift he had given them.

Thanks to a 1993 article in the Houma Courier and local court records, however, we learn a bit more about this curious man. Hill was born in September 1948 and grew up in Springfield. He once had been married and has children living somewhere in Louisiana. Before settling in Chauvin, Hill lived on a houseboat in Patterson.

After leaving Terrebonne Parish, some people think he went to live with a brother in Arkansas and eventually with other family members in Louisiana.

Fortunately, the sculpture garden was saved from neglect or destruction by former Nicholls State University art professor Dennis Sipiorski, who now teaches art at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. He was out photographing the sculpture one day in 1999 when he struck up a conversation with Hill.

Trying to understand why Hill created the garden and what he was saying with his Biblical allusions, Sipiorski asked Hill what the garden meant. “Kenny wouldn’t allow me to peg him in a category,” Sipiorski recalls.

“He said it was about everything in his life. He wanted people to bring their own knowledge and experiences to the garden. I wanted him to talk about

the pieces, but I couldn’t break through. He didn’t think explaining it would help people understand it any better.”

Hill’s motives were pure, Sipiorski explains. “He never wanted to be celebrated for what he did. All he wanted to do was to serve God and the people of his community. He did it for reasons way beyond money and fame.” This, of course, did little to abate the curiosity of some neighbors.

As one Chauvin resident stated in a 2002 video about Hill and his garden: “I don’t know what Kenny had in his mind. I’d certainly like to know, though.”

Like the bayou that meanders through the nearby countryside, a narrow path

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winds through the garden on some cryptic and mystical journey. One can’t help but wonder what he was saying about himself and his world.

Along the walkway, stand small monuments, temples and life-sized angels with swords raised in a battle of righteousness over evil. And then there is Christ and the crucifixion and two swordbearing angels standing at the gates of hell, cautioning all those who pass through the portal to the tongues of fire belching up from the ground.

Further on, a weeping angel with an hourglass cradled in her hands reminds passersby of the impermanence of life and time. Off in the distance stands a 45-foot-tall lighthouse that Hill constructed from over 7,000 bricks.

Decorating the exterior of the towering structure are bas relief images of jazz musicians, WWI German ace fighter pilot, Native Americans on a buffalo hunt, 26 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

a sailing ship near some tropical island, and U.S. Marines raising the American flag at Iwo Jima (the flag blew off in 2002 during Hurricane Gustav).

A few feet from the lighthouse, the figure of a little girl dressed in a pink and white dress with a pink bow in her hair kneels and looks at her reflection in a pond.

According to Rocky McKeon, a docent at the sculpture garden, the little girl came to Hill in a dream one night.

The next morning, he created this little scene. Hill often placed in the garden images of himself with his long blond hair and beard. In one, he is riding a horse and in another he is carrying Christ’s cross for the crucifixion. Lying on the circular floor of a fanciful Greek-like temple with angels flying above, Hill’s outstretched arm points to the road of salvation.

To create his figures, Hill first sank steel reinforce-

ment bars, known as re-bars, into the ground. Then, with the help of a neighbor’s son, welded and formed steel mesh wire around the bars in various desired shapes. To the mesh, he applied mortar and concrete that he sculpted with his hands and wet sponges.

He had two other tools that he used extensively – a large spoon and a fork. He raked the fork through the wet mortar to create strands of hair in a figure’s head. The spoon was the perfect tool to create the illusion of cupped feathers in the wings of angels. In 2007, art conservators cleaned, repaired and sealed the sculptures to prevent the sculptures’ metal re-bar “bones” from rusting and falling apart. Another major refurbishing is scheduled for October 2014.

After Hill left Chauvin, Sipiorski and others immediately went into action to save the property. The Wisconsin native contacted the Kohler

Foundation in Kohler, Wisconsin, about securing a grant to purchase the garden.

The foundation, which is keen on preserving folk art and the work of self-taught artists, sent representatives to Chauvin to visit the garden.

Impressed by what they found, Kohler came up with approximately a half-million dollars to buy the land, build a visitors’ center and to make other improvements.

The gift, however, came with the stipulation that another organization must maintain the garden. The president of Nicholls State University, who had just read a newspaper article about Hill, stepped in and gave Sipiorski permission to work with the foundation to buy the land and have it donated to the university. The garden, now overseen by a volunteer board, has a visitors center and classrooms for art students located just across the highway. Inside, faded photographs of Hill hang from a wall and a few of Hill’s carved wooden pieces greet guests as they enter the building. Yet, Hill himself remains a mystery to most.

“I’ve dedicated my life to preserving the garden for what Kenny did,” says Sipiorski, thinking about Hill and his work for a moment. “I wish I was as good an artist as Kenny Hill.” n

for more information For more information about Kenny Hill and the sculpture garden, which is free and open to the public, visit nicholls.edu/folkartcenter/park.

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traveler 1850 gin house

Lynette Tanner at 1884 Munger gin

High Cotton at Frogmore Exploring a storied plantation Paul F. Stahls Jr.

America is now threequarters into its Civil War Sesquicentennial, and faithful fellow ”Travelers” have battled through the commemorations of every event of major consequence that occurred in Louisiana a century and a half ago. With the Union campaign to take Shreveport and invade Texas abandoned after the Confederate victory at Mansfield, and with Union control of the Mississippi secured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the major armies of the North departed to participate in Gen. Grant’s

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multi-pronged campaign in the east (Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Carolinas) that would end the war.

By mid-1864, however, sufficient units remained to hold major cities and waterways in Louisiana, as did a 4,500-man contingent at Fort McPherson in Natchez. The “Natchez District” spilled over into the river parishes of Louisiana, where an interesting and little-known string of battles occurred involving Union supply raids on the plantations of Southern sympathizers and Confederate

raids on so-called Union properties (cotton plantations owned by Union sympathizers or commandeered by Union forces and put into production overseen by their agents and worked by freed slaves). Thus 150 years ago the big war came to little Concordia Parish and, in particular, on Aug. 4-6, 1864, to Frogmore Plantation – an agricultural empire then and now, which preserves on its grounds an incomparable collection of buildings and apparatus representing the colonial-to-current history of American cotton farming, all shared with the public through its lengthy menu of guided tours.

Named for a royal estate in England, Frogmore had been established as a small plantation in the first decade of the 1800s by Daniel Morris, between Vidalia and Jonesville on the wagonrutted Natchez-Natchitoches trail (roughly the route of

today’s U.S.84), destined to become an early Interstate for westbound settlers from the Natchez Trace heading for the Texas-bound Camino Real.

But Frogmore wasn’t small for long. By the early 1840s it had been acquired by John Gillespie (his eighth plantation hereabouts) and enlarged by wartime to 2,640 acres.

Many of the area’s major cotton growers were relative newcomers, attracted by soaring cotton prices, who despite depending on slave labor were opposed to secession. Gillespie was one of those, and, whether motivated by nationalism or by handwriting on the wall, he was a ready source of provisions for Union forces and made his properties available for bivouacs during the endless Yank-versus-Reb chases across the raid zone (roughly bounded by Lake Concordia and the Mississippi, Ouachita, Black and Tensas rivers).

So it was that on Aug. 4 detachments from Natchez and Vidalia, including infantry and artillery units comprised of recently recruited freedmen, set out on various routes to join forces at the “Gillespie Plantation” with plans to strike a Confederate force camped on the Tensas.

After crossing from Natchez to Whitehall Plantation below Vidalia about 8 p.m., Col. Bernard Farrar’s force undertook an all-night march through swamplands in total darkness, often moving singlefile by torchlight, following a rumor that the estimated 800 grays were camped at a plantation called Stacy. Arriving at

7 a.m. on the 5th and learning that he had surprised no one (for no one was there), Farrar proceeded to his appointed meeting with the cavalry of Lt. Col. Hubert McCaleb and then to join the units from Vidalia encamped at Frogmore. At 2 p.m., however, a report arrived of 350 Confederates spotted at the Tensas, so Farrar was off again, leading his still-unrested cavalry to attack the Southern battle line strung out through Gilbert Plantation and along the Tensas levee. After a fierce exchange of gunfire the gray army withdrew and, after a brief chase, Farrar returned to Vidalia arriving at 7 a.m. on the 6th.

Frogmore manor, 1815

Volunteer pickers and row-bags

That same morning Frogmore saw the arrival of Col. Martin Wallace’s Union cavalry, followed by yet another sighting of rebs, this time a stone’s throw from the plantation on the Tensas Road, which of course prompted another chase launched from war-weary Frogmore. The result was several clashes as the Confederates repeatedly dropped back to form new lines of defense, ending about five miles west of the plantation when they finally called it a day.

A special Civil War tour is being offered at Frogmore during these Sesquicentennial years, describing Union and Confederate activities in the region, reliving the wartime conditions of plantation folk and including a PowerPoint documentary on the local, national and international causes and consequences of the war.

At war’s end, Frogmore was purchased by the Weis family of Mississippi and New Orleans (cotton growers and brokers), at first managed and later acquired by a young Mississippian named Benjamin Wade. It remained in the Wade

family until George “Buddy” Tanner leased half the estate in the 1960s and, in the 1970s, with his new bride Lynette Ater Tanner, purchased that half upon the death of owner Anna Wade Godbold (age 101). The Tanners have made the1815 Frogmore “big house” their home for the past four decades, raising five children and swelling the estate to 1,900 acres by acquisition of other original Frogmore properties.

The Tanners are cotton to the core, Lynette reared on Ater family plantations in northeast Louisiana and Buddy hailing from the Mississippi River cotton town of St. Joseph in Tensas Parish.

Influenced by his cotton grower uncle and born with a gift for management and a yen for gins, he managed the Frogmore Gin until purchasing it and then building a new one, which developed through his study and application of new technologies into a 900-balea-day marvel regarded as the most fully computerized gin in the nation. Named Ginner of the Year by the Southern Cotton Ginners Association in 1990 and National Ginners Association in 1991, he’s also served as representative to the National Cotton Council and trustee of the Mid-South Cotton Foundation.

The family has always cared for the historic structures on the property (including the 14-foot, American Indian mound carbon-dated to 10201260 A.D.), but the impetus for saving vintage buildings began with a gift of two slave cabins

by Lynette’s mother LaVonne Ater. Soon Buddy and Lynette were actively searching for appropriate additions to their historic plantation complex, 18th– and 19th–century dwell-

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1850 church and quarters

ings and dependencies such as the 1850s gin building and its 1884 steam-powered Munger gin found on a plantation near Rodney, Mississippi. They’ve restored 18 structures in all (some original to Frogmore, some donated), and, although each of Frogmore’s tours is totally different, every structure is accessible on every tour except two cabins not yet furnished .

Lynette conceives, researches and writes all tours (including the widely praised PowerPoint Civil War presentation), earning for Frogmore great public acclaim and prestigious listings like Rand McNally’s “Must See Sites in the South,” AAA’s “Top Three Sites” in this threestate area, and the State of Louisiana’s Rural Tourism Award. Besides hosting the tours (with tour manager Melissa Powell and vocalist/ guide Bethani Goodman), she’s past-chairman of the Louisiana Attractions Association and serves as a member of the board of the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association as well as the tourism advisory boards of the Lt. Governor and Louisiana Secretary of

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Agriculture. Her compilation of WPA-era interviews with former slaves, Chained to the Land, was published in June (available at the Frogmore General Store or blairpub.com).

Tours begin, depending on group size, with an orientation in the mid-1800s church or film presentation in a 1790s log cabin (with its vintage regional maps and gallery of Frogmore families). One slave cabin displays the accoutrements of a laundry/weaving house, another serves as a “cooking cabin” and an 1840 double cabin is furnished to depict a slave family’s quarters on one side and a post-bellum sharecropper’s house on the other.

The smokehouse that once cured 100 hogs a year is still standing, and a pegged-cypress dogtrot cottage built in 1810 serves as an overseer’s cottage.

The big “Seed Cotton” House was first used for holding cotton from neighboring farms waiting to be ginned – that is, “de-seeded” – and its storage stalls now house fascinating old farm tools as well as cotton samples of varying quality, displayed and labeled to illustrate the complexities of cotton “grading”: spotted

middling, good middling, strict middling, strict low middling and such. Larger agricultural implements are housed in a huge 1840 barn, and a former plantation commissary (comparable to the “company stores” of early mining and sawmilling communities) displays cotton sacks, baskets, scales and the like.

Pick a little cotton yourself in the field adjacent to the historic complex, and then it’s time to visit the 1850s gin house, whose first machinery was operated by mule-power.

As Eli Whitney’s cotton enGINe had revolutionized cotton production in 1793, Robert Munger’s steam-powered gin revolutionized Whitney’s, introducing a fan-driven pneumatic system (still used in modern gins) to suction cotton into a gin building and then through piping from station to station in the ginning process. The 1884 Munger in Frogmore’s complex is a Smithsonian-quality treasure, but never could even that great institution present it as dramatically as Frogmore displays it here in its original structure. To double the impact, make this your last

stop before driving past a mile or so of cotton to Frogmore’s ultra-modern gins for a tour, oftentimes with Buddy Tanner on hand himself to explain the intricacies of an operation capable transforming huge circular modules of cotton straight from the fields into tons of purest cotton for the markets of the world.

The standard tour at Frogmore, available any time of day, is the “Historical Cotton and Plantation Culture” tour, and those available by appointment include “Plantation Civil War, Challenges and Changes,” a “Delta Music” tour, and a fun revue of old-time marriage customs called “Music, Mistresses and Marriages.”

School-group tours come with lots of information packaged in an entertaining production that includes cotton picking, plantation songs and even games of plantation origin like sack races, horseshoes, blind man’s bluff, musical chairs and jump-rope. Contact Frogmore at (318) 757-3333 or frogmoreplantation.com.

The cotton blooms red and white in July and August, and the fields are at their whitest on toward September when fall brings the age-old ritual and spectacle of harvesting and ginning. n

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By Adam Norris If the LSU football team can advance to the Southeastern Conference Championship game in Atlanta in December, the Tigers’ 2014 season will be bookended by trips to the big cities. They kick off their schedule with a neutral-site matchup against Wisconsin in what will be LSU’s first game in Houston since 1983. Given the manageable drive from Baton Rouge to Houston and all those Louisiana ex-pats living in the Bayou City, you can bet that Reliant Stadium will be brimming with Badger hostility. In between Houston and (potentially) Atlanta, LSU also hits the road for conference games in Auburn, Alabama; Gainesville, Florida; Fayetteville, Arkansas; and College Station, Texas.

