Get ready to experience the magic of festival season with Festin’ After Dark in the enchanting garden at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans. On Sunday, April 14th, at 9 p.m., the hotel will once again host an exclusive French Quarter Fest After Dark concert featuring B.Lew and the Grits for an intimate evening of soulful tunes that pay homage to the rich musical heritage of New Orleans while infusing it with contemporary flair.
 
Fronted by the dynamic Branden Lewis, renowned for leading the iconic Preservation Hall Jazz Band and his weekly gigs in Chandelier Bar, B.Lew and the Grits delivers an electrifying fusion of rhythm and blues roots with a contemporary twist that pulses through today’s music scene. A descendant of a Grammy-winning New Orleans musician, Lewis carries on his family's rich musical tradition while innovating the culture and sound that birthed him.
 
"We're thrilled to once again partner with French Quarter Fest for our very own Festin’ After Dark concert" said Mali Carow, General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans. "This year's concert promises to be an unforgettable night of music, culinary delights, and the unique ambiance of our hotel's garden."
 
Attendees can expect a relaxed garden party atmosphere, with long wooden benches flanking green hedges, twinkling lights and ample room for dancing. The hotel's renowned culinary team will serve up elevated festival fare alongside craft cocktails, beer and wine.
The Festin’ After Dark concert with B.Lew and the Grits at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans will take place on Sunday, April 14th, at 9 p.m. onwards. Limited tickets are available for purchase online at $65 each, which includes admission to the concert. Food and beverages will be available for purchase separately, ensuring a delectable culinary experience for all attendees.
 
For those looking to make the most of their evening, the hotel is offering a special advance purchase rate for 25 percent off, allowing guests to relax and unwind in luxurious accommodations after the concert. Don't miss out on this unforgettable night of music and celebration at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit fourseasons.com/neworleans/ 

Buff justice: Love Lies Bleeding

It’s funny being a dyed-in-the-wool Gen X-er, raised on the cinematic neon and throbbing synth bass lines of 80s thrillers. To see those elements lavishly celebrated - not as a gimmick, but as a legitimate aesthetic, is what first drew me into Love Lies Bleeding. I guess the kids might call it vaporwave meta-irony, but this movie could have been made in 1987. It feels as authentic a period piece as The Holdovers, and it wears its influences on the ragged sleeve of a sweaty, blood-stained, pastel jogging suit.

I was already a fan of director Rose Glass’s 2020 breakout, low-budget horror Saint Maud, and this is also something of a genre film, though much more mixed. It’s part neo-noir thriller, part Gen Z Thelma and Louise, part fantasy pastiche. 

In small-town New Mexico, gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart at her best: nihilistically moody and uncompromising) has her interest piqued by new-to-town, ambitious bodybuilder Jackie (played with charismatically chaotic chutzpah by Katy O’Brian). 

They fall for each other fast, their romance straining to break free of the psychodramatic gravity created by two villains: Lou’s ratlike, abusive brother-in-law JJ (Dave Franco) and sinister patriarch Lou Sr., evoked with full-throated, seedy relish by Ed Harris. 

At first, it’s all sweet nothings on hazy afternoons in bed, coupled with gently romantic steroid abuse, coupled with sex scenes that - come on, let’s be adults about this - are nothing that dozens of pulpy ‘erotic thrillers’ didn’t get away with back in the day. There’s nothing here that Mickey Rourke or Kim Basinger didn’t do to service a plot. 

The vicious entanglements of the town’s underbelly throw a greasy wrench into the relationship, though. Violence is an intrusion and also a necessary response, and the tentacle-like machinations of low-level organized crime insistently encompass Lou and Jackie’s worlds. 

Jackie’s tilt at a bodybuilding competition becomes divisive as she starts to lose her grip on reality. Lou Sr. starts to exert criminally paternal pressure, and Lou sinks into a flailing, emotional morass. She’s spinning plates with ever-increasing tension, the turmoil (reminiscent of movies like Uncut Gems) pulling her apart as she attempts to reconcile her past with her possible future. 

