Show Us a cure for the lass By Ron a Schoolmeester Anyone within shouting distance of New Orleans be not need All that alarmed noise from way down yonder is just a million or so folks Better hurry if you want to get a room in New Orleans for Mardi Gras season (Feb 3) or the NCAA basketball championships (March 28 and 30) Most incity hotels are booked advises the so you may tourist commission need to search the suburbs Accommodations still are available for most other future events including: IB Tennessee Williams Literary Festival April 5 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at historic Le Petit Theatre and tours of the playwright’s French Quarter neighborhood French Quarter Festival April fireworks and the Parades 2 world’s largest “jazz brunch” New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival April 3 Jazz jazz jazz — plus food and crafts La Fete throughout July Cooking demonstrations fireworks and champagne cruises W Papal Visit Sept Best 3 chance to see Pope John Paul 13 will be at a motorcade and outdoor Mass on Sept 12' Looking further ahead New Orleans hosts the Republican National Convention in August 1988 Information on all events: Greater New Orleans Tourist & Conven1520 Sugar Bowl tion Commission Drive New Orleans La 70112 making fools of themselves again It’s Mardi Gras season starting this weekend And from now until Fat Tuesgoes on day March 3 die merrymaking nearly unabated Not even the sony state of the oil and Louisiana nor the in gas industry over crime and unemployment in New Orleans can rain on this parade “People here just aren’t given to walking around with long faces” shrugs Mrs of the Junius Underwood proprietress French Quarter Maisonnettes an Old World guesthouse with one of the best a the rates in room night) city Indeed New Orleans — like its jazz and Creole cuisine — re- mains improvisational For a primer on the place read the Pulitzer A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Grove Press $495) Upon arrival stop at the Visitor Information Center 529 St Ann SL just off historic Jackson Square for walking and driving tours Most excitement nowadays is on the downtown riverfront to the adjacent French Quarter There on the site of the 1984 World’s Fair a new shopping area called Riverwalk has been opened by the Rouse Company the same people who and developed Baltimore’s Harborplace New York’s South Street Seaport Still the neighborhood that commands renowned the tounst’s attention is the French Quarter Bourbon Street rest assured retains its usual mix of sleaze (sex resshows) and sophisucation And Royal Street is still the taurants) place to shop for antiques and objets d’art Hall endures with tradiPreservauon tional jazz heard nowhere else on earth By Jerry Lodnguss PLENTY OF HORN: Trumpeter Kid Sheik is a fixture in New Orleans jazz circles above Right clowns add color to the more than 60 parades held during Mardi Gras season “This kinda the improvisational: — well it’s just gotta be in ya” says trumpeter George Colar 78 also known as Kid Sheik At least equal to its music is the food of New Orleans Crawfish is in season until June and Tom Fitzmorris editor of a monthly review called The New Orleans Menu says nobody should miss the crawfish eioujfee a smothered spicy stew of crawfish tails served over rice The best he says is at Galatoire’s on Bourbon Street Cost: $ 2 The problem: It’s not on the menu Ask for it anyway Among other “must” dishes and the best place to find them in the French Quarter according to Fitzmorris: Again music (504)566-501- 1 New Orleans Tounst Convention Commission Grillades and grits: Slices of veal in Creole sauce with grits on the side (served for breakfast at Brennan’s $2075) gumbo: A thick soup of chicken and garlicky sausage (listed as Gumbo Ya Ya at Mr B’s $4) Red beans and rice: A New Orleans tradition (served with smoked sausage at The Gumbo Shop $395) And for dessert? Bread pudding Each restaurant prepares it a little differently L but arguably the best of all is Creole Bread Pudding SoufflS ($550) at Commander’s Palace about a $5 cab fare from the French Quarter The fussy Mr Fitzmorris in fact ranks Commander’s as the top restaurant in all of New Orleans When USA WEEKEND e was there the chefs special included barbecued shrimp redfish topped with saut6 of crawfish and of course bread pudding $29 Home sweet home: Life on a Louisiana sugar plantation OAK Princess Margaret visited the mansion last and took In a riverboat journey up the Mississippi ALLEY: November The grand mansions of the Louisiana sugar plantations survived the Civil War quite nicely thank you and have no intention of succumbing to something as trivial as the state’s current fiscal crisis At least nine of the plantations are within easy driving distance of New Orleans and a few — like Oak Alley — provide overnight accommodations and named after Oak Alley built between oak trees its two perfectly spaced rows of has been fully restored by its private owners and was where Don Johnson and CybiU Shepherd filmed part The movie the 1985 TV of Long Hot Summer Guest cabin rentals start at $60 double occupancy and include rant and a continental breakfast There’s also a restauseasonal dinner theater on the grounds alongside the Mississippi River and about an hour’s from New Orleans drive About a half hour farther upriver is Nottoway the largest (and some say grandest) plantation in the South Rates here start at $90 double occupancy and include a bottle of champagne fresh flowers and a full plantation breakfast on the veranda For information on these or other plantations contact the Louisiana Office of Tourism PO Box 94291 Baton Rouge La Call (800) outside Louisiana or (504) in state Q |