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Houston There are enough activities in America’s fourth-largest city to keep you occupied for weeks, so if you only have a day or two to see the sights, be selective and don’t get overwhelmed by this massive metropolis and its thriving energy, medical and aeronautical sectors. Space Center Houston is the official visitors center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. You can experience a space shuttle launch in the Blast Off Theater and touch a real moon rock, but the highlight is the 90-minute tram tour that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the real working areas of the space center. Even if

[ 2014 SCHEDULE ]

texas you’re not in need of retail therapy, The Galleria is a bona fide destination, attracting 35 million visitors a year.

This small city of a shopping center is anchored by Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, two Macy’s stores and the grandest feature – the 20,000-square-foot Polar Ice – the first ice rink ever built inside of a mall. Another way to cool off in the August heat is to visit the nearby Hines Waterwall Park, with its wondrous 64-foot fountain that circulates 11,000 gallons of water per minute. The public park is a great place to relax, take some photos and enjoy the mist drifting off the

waterwall. Any visit to the Lone Star State is incomplete without sampling Tex-Mex cuisine. Some of the best in the state can be found at Hugo’s, which offers mouthwatering seafood cocktails and a variety of moles made from scratch. The epicenter of Houston’s impressive arts scene is the Museum District, which consists of 19 museums, galleries and cultural centers within a mile and a half radius of the landmark Mecom Fountain.

All of the museums offer free times or days while some are always free.

Saturday, April 5 L-Club Spring Football Game Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, August 30 Wisconsin Badgers Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX Saturday, September 6 Sam Houston State Bearkats Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, September 13 ULM Warhawks Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, September 20 Mississippi State Bulldogs Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, September 27 New Mexico State Aggies Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, October 4 at Auburn Tigers Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn, AL

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Saturday, October 11 at Florida Gators Ben Hill Griffin Stadium Gainesville, FL

Auburn

Saturday, October 18 Kentucky Wildcats Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge

Auburn’s most iconic gathering place is in transition during the 2014 football season. Toomer’s Corner, at the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and College Street, was the traditional spot where Auburn fans draped two oak trees with toilet paper following a victory.

But in 2011, a renegade Alabama fan (now felon) poisoned one of the historic oaks, and both trees had to be removed. The area is getting a major makeover, and new trees will be planted in early 2015. While you’re checking on the progress of the project, treat yourself to a lemonade at Toomer’s Drug Store, a landmark establishment that opened in 1896.

Saturday, October 25 Ole Miss Rebels (HC) Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, November 1 Open Date Saturday, November 8 Alabama Crimson Tide Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge Saturday, November 15 at Arkansas Razorbacks D.W.R. Razorback Stadium Fayetteville, AK Saturday, November 22 Open Date Thursday, November 27 at Texas A&M Aggies Kyle Field, College Station, TX Saturday, December 6 SEC Championship Game Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA

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Alabama If you’re looking to imbibe something stronger, head to the War Eagle Supper Club for live music and late hours. It holds the unique distinction of being able to serve alcohol until 5 a.m. It can do this by maintaining its status as a private club – to become a member, just pay a one-time fee of $2 and enjoy your cocktail as the sun rises. To get your barbecue fix, check out Byron’s Smokehouse for chipped pork, fried okra and sweet tea. It’s also a popular breakfast destination but don’t wait until the day after the game to cross it off your list – Byron’s is closed on Sundays. On game day, arrive early to Jordan-Hare Stadium, lest you miss some of the

most compelling traditions in college football. Two hours before kickoff, thousands of Auburn fans line up to greet the players as they enter the stadium during Tiger Walk, the decades-old ritual that has been copied by countless other universities. After absorbing that peppiest of rallies, head inside to find your seat and make sure you have a view of the field 20 minutes before the start of the game. That’s when an eagle swoops down from a flagpole atop the stadium and, regardless which team of Tigers you’re rooting for, it’s a majestic sight and not to be missed.

gainesville Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, commonly known as “The Swamp,” is one of the more inhospitable venues for visiting fans in all of college football.

That’s a compliment. Eightyeight thousand fans, many of them smacking their hands together in the stiff-armed Gator Chomp, contribute to a deafening home-field advantage for the Gators. The field is sunken below ground, and the stands rise steeply skyward to create the aural effect of

florida

an echo chamber. The theme music to Jaws plays before kickoffs and after big plays in the game. For Florida fans, it’s exhilarating; for opponents, it can be haunting. Fortunately the city of Gainesville is considerably more welcoming than its famed stadium. Sushi-lovers should head to Dragonfly Sushi for an innovative menu, a vast sake and whiskey selection and sleek décor. The Top is another local favorite with a lively atmosphere and

eclectic American cuisine with vegetarian and vegan choices. Midtown, located across from the university, is the Gainesville’s thriving bar district and the best place to relive your own carefree college years. Options include the Grog House Grill (a bit grungy), Salty Dog Saloon (grungier) and Balls (grungiest). In spite of all expected beer and barbeque outlets, Gainesville’s cultural and educational offerings are

more befitting of a larger city.

The butterfly rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History features a lush tropical landscape with hundreds of free-flying butterflies and birds from around the globe.

The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, located in the southwest portion of campus, is one of the largest university-affiliated museums in the nation with more than 8,000 works in its various collections.

Admission is free.

fayetteville Yes, you will hear Arkansas fans bellowing “Woo, pig!

Sooie!” their customary Calling of the Hogs, from the moment you enter this college town in the Ozark foothills until the moment you exit. That’s been going on in these parts since the 1920s, but there’s much more to this college town in Northwest Arkansas than pigs and pigskin. But first about the pig – while LSU has Mike the Tiger, Arkansas has Tusk, a 380-pound Russian boar.

He’s at all the home games – you can’t miss him. For the city’s most popular burgers, head downstairs to Hugo’s, a basement restaurant that also serves up hand-cut fries, fresh guacamole and delicious crepes. Craft beer aficionados will want to check out the Hog Haus Brewing Company, the only operating brewery in Northwest Arkansas and the only place in Fayetteville that sells beer-to-go on Sundays.

arkansas

Stick to Dickson Street, located right off campus, for a lively assortment of bars, restaurants and shops. The heart of tailgating activity at the University of Arkansas is the Gardens, located south of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. If you have a hankering for antiques, Fayetteville has some surprisingly strong options with French Quarters Antiques, named one of the top 200 places to shop in the South by Southern Living, and French Metro Antiques among the standouts. At McLellan’s Fly Shop, anglers can expect first-rate gear and advice on how to catch brown trout from Arkansas’ White River. If you have a half-day to spare, venture 25 minutes outside of town into the Ozarks to Devil’s Den State Park. Hike the rugged trails and stop often to take in the lush landscapes and magnificent scenery.

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college station texas

Atlanta

georgia

Atlanta is a world-class city, with an economy that makes it one of the most prosperous cities in the world. Accordingly, Atlanta’s array of attractions is prodigious. Centennial Park is the remaining legacy of the 1996 Olympic Games, built to revitalize a moribund section of the city. The 21-acre park is anchored

by World of Coca-Cola, CNN Center, the Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Georgia Aquarium, a sprawling facility with more than 100,000 fish and other sea creatures, including the only whale shark exhibit outside of Asia. The Dolphin Tales live theatrical show is breathtaking. To get a

bird’s-eye view of the city, visit Stone Mountain Park, the most visited attraction in the state of Georgia.

To reach the 1,686 foot summit, you can either hike the trail or take an aerial tram to the top. On the north face of the mountain is its most well-known feature, a carving of three prominent figures from the Confederacy: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. The Lasershow Spectacular transforms the mountain into a natural amphitheater with dazzling neon lights, fireworks and music. Atlanta is a city with more than 200 distinct neighborhoods.

Beer lovers would do well

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to check out East Atlanta Village with five pubs within a three block radius, including the Midway Pub, which features a well-edited 18 tap selection and an outdoor beer garden. For fresh and inventive Mexican food, and one of the city’s best values, check out one of the three locations of Taqueria del Sol for taco options that include barbecue pork and fried fish.

Few restaurants exemplify modern Atlanta better than Heirloom Market BBQ, which specializes in straight-ahead Southern barbecue and Korean-inspired side dishes like kimchee slaw.

College Station should be on the bucket list of any college football fan, regardless of allegiance. To get a sense for how tradition, ritual and school pride ooze from the Aggies program, make a point to attend Midnight Yell Practice. Held the night before a home game in Kyle Field, the five yell leaders (elected by the student body) lead the 12th Man (Aggie fans) and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band into the stadium for a rousing session of old army yells, a rendition of the fight song and grand boasts about the Aggies’ next conquest. At the conclusion, the lights go out, the Aggies kiss their dates and everyone goes home deliriously happy about the team’s prospects for the next day. The Northgate district is the center of Texas A&M nightlife and the one bar you should patronize if only to say you’ve actually been is the Dixie Chicken, which claims to sell more beer per square foot than any other bar in the country. If you happen to see young people dropping their school rings into pitchers of beer before chugging, they are not being careless with their jewelry – they are, much to the chagrin of their parents and university administrators, participating in a tradition known as “ring dunking.”

The Corner Bar and Grill, also in Northgate, has a scenic rooftop view of campus and is a popular destination before and after the game. If you’re not much of a beer drinker, try the Messina Hof Winery and Resort, an acclaimed winery and vineyard located in a bucolic setting in neighboring Bryan.

Take a tour and get a taste of the state’s most awarded winemaker.

For one of College Station’s fine dining options, Veritas Wine & Bistro is a self-described “modern French-American-Asian bistro” with cosmopolitan décor and a chef-driven menu.

TOP There is only one major source that provides credible ongoing analysis of hospitals.

It is Medicare, which has to be interested, because it pays many of the big bills. As part of its informational services, medicare.gov reports on evaluations of hospitals based on queries of patients. For the last three years, we have gone through the data and created a one-of-a-kind list that shows the state’s hospitals according to locality. To qualify for this list, at least 60 percent of the patients queried had to give the hospital a top overall ranking of 9 or 10. These are the top general service hospitals as seen through the eyes of those who have experienced them firsthand – the patients. Additionally, a few hospitals in the state did not have any information available on Medicare’s website and therefore could not qualify to be on the list.

LouisianaLife.com | 37

Abbeville

bogalusa

farmerville

jena

Abbeville General Hospital 118 N Hospital Drive (337) 893-5466

Washington St. Tammany Regional Medical Center 433 Plaza St. (985) 730-6700

Union General Hospital 901 James Ave. (318) 368-9751

Lasalle General Hospital 187 Ninth St./ Hwy.84 W. (318) 992-9200

Alexandria

bossier city

Central Louisiana Surgical Hospital 651 North Bolton Ave. (318) 443-3511

willis knighton bossier health center 2400 Hospital Drive (318) 212-7000

Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital 3330 Masonic Drive (318) 487-1122 Rapides Regional Medical Center 211 4th St. (318) 769-3000

bastrop

columbia Caldwell Memorial Hospital 411 Main St. (318) 649-6111 Citizens Medical Center 7939 Hwy. 165 South (318) 649-6106

Morehouse General Hospital 323 W. Walnut (318) 283-3600

covington

baton rouge

Lakeview Regional Medical Center 95 Judge Tanner Blvd.

(985) 867-4447

Baton Rouge General Medical Center 3600 Florida St. Baton Rouge (225) 387-7000 Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge 17000 Medical Center Drive Baton Rouge (225) 755-4876

Fairway Medical Center 67252 Industry Lane (985) 801-3010

St. Tammany Parish Hospital 1202 S. Tyler St. Covington (985) 898-4000

cut off

Our Lady Of The Lake Regional Medical Center 5000 Hennessy Blvd.

Baton Rouge (225) 765-6565

Lady Of The Sea General Hospital 200 West 134th Place (985) 632-6401

Surgical Specialty Center Of Baton Rouge 8080 Bluebonnet Blvd.

(225) 408-5730

delhi

The Neuromedical Center Hospital 10105 Park Row Circle (225) 763-9900 Woman’s Hospital 100 Woman’s Way (225) 927-1300

38 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Richland Parish Hospital-Delhi 407 Cincinnati St. (318) 878-5171

deridder Beauregard Memorial Hospital 600 S. Pine St. (337) 462-7100

franklin Franklin Foundation Hospital 1097 Northwest Blvd.

(337) 828-0760

gonzales St. Elizabeth Hospital 1125 West Highway 30 (225) 647-5000

hammond Cypress Pointe Surgical Hospital 42570 South Airport Road (985) 510-6200 North Oaks Medical Center, L L C 15790 Paul Vega Md Drive (985) 345-2700

jennings Jennings American Legion Hospital 1634 Elton Road (337) 616-7000

jonesboro Jackson Parish Hospital 165 Beech Springs Road (318) 259-4321

Ochsner Medical CenterKenner Llc 180 West Esplanade Ave. Kenner (504) 464-8065

kinder

homer Homer Memorial Hospital 620 East College St. (318) 927-2024

lacombe

Leonard J Chabert Medical Center 1978 Industrial Blvd.

(985) 873-1285 Physicians Medical Center 218 Corporate Drive (985) 853-1390 Terrebonne General Medical Center 8166 Main St. (985) 873-4141

independence Lallie Kemp Medical Center 52579 Highway 21 South Independence (985) 878-9421

Park Place Surgical Hospital 901 Wilson St. (337) 237-8119 The Regional Medical Center Of Acadiana 2810 Ambassador Caffery Parkway (337) 981-2949 University Hospital & Clinics 2390 West Congress (337) 261-6000

kenner

Allen Parish Hospital 108 6th Ave. (337) 738-9489

houma

Our Lady Of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, Inc 4801 Ambassador Caffery Parkway (337) 470-2000

Louisiana Heart Hospital 64030 Hwy. 434 (985) 690-7500

lafayette Heart Hospital Of Lafayette 1105 Kaliste Saloom Road (337) 521-1000 Lafayette General Medical Center 1214 Coolidge Ave. (337) 289-7991 Lafayette General Surgical Hospital 1000 W. Pinhook Road, Suite 100 (337) 289-8095 Lafayette Surgical Specialty Hospital 1101 Kaliste Saloom Road (337) 769-4100

lake charles Christus St Patrick Hospital 524 Dr. Michael Debakey St. (337) 436-2511 Lake Charles Memorial Hospital 1701 Oak Park Blvd.

(337) 494-3200 W.O. Moss Regional Medical Center 1000 Walters St. (337) 475-8100 Women And Children’s Hospital At Lake Charles 4200 Nelson Road (337) 474-6370

lake providence East Carroll Parish Hospital 336 North Hood St. Lake Providence (318) 559-402

laplace River Parishes Hospital 500 Rue De Sante (985) 652-7000

leesville Byrd Regional Hospital 1020 Fertitta Blvd.

