When Chef Sophina Uong and husband/partner William “Wildcat” Greenwell opened Mister Mao in July 2021, the dynamic duo set out to bring New Orleanians a vibrant dining experience where “unapologetically inauthentic” global-inspired cuisine melds with a killer cocktail program and lively atmosphere. Two years later, Mister Mao has become one of the Crescent City’s hottest restaurants. In celebration of two years, Mister Mao will showcase a celebratory anniversary cocktail available only July 1 – 31, 2023 to benefit the Southern Smoke Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to providing emergency relief funding and no-cost mental health services to those in the hospitality industry.
 
Guests who dine at Mister Mao during month of July can enjoy a limited-time-only The Teaches of Peaches cocktail featuring vodka, house made peach shrub; fresh squeezed lemon juice, peach liqueur, saline and Angostura bitters, served over crushed ice and garnished with dehydrated Covey Rise peach. Uong, a staunch advocate for the hospitality industry, will donate 50 percent of each anniversary cocktail sold to Southern Smoke Foundation and will participate in the October 2023 Southern Smoke Festival in Houston, Texas.

Mister Mao is located at 4501 Tchoupitoulas in New Orleans (entrance on Jena Street) and serves dinner Thursday – Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday) from 5PM – 10PM and brunch Sunday from 11AM – 3PM. For reservations and further information please visit www.mistermaonola.com. Stay up to date on Instagram: @mistermaonola

DEBBIE ON THE LEVEE IN RIVERTOWN UNVEILS NEW MENU
Savory, Sweets & Sips Now on Offer 7AM – 7PM

Located just one block off of Williams Boulevard in Jefferson Parish’s Rivertown neighborhood, Debbie on the Levee is a charming and casual eatery with a full bar; a fun pop culture vibe and TVs to watch games or Saturday cartoons. 

The new menu features breakfast dishes like the Breakfast Sandwich – eggs, garlic aioli, choice of bacon or sausage served atop a biscuit or toast; Bananas Foster French Toast – brioche, candied bananas and brown sugar rum sauce; Breakfast Bowl – scrambled eggs (a.k.a. scrams), yellow stone ground grits, cheddar and bacon or sausage; and Red Velvet Elvis Pancakes – red velvet silver dollars, bacon, peanut butter and candied bananas. Sandwiches include Grilled Caprese – tomato, basil, mozzarella, balsamic glaze, garlic olive oil and pesto; Three Cheese Chipotle Grilled Cheese with cheddar, mozzarella, provolone, smokey chipotle butter and hot honey; and the BBLT which stand for beignet, bacon, lettuce and tomato, a creative twist on the classic with garlic aioli and balsamic glaze sandwiched between a split beignet dusted with powdered sugar. Sweet treats include a variety of doberge cakes from Debbie Does Doberge, mini-sized dobites, Nana Judies – named after Charlotte’s grandmother who created this childhood favorite – four beignets stuffed with peanut butter and Steen’s Cane Syrup, and topped with powdered sugar.

Debbie on the Levee is located at 2118 Reverend Richard Wilson Drive in Rivertown and is open Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7AM – 7PM (closed Monday and Tuesday). Delivery available through Debbie on the Levee Ordering.  See also: www.debbieonthelevee.com 
 
TROPIC LIKE IT’S HOT: JULY TIKI TAKEOVER AT THE BOWER BAR 
Enjoy tiki-inspired cocktails and dishes July 2023
This July, The Bower Bar - the indoor/outdoor bar next door to The Bower - is continuing to celebrate summer with a tropical Tiki Takeover. 
With a decked-out space filled with tiki decor, along with an array of tiki-inspired cocktails from Beverage Director Mickey Mullins, guests can enjoy $18 sippables featuring a variety of Don Q rums. Specialty cocktails include Frozen Pina Colada with rum, pineapple, and coconut; Rum Mango Old Fashioned - Don Q Gran Reserva Añejo XO, spiced mango, and bitters; Painkiller - rums, citrus, and cream of coconut; Jungle Bird - rum, bitter orange, fresh pineapple, and citrus; The Audacity - rum, passionfruit, citrus, orgeat, and absinthe spray; and Hakuna Matata - bourbon, velvet falernum, allspice dram, citrus, aquafaba. Additionally, larger groups can enjoy large-format (shareable) cocktails, including Zombie Bowl - rums, fresh citrus, passionfruit, pineapple, bitters, and house-made grenadine; and Bower Bowl - a refreshing punch shareable featuring fresh juices and Don Q rums. Guests can also enjoy a non-alcoholic take on a gin fizz with the Spiritless Fizz. 
Executive Chef Marcus Woodham is spicing it up in the kitchen with options like Spam Musubi - sweet soy glazed spam, sushi rice, furikake, spicy mayo; Pineapple Braised Short Ribs - sweet plantains, avocado and cilantro rice, and pickled onions; Huli Hula Chicken Skewers - Hawaiian macaroni salad, spicy pineapple; Spicy Salmon Poke Tostada - smashed avocado, shaved onions, cilantro, wasabi tobiko; and Peem’s Pad Thai. 
WHEN: June 1, 2023 - July 31, 2023. Monday-Thursday 4PM - 9PM, Saturday-Sunday 4PM - 11PM. 
 
