 Chemin à la Mer at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans presents a summer bar series, 'Friends of Purple Grackle', celebrating the camaraderie and craftsmanship that is New Orleans beverage industry.
“I’m thrilled to see Chemin be a gathering spot for some of the bar teams I most respect,” said Partner Chef Donald Link. “We always intended the lounge to be a hangout for friends in the city to collaborate over a few good drinks and apps. Friends of Purple Grackle solidifies that shared experience and encourages creativity and innovation.” The series will kick off on Tuesday, June 20, in Chemin’s lounge, affectionately dubbed the Purple Grackle, with a special bar menu from Jewel of the South alongside signature drinks of Chemin. Chris Hannah, owner of Jewel of the South, and Hadi Ktiri, who leads the beverage program for Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans, will weave the evening together with stories and history that influenced the evening’s preparations. “It’s a story of friends, bar-mates and drinking buddies,” said Ktiri. “The power of hospitality is our ability to bring people together for a drink, a laugh and conversation through a shared moment.” Ktiri and Hannah have been friends for over a decade starting at Arnaud’s French 75 Bar where the two worked together to earn a James Beard Outstanding Bar Award. The friendship continued through jobs and life events as the two circled back together on warm afternoons for courtyard cigars and cocktails. Fresh off the heels of being recognized as one of North America’s 50 Best Bars for the second year in a row, and the only bar in New Orleans to carry the title, Jewel of the South is known both locally and globally for its timeless approach to cocktails, befitting its historic French Quarter setting. Following the pop-up with Jewel of the South, the series will continue with Cure on July 9th and Latitude 29 on August 21st. To ensure an intimate and elevated experience, reservations are required, and seating will be limited to two time slots at 5pm and 7pm Priced at $65 per guest, the experience will include two cocktails and an appetizer. Reservations are bookable via OpenTable. For more information, visit CheminalaMer.com or follow along on Instagram @CheminalaMer and @FSHotelNewOrleans.  Since opening in nearly two years ago, Mister Mao Chef/Owner Sophina Uong has earned rave reviews for her “inauthentic” global cuisine. Her popular Guest Chef Pop Up Series has become one of the Crescent City’s must-dos for experiencing the unique cuisine of some of the region’s talented chefs, food trucks, catering companies and more. The result? Exposure, creativity and $$$! Uong gives each visiting chef the proceeds of the evening while giving New Orleans locals and visitors the chance to try something new. Since the series started, Uong has helped raise close to $50,000 collectively that has been dispersed to the various chefs and the community-minded culinaire has no plans to slow down. “Giving back has always been a key component of who I am as a restaurateur and something I will continue to do as long as I’m still open!”
This June, Uong will welcome Guest Chef Cristina Quakenbush of Milkfish for a very special pop-up dinner highlighting Filipino cuisine. Priced at $65 per person (excluding tax & gratuity), the four-course dinner menu follows: First : Slo Pao steamed bun filled with chicken asado and boiled egg Second : Cajun Lechon Liempo rolled pork belly porchetta stuffed with boudin Third : Milkfish smoked then fried, served with spicy vinegar Fourth : Halo Halo Filipino snowball with sweet bean, sago pearl, jackfruit, coconut, ube, flan and coconut milk WHEN/WHERE: The Guest Chef Pop-Up with Cristina Quakenbush will take place on Tuesday, June 20th at Mister Mister Mao, 4501 Tchoupitoulas Street. Two seatings are available at 6PM and 8PM. For information and reservations, please visit https://www.mistermaonola.com/milkfish.  Review by Amelia Parenteau
A warm, chatty audience assembled to take in PearlDamour’s Ocean Filibuster at the CAC, furthered warmed by the locally-cast ensemble of “activists” walking up and down the aisles with clipboards, asking us to sign their petition if we “stood with the ocean.” Originally commissioned in 2016 by the American Repertory Theater in partnership with the Harvard University Center for the Environment, Ocean Filibuster attempts the impossible: letting the vast, unknowable Ocean speak for itself. The audience was seated facing a stark white stage, with a “Global Federation - Humans on Earth” seal projected upstage and Sorkin-esque music on loop. As the show begins, we learn we’re attending a special session of the Global Senate. “Mr. Majority” (Jennifer Kidwell) presents his “End of Ocean Bill” to “put the ocean out of its misery” by draining vast parts of it, thus creating more land and a smaller, condensed set of “seven seas” to cut our losses and continue sustaining human life on this planet for the foreseeable future. This speech is underscored by Evan Spigelman patriotically clashing cymbals, ever the comedic genius. Then the anthropomorphized Ocean (also played by Kidwell) appears in a gown made of plastic bags to filibuster the bill. The Ocean goes on to regale the audience with a myriad of original songs, composed by Sxip Shirey, scientific facts, imaginings, and objections to the notion that humans (ourselves made of 60% water) could survive without it. Kidwell is magnificent, deftly transitioning between characters, wryly interacting with the audience, and singing their heart out. As the Ocean contains multitudes, the ensemble periodically returns, dressed in diaphanous robes and coral-like headpieces, to amplify songs with their chorus of voices. The design for this show is outrageously good, from glorious costumes by Olivera Gajic to otherworldly projections by Stivo Arnoczy and Tal Yarden, and immaculate sound design by Andrew Lynch and Sxip Shirey. At intermission, the audience is invited into the lobby to interact with several stations: activism resources to be gleaned through QR codes, a couple underwater dance parties, a sand art display of the composite ingredients of humans and oceans, and AR depictions of ocean life available via iPads. Part two begins with Kidwell luxuriously draped over the Senate desk for some coy hilarity, followed by more songs, the end of the filibuster, inevitable manipulation by Mr. Majority, and