(337) 239-9041

Doctors Hospital At Deer Creek Llc 815 South 10th St. (337) 392-5088

luling St. Charles Parish Hospital 1057 Paul Maillard Road (985) 785-6242

lutcher

monroe

oak grove

E.A. Conway Medical Center 4864 Jackson St. (318) 330-7000

West Carroll Memorial Hospital 706 Ross St. (318) 428-3237

Monroe Surgical Hospital 2408 Broadmoor Blvd.

(318) 410-0002

opelousas

P & S Surgical Hospital 312 Grammont St., Suite 101 (318) 388-4040

St. James Parish Hospital 1645 Lutcher Ave. (225) 869-5512

St. Francis Medical Center 309 Jackson St. (318) 966-4000

mamou

morgan city

Savoy Medical Center 801 Poinciana Ave. (337) 468-5261

Teche Regional Medical Center 1125 Marguerite St. (985) 384-2200

mansfield Desoto Regional Health System 207 Jefferson St. (318) 872-4610

many Sabine Medical Center 240 Highland Drive (318) 256-1232

marrero West Jefferson Medical Center 1101 Medical Center Blvd.

(504) 347-5511

metairie East Jefferson General Hospital 4200 Houma Blvd.

(504) 454-4000

minden Minden Medical Center No 1 Medical Plaza (318) 377-2321

napoleonville Assumption Community Hospital 135 Hwy. 402 (985) 369-3600

new iberia Dauterive Hospital 600 N. Lewis St. (337) 365-7311 Iberia General Hospital And Medical Center 2315 E. Main St. (337) 364-0441

new orleans Ochsner Medical Center 1516 Jefferson Hwy. (504) 842-3000 Touro Infirmary 1401 Foucher St. (504) 897-7011 Tulane Medical Center 1415 Tulane Ave. (504) 988-1900

Opelousas General Health System 539 East Prudhomme St. (337) 948-3011

pineville Huey P. Long Medical Center 352 Hospital Blvd.

(318) 448-081

raceland Ochsner St Anne General Hospital 4608 Hwy. 1 (985) 537-6841

rayville Richardson Medical Center 254 Hwy. 3048 (318) 728-4181

Ruston Green Clinic Surgical Hospital 1118 Farmerville St. (318) 232-7700 Northern Louisiana Medical Center 401 East Vaughn Ave. (318) 254-2100

Shreveport Christus Health Shreveport - Bossier 1453 E Bert Kouns Industrial Drive (318) 681-5000 Lsu Health Sciences Center - Shreveport 1541 Kings Hwy. (318) 675-5058

Specialists Hospital Shreveport 1500 Line Ave. (318) 213-3800 Willis Knighton Medical Center 2600 Greenwood Road (318) 212-4000

SLIDELL Cypress Pointe Hospital East 989 Robert Blvd (504) 690-8200 Ochsner Medical Center - Northshore, Llc 100 Medical Center Drive (985) 649-7070 Slidell Memorial Hospital 1001 Gause Blvd.

(985) 643-2200 Southern Surgical Hospital 1700 W. Lindberg Drive (985) 641-0600

springhill Springhill Medical Center 2001 Doctors Drive (318) 539-1000

st. francisville

ville platte Mercy Regional Medical Center 800 E. Main (337) 363-5684

west monroe Glenwood Regional Medical Center 503 Mcmillan Road (318) 329-4600 Ouachita Community Hospital 1275 Glennwood Drive (318) 322-1339

winnfield Winn Parish Medical Center 301 W Boundary St. (318) 648-3000

winnsboro Franklin Medical Center 2106 Loop Road (318) 435-9411

zachary Lane Regional Medical Center 6300 Main St. (225) 658-4000

West Feliciana Parish Hospital 5266 Commerce St. St. Francisville (225) 635-3811

sulphur West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital 701 East Cypress St. (337) 527-7034

thibodaux Thibodaux Regional Medical Center 602 N .Acadia Road (985) 447-5500

LouisianaLife.com | 39

written by christopher jennings photographs by romero & romero

40 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

We live in a state where it’s possible that anyone standing over a deep fryer in the backyard could be a master at preparing a fishing trip’s bounty – even the great chefs here have competition. Nevertheless, the chefs featured are prestigious and award-winning, especially known for what they’ve done, and continue to do, with our plentiful seafood supply. Here, they share recipes that are tempting and realistic to make at home for your own summer gathering.

3 of the State’s Top Seafood Chefs Share Recipes

Cory Bahr, of the restaurants Nonna and Cotton in Monroe, didn’t always know he wanted to be a chef. “It was never a goal in life,” he says. “I never knew what I wanted to be, but the hustle and bustle of restaurant industry and the hospitality industry really drew me in and kept me there. I’m not a behind-the-desk sort of guy.”

With two popular restaurants to his name, in addition to successes as diverse as being named the 2011 King of Louisiana Seafood by the Louisiana Seafood Board, a win on a 2012 episode of Food Network’s Chopped, and being named Food and Wine magazine’s 2014 best new chef in the Gulf Coast region, Bahr has clearly found his calling.

Bahr’s passion for food entered his life early. “It was in my blood, really,” he says. Raised by his grandparents in a “traditional Southern family,” the cuisine and way of life in his childhood home became deeply important to him.

“Food and hospitality in Louisiana – there’s no other state like it,” he says. “We’re just a big party.”

Although he cites chefs like Frank Stitt and Linton Hopkins as major inspirations to him, he is largely self-taught. “It’s just something I worked really hard and studied and got good at,” he says.

42 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Nonna, Cotton (Monroe)

Louisiana seafood is Bahr’s major culinary love and a driving factor in what he chooses to use in his kitchens on a day-to-day basis. “The vibrancy of our fishery in Louisiana is unparalleled in the United States,” he says. “We have 300 years of fishing heritage backing us up to prove it.” Bahr is also an avid fisherman himself. “That’s where I spend most of my time – on the bayou,” he says. “Every minute I can steal, that’s what I’m doing.”

One of his restaurants, Cotton, serves up traditional Southern food using modern techniques. “[Cotton is] my North Delta baby right there,” he says. He draws his inspiration from the “hyper-local, hyper-seasonal” ingredients he can get in Monroe. “Our food up here’s different from South Louisiana – it’s squash and grits and cornbread,” he says. “Much more agrarian.

More like farm food, if you will.”

Nonna, on the other hand, embraces Italian cuisine with Southern influences. Again drawing inspiration from “what [he] can get fresh and what [he] can get locally,” Bahr uses some inventive ingredient substitutions, but “old-school simple Italian cooking is all it is,” he says.

There are two ingredients that Bahr is especially fond of using in his cuisine. “Oak Grove tomatoes

– they’re the best in the world,” he says. “And Ruston peaches. Elbowlicking peaches is what we call them. You bite into them, and the juice drips down to your elbows.”

The best part for Monroe residents is that these ingredients are local – “a few miles up the road from us,” Bahr says.

Bahr’s advice to home cooks is to spend your time “sourcing the best, freshest, most local ingredients you can. And keep it simple. That is my main advice to anybody – keep it simple, not overcomplicated. Use a recipe as a guideline, but it’s not the gospel.” Furthermore, he says that the most important tools in a kitchen are “sharp knives. Cooking is definitely more enjoyable with good instruments.”

In addition to cooking and fishing, Bahr’s wife of seven years completes the picture of his personal life. “She’s been so supportive of this job,” he says. “I couldn’t do what I’m doing without her.”

Bahr further cites “the support, the friendship, and the camaraderie” of his community in Monroe as a major inspiration. “That’s why I’m in a small town,” Bahr says.

“Monroe is revitalizing, going through a renaissance. When you see what we do with our food and how proud we are to be from Monroe, it’s a great experience for us.”

Crispy Shrimp 6 with pepper jelly & herbs Ingredients 12 shrimp, deveined

Aerated Batter Ingredients 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour ½ rice flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup Coors Light ½ cup vodka

SERVingS

Herb Salad Ingredients ½ cup cucumber, seedless, small diced 1 bunch mint, picked 1 bunch cilantro, picked 1 bunch chives, snapped 1 red onion, small, julienned 1 cup heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters

Salt, to taste

Combine in a bowl season with salt and zest of juiced lime.

Put shrimp to the side. Combine all other ingredients with a whisk until smooth.

Assembly

Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette Ingredients ¼ cup rice vinegar ½ cup pepper jelly 1/2 tablespoon Sriracha 1 teaspoon high-quality fish sauce 1 lime, juiced 1 ½ cup grape seed oil

Dip each shrimp into batter. In a deep skillet filled with 3 inches of oil, fry shrimp at 375 degrees for 1 ½ to 2 ½ minutes. Remove and drain on a plate lined with a paper towel.

Garnish with vinaigrette and herbs, as you like.

Salt, to taste Combine all ingredients in a mason jar. Place lid on jar and shake with vigor.

LouisianaLife.com | 43

Tenney Flynn of GW Fins in New Orleans says he was “born into the restaurant industry.” He grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where his father owned a restaurant, and worked for his father from age 8 to 21. “Many of the cooks in the kitchen took great pleasure in teaching me how to cook when I was a young boy,” he says. “I learned a lot about the heritage and flavors of great Southern cooking.”

This early introduction to the culinary arts has surely contributed to Flynn’s success. He has twice been selected as chef of the year by New Orleans Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal once referred to him as “The Fishmonger Czar of the South.” In addition, when GW Fin’s first opened, Esquire Magazine selected it as one of the Top 10 New Restaurants in the Country.

After spending most of his 20s in the bar and nightclub business, he attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, where he apprenticed under chefs such as Bill Jackson, Paul Albrecht, and Gerard Vullien. Afterwards, he spent many years working for Pano Karatasso’s Buckheard Life Restaurant Group in Atlanta and then the director of culinary operations for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

While working there, he met Gary Wollerman, then the chief operations manager, and the two men came up with the concept for GW Fin’s, which they opened ten years ago. Flynn says their vision was “to offer the highest quality of seafood from around the world to augment the fabulous wealth of seafood” that comes from the Gulf of Mexico. “By far, my greatest influences are wonderful ingredients,” he says. “The incredible raw product of fresh seafood that we get in our own backyard is a daily inspiration for me. “ This inspiration led to Flynn’s earning a diving certificate and several fishing licenses – he even goes deep-sea spear fishing and serves the fish at GW Fin’s. “You really can’t get product any fresher than that,” he says.

One of his favorite cuts of fish is the collar from larger fish. “Even in 44 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

GW FINS (NEW ORLEANS)

a lean fish like yellowfin [tuna] there is a huge concentration of flavor between the fat and the bone in the collar,” he says. “Bluefin [tuna] or swordfish is just amazing. Snapper collars are also great.”

Although Flynn cites New Orleans-influenced Southern

cuisine as his hallmark style, he does take some of New Orleans’ more international influences into consideration when cooking. “I’ve been exposed to Asian influences by people in New Orleans and through travelling,” he says. “Asian cooking lends itself really beauti-

fully to wonderful seafood.” He’ll get even further exposure to these influences when he cooks aboard a Holland America Food & Wine Culinary Arts Cruise that will travel around Australia and Indonesia. “I have been researching Indonesian restaurants and where I’m going to

charcoal-grilled louisiana cobia

with Vietnamese-style mirliton slaw (goi thap cam) and citrus chili oil Mirliton Slaw Ingredients 2 tablespoons raw sugar Juice of four limes 4 tablespoons fish sauce 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 1 teaspoon diced hot pepper Do not remove seeds 1 red bell pepper, finely julienned 1 yellow bell pepper, finely julienned 2 medium carrots, julienned 2 mirlitons (or chayotes), julienned on a mandolin or thinly sliced into matchsticks 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves 2 tablespoons finely diced green onion In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in the lime juice and fish sauce. Add the garlic, hot pepper, bell peppers, cilantro and green onion, to the lime juice mixture, stir

thoroughly, cover and refrigerate, until chilled, at least 30 minutes.

This sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Citrus Chili Oil

1 cup Canola oil 2 tablespoons whole annatto seeds Zest of one lemon Zest of one orange 1 jalapeno pepper quartered and seeded Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer, remove from heat, then allow to sit for two hours. Strain the chili oil into a small container, discard the solids, then set aside and cover until ready to use.

eat,” he says. “I am really looking forward to diving at The Great Barrier Reef, the premiere diving destination in the world.”

Flynn’s advice to home cooks is that “timing is everything, especially when you are preparing seafood, so it all comes up perfectly together. Always make your sides before the fish and have everything else on the table before you put your fish in the pan.”

The most important tool in any chef’s kitchen, he says, is a good knife. “Make sure your knife is made of butcher steel and you use a soft cutting board. Make sure you steel your knife often. I like to use Forschner stamped knives.”

In addition to diving and traveling, Flynn loves to read, do yoga, jog in the French Quarter, and cultivate his own herb garden.

These herbs help to contribute to Flynn’s cooking philosophy that “the hallmark of a good cook is opening a pantry and making something good with the ingredients you have on hand.” In addition to fresh cut herbs, he recommends that home cooks “have easy access to intensely flavored stocks as they are cooking,” which can be kept in the freezer until they are needed.

4 SERVingS

Cilantro Puree Ingredients 1 bunch cilantro, leaves picked, stems discarded 4 large outside leaves from romaine or iceberg lettuce 1 jalapeno pepper, split and seeded ½ cup Canola oil pinch salt Place all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a squeeze bottle and refrigerate.

Grilled Cobia Ingredients 4 5-6 ounce skin-on fillets of Cobia (lemon fish), pompano King mackerel, swordfish, amberjack, redfish, whatever firm fleshed fish is freshest Salt, black pepper, Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Shrimp Magic seasoning blend, to taste

Cooking spray cilantro sprigs, for garnishing Thai basis basil sprigs, for garnishing Prepare grill. Season the fish with salt and pepper and a bit of Shrimp Magic. Spray the fish with nonstick spray. Grill the fish skin side down for 2 minutes. Rotate the fish a quarter turn (to make the crosshatch grill marks). Cook for another 2 minutes.

Close the top of the grill and cook for about 3 more minutes. Squeeze most of the liquid out of the slaw and place about half a cup in the center of a warmed plate. Drizzle a tablespoon or so of the cilantro puree around the mirliton slaw and a teaspoon of the chili oil in a circle closer to the rim of the plate. Put the fish filet on top skin up. Garnish with cilantro and Thai basil.

LouisianaLife.com | 45

Ryan Prewitt, chef and partner at New Orleans’ Pêche, has had an eventful year. Since its opening last year, Pêche won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and Prewitt himself won Best Chef in the South, honors he says are “hard to quantify.”