TUJAGUE’S CELEBRATES POPPY’S DRAG QUEEN BRUNCH 
SUNDAY, JULY 30, 2023
Three-Month Summer Series Features Three-Course Brunch, Bottomless Mimosas & Lively Entertainment
 
It is quite fitting that Tujague’s, the birthplace of the tradition known as brunch, was also one of the first to popularize drag queen brunches in New Orleans when the restaurant celebrated its 160th birthday in 2015. The drag queen brunch was created in partnership with cookbook author, media darling and culinary activist Poppy Tooker.  Since then, drag brunches have become wildly-popular throughout New Orleans and the rest of the country. Now, in its new locale at 429 Decatur Street, the second oldest restaurant in New Orleans is celebrating Poppy’s Drag Queen Brunch on Sunday, July 30th, from 11AM - 2PM. 
 
Taking place the last Sunday of each summer month (July 30  and August 27), these festive celebrations will feature a three-course drag brunch prepared by Executive Chef Gus Martin, bottomless mimosas for three full hours and lively entertainment by nationally-renowned drag queens Laveau Contraire, Debbie With A D, Cucci Licci and Starr Alexander, amongst others. 
 
Prepaid tickets are priced at $70 per person (excluding tax and gratuity). The full menu for the June brunch is HERE, and reservations can be made on OpenTable  (under “Experiences”)  or by calling Tujague’s at (504)525-8576. Tujague’s is located at 429 Decatur Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter.

​Miss Rose: A Cabaret Play
The Marigny Opera House (this performance relocated to the New Marigny Theatre)

When we arrive, we are given two programs, “One that the company made and one that Miss Rose made.” The latter is a primitive-looking single sheet, headed ‘The Tarrytown Care Center Presents: Rose’s Turn’. 

This is the cabaret within the play, a ‘turn’ of songs and stories performed by the character of Rose Williams. In real life, Rose was the sister of Tom ‘Tennessee’ Williams, who was institutionalized for her entire life after a failed lobotomy. Reportedly a real-life inspiration to Mr Williams (certainly for some of his most famous characters - e.g. Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie), in this world, she is an entertainer, just looking to express herself and put on a show for her baby brother’s birthday, despite her circumstances. 

It’s a simple but immersive set, and we ourselves play the part of an audience (her fellow patients?) that don’t show up, but are imagined. A sad table of refreshments languishes expectantly in the corner. A pianist (music director Audrey Smith) accompanies the songs, and a nurse (assistant director Alston Brown) conducts, directs and sometimes participates in the skits. 

Set over a series of visits, the opening has an agitated Tennessee seemingly there just to get away from production woes on his new play. She makes fun of him, playfully calling him ‘Idaho’, and attempting to both delight and goad him with family memories and shared experiences that veer between wholesome and traumatic. This is a pattern that repeats itself, the siblings often caught in cycles of euphoric reminiscing and raw confrontation.

Rebecca Gibel plays Rose with a fierce dexterity and charisma, flitting between ebullient dramatics and erratic psychosis. Songs are played for laughs as well as sympathies, scenes and games from their childhoods evoke joy and trauma in equal measure. Gibel has a wonderful voice and timing, which might not ring completely true, but the cabaret itself can’t be too amateurish or it would be a challenge to sit through. In short: she and the direction strike a great balance and Gibel is impressively fearless and completely entertaining.

Leicester Landon plays Tennessee/Tom with a louche touch, at once coy and outrageous, with many a bon mot, served awash with sultry, southern allure. Landon’s physicality, sometimes brooding, sometimes camp, but always dynamic, is a very strong aspect of his acting. He carries a comically surreal scene equating creative and literal constipation with hilarious aplomb, and rolls with the verbal jabs that he and Rose - like most brothers and sisters - use to lift and belittle each other with equal effect. 

The visits bounce between elation and despair, Rose wrestling with her social and romantic solitude is as visceral as Tom confronting his sexuality in an unforgiving time (one that sadly has unwelcome modern-day relevance). The play presents the discrete sessions as one continuous play in Rose’s mind, meaning that the coherence is never lost, though a couple of very minor trims would make for a leaner, more punchy last half hour in this layman’s opinion. 

Writer-directors Kenny Prestininzi and Christopher Winslow have a debut that they can be very proud of, though. Gibel and Landon have an engaging chemistry, and the framing is a compelling way into the exploration of this complicated, but fundamentally loving relationship. Kudos also to Audrey Smith and Alston Brown, who help finesse the world on stage with their musical and theatrical flourishes. With any luck, this production will return for next year’s Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival - I’ll definitely be there to see it again if that happens. 

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