If you are reading this from outside of New Orleans and Louisiana, this blog is about Mardi Gras. Yet, it has nothing to do with New Orleans. Sure New Orleans and Metairie are great places to catch a parade. But so are Houma, Luling, LaRose, Golden Meadow, and Thibodaux. In fact, my two of my favorite parades growing up were the Lockport and Gheens parade.
Archive for the ‘Lockport’ Category
A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Small Town Parades
Posted by Kurt on February 7, 2013
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana, The Bayou | Tagged: Gheens Louisiana, Krewe, Lockport Louisiana, Louisiana, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Parade | Leave a Comment »
Food Memories: La Magazine’s Roast Beef Poboy
Posted by Kurt on January 31, 2013
From the outside, La Magazine looked like the last place on earth to serve a great roast beef poboy. Well, looks are deceiving. La Magazine made a great roast beef poboy one that would stand up to most poboy shops around New Orleans.
This poboy was the first poboy that I had that didn’t use deli roast beef. This was a real roast cooked down until it fell apart. It was full of flavor and if I remember correctly it had quite a bit of garlic. I wish I could give more specific details but it’s been over ten years since I had one, and it’s impossible to get one now. Yet what I do remember is that I never got a bad poboy. I never got one that had too little meat or too much that the bread couldn’t handle it. It was always just a perfect sandwich. I remember loving their sautéed shrimp poboy (a poboy that deserves to be more widely served) and I’m sure I tried a few other things on the menu, but I would always come back to the roast beef poboy.
I keep trying to find one that comes close. The first two poboys I had from Parasols came damn near this poboy, but it’s still not quite there. I guess, I’ll have to keep doing some research.
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana | Tagged: roast beef poboy | Leave a Comment »
Food Memories: Noah’s Drive-In
Posted by Kurt on January 21, 2013
One of my favorite hamburger places posted this quote by Calvin Trillin on Facebook: “Anyboy who doesn’t think that the best hamburger place in the world is in his home town is a sissy.” Mr. Trillin is right. The best hamburger I ever had was from Noah’s Drive-In in Lockport.
The hamburger was just perfect. Juicy and tasty, a Noah’s hamburger was perfect in just about every way. A cheeseburger was even better because it truly forced a cohesive bond between the patty and the bread. When I got older and bigger, then it was time to have the gourmand burger. This, proving Mr. Trillin’s rule beyond a doubt, was no hamburger for sissies.
Noah’s was more than a hamburger place. Sunday after church lunch was always a special event. The broasted chicken was always delicious. My sister would be content with just the mac and cheese. After Junior High sporting events, it was a great place for a celebratory meal. The sundaes were a tradition in my house. I am sure their roast beef poboy was made with deli roast beef, yet it was the only roast beef poboy of that style that was as good as the debris poboys of New Orleans.
Not only was Mr. Noah a familiar face when you went, so was the entire family. After Mr. Noah’s tragic death, the place stayed open under different ownership, but it was not the same. It wasn’t that the food changed much, it was that the experience changed. Mr. Noah fed my family and if you are from Lockport, he probably fed yours too. That is what could never be replaced.
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana | Tagged: Calvin Trillin, Hamburger, Noah's Drive In, Po' boy, Roast beef | 3 Comments »
El Paso on the Bayou
Posted by Kurt on January 2, 2013
Growing up in the Lockport area, we didn’t have many ethnic restaurants. Well, we had Cajun restaurants but we just called them restaurants. Eventually we got a Chinese restaurant (which I compare all other Chinese restaurants to…even the one in Chinatown NYC didn’t compare. What can I say, I’m loyal). Then the area got a Mexican restaurant – well after I moved away. Then a second Chinese restaurant opened, then a second Mexican restaurant opened. I keep hoping for a Middle Eastern restaurant, while my sister would settle for a Taco Bell.
Well, since we spent Christmas in Florida this year, my family had a belated Christmas meal at El Paso, the second Mexican restaurant in the area.