Prewitt says the critically acclaimed seafood restaurant is the result of years of traveling, planning and eating with chefs and co-owners Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski. The final product, however, is quite straightforward.

“We are not trying to do anything revolutionary at Pêche. We want to present the best possible Gulf seafood we can buy,” Prewitt says. “We want you to have a quick bite in shorts or a long, leisurely meal in a suit. We want the food to be interesting, delicious and properly prepared. We want you to leave happy and content.”

Prewitt was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and, despite the city’s status as a major center for Southern food, Prewitt says he “did not grow up in a particularly culinary environment,” although his grandfather grew vegetables, and fried catfish was a regular meal in his family. It wasn’t until Prewitt moved to San Francisco as an adult that he discovered his passion for cooking.

“I lived a few blocks from a large, twice-weekly farmer’s market that was geared toward functional shopping,” Prewitt says. “The selection was great, and the prices were even better. I could go down there with $20 and come away with bags of produce to experiment with. I spent most of my free time reading cookbooks and thinking about a career change, until one day I quit my job and started cooking. It was the best decision I ever made.”

Although Prewitt is not formally trained, he says he has been “fortunate to work under a short list of talented chefs who spent a lot of time” teaching him. He specifically cites his first boss in San Francisco, Alicia Jenish, and his New Orleans mentor and fellow chef at Pêche, 46 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

pÊche (new Orleans)

Donald Link, as having had especially profound impacts on his development as a chef.

After seven years in San Francisco, Prewitt moved to New Orleans almost nine years ago. With it, he brought his belief that a chef should use locational influences to inspire their cooking. “I am very fortunate to live in New Orleans, where we have access to an abundance of great products,” he says. “I am most certainly a product of my environments. California was a big influence, Donald [Link] was even bigger, and my Southern upbringing always looms in the background.”

Prewitt’s advice to a home cook is to trust your intuition. “Don’t get stressed out in the kitchen,” he says.

“If you don’t have a certain ingredient, it’s not going to ruin your dinner. Just buy from your markets and let what’s available guide you.

Read recipes and try to get the essence of it, then adapt it to what you have available.”

The most crucial component of any kitchen, however, is a “proper knife. It must be sharp, and you must care for it,” Prewitt says. “You will be rewarded over and over.”

There is one ingredient that Prewitt says he’s found himself using especially frequently. “I have a deep love of pickled chilies,” Prewitt says. “We use gallons of the pepper vinegar every week at Pêche. The pickle we make has a great balance of acidic, sweet and spicy that brightens just about anything. I have jars and jars of them at home, and it’s almost always what I reach for when a dish is missing something.”

Prewitt says that pickling chilies is a satisfying, easy introduction into the craft of pickling. “You can easily grow your own chilies and make pepper vinegar,” Prewitt says.

“You can also buy an assortment of chilies to suit your preference at most summer farmer’s markets.

Take them home, heat up some vinegar and sugar, and pour it over the chilies, and you’re all set.”

As for his personal life, Prewitt is married with two sons. “It will forever be my goal to spend more time with them,” he says. He also stays active by running. “My family, running and work pretty much take up all the hours in the day.”

whole grilled redfish 2 with salsa verde For the Redfish: Ingredients 2 ¼ - 2 ½ pound redfish (or other delicious fish), gutted, gilled and scaled 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon black pepper Sea salt

Salsa Verde Ingredients 2 salt packed anchovy filets, rinsed 2 garlic cloves, peeled 1 shallot, minced ½ cup parsley, chopped ½ cup mint, chopped ½ cup green onions, sliced 1 lemon, zested and juiced 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard ½ cup red wine vinegar ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon mild chile flakes Prepare a medium hot grill, preferably with wood burned down to coals. Make sure the redfish is scaled and the inner cavity is

SERVingS

completely clean. Make three evenly spaced deep cuts into each side of the fish. Dry the fish off thoroughly with a towel and, if you have time, allow to sit in front of a fan for about 15 minutes to finish drying. You can also leave the fish standing upright and uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.

Spread the oil on both sides of the fish and season with salt and pepper. Place the fish on the grill and cook almost completely on one side, about 10-15 minutes. Turn the fish to the other side and cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until the flesh has turned from opaque to white and the meat around the collar is soft.

Meanwhile, make the salsa verde. Mash the anchovy and garlic to a paste in a morter. Add everything except for the oil and combine thoroughly. Slowly pour in the oil while stirring the mixture.

Adjust seasoning as needed.

When the fish is cooked, heavily sauce a serving plate, place the fish on top, then pour more salsa verde on top. Finish with a good quality sea salt.

LouisianaLife.com | 47

48 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Chicken Osso Bucco, Restaurant paradis, rosemary beach, florida photograph by tommy crow

LouisianaLife.com | 49

Dining Across the Gulf Coast It is true. You can look it up.

There simply is not a stretch of America that cuts through four states, abutting large bodies of fresh and salt water, where the food is as good and indigenous as ours, right along our Gulf Coast.

Of course other places in the nation have pockets of culinary pleasures, but you can’t put your finger on a map boasting so big an area as the Gulf Coast with such an abundant bounty of riches from the land and the sea.

It’s a blessing that we don’t take for granted. In fact, we celebrate the whole ordeal: the ingredients, the preparation, the pleasure of simply enjoying what we have done, and the sharing part, with family and friends along with lively conversation.

Then again, there are times when heading out to a favorite restaurant is the correct answer to “What’s for dinner?”

Plentiful are the places and people who not only know what we like to eat, but also how we like to eat, and they are located in just about every square mile of our Gulf Coast region. Here’s some you may know, and likely a few others you should try.

By tim mcnally

LAFAYETTE La Fonda 3809 Johnston St. (337) 984-5630 lafonda1957.com A Mexican restaurant in the capital of Acadiana may seem incongruous with the culture known for its signature Cajun cuisine.

But after enjoying a fine margarita and some excellent Tex-Mex fare, you’ll realize this place makes all the sense in the world. Founded in 1957, La Fonda has been the scene of countless celebrations and business deals in this petroleum-driven town. The local Cajun population knows that life is not all about boiled crawfish and boudin – sometimes you need an excellent enchilada, too.

Jolie’s Louisiana Bistro 507 W. Pinhook Road (337) 706-8544 jolieslouisianabistro.com The ever-popular Cajun musical standard, “Jolie Blonde,” was the subject of a 1974 painting by world-renowned artist and Acadiana native son, the late George Rodrigue, known for his Blue Dog canvases. Rodrigue’s two sons, Andre and Jacques, along with Steve and Suzi Santillo, offer guests a culinary bridge between the Cajun and Creole cultures. The comfortable surroundings are the perfect setting to show off Louisiana cultures and homegrown ingredients from the land and sea. George Rodrigue’s joie de vivre lives on at Jolie’s.

50 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

GULFPORT, MISSissippi

BATON ROUGE Maison Lacour 11025 N. Harrells Ferry Road (225) 275-3755 maisonlacour.com

Tony’s Seafood Market & Deli 5215 Plank Road (225) 357-9669 tonyseafood.com

Lookout Steakhouse and Seafood 1301 26th Ave. (228) 248-0555 lookoutsteakhouse.com

You expect a town named Baton Rouge to have more of a French influence. Maison Lacour can bring you to that appreciation. Combining the cuisine styles of Paris and Southern France, even the décor of the cozy restaurant, in a park setting, transports you to the European country of Louisiana’s birth. Chef Michael Jetty apprenticed here under chef and owner Jacqueline Greaud. Jetty was so in love with the restaurant and Chef Greaud’s daughter, Eva, that he pledged his troth to both. It’s a romantic European story, laden with fine food, and it’s a story of Louisiana love.

You are probably going to have to wait in line, and you can’t dine here. But with seafood like this, all of that is just fine. Since 1959, Tony Pizzolato, native of just down the road Donaldsonville, decided to open up a produce stand and wholesale business, then added some seafood items to serve requests. Soon the seafood was the deal so the produce went away. Now his crabs, oysters, drum, redfish, and catfish, all fresh or prepared in proper Cajun fashion are the hit of the town. Oh, add in an order of boudin balls. You can eat those in the car going home. Resistance is futile.

The place is historically stunning. Built as a bank in 1903, the restaurant has been converted tastefully and respectfully. The bar is impressive, and the mezzanine seating area looks over the kitchen and downstairs dining area. Rooms upstairs offer views of Gulfport Harbor on the Gulf. As you would expect in a waterside community restaurant, the seafood is done well.

The steaks are the deal, however. New York Strip, filet mignon, ribeye and center-cut sirloin will satisfy your carnivorous desires.

Mansurs on the Boulevard 5720 Corporate Blvd.

(225) 923-3366 mansursontheboulevard.com

Stroubes 107 3rd St. (225) 448-2830 stroubes.com

Since 1989, Mansurs on the Boulevard has been a centerpiece of Capital City life. The energetic bar scene buzzes with talk of politics, oil, shipping and entertainment possibilities to come. The elegant dining room features Creole specialties that locals and natives have come to discover or enjoy again. The nightly piano accompaniment, classical or jazz, completes the picture of Southern dining at its very best.

Executive chefs Brad Andries and Mark Reilly call their approach, “upscale Down South dining,” and it works. A centerpiece of the renaissance of downtown Baton Rouge, and just steps from the historic Old State Capital, Stroube’s creatively but comfortably offers dishes based in lamb, calamari, frog legs, shrimp, escargot, oysters, duck, andouille, ribs, steak, pasta and more.

White Cap Seafood 560 E. Beach Blvd.

(228) 604-4444 As you look out over the Gulf, know that what you are about to enjoy was not too long ago out there. There’s nothing pretentious here, just fine, fresh seafood prepared properly by people who have been doing it their whole lives. Grilled oysters here rival the quality of those in New Orleans, and shrimp are not to be overlooked. While there’s a bit of a chain restaurant feel, don’t let that stop you. Stick with the specials of the day fresh plucked from the Gulf. Prices are very reasonable.

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BILOXI, MISSissippi The Hook Up 200 E. 8th St. | (228) 432-5330 | thehookuprestaurant.com This is one of those “grand halls on stilts sitting by the marina” kinds of places that are so prevalent in waterside communities. The deck is a popular gathering spot, particularly during the sunset. The bar is a fun place to meet and greet, as well as get a decent and honest cocktail. The food is comforting, with the usual fried offerings and hamburgers. Point is: You can’t do fine dining on every occasion and sometimes dinner should be ultra-casual, along with meeting new friends and just, in general, passing a good time.

PENSACOLA, FLorida Five Sisters Blues Café 421 W. Belmont St. (850) 912-4856 fivesistersbluescafe.com The spirit of the Deep South lives in the food and the music, and in the hearts, of five sisters, who hail from Stanford, Kentucky. These Southern girls and their family took John Cougar Mellencamp’s words to heart, “vacationing at the Gulf of Mexico.”

The café stays true to theme with andouille-crusted shrimp, a daily gumbo, seafood platters and a seafood basket.

Yep, that’s the kind of food I want at the beach, not to mention the good music, which is worth mentioning.

Tuscan Oven 4801 N. 9th Ave. | (850) 484-6836 | tuscanoven.com You may not go to Pensacola expecting a great pizza. Why not? The oven is a 4,000 pound, mostly brick, hardwood-fired, 500-degree monster. As for the marinara, it’s all house-made from the family’s recipe, a bit zesty, and the dough is made on-site.

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MOBILE, ALAbama Noja 6 N. Jackson St. (251) 433-0377 nojamobile.com “Mediterrasian” is the made-up word describing this restaurant’s style of preparation and ingredients. Actually, the word works, and so does the place.

Ingredients are sustainable and lighter, with less salt than other restaurants nearby.

Quick frying, steaming or boiling are the preferred methods of cooking, and only when completed are delicate spices and seasonings added. Panko, Pekin and Thai influences exist side by side. Fine cocktail work is also present.

Kitchen on George 351A George St. (251) 436-8890 kitchenongeorge.com This is a lot like dining at home – but better. Surroundings are completely comfortable in Mobile’s Historic District.

Much of the menu is available tapas-style, which allows for sharing many plates with your companions. The salmon brie salad is quite a treat, along with the local goat cheese salad. Heartier fare is available for diners desiring larger portions.

DESTIN, FLorida

SEAGROVE BEACH, FLorida

Marina Café 404 Harbor Blvd.

(850) 837-7960 marinacafe.com

Café 30A 3899 East Highway 30A | (850) 231-2166 | cafethirtya.com Go to the outdoor second floor bar to feel the evening breezes off the Gulf. Or just hunker down in the dining room bar downstairs. Either way, you can expect an excellent martini. The place looks like it should do a great martini, all white-painted wood and windows throughout, and you can rest assured of getting a good one. Old Florida is the style and even some of the dishes reflect that view, such as grilled Georgia quail on creamy grits. That’s a starter, believe it or not.

This is one of the old standards, and that’s saying something in Destin, where turnover of restaurants occurs with the tide. After a day of sitting in sand and slathering on sunscreen, nothing feels better than sitting at a candlelit dinner in a white-tablecloth ,fine-dining restaurant, overlooking beautiful Destin Harbor. The peppercorn rimmed Ahi tuna is a classic, and there’s an excellent wine list. Expect an attentive, knowledgeable, well-trained wait staff. The steaks, pork, lamb, and chicken are the best preparations in town.

Harbor Docks 538 Harbor Blvd.

(850) 837-2506 harbordocks.com

ROSEMARY BEACH, Florida Restaurant Paradis 82 South Barrett Square | (850) 534-0400 | restaurantparadis.com Enjoying the wide veranda that surrounds the restaurant is a great day’s-end reward, sipping top-notch beverages or even dining al fresco. If you have had enough outside, the comfortable bar can make your favorite beverage, your way. Lots of wines accompany the ambitious preparations of grouper, tuna, shrimp, filet mignon and pork. If you are ready for a little atmosphere, you won’t do better along the entire coast.

Also located right on Destin Harbor, this (mostly) open-air, rustic establishment enjoys the warm but delightful breezes coming off the Gulf and the harbor. So what’s the specialty?

Sushi, of course. They also feature whatever came in on the fishing boats that day so “fresh” is the deal, all the way around. It’s ultra casual in every way. Shorts and sneakers are de rigueur.

Cuvee Bistro 36120 Emerald Coast Parkway (850) 650-8900 cuveebistrodestin.com What started as a retail wine shop attached to a restaurant has now morphed into a sports bar with a good wine selection. Chef Tim Creehan took over a few years ago and the change is noticeable. Upscale casual, by Destin’s standards, Creehan has sourced ingredients from the best spots, such as Tanglewood Farms, Hudson Valley, New Zealand and Maple Leaf Farms. Cuvee is infamous for their long Happy Hour, 5-9 p.m., with drink specials and flatbread accompaniments.

photograph by tommy crow

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Gifts From the Gulf

It doesn’t get any fresher.