Some might recoil at the film’s employment of magical realism and honestly, it’s not something I’m generally a fan of. If you just trust the director, though, and see it as another way in which the film fights against being boxed into an easy classification; you can choose to find it daring. 

The graphic, visceral scenes rub against the 80s visuals to create a grubby, restless world, which slips even further into depravity as the psychological vice tightens. The performances across the board are impressively committed, and keep a compelling love story well above simple parody. (PO)

Chef Edgar Caro and partner Antonio Mata of the Caro Mata Group are pleased to announce Brasa South American Steakhouse is now open in Canal Place in downtown New Orleans. Brasa is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. This is Brasa's second location and serves as the brand's flagship restaurant, setting the stage for the Caro Mata Group. Brasa is an homage to the asado culture of Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina, showcasing the open-fire traditions from Caro's childhood. 

Chef Caro fastidiously crafted a menu featuring many dishes found at the original Brasa location on Metairie Road. The focus is on unique cuts of meat procured from ranches that produce the finest quality Angus in the market and local seafood prepared with a South American approach and style. "It has been a dream of mine to bring this style of food to downtown New Orleans," said Caro. "We are excited to share South America's rich culture and flavors with both locals and visitors alike and look forward to being a part of the revitalization at the foot of Canal." 

The restaurant is located at 365 Canal St Ste. 220, and is open Sunday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. 
​

Wild South has opened, a South Louisiana tasting experience that reimagines the food traditions of the region, helmed by seven-time James Beard Foundation Award-nominated Chef-Owner Michael Stoltzfus and Executive Chef Bret Macris​. Located in the same historic space that previously housed Lengua Madre, this new addition to Mike’s group, Here Today Hospitality, has a five-course tasting experience at its heart, along with a more casual three-course prix-fixe as well as an à la carte bar menu to complement cocktails from Jason Kaplan and a wine program led by Ryan Plas.
More info: www.wildsouthrestaurant.com​

Movie review: The Zone of Interest

This work of course comes with the heaviest of baggage, especially since Jonathan Glazer's Oscar win. Those issues fall beyond the scope of this review - I’m going to focus on my impressions of Zone of Interest as a work of art. 

The setting is mainly the household of a high-ranking German official in 1943. It is located next to the Auschwitz death camp, separated only by a high stone wall. From the first frames, the cyclical swells of the horrors beyond begin to intrude. These atrocities are unseen. We don’t need visuals. They have been enshrined in our collective consciousness from any number of history books and TV documentaries. We witness them today and every day on the news and on social media. 

The family goes about its everyday business. Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) attends to the logistical challenges of mass incineration, while Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller) runs the household, organizing maids, playing with their four children and gardening. 

They are an upwardly-mobile family, Rudolph’s star in the ascendance and provincial girl Hedwig becoming used to the trappings of a new, middle-class life. The party favors them. They have a swimming pool and servants and Rudolph hosts parties of officers who all toast his successes. 

They are a bourgeois family, living in comfort and security, concerned with material things and high standards of living. Hedwig’s mother comes to visit. The couple wrestle with the problem that a promotion (and therefore relocation) would entail. 

Glazer doesn’t spoon feed you anything. When Hedwig gifts her staff new dresses, it takes a second to realize where those clothes came from. Every luxury and amenity they have, from toothpaste to brandy, is drenched in blood. Even as they bask in their affluence, the screams and sinister smoke stacks and the relentless sounds of firing squads intrude. The necrotic waste from the camp begins to physically infest their living space and leisure time. 

The sound design alone makes The Zone of Interest worth the ticket. The drones of anguish filter in and out almost subliminally, with varying levels of intensity. Glazer employs a hidden camera-like cinematography, switching between views in real time as actors move between rooms. It results in a reality TV-like effect, drawing yet more parallels with contemporary life. 