(New Years Resolution: Must report on the other three restaurants. They are all good).
Now, before I get to far into this, I truly can’t give a good review of the food. I am not a fan of Mexican food. In fact, I usually opt for a burger since they are usually really good at Mexican restaurants. However, this restaurant did have one item with a mole sauce, which shows ambition. A lot of high volume Mexican restaurants in the New Orleans area neglect this sauce. I would have gone with this, but I didn’t properly prepare for Mexican food. Instead, I ordered half rack of ribs. My dad went with a steak, my wife with a steak fajita (so she could have lunch the next day) and my mom and sister split a combination fajita. My dad enjoyed his steak which was cooked a true medium well. Cristina raved about the steak fajita. My mom and my sister loved their fajita. My ribs, which came with way too much sauce, were also cooked perfectly. They didn’t fall off the bone, which usually means they are over cooked. The sauce is an easy fix for me; I’ll just ask for it on the side. The sangria was just what I needed. The deserts looked delicious, especially since they all had something fried, but I passed.
Steak fajita
Half Rack Pork Ribs
Poor iPhone picture of the Rib-eye
Combination fajita
One of the desserts at the table
What really impressed me was the size of the space. It’s large and can fit a number of people without being cramped. There is a large bar with three large TVs that makes it a good place to get a drink, some wings, and watch a game. The night we were there, a band was playing. At first, I was a little worried we would be able to talk, but the duo, French Bred, played at the perfect volume. They also played a nice selection of music and let the kids in the restaurant help with the percussion.
French Bred
I want to go back and try the dish with the mole sauce. I know Cristina wants to go back. And judging from the crowd that Saturday night and the few patrons that I talked to, quite a few people are going back. Good. The area needs more restaurants that are close to the good people of my hometown. For people who are traveling on HWY 90 its right off the Raceland exit in the strip mall with Rouses.
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana, The Bayou | Tagged: Christmas, Mexican cuisine | 3 Comments »
Festival Season Continues with SCVAF and La Fete Du Monde
Posted by Kurt on April 19, 2012
Festival season continues with two festivals that are close to home….well for me anyway.
If you have been paying attention to media news lately, you should know that the south Louisiana area has become a mecca for the movie and media industries. I’m proud to live and work in a parish (St. Charles) that had the foresight to include new media in their curriculum. The school board has invested in the future by building a Satellite Center to serve as a place for high school students to receive intensive instruction in Health Sciences, Engineering, Education, as well as other classes. The Digital and Interactive Media as well as the Advanced TV departments of the Satellite Center have come together to create the http://www.scvaf.org/”>Satellite Center Video and Animation Festival. The festival will be held this Friday, April 20 from 4-8 at the Professional Learning Center in Luling, LA.
Starting out just locally, the festival now includes numerous schools from the region. Students work on animation (2d and 3d) as well as film projects such as PSAs and documentaries. Trust me, if you can afford the $1 admission and the time, you will be impressed. I always am. Besides being a showcase for student work, this truly is a film festival. Judges are professionals from the business from around the world. The keynote speaker this year will be from the Academy Awarding winning Moonbot Studios.
If you are looking for a more traditional fair, this weekend my hometown of Lockport is throwing it’s annual “swamp pop extravaganza.” While the food is very good, I tend to always get the grillades. The fair is very laid back and features a lot of local music. In other words, it’s a great way to pass a good time.
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana, St. Charles Parish | Tagged: Education, Film festival | Leave a Comment »
Runnning…Walking to Raise Cancer Awareness
Posted by Kurt on September 13, 2011
Getting geared up for the race.
And we're off!
On September 11, we traveled down to Lockport to run a 5K Fun Run to help with Cancer Awareness. The only problem was that Cristina woke up sick that morning. However, we were going to complete the 5K no matter what.
The start and end of the race was at the Bayou Side Park on the Company Canal. The town of Lockport has done a great job in making this an attractive place for people to meet. The park has a nice walking track, sign posts explaining the history and science of the region, benches and plenty of shade. The only thing the park doesn’t have, and there really isn’t a way to correct this, is ample parking. The event had a DJ, health screening and plenty of treats for sale.