When Europeans first began settling the northern Gulf of Mexico, they encountered vast wetlands, bays and rivers teeming with fish of all kinds. More than three centuries later, these same wetlands still feed many people.

From the Sabine River on the LouisianaTexas line to the Florida Panhandle, sportsmen find an abundance of tasty redfish, speckled trout, flounder, black drum, sheepshead and many other inshore species. Combining an

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By John N. Felsher

abundance of fish with a world-renowned reputation for creating delicious culinary concoctions and people can understand why Gulf Coast residents love to catch and eat so much seafood.

“I grew up hunting and fishing in Louisiana and learned to cook from my mom, my dad and my grandmother,” recalls Chef David Cunningham, executive chef at V Seagrove Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach,

Florida. “My dad’s philosophy was that the hunt or fishing trip wasn’t over until the meat was in the pot or freezer.”

People can prepare most fish in almost as many ways as anglers can catch them. Many people prefer to scale or skin fish, filet off boneless slabs and fry, grill, broil or bake them.

People can also put fish in a soup, gumbo or courtbouillon, a thick, rich stew among other ways to cook them. About three decades ago, people sometimes waited for hours outside New Orleans restaurants to sample pungent pieces of blackened redfish, a species many sportsmen considered “trash fish” not worthy of human consumption before the craze swept the nation.

Many people also enjoy redfish “on the half shell.” To prepare this dish, filet off the sides of a sizeable redfish, but leave the large scales intact. Marinate the meat in Italian salad dressing and add lemon, pepper and spices to taste. Plop the slab on a hot grill, scale side down. The scales coagulate from the heat into

sort of a plate. When ready, flake the succulent meat off the scales.

Cunningham likes to prepare what he calls “salt dome redfish.” He covers a whole side of a redfish in salt and bakes it. The baked salt creates something like a crusty shell. When ready to serve, remove the salt shell, letting out the incredibly tempting aroma.

“The salt seals in the juice, and it comes out super moist,” Cunningham explains. “The salt doesn’t permeate into the meat. When baking, the salt gets really hard and makes a crust.

When we take it out, the salt comes off like a big shell in the shape of the fish. When we lift that off and peel the skin back, the aroma hits and everyone is pleasantly surprised. The dish doesn’t really have any salt on it except what was in the natural salt water because of the freshness of the fish. Some people even put a little of that salt crust back onto the fish when they eat it.”

Flat with both eyes on one side, flounder don’t look like other fish, so anglers need to prepare them differently. Many people “butterfly” flounder. Make a cut down the center of the fish and form two pockets on either side of the cut between the meat and backbone. Then, fill those pockets with stuffing made from shrimp or crabmeat and bake it.

Many Gulf fish also make excellent dishes.

Pompano frequently commands a higher price in restaurants than beef. Some other delicious offshore fish include amberjack, cobia, dolphin (not to be confused with the marine mammal), grouper, red snapper and wahoo.

People who grill tuna may never open a can of fish again. Place tuna steaks about an inch thick on the grill and watch the coloring. The side closest to the fire will turn a different color as it cooks. As the color change hits the center of the steak, flip the meat over until the colors merge.

Across Louisiana, anglers can usually catch all the fish they want, but nowhere does the cornucopia of life manifest itself more abundantly than at Venice (Louisiana), last outpost in the Mississippi River delta. From Venice, anglers can catch everything from bluegill to blue marlin. After fishing, many people can’t wait to eat their catch.

“There’s nothing better than eating a fish caught a few hours earlier,” says Dan Skermetta, who runs Venice Sportsman’s Lodge ((504) 248-8092, www.venicesportsmanslodge.net). “We get people from all over. Some guys say they can catch more fish here in three or four days than they can catch all year at home.”

On the Mississippi Coast, the waters near Biloxi produce many great catches. Biloxi sits astride a peninsula with Biloxi Bay, also known as Back Bay, on the northern side and Mississippi Sound to the south. Several rivers and bayous feed into the bay, creating abundant and diverse fishing opportunities.

Several islands separate Mississippi Sound from the Gulf.

“We have Gulf fishing, river fishing, island fishing, surf fishing and bay fishing all combined in one general area,” says Robert Brodie of Team Brodie Charters in Biloxi. ((228)392-7660, teambrodiecharters.com). “We have a lot of artificial reefs in this area that hold good fish.”

Mobile Bay in southern Alabama measures 31 miles long by 24 miles wide. Several rivers flow into the bay, creating the fourth-largest estuary in the United States. The Fort Morgan Peninsula and Dauphin Island separate Mobile Bay from the Gulf.

Historic Pensacola Bay near the Florida town of the same name stretches about 13 miles long by 2.5 miles wide in two parts. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway runs through the bay, connecting Escambia Bay to East Bay.

Although Destin, Florida, hosts one of the largest offshore charter boat fleets in the United States, sportsmen can also find great inshore action in Choctawhatchee Bay. Near Panama City, Florida, St. Andrews Bay covers about 25,000 acres.

Any of these honey holes and thousands of other Gulf Coast hot spots can provide exceptional fishing for a variety of species all year long. On hot summer evenings, follow the aromatic allure of savory fish dishes to see who found the best action that day.

Do some homework before booking a charter Many people prefer to catch the fish they eat, but anglers who may only fish a few times a year actually save money by hiring a captain instead of buying a boat. Boat owners must make payments, buy insurance and perform maintenance even if the boat sits idle for months. To fish, owners must buy fuel, oil, bait and ice and pay launch fees. After the trip, someone must clean and store everything, then replace broken items. For all those expenses, occasional anglers can buy several charter adventures each year.

Charter captains carry the right equipment plus know how and where to catch fish. However, before booking a charter, do some research. If possible, talk to people who previously fished with that captain. Find out how the captain fishes and for what species. Before hiring the service, communicate specific desires to the captain and together plan an enjoyable day.

Also, find out exactly what the captain charges and what those charges cover. Discuss appropriate tips. Arrive at the designated place on time prepared to fish. Contact the captain as early as possible if anything changes. Most captains provide all the rods, reels, bait and tackle, but bring a camera, suntan lotion, sunglasses, refreshments, snacks, and clothes appropriate to the season or weather conditions. Also bring an ice chest to take fish home.

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Going Coastal There are plenty of activities to be had on the Gulf Coast this summer, and events are varied, from visiting historic museums and watching the Blue Angels to kayaking among the dunes.

Opening in July will be the permanent home for the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Gulfport, Mississippi, which will showcase Gulf Coast maritime history. Beauvoir in Biloxi, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis spent his last years, has been restored and is now open, along with a new visitor’s center and library. Just down the beach highway from both is the eclectic campus of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, celebrating both the artwork of George Edgar Ohr – known as the “Mad Potter of Biloxi” – and others.

One of the most exciting events to experience along the coast every summer is the practice sessions of the Blue Angels, officially known as the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, at their home in Pensacola, Florida. The Blue Angels perform free for the public typically at 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. After

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Things to do this summer along the Gulf Coast

By cherÉ coen

watching the Angels in action, head to the National Naval Aviation Museum to enjoy a Blue Angel simulation ride.

There is plenty of natural beauty along Mississippi Coast. Visitors may enjoy the Pascagoula River Wildlife Management Area, the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, the Crosby Arboretum and the Gulf Islands National Seashore. In the Florida Panhandle, there are numerous state parks to enjoy along the beach and just north of Interstate 10, such as the cool waters of Ponce de Leon Springs State Park.

Dauphin Island, a 14-mile-long barrier island southwest of Mobile, Alabama, offers varied ecosystems from dunes and beach to swampland and features a national recreational trail on the eastern end. Birders will especially love the island, where 95 percent of the birds documented in Alabama have been spotted here. Shell Mound Park contains several plant species that may have been relocated by Native Americans from the Appalachian Mountains and Mexico, plus there’s the award-winning and

fascinating Estuarium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the pre-Civil War Fort Gaines.

In Alabama, Gulf State Park has been revamped and is now bigger and better than ever, says Jojo Terry of the Alabama State Tourism Department. In addition to the beachfront, nature center, 18-hole Refuge Golf Course and camping, the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trails stretch through the park all the way to Orange Beach.

“There are miles and miles and miles of trails, and they are all paved so they are handicapaccessible,” she says.

The park also offers the largest fishing pier on the Gulf Coast. New to the park is the Gulf Adventure Center, which offers Hummingbird Ziplines, kayak rentals and paddleboards on Lake Shelby, one of the world’s closest fresh water lakes next to a salt-water source.

For the kids, activities are endless. The Foley Railroad Museum in Alabama opens its massive model train exhibit from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, moving 100 train cars through the 1/4-mile of track. Water parks abound and include the Gulf Islands Waterpark in Gulfport, Mississippi, Shipwreck Island in Panama City, Florida and Sam’s Surf City in Pensacola, Florida.

There are many opportunities to play a golf. One course that’s attracted presidents and celebrities is the Lakewood Golf Club at The Grand Hotel Marriott Resort in Fairhope, Alabama. Lakewood’s two 18-hole courses are lined with 200-year-old oaks, water features and a challenging signature hole, the 14th on Azalea. Newly renovated, Lakewood Golf Club has several times been named to Golf Magazine’s “Best Golf Resorts in America.”

Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis in Mississippi, plus the Historic Pensacola Village in Florida offer day trips for shopping, galleries, boutiques and history. In Ocean Springs, Mississippi, visitors can view Walter Anderson’s masterpieces at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art and visit Shearwater Pottery, where ceramics begun by the late Peter Anderson and his brothers, Walter and James, are still handcrafted. If you arrive before 4:30 p.m., you can watch the potters in action. Every Saturday in the Historic Pensacola Village, costumed living history interpreters offer glimpses into early 19th-century life and guided tours of historic homes are offered daily.

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Photo Courtesy Louisiana Office of Tourism| LouisianaLife.com

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signature dishes Summer is a great season for hosting friends for a potluck backyard barbecue or a cool evening dinner party. Wow your nearest and dearest with new recipes from the state’s notable restaurants and food providers.

The following culinary experts have leant their creativity and expertise and contributed recipes for some of their favorite dishes, both simple and complex. The following takes on classic Louisiana cuisine will have your house smelling like an old Creole kitchen and your guests heading for seconds. Find your new favorite dish among these savory seafood and poultry offerings.

Sizzling Oysters R’evolution with Smoked Bienville Butter

CROCKPOT JAMB Sanderson Farms is one of the nation’s leading producers of 100% Natural Chicken.

That means their chicken is free of additives like carrageenan, broth, salt and other substances that other companies use to pump up their chicken. Sanderson Farms chicken is sold in 38 states and is always fresh. Though they’ve grown in size, they still adhere to the same hometown values—honesty, integrity, and innovation—that have been with them since their founding in 1947.

3 Sanderson Farms Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets, diced into ½-inch dices ½ pound smoked sausage, diced 1 cup diced yellow onion, 1/4” 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes 1 cup low sodium chicken broth 1 teaspoon dried oregano 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning ½ teaspoon dried thyme ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup diced green bell pepper, ½” 1 cup uncooked converted long grain rice Preparation Set a 6-quart slow cooker on High. Add chicken, sausage, onion, tomatoes, chicken broth, oregano, seasoning, thyme, salt and green bell pepper. Stir. Cover and cook 2 hours.

Add rice. Stir. Cover and cook 1 hour.

Yield: 6 servings.

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Dine in one of Gayot’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants in the U.S. and one of Wine Enthusiast’s Best Wine Restaurants in America, Restaurant R’evolution in the heart of the French Quarter at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Chefs John Folse and Rick Tramonto present their imaginative reinterpretations of classic Creole and Cajun cuisine for dinner nightly, weekday lunch and Sunday Jazz Brunch in five historically designed dining rooms. For reservations call 504-553-2277 or visit revolutionnola.com.

Shucked gulf oysters, 6 each Cleaned oyster shells, 6 each 3 tbsp. Smoked Bienville butter, crumbled 1 tbsp. Parsley-parmesan bread crumbs 1 tbsp. Shaved green onion ½ cup Rock salt Lemon wedge, 1 each Keep oyster shells in a hot oven. Upon pick up, place the shells face down over an open flame for about 1 minute.

Place the hot shells on top of a rock salt lined plate.

Quickly place one oyster in each shell and crumble the butter over the top, then sprinkle bread crumbs over each oyster and top with finely sliced green onion. Garnish with lemon wedge on a cocktail fork.

SMOKED BIENVILLE BUTTER Yield: 2.5 lbs.

1 lb Butter, softened .

2 cups Onions, small diced 1 cup Celery, small diced 2 cup Mixed bell pepper, small diced ½ cup Garlic, chopped ½- 750 ml bottle Dry white wine 1 cup Green onion, finely sliced 1 lb. Smoked oysters 2 tsp. Salt 1 tsp. Black pepper 2 cups Grated parmesan Smoke the oysters over low heat for about 30 minutes. Divide in half, small dice one half and set aside.

Melt a small amount of butter in a sauté pan and sweat the onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic until tender.

Add the wine and bring to a rolling boil, reduce down until only a couple tablespoons of liquid remains. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Place half of the cooled reduction in the food processor along with the softened butter, half of the green onion, the whole smoked oysters, salt, pepper, and parmesan. Continue pureeing until smooth.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and fold in the remaining green onions and the diced smoked oysters.

Roll into 1 ½” logs using wax paper and chill. Slice as needed.

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JOEY ’S MAMA’S SHRIMP GRITS AND CATFISH Conveniently located inside the elegant Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the New Orleans French Quarter, Roux on Orleans provides a true taste of Creole country with it’s refined menu of South Louisiana classics finessed by Chef Joey Wells. With dishes such as Joey’s Mama’s Shrimp Grits & Catfish and a fresh take on Redfish Couvillion, Roux on Orleans delights guests with an array of regional flavors and a selection of classic favorites.

FOR ETTOUFFEE 6 tablespoons unsalted butter ½ cup all-purpose flour 4 cups chopped onions 2 cups chopped green bell peppers 2 cups chopped celery 2 tablespoons minced garlic 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes 2 bay leaves 2 teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 tablespoons of blackening, recipe follows 1 quart seafood stock ½ cup thinly sliced green onion tops, for garnish Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven set over medium heat. Add the flour and stir continuously to make a roux. Stir the roux over medium heat until it is a little darker than the color of peanut butter, about 8 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic to the roux, and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes to the pot and season with the bay leaves, salt, cayenne, and 1 tablespoon of the blackening seasoning.