a dreamscape of what ifs — envisioning if humans remembered we are, in fact, a part of the global ecosystem, rather than extractive parasites draining the planet for all it’s worth. The activists return for a final chorus, a whale song sung in the round (literally around the audience), and then we all trickled off into the night. The creators’ key word was “wonder,” as the Ocean sings: “Isn’t it enough that I am beautiful? Just stand back, and wonder.” Confronted with the enormity of the climate crisis, no work of theater can offer tidy resolution. Instead, Ocean Filibuster asks its audience to be willing to be immersed in experience, open to feelings as well as facts. I, for one, was happy to swim around in that world, for a while. Ocean Filibuster has ended its run but check out upcoming events at the CAC here. MORE REVIEWS MORE CULTURE  Review by Amelia Parenteau To open its 30th season, the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane presents Twelfth Night, directed by AJ Allegra. Allegra’s version of Twelfth Night is placed in 1950s Italy, as evidenced by the set’s colorful two-story façades and town square with a faux marble fountain laced with climbing ivy, designed by Joan Long. The audience sits surrounding 3 sides of the stage, and with actors entering and exiting from 4 different access points, feels enmeshed in the comings and goings of this charming Illyria. Whose Italy we’re inhabiting varies from character to character. Tia René Williams brings a strong Strega Nona vibe (and accent) to the town square, while Mike Harkins and Keith Claverie as Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, respectively, lean more Sopranos. Allegra’s direction keeps a tight pace, which serves the comedic timing of the many pranks and plots unspooling throughout this story, while also allowing for moments of stillness for the audience to soak up the lyrical acoustic music composed by Ainsley Matich, performed live by Rich Dally III, Noah Hazzard, and Steven Rose. One particularly delightful piece of staging was the 3 Stooges-esque trio of Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Fabian (Noah Hazzard) spying on Malvolio (Graham Burk) through three shuttered doors on the upstairs balcony as he reads the faux love letter intended to humiliate him. Similarly, the dramatic irony at the end of the play is almost unbearable as the characters fail to understand there are siblings afoot rather than just one rascal Cesario, deliciously exacerbated by staggered staging, keeping Viola just out of Sebastian’s eyeline. While the word play and “sword” play and poor Malvolio in his yellow stockings, cross-gartered, still hold their charm some 420 years after Twelfth Night was written, Viola’s cross-dressing for survival made me yearn for an unabashedly queer telling of this story. Instead of telling him/her “Cesario, come/ For so you shall be, while you are a man./ But when in other habits you are seen, Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen,” what if, in the final moments, Orsino was proud to be seen in public with his male-passing lover? As always, Kacie Thomassie’s costumes dazzle, particularly the mourning ensemble and whoops-I’m-in-love floral number worn impeccably by Brittany N. Williams. Mandi Wood’s lighting design and Mike Harkins’ sound design rounded out the Mediterranean world, and achieved a hilarious climax with a warm, rose-colored spotlight on the door to Olivia’s chambers while Italian opera swelled and Sebastian and Olivia enjoyed each other’s company, if you will. Twelfth Night runs through June 24, 2023. Tickets and more information available here. ALL REVIEWS MORE CULTURE  Saint John is excited to kick off Pride with two great events:
June 1 PRIDE KICK-OFF: On Thursday, June 1, Saint John will debut a variety of Pride drink specials (available all month long) – Saint John encourages guests to dine for brunch and dinner on June 1st (Thursdays are also locals lunch, where locals who show NOLA/surrounding parishes ID get 20% off their entire table’s meal between 11 am – 4 pm), as 10% of all drink proceeds from the whole month of June will go to House of Tulip, which provides zero-barrier housing, case management, linkage to care, and community programming to trans and gender nonconforming people in need of a safe place to stay while growing the supply of affordable housing in NOLA.
June 9 NOLA PRIDE DRAG BRUNCH: To celebrate NOLA Pride Weekend (June 9 – 11), Saint John will host a Pride Drag Brunch on Friday, June 9 (11 am). Guests will enjoy a three-course meal including some of Saint John’s main brunch staples with bottomless bubbles and amazing entertainment by award-winning Queens Debbie with a D, Laveau Contraire and Terri Aqui! Tickets ($120) are available now via Resy – full details and promo assets are included below: WHAT: Saint John’s Nola Pride Drag Brunch! WHEN: Friday, June 9, 11 am WHERE: Saint John (1117 Decatur Street: DETAILS:
 Photo: Randy Schmidt Join Couvant on a culinary ride through the many exquisite regions of France during the restaurant’s 2023 Tour de France Dinner Series -- a five-month culinary exploration featuring menu specials and monthly curated dinners inspired by select regions throughout France-- including Provence, Burgundy, Lyon, Normandy and Alsace -- that inspire Couvant’s French-infused menu. From June to October, Couvant will spotlight one region in France each month, releasing a featured special on the 1st with a custom drink pairing. Each month will end with a four-course tasting dinner with beverage pairings inspired by the selected region (held on the last Thursday of each month), taking guests on a ride through the many regions that inspire the country’s amazing cuisine. Tickets to all five themed dinners are available now on Resy.
“We love to have the opportunity to showcase regional French cuisine that typically would not make it on the Couvant dinner menu,” Said Executive Chef Ryan Pearson. “I felt inspired to explore different regions of France and experiment with diverse menu designs, ingredients and flavors. This is a unique experience that we are excited to share with our guests – a curated culinary vision focusing on five distinct regions with beverage pairings, all within an affordable price point.” JUNE: PROVENCE
AUGUST: LYON
SEPTEMBER: NORMANDY
|
NEWSPreviews, reviews, offers and news in New Orleans. Categories
All
Archives
March 2025
|
RSS Feed
