winter 2012

Holiday Shopping - French Quarter Style

November 08, 2012
The holiday season brings traditions to life in the French Quarter. Another thing it does is give the opportunity to trade the hustle and bustle of the suburban mall for a shopping experience like no other. While holiday shopping reached its peak on Canal Street, some of the most interesting and hard to locate items lie within the thirteen blocks of the French Quarter.

Heart of The Quarter - Uncle Louie and Lil Willie

November 08, 2012
By the time I was 9 years old I had run out of excuses to get out of going to church. I had more sore throats than anyone else I knew, I had headaches, back aches, got attacked by a opossum, my best friend got attacked by a opossum, my best friend's cousin got attacked y a opossum. It was not that I didn't like church or God or the singing, I did. I liked it all. I just could not sit still for longer than five minutes. This affliction carried on to high school where I developed a very intricate string of stories to allow me exit from my desk.

Rinard Gallery's "Dynamic Duo"

November 08, 2012
I am a firm believer that all great things come in twos. Just look at Laverne and Shirley, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Sony and Cher, chilled vodka and a Percocet. When one is good, its compliment makes it stupendous. If there were two of me, I would have more time to lie about going to the gym, play Madden 13, and I just know I could at least get one chair to turn on The Voice.

Imbibe: A Toast to the New Year

November 08, 2012
No tipple is more synonymous with celebration than a fine glass of Champagne, and Restaurant R'evolution in the Royal Sonesta is home to a stunning selection curated by Molly Wismeier, director of wine and spirits. The cave at R'evolution holds more than 1,300 selections, about 150 of which are bubbly - a testament to Wismeier's unabashed love of this notoriously difficult wine. Here, Wismeier selects a few of her favorite bottles to pair with a proper a holiday meal at R'evolution.

N.V. H Billiot Fils Champagne Brut Rose Grand Cru

Our Living Legend, Lionel Ferbos

November 07, 2012
Jazz trumpeter Lionel Ferbos is widely considered the oldest performing musician on the planet. At 101 years young, we adore our eldest statesman of traditional jazz, a native New Orleanian who appears at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe, where he leads the Palm Court Jazz Band each Saturday night. He brings his mastery of the music of a bygone era to his regular gig at the Palm Court, the French Quarter mecca for traditional jazz enthusiasts. "I've had a wonderful life with music," Ferbos says. "As long as I have teeth, I'll keep playing.

Buying Christmas Dreams on Canal Street

November 07, 2012
Canal Street was New Orleans's premier shopping destination between about 1850 and 1990, and most New Orleanians have fond memories of Christmas shopping there. Though Canal Street - planned in 1810 as the site of a canal, which was never built - is not in the French Quarter, the two border each other, making the street a vital part of French Quarter retail history. For Christmas shoppers from other parts of town, the Quarter was an added Christmas attraction, since its many restaurants were ideal holiday lunch spots.

Spirit of the Season

November 07, 2012
The French Quarter has long been epicenter of New Orleans' historic restaurants. Some of the city's (and the country's) oldest, most revered restaurants are scattered along the cobblestone streets of the Vieux Carre. Nestled near these bastions of New Orleans dining, a batch of new restaurants has joined the culinary gumbo of the French Quarter.

Party Hearty in Super Bowl City

November 07, 2012
Myriad of Events Set for Big Game in February

It's the marquee event in American professional sports and it's coming to New Orleans on Sunday, February 3. However, Super Bowl XLVII will be more than just a three-hour game between the top-seeded teams of the American and National Football Conferences. It's a weeklong extravaganza of exciting, entertaining and educational events, and no other host city puts on a better show than New Orleans where more Super Bowls have been held than any other city.