Cook the tomatoes for 2 to 3 minutes and then whisk in the seafood stock.

Bring the mixture to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook the etouffee, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. Season the shrimp with the remaining tablespoon of blackening seasoning.

Shrimp: In a non stick skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat cook the shrimp for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they are cooked to through. Add the chopped parsley to the pot and stir to combine Catfish: Take a 5 to 7 oz catfish filet and cut on an angle into 4 strip. Batter the fish in egg wash and then dredge in seasoned fish fry. Deep fry at 350 for about 5 mins or until the fish starts to float.

Corn Grits: 1 teaspoon of salt ½ teaspoon of peper 1cup of chicken stock 1 cup of heavy cream 1cup of corn grits 1 cup of roasted corn, onions and peppers.

In a 2 quart sauce pot add chicken stock and heavy cream, when it comes to a boil lower heat and add all other ingredients place a lids on and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Cut the fire off and let stand for another 5 mins.

Blackening Seasoning: 2 ½ tablespoons paprika 2 tablespoons salt 2 tablespoons garlic powder 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon dried thyme 1 tablespoon of brown sugar Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

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state of medicine Health care offerings continue to expand across Louisiana and the Gulf South. Staying on top of the latest announcements can be an arduous task for the average consumer, so here we’ve compiled some of the latest news from area leaders. Anniversaries, accreditations, openings and awards top the list of talking points this month, as numerous providers celebrate their top quality status in various medical fields. Take a look at what’s going on in Baton Rouge, Bossier City, Thibodaux, Houma, Houston and beyond.

Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC), a nationally recognized health care provider in the Bayou Region, has built a reputation based on high quality and state-of-the-art technology throughout the past 60 years.

When TGMC opened its doors in 1954, it had 76 beds and a staff of fewer than 80; in 2014, the hospital is a 321-bed acute care facility with 1,377 local employees, offering specialized services tailored to the health needs of area residents. Today, TGMC offers the community a wide range of services including world-class cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, comprehensive women’s services, outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, emergency medicine and the full continuum of cancer care at the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at TGMC, nationally accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. The medical center is also accredited by The Joint Commission and is a Pathways to Excellence® designated facility.

Proudly, TGMC is an award-winning hospital as a result of its employees’ dedication to the mission of providing exceptional health care with compassion. Learn more at tgmc.com.

Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge has served Louisiana and beyond with innovative and compassionate health care for 90 years. As the largest hospital in the state, Our Lady of the Lake offers more than 60 medical specialties including advanced surgical services, a comprehensive Cancer Center, a designated Children’s Hospital, and a 250-provider physician network.

The Heart & Vascular Institute and expanded Trauma Center are leaders in care and treatment for disease and injury, using state-of-the-art technology. The hospital continues to advance health through education and research as an academic medical center investing in the next generation of health care leaders.

The many recognitions and distinctions awarded demonstrate Our Lady of the Lake’s commitment to high quality. These include Hospital of the Year, Magnet designation for excellence in nursing care, which is only achieved by five percent of U.S.

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hospitals; Cycle IV Chest Pain Center for advanced heart care; Bariatric Center of Excellence; Advanced Primary Stroke Center; and ranked the No. 1 hospital in Baton Rouge by U.S. News & World Report.

To learn more about how we’re making your health care better, visitololrmc.com.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana has been providing health insurance to Louisiana families since 1934. As Louisiana’s oldest health insurer, Blue Cross is committed to providing access to affordable, quality care. The company, which is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, is headquartered in Baton Rouge, and has regional offices in Alexandria, Houma, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is Louisiana-owned and –operated and insures one out of every four Louisianans.

It is a private, fully taxed mutual company, owned by its policyholders—not stockholders. The company and its subsidiaries offer a wide portfolio of health insurance products, as well as life, dental and vision plans. The company also holds accreditations from top national health care standards organizations.

To learn more, contact a Blue Cross authorized agent or visit bcbsla.com.

Houston Methodist has grown alongside Houston since it opened its doors as The Methodist Hospital in 1919 in response to a Spanish flu epidemic. The hospital continued to grow, and in 1951 it moved from its first home in downtown Houston to become one of the founding hospitals in the Texas Medical Center.

Today, Houston Methodist includes its flagship hospital as well as six regional hospitals, three emergency care centers with a fourth scheduled to open in July, two imaging centers and the Houston Methodist Research Institute, which is innovating health care.

Houston Methodist Hospital is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s “Best Hospitals” and

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the No. 1 hospital in Texas. Houston Methodist, also ranked for nine years as one of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” is focused on leading medicine and its mission to provide quality and compassionate care to every patient.

For more information or for a physician referral, please call 877-790-DOCS (3627) or visit houstonmethodist.org/usa.

Willis-Knighton Health System has opened the WK Innovation Center in Bossier City in what was formerly Bossier Medical Center. Vacant for many years, the building has been fully renovated and reborn to support the health system’s needs.

Its most unique feature, a virtual hospital complete with lifelike patient simulators, provides training opportunities that best mimic real-world situations for health system staff as well as students in the health care field from throughout the region. A special feature is the Talbot Medical Museum, which features professional displays about the history of Willis-Knighton and medical care in the region.

Several Willis-Knighton departments have relocated to the center, including Career Institute, Community Education, Corporate Business Office and the Health Information Management Archives. Additional square footage is dedicated for expanded meeting space for employee orientation and staff events. The health system also plans in the future to contract with eligible nonprofit groups for use of the meeting areas.

For more information on Willis-Knighton Health System, visit wkhs.com.

Thibodaux Regional Medical Center, located in Lafourche Parish, has begun construction on its new Wellness Center, a $61 million investment in the health and wellness of communities in Lafourche and the surrounding parishes. The state-of-theart, medically directed Center, the first of its kind in the state and among the finest in the nation, is designed to improve the health of the region through prevention, fitness, education, rehabilitation and focused sports and wellness services. Centers

of Excellence within the Wellness Center will include a Sports Medicine Center; Aquatics Center featuring a lap pool swimming area and warm-water therapy pools; Spine Center; Neurosciences Center; Pain Center; Rehabilitation Center; Imaging Center; Weight Management Center; Wellness Education Center; Urgent Care Center; Fitness Center; Imaging Center; and Women’s Breast Health Center.

The facility will also offer medical services such as orthopaedics, rheumatology, endocrinology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology and neurosurgery, along with cardiac rehabilitation, diabetes management and Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy. Other amenities include a gymnasium, indoor walking track, volleyball and football sports fields, and more. The 230,000+ square foot center is expected to open in late 2015. For more information, call 985-493-4326.

Do you know your risk of cardiovascular disease? If you have family history, high cholesterol or high blood pressure, or if you smoke, are obese or live an inactive lifestyle, you could be at risk.

Make sure to determine your risk factors and take preventative measures regardless of your age and gender.

Do your legs cramp, itch or feel heavy? You may have venous disease, which is caused by diseased or abnormal veins. When vein vessels become damaged or weak, blood flows backward, causing the veins to stretch, swell and twist. The Vein Center at Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) in Houma diagnoses and treats venous disease with minimally invasive procedures, resulting in less pain, cosmetic improvement and quicker recoveries for patients. CIS cardiologists have received national recognition for the prevention, detection and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

To schedule an appointment, call 1-800-425-2565 or visit cardio.com to learn more. •

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ADVERTISING SECTION

Regional Travel: Summer vacation season has arrived and a multitude of regional destinations await. Mississippi’s vast landscape offers a variety of experiences, from its coast on the gulf to the bustling capital city, and arts and shopping destinations. There’s no shortage of entertainment available in the summer months. Discover why Mississippi is also known as The Hospitality State, and explore its vast territory and exciting events. The following destinations make for a great family excursion—find something for everyone, from shoppers and music fans to outdoorsmen and more.

King Edward

Jackson, Miss., the “City with Soul,” invites you to find Your True South! Arts and entertainment abound this summer in Jackson, where there are more than 200 restaurants and 28 attractions including the Lefleur’s Museum District, offering discounted rates to four family museums.

On July 12 there’s no horsing around at the Mississippi Black Rodeo, featuring Tank, and stop by the Jackson Zoo to cool off at the Ice Cream Safari. Local celebs will scoop the top Blue Bell flavors.

Music reigns Aug. 15-16 at the Jackson Rhythm & Blues Festival held at the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum.

The premier two-day music festival boasts five stages (three indoor and air-conditioned) and will feature a stellar line up of more than 30 artists including Ziggy Marley, FANTASiA, Bell Biv Devoe, Boney James, Bobby Rush, Denise LaSalle, Dorothy Moore, Estelle and Chrisette Michele.

For more information and destinations, go online to VisitJackson.com.

76 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

Ridgeland Clock Tower

Welcome, intrepid shoppers, seekers of the stylish and explorers of great living! You’ve arrived at the right place— Ridgeland, Miss.—for an exciting retail getaway experience that delights and satisfies. The Ridgeland Retail Trail is paved with locally owned, unique treasures and more. It takes a delicate touch to create culinary masterpieces, patience to weave a perfect basket and vision to transform a lump of clay into a piece of graceful pottery. These and more have helped Ridgeland grow from a small artist colony to a premier shopping destination with more than 140 restaurants and quality accommodations.

Visit the Ridgeland Retail Trail page on Facebook in July to win a shopping prize, and find more information online at VisitRidgeland.com/RRT. Ridgeland is also home to a variety of attractions including the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444-mile All-American Road and National Scenic Byway, with 157 types of birds, state parks, riding trails, historic interpretations, American-Indian artifacts and cultural opportunities; the Mississippi Craft Center, Mississippi’s attraction of the year, showcasing traditional and contemporary crafts; and the 33,000-acre Ross Barnett Reservoir for parks and outdoor activities. Explore VisitRidgeland.com for more info! •

around louisiana Events and Highlights / By Jeanne Frois

North

Letters from Swamper Swamper, Letters from a Louisiana Swamp Rabbit, is an enchanting book for older children that will teach them all about the ecological life cycles of the swamp through the auspices of letters written to the reader by a likeable swamp lepus named Swamper.

Swamper’s letters chronicle his life and natural habitat in the swamp in a very personal, anecdotal way that also packs a huge educational punch. It all begins when the author, Amy Griffin Ouchley, a naturalist and environmental educator, tells the story of one day leading a nature hike in the bottomland hardwood swamp she lives near in Northeast Louisiana. Suddenly, a small brown rabbit darts out from the underbush. She knew it

was a swamp rabbit because of the cinnamon-colored fur that ringed it eyes, and she and her students wanted to know more about him. Not long after, writes Ouchley, she began to find wet, muddy letters in a hollow stump near her home signed, “Swamper.”

The book is a compilation of 12 letters Ouchley has received so far from the literary rabbit.

His first letter describes the web of life in the swamp, the interrelations between the plants, mammals, and organisms so well meshed for survival. His world is “peopled” with his swamp co-habitants, e.g., Whisk, the white-footed mouse; Silk the spider; Cheery and Wendy, the Carolina wrens; and eventually Fern, the “rabbit of his dreams” and mother of all his little bunnies,

Lichen and Moss. Among the letters and pages are line drawings of rabbits, owls, frogs and various swamp critters, accompanied by gorgeous photographs of the swamp and all its wild little population that flies, hops, crawls and climbs throughout its domain. At the end of each chapter, Ouchley places questions regarding what was discussed in the previous letter as a review.

Ouchley has tapped into pure gold with the creation of this book. As bewitching as a fairy tale, it remains a valuable educational tool perfect for summer reading that might inspire you to take the kids on a nature hike through the swamp. Ouchley has been named Conservation Educator of the Year from the Louisiana Wildlife Federation and regularly conducts field trips and workshops for both children and adults.

WATERMELON FESTIVAL IN FARMERVILLE Just as crape myrtle trees that are full of lavender, white or fuchsia flowers color our days, scarlet plump Creole tomatoes gleam in gardens and stone blue cumulus clouds tower in the afternoon sky, watermelons are also a sign that summer has arrived in Louisiana. It’s hard to find something more refreshing on a hot summer day than the deep pink fruit of a juicy watermelon.

Watermelons home-grown in the Bayou State are, by

nature, sweet and juicy. Never is this more important than at Farmerville’s Watermelon Festival. Competition is keen among Union Parish participants when it comes to picking the best watermelons each year. During the highly educational Interior Quality Competition of the Watermelon Festival, watermelons are not judged for looks or size alone.

Following a breakfast for all growers who have brought their rotund fruit for judging, quality watermelons are judged for sugar content at the Union Parish Extension Service.

Through the use of a refractometer, an instrument that measures the sugar content or soluble solids from the juice of the fruit, also known as brix, the winning watermelon is selected.

The Farmerville Jaycees, a group volunteers, founded the festival more than 50 years ago. Amid the serious but good-natured competition for best watermelon during the Festival, a host of fun activities abound. Events include a tennis tournament; parade; beauty pageant; bicycle and tricycle races; arm wrestling contest; watermelon eating and seed spitting contests; a best-dressed watermelon competition and a street dance.

The festival is held July 25-26.

Information, Swamper, Letters from a Louisiana Swamp Rabbit, (225) 578-6666; Watermelon Festival, info@farmerville.org.

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around louisiana

Central RIVER RUNNING In the introduction of his book, Running the River, the Secrets of the Sabine, author Wes Ferguson quotes Jack Kerouac who described the Sabine as an “evil, old river.”

The Spanish, who discovered it centuries before, were of the same mind.

West of Many, the Sabine has been harnessed into the Toledo Bend Reservoir, a lake 185,000 acres strong, largest in the South, 65 miles long and 10 miles wide with a dam that generates massive electrical power. It’s also beautiful enough to provide recreational enjoyment. This is not Ferguson’s Sabine.

The Sabine is considered Louisiana’s “other” river, standing like a watery stepchild in the shadows of the Mississippi and Ouachita rivers. Sharing shorelines with both Texas and Louisiana, it was named “Sabina” (cypress) by the Spanish explorers because it was filled and lined with cypress trees. A native of Kilgore, Texas, and then a reporter for the Longview New Journal, Ferguson set out on a river odyssey with photographer Jacob Croft Botter traveling the murky river filled with water moccasins, alligators and mosquitoes from the Piney Woods of Texas all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. The book is a compilation of their adventures that includes 78 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

being almost shot as they navigate the twisting, turning river. Ferguson gives Louisiana’s other river and the strong and courageous self-proclaimed “river rats” who live off of it their just due by beautifully telling their story. His narrative is a combination of science, lore and history that corresponds to the rich river culture he encounters on his journey. At the river’s source in Texas, he and Botter found it to be subtle and beautiful; when they reached the portion that borders Louisiana, the waters turn dark, murky and mysterious. Ferguson writes: “Now the two of us intended to boat down the rest of the river where it charts the boundary between the states. We knew nothing about traveling the lower Sabine except that along the way the sun would rise in Louisiana and set in Texas, and we would fish, camp on sandbars and explore … at midday the forests parted and we arrived at the boat launch on the Louisiana bank…”

Ferguson’s book is an evocative piece of writing and photography that reveals the richness of an unknown culture also shared with our Texas neighbors.