Many reviews refer to the famous “banality of evil” phrase, but although many of the scenes are of regular, quotidian tasks and events, it feels anything but banal. We see all of their personal, social, and sexual missteps. The party does not care for them beyond what they can deliver in terms of corpses - the far right fetishizes individuality, but only until you’re not useful, of course. 

It’s a Holocaust film, but one you haven’t seen before. I believe the bold artistic choices that Glazer makes elevate The Zone of Interest beyond many of its subject-related peers. New experiences in cinema are vanishingly rare these days. This movie delivers one, however uncomfortable, and it will stay with you. (PO)

The Zone of Interest is showing at The Prytania Theatre, Canal Place

Presenting some fun specials at both Gris-Gris (1800 Magazine) and Gris-Gris to Go Go (1804 Magazine) for the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday: 

• Frozen Irish Coffee is BACK!
  • MARCH is here...which means Gris-Gris’ Frozen Irish Coffee is back! Made with bourbon, Bailey's Irish cream, chocolate liqueur, coffee liqueur and cold brew. Available in the restaurant all month long, plus half-gallons to-go for $35 OR a party pack deal (3 for $95).
• Irish Channel Parade Specials (Sat, March 16):
  • Gris- Gris:
    • Gris-Gris will open its doors an hour early (10 am) for those looking for the ultimate parade-watching spot (Gris-Gris is at the very start of the route). The restaurant will serve its regular brunch and dinner menus – reservations are strongly recommended through Resy or via phone at (504) 272-0241.
    • Gris-Gris will serve a special Braised Corned Beef Po Boy: Corned beef brisket with braised cabbage and green remoulade on a Leidenheimer pistolette ($20). Available all day.
    • Drink Special: In addition to Gris-Gris’ Frozen Irish Coffee, the restaurant will also have green mimosas on special Saturday and Sunday.
    • Gris-Gris’ daily happy hour (3-6 pm) with food and drink specials will also be available during the Irish Channel Parade and on St. Patrick’s Day Sunday. (see full menu HERE).

 

• Gris-Gris to Go Go:
  • For those looking for a quick and easy bite for the parade route, Gris-Gris to Go Go (next door to Gris-Gris at 1804 Magazine Street) will be selling a Grab-and-Go Irish Reuben: Corned beef with cabbage kraut and green remoulade on sliced rye bread (comes with Zapps Chips + Drink for $16).

The Uptown craft cocktail bar is changing their hours and offering some promotions to better serve the community:
Happy Hour

• Cure now opens at 3pm Friday and Saturday with an extended happy hour that goes from 3-6pm
• On Sunday - Thursday, there are TWO happy hours-- a traditional one at 4-6pm and a brand new late night happy hour from 9:30-11pm. Reason for the latter being that Cure has always prided itself on being a spot that welcomes in the industry and this felt like a way to make it more accessible for the hospitality industry to come in post-shift and experience Cure.
• Happy Hour offerings include $8 craft cocktails which range from a rotating Champagne Cocktail, White Port & Tonic, Moscow Mule, Daiquiri, Sherry + Coke, White Negroni, Tommy's Margarita, Sazerac, Old Fashioned, and Espresso Martini. The $8 beer and a shot is currently Coors Banquet with Weller Special Reserve, and the wine also runs $8 for house selection of red, white or sparkling.

New Hours

• New business hours:
• Sunday - Thursday: 4pm - 11pm
• Friday + Saturday: 3pm-12am

Monday Markdowns

• On Mondays, the bar is offering a "Markdown Monday" series. Each week features a baller pour for one bottle or up to 25 single pours max. These are super special, premium bottles. The lineup will rotate and range from Thomas Handy Rye to Weller 12 Year Bourbon, Jefferson's Tropical Aged Bourbon, Four Roses LA Private Selection OBSV Bourbon, and Old Carter American Whiskey Batch 12, to name a few. This is also a nod to the industry as well as the community as Monday tends to be a strong industry night for the bar and New Orleans cocktail community.