The race started earlier than we were told it would so we didn’t get a very good warm up. It really didn’t matter because Cristina truly wasn’t feeling well. So we power walked most of it. I pointed out where friends of mine grew up, where relatives lived, and where I went to school. We passed in front of the church where we got married. We actually finished the race in forty-seven minutes. The first couple of weeks that we started the Couch to 5K (C25K) it would take us thirty-eight minutes to run walk two miles. When we are both feeling well we are confident we can break the forty minute mark.
Even though we really only ran about three-quarters of a mile, we know we can be successful at our next 5K: The Wine and Dine 5k in DisneyWorld.
Pushing through until the end.
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana, Running | Tagged: 5K, Cancer Awareness, Couch to 5K, Fun Run, Walt Disney World Resort | Leave a Comment »
Food Memories: Abel’s Onion Rings
Posted by Kurt on March 30, 2011
First of all, sorry for the lack of posts lately. I’ve been coping with really bad headaches lately. My eye doctor thinks it’s due to my eyesight changing and after waiting a week I am finally wearing a new pair of glasses. Hopefully, this does the trick so I can get back to writing more regularly.
Now for the subject at hand, I was recently cooking some onions to put on top of something. I must have started paying attention to something else, because the next thing I know my onions are burnt. I know Cristina won’t have a problem with this since she like food past well done. I popped one in my mouth and was taken back to when I was around seven. It tasted just like an onion ring from Abel’s Restaurant.
I don’t remember much about Abel’s. I do remember how it cool it was to go to the bathroom because you had to pass through the bar. I remember my dad telling me when I was older and was able to go that side I should always call my girlfriend or wife first because friends of his didn’t and they had to sleep outside while he was able to sleep peacefully in his own bed because he called my mom. I remember the hamburger steak which I do judge all other hamburger steaks by. But mostly I remember the onion rings. Especially, I remember ordering them right before it closed. I think i savored the taste even more making sure I remembered them. They were cut so small and breaded so perfectly that the breading was more of a seasoning. And I remember getting a few of the burnt ones and thinking there aren’t many side dishes that would taste better than this.
Posted in Lockport, Louisiana | Tagged: Abel's Restaurant, onion rings | 2 Comments »
Meeting Ian McNulty
Posted by Kurt on March 3, 2011
I grew up on Bayou Lafourche in the sleepy town of Lockport, LA. The kind of town that has no red lights just caution lights. It’s a great small town but nothing ever really happened there. Rarely will you see the word Lockport in the index of the book and if you do you learn about towns in New York and Illinois.
One of the guys in this picture is cheesy and it's the guy on the left.
So when I saw the Ian McNulty had published a book about his travels into Cajun and Creole country, I was praying and hoping Lockport would be in the index. To find out, the fiancée and I drove uptown to buy the book and meet Mr. McNulty at Garden District Book Shop last Thursday. Ian McNulty is the food critic for the Gambit. If you haven’t read his reviews, do so but be forewarned that you will be hungry and be tempted to get your wallet and hop in the car. The staff at Garden District Book Shop was friendly and quickly pointed us in the right place to pick up our copy of Louisiana Rambles: Exploring America’s Cajun and Creole Heartland. We then stood in line for Mr. McNulty to sign our copy. Cristina and I talked to him a little bit about Lockport. He knew about the playhouse in Lockport and wants to get down there to catch a production. Come to think of it, so do I. He then wrote a nice little inscription to both Cristina and I making sure to spell her name correctly. He also gave us some very handy and timely beer cozies with title of his book to help advertise it. That makes me wish I still taught marketing to show my class what good marketing looks like.
And yes, Lockport is in the index.
Posted in Adventures in NOLA, Lockport, Louisiana, New Orleans | Tagged: Bayou Lafourche, Cajun-Creole, Gambit, Garden District, Ian McNulty, Lockport Louisiana | 1 Comment »