CELEBRATING FOLKLIFE IN NATCHITOCHES This year, the NatchitochesNorthwestern State

University (NSU) Folk Festival will commemorate the theme, “Tricentennial Natchitoches: Celebrating Louisiana’s Folk Heritage.” There in the oldest settlement in Louisiana, for two days in July the rich folklife heritage of the Bayou State will be lifted on high in the summer sun. Joyously replete with delicious food in an area renowned for its meat pies, music, dancing, fascinating craft demonstrations with equally fascinating narrative folklife sessions will be performed as Natchitoches and NSU does Louisiana proud.

There will be numerous opportunities to learn Cajun

and line dancing. Also check out live music by Jesus Rhythm; Detention Center Choir; Back Porch Band; Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys and more.

The Louisiana State Fiddle Championship will be judged while some of the folklife discussion topics include Plantation Life; Rockabilly and Louisiana; Regional Folk Architectural Styles; The Legacy of Clementine Hunter. The festival takes place July 18-19.

Information, Running The River, sabineriverbook.com; NSU Folklife Festival, louisianafolklife.nsula.edu

around louisiana

Cajun Country delight that is very satisfying to the crackling connoisseur.

The Sausage Link is Sulphur offers a lighter version of the graton, fluffy with a delicious seasoning that takes cracklins down just a notch.

CRACKLIN TRAILS TO YOU Admittedly they can be called a heart attack in a bag, a really lovely bag with beautiful grease stains. They share many traits with that other heart attack in a bag, the doughnut. Cracklins, like doughnuts, are best eaten when fresh and warm right out of the fryer. Cubed or in strips, the pork skin, pork meat and fat are seasoned and then fried for at least an hour in hog lard, cooled, then fried again until the cook achieves that signature “pop.”

Cracklins, or gratons, have been gaining respect by some of the

upper-echelon chefs, but at the heart of it all, they remain down-home country food.

Traipsing through Cajun Country the Cracklin Trail winds with crackling pit stops along the way, i.e., grocery stores or eateries known for their perfect crackling preparation. Rabideaux’s in Iowa gets high marks for crispy, flavor-exploding crackins that nevertheless provides tender, perfectly seasoned meat within. Don’s Specialty Meats in Scott, a facility loaded to the gills with boudin and cracklins, is a meatier version of this porcine

ARTS AND CRABS IN LAKE CHARLES Whenever there was a harvest moon in the night sky, my father used to announce, “The crabs are running fat tonight!” One of my happiest memories was a crabbing trip with my father, mother, brother and next-door neighbor at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning when I was 5 years old. We found a spot filled with water lilies and struck crab gold. Louisiana loves crabs, and someone wisely decided to turn this affection into a celebration.

A deliciously imaginative and almost brand new festival has wrapped its claws around the hearts of festivalgoers in Lake Charles. The Arts and Crab Fest has, in the four short years since its beginning, sold out every hot August night that it takes place. Sponsored by the Arts Council of SWLA, the CVB, Southwest Beverage Company and FOX Channel 29, the Lake Charles Civic Center Coliseum is transformed into a mecca of exclusive crafts available for purchasing, surrounded by delicious food. Area restaurants and acclaimed chefs prepare dishes that are all crab-

themed. Accompanying the dishes in exquisite pairings are craft beers from breweries including Tin Roof Brewing Company; Covington Brewhouse; Bayou Tech Brewing and Parish Brewing.

Chefs have been known to serve mouth watering crab delicacies that include crab cakes, crab gumbo, crab bisque, crab ceviche, crab gazpacho, crab sushi and crab beignets. They know their way around a crab when it comes to creating epicurean interpretations that complement the delicious flavor of crabmeat.

People meander among the unique and exclusive arts and crafts, while some craftsmen demonstrate their handiwork, such as glass-blowing, right there on the premises. Live music plays throughout the three hours of the celebration as each contributing restaurant vies to win the honor of having their dish chosen Best Crab Dish in the fest. This is determined by which chef’s jar has received the most tips. The crab dishes change each year, but all are consistently representative of the restaurants’ cuisine style and chefs’ personality. Although it has the reputation of being irritable, and we give irritable people their name, it’s funny that no one ever seems unhappy when eating a crab.

Information, Cracklin Trail, cracklintrail.com; Arts & Crabs Fest, artsandhumanitiesswla.org

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around louisiana

Baton Rouge FELICIANA HUMMINGBIRD CELEBRATION There in the very genteel and charming town of St. Francisville, the Feliciana Nature Society holds its annual Hummingbird Celebration each summer. It’s a quiet and charming affair that anyone who indulges in the pleasurable habit of hanging a feeder filled with sugar water, plants flowers that draw the little beauties to stop by for a sip, and are mesmerized watching hummingbirds feed will no doubt enjoy very much.

Iridescent, infinitesimal and irresistible, hummingbirds are also easily irritated into fights when their own kind gets too close to their little stretch of nectar.

Gardeners throughout the centuries have treasured these little aerodynamic wizards whose blurring wings beat eighty times a second. They can also fly backwards. Strange as it may seem, despite their speed, it is possible to catch a hummingbird to weigh and band. Linda Beall and Nancy Newfield, hummingbird biologists, will give demonstrations during the Hummingbird Celebration as they harmlessly capture the feisty things and allow observers to get up close and personal by holding them in the open palms of their 80 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

hands. With just a simple touch of the finger, the hummingbird will fly away.

Studies have found that the little hummers, also known as flying jewels because of their bright colors that catch sunlight so beautifully, burn as much as 12,000 calories a day flying and must eat at least half of their weight to survive. They usually weigh less than an ounce and are three inches long . They are drawn to anything that is the color red, hence the usual red color of the feeders and the planting of red tubular flowers just for the birds.

The St. Francisville area is a hummingbird breeding habitat. The Hummingbird Celebration will begin with a wine and cheese reception on Friday, July 26, 2014 on the beautiful grounds of Rosedown Plantation at 6 p.m. Two St. Francisville private homes and gardens belonging to Carlisle Rogillo and Murrell Butler will be opened the following day for the catching and weighing demonstrations. Hummingbird friendly plants will also be available to purchase; sage hummingbird attraction advice will be generously dispensed.

BEAUTIFUL FELICITATION Award-winning photographer Kerri McCaffety is

already responsible for books that are gems such as Obituary Cocktail: the Great Saloons of New Orleans, and, Etouffee, Mon Amour: the Great Restaurants of New Orleans. Combine her photography with the rich text of the late Lee Malone and you have a little treasure of a book entitled, The Majesty of St. Francisville--Homes of the Felicianas. The Feliciana Parishes are called English Louisiana and McCaffety’s photographs capture the subdued and stately beauty of historic homes built by English settlers transplanted from the East Coast to the haunting moss-laden and lush beauty of an area described

by Malone as the most verdantly beautiful parishes in Louisiana…the soil was enriched for centuries by finegrained, fertile loam deposited by transcontinental winds from glacial deposits and river deltas to the banks of the Mississippi. The lovely homes are sugarwhite, sans any Spanish or French influence of vivid color, and they gleam in the green gloom of towering trees.

Exterior and interior photographs accompany a brief, yet fascinating history of nearly thirty homes that

escaped annihilation from Union Army conflagrations.

The rooms are filled with armoires that will take your breath away, satin puckered half tester beds, sweeping spiral staircases and parlors filled with furniture made by master cabinetmaker, Prudent Mallard. This book both reveals and tells the story of homes with names such as Catalpa; Propinquity; Rosale; Afton Villa Gardens--not omitted is the haunted Myrtles Plantation so beautifully photographed you don’t even consider the alleged ghosts. There is a charming story about f Live Oak near Baines. A young girl saw a watercolor of Live Oak in a shop on Royal Street in the New Orleans French Quarter during the 1930’s. She fell in love with the house, and as she purchased the painting she cherished for years felt that it was destined she would one day own the house and live there. Today, that same young girl who is Sue Turner, owns Live Oak with her husband, Bert.

Information, Audubon Bird Fest, audubonbirdfest.com, (800) 488-6502; The Majesty of St. Francisville – Homes of the Felicianas, (800) 843-1724

around louisiana

New Orleans

BULL RUN With a nod to one of my favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway, San Fermin in Nueva Orleans (the Running of the Bulls), and as a homage to Encierro of Pamplona (Pamplona’s running of the bulls), will be held in New Orleans July 10-13. Replete with the Marques de Caceres Wine Dinner featuring those incomparable Spanish wines; La Fiesta de Pantalones (a gathering of Pamplonese dress attendees accompanied by cocktails and food); El Pobre de Mi (Poor Me) – a tapas brunch followed by performances of Ernest Hemingway-themed skits, dramatic readings and contests, the revered running of the bulls will take place on July 12 – no actual bull will gallop throughout Nueva Orleans, but 400 Rollerbulls that are played by skaters from New Orleans’ all-female flat-track derby team, the Big Easy Rollergirls will do their best to gore participants.

Joining the more than 14,000 photograph by Jared Howerton

runners are skaters selected from other roller derby leagues across the nation.

INUNDATED WITH TRUTH To put it succinctly, Flood of Lies, the St. Rita’s Nursing Home Tragedy, is one of the best books I have ever read.

Written in first-person by attorney James C. Cobb Jr., it begins as the trial of Sal and Mabel Mangano, owners of doomed St. Rita’s Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish where 35 bedridden patients died, allegedly to their negligence, is ending.

Cobb, who has defended the elderly Manganos, who share an international reputation as the demons of Katrina, walks to the Magnolia Café in St. Francisville to knock back his signature Margarita as he ruminates over the events of the last years since he agreed to defend them. The jury has just received the case for final deliberation. Three hours later, Cobb is summoned from the café because a verdict has

been reached. Considering the short deliberation time it a poor omen, he returns to the courthouse. The chapter ends just as the judge asks if a verdict has been reached.

The book then spills into ensuing chapters that are a page-turning, impossibleto-put-down thriller that begins August 29, 2005, when Katrina devastated the New Orleans area. Cobb boldly recounts his own personal life thrown into turmoil because of Katrina; his merciless assessment of his past behavior as a lawyer who finds escape in dry martinis; his uncompromising investigation and exacting steps taken to defend the Manganos; his scathing disdain of the State Attorney General’s Office that should never have brought the case to trial. He also questions why family members left their relatives to weather the storm without taking them away themselves – one woman who would evacuate on a route past St. Rita’s told a staff member that, as they had two Labradors, there wouldn’t be any room for her mother in their car.

Simply put, the Manganos had supposedly abandoned the elderly and infirm inhabitants of their nursing home in St. Bernard Parish strapped in their beds to drown in the floodwaters of Katrina. Some of the media, fueled by the sensationalistic press conferences

of then State Attorney General Charles Foti, became feedingfrenzy piranhas.

Flood of Lies tells the harrowing true story of the Mangano family’s heroism and dedication; they risked their own lives to save the nursing home residents, but were instead targeted as criminals by the State of Louisiana. Cobb’s account of the trial, more engrossing a thriller than anything found in John Grisham’s novels, is a revelatory anthem dedicated to the vindicating quality of truth. With brilliant and colorful defense witnesses like Dr. Brobson Lutz and Professor Ivor van Heerden, it’s also a fascinating education on how a brilliant attorney navigates a legal obstacle course to defend two people in whom he fervently believes; comes to love and attains his own self-redemption in the process. Told with unflinching honesty, humor, righteous anger, wit as cool and dry as one of Cobb’s beloved martinis, and with a healthy dose of Louisiana flavor, it can stand with some of the finest legal stories ever written. It could likewise serve as a 101 course on the anatomy of a complete miscarriage of justice.

Information, San Fermin in Nueva Orleans, nolabulls.com; Flood of Lies, (800) 843-1724

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lifetimes San Fermin in Nueva Orleans, New Orleans

Aug. 29-30. Cane River Zydeco Festival & Poker Run. Downtown Natchitoches. (318) 471-9960.

BATON ROUGE/ PLANTATION COUNTRY July 4. USS KIDD Star-Spangled Celebration. USS KIDD Veterans Memorial & Museum, Baton Rouge.

(225) 342-1942.

July 12. Civil War on the River.

Audubon State Historic Site, St. Francisville. (225) 635-3739.

July 18-19. Swamp Pop Music Festival. Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, Gonzales. baton-rouge@cff.org July 19. Art Melt. Capital Park Museum, Baton Rouge.

(337) 654-4520.

July 25-26. Hummingbird Celebration. 5702 Commerce St., San Francisville. (225) 635-4224.

Statewide Calendar July and August events, festivals and more.

Aug. 22. Fete Rouge. Crowne Plaza, Baton Rouge.

(225) 925-2244.

Aug. 23. Polos & Pearls. 11788 Ferdinand St., St. Francisville.

(225) 635-3873.

Compiled by Judi Russell

Aug. 23. Taste of a Tiger Tailgating Party. Baton Rouge River Center. (225) 389-4940.

NORTH

Aug. 23. Zoo Zoom 5K & Fun Run. BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo. (225) 775-3877.

July 5. RiverMarket Days – Blues, Brews & BBQs. RiverMarket, Monroe. (318) 807-9985.

July 6. Spring Tea Talks: Fresh Berries. Spice & Tea Exchange, West Monroe. (318) 388-3920.

July 6. Shreveport Huckfest.

(318) 382-5580.

July 14-20. Christmas in July.

Splash Kingdom Water Park, Shreveport. (903) 567-0044.

July 26. The Downtown Cinema Presents: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Downtown Monroe.

July 31-Aug. 2. 62nd Annual

84 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

CENTRAL

Springhill PRCA Rodeo. Springhill Rodeo Arena, Springhill.

(318) 547-3104.

July 4. Old-Fashioned 4th of July.

Downtown DeRidder.

Aug. 7-10. BAM on the Red with the SB. DiamondJacks Casino & Resort, Shreveport. (318) 678-7777.

July 12. Magnolias & Meat Pies.

Lemee House, Natchitoches.

(800) 259-1714.

Aug. 8. Moonlight in the Garden.

Biedenharn Museum & Gardens, Monroe. (318) 387-5281.

July 17-19. 35th Annual Natitoches/Northwestern Folk Festival. NSU, Prather Coliseum, Natchitoches. (800) 259-1714.

Aug. 9. Revolution Park Presents: Whelen & Law Enforcement & Military Night. Revolution Park Race Track, Monroe.

(318) 812-7223.

Aug. 21. The Evergreen State Fair. Evergreen State Fairgrounds, Monroe. (360) 805-6700.

Aug. 9. Painting The Town. Front Street, Natchitoches.

(800) 259-1714.

Aug. 23. Goldonna Drake Salt Works Festival. Downtown Goldonna. (800) 259-1714.

Aug. 25. Cocktails in the Garden.

LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden, Baton Rouge.

(225) 389-4940.

CAJUN Country June 30-July 4. Erath Fourth of July Celebration. Downtown Erath.

(337) 937-5585.

July 3. Fourth of July Fishing Rodeo. Quintana Launch, Cypremort Point. (337) 367-9873.

July 4. Fourth of July Celebration.

Downtown Breaux Bridge.

July 4. Red, White & Boom. Parc International, Parc Sans Souci, Parc Putnum, Lafayette. (337) 232-4277.

July 4. Red, White & Blue & You! Lake Charles Downtown & Lake Charles Civic Center.

(337) 491-9147.

July 4. Fourth of July Fireworks Show. Eunice Reception Complex, Eunice. (337) 457-6503.

July 4. Fireworks on the River.

Nall Park, 562 Front St., Krotz Springs. (337) 566-2322.

July 4. Let Freedom Ring Festival.

Peltier Park, Thibodaux.

July 4-6. 76th Annual Fourth of July Fishing Rodeo. 2937 Kiwanis Drive, Lake Charles.

(337) 485-1540.

July 5. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Fair. Lebeau Church Rd., Washington.

(337) 351-3902.

July 12. The All-American Treat: Homemade Cakes & Ice Cream.

Sunset Rail Stop Flea Market, Sunset. (337) 945-9188.

July 12. 9th Annual Quilt Show & Sale. Alon Recreation Club Building, Krotz Springs. (337) 592-0345.

July 12. Jeanerette Summer Farmers Market. Jeanerette City Park, Jeanerette.

July 17. St. Mary Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours BBQ Bash Kick Off “Meet the Cooks.” Hampton Inn & Suites, Morgan City. (985) 384-3830.

July 18-20. 27th Annual Cajun Music & Food Festival. Burton Complex, Lake Charles.

(337) 496-0374.

July 19. 3rd Annual Bayou BBQ Bash Craft Show 2014. Under the U.S. 90 Bridge, Morgan City.

(985) 384-3830.

July 19. Cake & Ice Cream Festival. AA Comeaux Park, Abbeville. (337) 852-0646.

July 19-20. Louisiana Hot Sauce Exposition. 200 Greenleaf Drive, Lafayette. (337) 256-4093.

July 19-20. Bossier City Summer Arts, Craft & Gift Show. Bossier Civic Center, Bossier City.

(318) 741-8900.

July 26. Louisiana Outdoor Expo.

Cajundome and Convention Center, Lafayette. (337) 265-2100.

Greater New Orleans

July 26. Zydeco Bash. Louisiane Banquet & Reception Hall, Lafayette. (337) 277-6069.

July 4-6. Essence Music Festival.

Various locations, New Orleans. www.Essence.com

July 26. New Iberia Summer Creole Market. West End Park, New Iberia.

July 7-18. Native American Exhibit. Tangipahoa Parish CVB, Hammond. (985) 542-7520.

July 28. Acadian Day of Rememberance. Acadian Memorial, St. Martinville.

July 10-13. San Fermin in Nueva Orleans. The Sugar Mill, New Orleans. www.sugarmillevents.com

Aug. 7. Purple Heart Day Ceremony. Bouligny Plaza, New Iberia. (337) 365-1428.

July 11. New Orleans Summer Gem, Jewelry & Bead Show.

Pontchartrain Center, Kenner.

(504) 465-9958

Aug. 9. August Angler’s Addiction Fishing Tournament. Quintana Landing, Cypremort Point.

(337) 519-3131.

July 3. Uncle Sam Jam. Lafreniere Park, Metairie. (504) 838-4389.

July 11-14. Bastille Day Fete.

French Market, New Orleans.

July 26. New Orleans Summer Arts Market. Palmer Park, New Orleans.

July 31-Aug. 03. Satchmo Summer Festival. Louisiana State Museum’s Old U.S. Mint, New Orleans. (504) 522-5730.

Aug. 2. White Linen Night.

Contemporary Arts Center and Various locations, New Orleans.

(504) 528-3805.

Aug. 6. Sealabration. Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans. (504) 581-4629.

Aug. 9. Dirty Linen Night.

500-1000 blocks of Royal Street, New Orleans. (504) 523-1465.

Aug. 9-10. Slidell Looking Glass Show. Northshore Harbor Center, Slidell. (985) 781-3650.

Aug. 9-10. SugaSheaux. Sug Arena at Acadiana Fairgrounds, New Iberia. (337) 365-7539.

July 12. Northshore’s Summer Homemade Arts & Crafts Market.

Downtown Hammond. www.dddhammond.com

Aug. 13-17. Delcambre Shrimp Festival. Delcambre Shrimp Festival Fairgrounds, Delcambre.

(337) 685-2653.

July 12-13. Ponchatoula’s Christmas in July Sale. Historic Downtown Ponchatoula.

(985) 386-2436.

Aug. 14-16. Le Cajun Art & Music Festival. Rayne Civic Center, Rayne. (337) 344-2494.

July 16-20. Tales of the Cocktail.

Hotel Monteleone & Various locations, New Orleans.

(504) 948-0511.

Aug. 15-17. Southern Sportsman’s Festival & Expo.

Alario Event Center, Westwego.

(504) 835-6383.

July 20-27. New Orleans Piano Festival. Loyola College of Music Building, New Orleans.

(504) 865-3240.

Aug. 21-23. Cutting Edge CE Conference. Hotel InterContinental, New Orleans (504) 322-3540.

July 24-26. Grand Isle International Tarpon Rodeo.

Tarpon Rodeo Pavilion, Grand Isle. www.tarponrodeo.org

Aug. 27-Sept. 1. Southern Decadance. Various, French Quarter, New Orleans.

(504) 529-2107.

July 26. Hammond’s Summer Arts & Crafts Market. Downtown Hammond. www.dddhammond.com

Aug. 31. Labor Day Music Festival. Land-O-Pines Family Campground, Covington.

(985) 892-6023. n

Aug. 21-25. Duck Fest. Gueydan Duck Fest Fairounds, Gueydan.

(337) 536-6456.

Aug. 23. Imagination Celebration.

Lake Charles Civic Center, Lake Charles. (337) 433-9420.

Aug. 23. Drake Salt Works Festival & Trail Ride. Drake Salt Works, Goldonna. (318) 727-9418.

Aug. 29-30. Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival.

Zydeco Festival Grounds, Plaisance.

(337) 290-6048.

Aug. 29-Sept. 1. 79th Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival. 715 2nd St., Morgan City.

(985) 385-0703.

Aug. 30-Sept. 1. Labor Day Fishing Rodeo. Quintana Canal, Cypremort Point. (337) 364-7301.

Aug. 30. Creole Renaissance Festival. Yambilee Fairgrounds, Opelousas.

Aug. 12. Ponchatoula Business Expo. Chesterton Square, Ponchatoula. (985) 386-2536.

Aug. 15. 19th Annual Hot August Night. Downtown Hammond.

(985) 277-5680.

Help Us Promote Your Event!

Go online to provide information for our calendar section and webpage.

Remember, the sooner we get the information, the better able we are to help you. To submit a festival, show or special event go to: MyNewOrleans. com/Louisiana-Life/Submit-an-Event. To submit a parade for carnival season go to: MyNewOrleans.com/Louisiana-Life/Submit-a-Parade-toLouisiana-Life

LouisianaLife.com | 85

quirky places

Goliath Gipper The world’s largest Ronald Reagan statue watches over Tammany Trace.

By Megan Hill Ronald Reagan was – and continues to be – a largerthan-life figure for many. That perception of the former president takes on a literal interpretation at the Covington Trailhead, a terminus of the 31-mile Tammany Trace. The “Gipper’s “nine-foot likeness towers over the trailhead park, saluting and grinning at those 86 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

who walk, jog, or cycle past.

The Reagan statue also happens to be the world’s largest of the former president.

The bronze statue’s six-foottall pedestal holds a simple plaque that gives little detail as to how this all came to be; it simply says the statue was commissioned and donated by Patrick F. Taylor on June 27, 2008.

That’s the same Patrick F. Taylor, of course, who made a name for himself – and quite a pile of money – in the oil industry. Taylor founded Taylor Energy, a highly successful oil and gas company operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The enterprise earned Taylor billions, and at the time of his death Forbes magazine had estimated his net worth at $1.2 billion. That put Taylor at 234th on the list of the richest people in the United States, and the only Louisianian on the list.

But Patrick Taylor is known for more than just his successful business ventures; he was also a prolific philanthropist.

Taylor and his wife, Phyllis, started the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, which makes grants to New Orleans-area nonprofits and scholarships to individuals.

Taylor was such a strong believer in higher education he spearheaded state legislation that would become known as the TOPS program, or the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students. Through the program, Louisiana residents with qualifying grade point averages and test scores can receive scholarships to Louisiana public colleges, up to full tuition plus additional assistance for other expenses.

Taylor, a Republican, was also a supporter of Ronald Reagan and had expressed a desire to build a memorial to his favorite president. In 2004, Ronald Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California.

Patrick Taylor died just five months later of complications from bacterial endocarditis. He was just 67 years old.

Phyllis Taylor made sure her husband’s wishes of a

Ronald Reagan monument were upheld, although nearly four years passed between Taylor’s death and the dedication of the statue on June 27, 2008. It made sense the statue would land in Covington, near Highway 190, which had been dedicated as the Ronald Reagan Highway in 2003.

Ponchatoula sculptor Patrick Miller was chosen as the statue’s artist.

“What I mostly remember of that time was Hurricane Katrina,” says Miller, whose work ranges from large-scale public monuments to portrait busts and bas reliefs. When Katrina hit, Miller had begun work on a small-scale model of the sculpture called a maquette.

“You usually sculpt a smaller version before the full-sized sculpture,” he explains. “It was in clay and pretty fragile so I packed it in an ice chest with lots of padding and taped it up. I didn’t know how bad [the storm] would be for us on the Northshore but I didn’t want anything to happen to the sculpture. I had so much time invested in it.”

Miller was without electricity for three to four weeks after the hurricane and didn’t resume work on the statue until the fall, he says. In the end, the statue took over a year to complete.

“It was a fun and challenging project,” Miller says.

His handiwork now stands over the small park at the Covington Trailhead, home to art markets, farmers markets, and outdoor concerts. Ronald Reagan seems to be offering his approval of the merriment taking place at his feet. n

photograph courtesy patrick miller

LouisianaLife.com | 87

a louisiana life

Tom Harmeyer Fundraising in Alexandria.

By Megan Hill

Tom Harmeyer is an accomplished grant writer and fundraiser, but he studied journalism in college at Loyola University in New Orleans and more or less happened into the work he’s built a career on.

“I answered an ad for the New Orleans Museum of Art. They were looking for a grant writer. I didn’t know what grant writing was, but I fancied myself a writer, so I applied and for some reason, they hired me,” Harmeyer says.

Harmeyer grew in the role, becoming instrumental in helping to net major donations to increase the size of the museum.

“At that time, much of the collection was in storage,” he 88 | Louisiana Life July/August 2014

remembers of NOMA in 1985.

“The museum you know today essentially fills the circle in City Park. It was only about a third of the size that it is now.”

Harmeyer’s successes drew the attention of the Ochsner Medical Foundation, which hired him to manage the capital campaign to build a biomedical research center.

When the first of his two children were born, Harmeyer felt inclined to begin working in child welfare. He began work at the Boys Town group home in New Orleans.

“It was clear to me that we needed to do something in terms of youth programming in the New Orleans area, and it was a great career

opportunity for me,” Harmeyer says. “I helped Father Flanagan (Boys Town) to get established in New Orleans, and that involved an emergency shelter and some group homes and some training programs.”

With that project complete, Harmeyer was wooed back to Ochsner to build an endowment for the hospital’s medical research program.

By 1993, buildings he helped fund NOMA, Ochsner, and Boys Town had opened.

“That was a pretty cool year,” Harmeyer says. “I was all of about 30 years old at that point and had three buildings to show for it. I had varying roles in each of the things from minor roles at the museum to more substantial roles with Boys Town, for instance. But I had some tangible evidence that I was doing something.”

In 1996, Harmeyer was named the Outstanding Fundraising Executive for Greater New Orleans by the New Orleans chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, adding another feather to his cap. He was the youngest to receive the award.

When the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, jolted the nation, Harmeyer again felt moved to make a change. “I felt like I needed a little bit more control over my own life, so I left the staff position and started my own consulting, working with nonprofits in terms of capital fundraising, major gift fundraising, and also more generalized communications and marketing consulting.”

Harmeyer’s consulting business centered in his native New Orleans, but his work spanned much of the state.

When Hurricane Katrina

struck in 2005, Harmeyer’s Gentilly home flooded catastrophically. Rather than work to rebuild and hope their neighborhood recovered, the family relocated to Alexandria.

“We never had any intention of leaving New Orleans, so there was never any pre-planning about moving here, and it would have taken something as big as Katrina to move us out of New Orleans,” Harmeyer says.

But Harmeyer and his family have thrived in a community that welcomed them with open arms. His business continued to thrive, too, and in 2009 he was hired as the Executive Director of the Central Louisiana Community Foundation, an organization he now serves full-time as its president and CEO. “We have, in that time, with thousands of small gifts but a series of million-dollar and up gifts, we have quadrupled the assets that the foundation holds and established a whole series of really neat things for this community,” Harmeyer says.

Those accomplishments have included building the endowments of the Rapides Symphony Orchestra and the Alexandria Museum of Art and establishing one of the largest quiz bowl tournaments in the state with the help of LSU-Alexandria and the United Way. One of the most rewarding for Harmeyer has been launching the Good Food Project, a community garden that seeks to educate the community about healthy eating, with the Food Bank of Central Louisiana and local company Keller Enterprises.

Not bad for someone who, 29 years ago, simply answered an ad in the paper. n jason merrill photograph