Cocktails & Wine
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Public Transit Tuesdays: Atlanta via Megabus
Posted by Megan Braden-Perry on Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Last Monday night, I was finishing an education story, making a Spotify playlist and finalizing a list of places to visit during my Atlanta day trip. I knew that I could have done and wanted to do more to prepare, but I was too busy tracking down sources for the education story and dealing with laptop issues (I accidentally broke the screen on my laptop when I tossed my lap desk onto the bed, on the eve of two major CUE deadlines).
During the trip, I repeatedly heard my former Dillard University professors' voices in my head saying, "Piss poor preparation produces piss poor performance." Looking back, I know what I should have done to make my trip — which was still amazing — better: made a detailed itinerary, complete with transit instructions; taken my fiance's good cellphone charger instead of mine, with the cord that needs to be wrapped around the phone and charging power that's comparable to sticking batteries in the freezer; not relied completely on electronics, especially when they are so faulty and cumbersome.
However, as another favorite HBCU maxim goes, "Excuses are tools of the weak and incompetent that build monuments to nothingness and bridges to nowhere. Those who use them seldom amount to anything, therefore I have no excuses."
Friday, September 14, 2012
Politifact runs Louisiana drive-thru daiquiri shops through its "Truth-O-Meter"
Posted by Kevin Allman on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 3:28 PM
For years, advocates have pushed for selling liquor out of regular retail establishments. Last week, when the state’s House Business and Labor Committee held the latest hearing about the law, state Rep. Bill Kennemer, who is skeptical about changing the procedure, made the statement, “We just don’t want to get to be like Louisiana, where you have drive-up daiquiri shops.”
The concept of drive-through daiquiri shops was so foreign to the Oregonians that the group PolitiFact, which analyzes the veracity of politicos’ public statements, contacted Kennemer, who said he and his wife had seen them on a trip to New Orleans.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Public Transit Tuesdays: Lakeview
Posted by Megan Braden-Perry on Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 11:59 PM
I assumed there would be no ratchetness on the Lakeview bus, but I actually came across two riding stock characters, a riding snacker and the never-before-mentioned riding rambler, who speaks loudly on the phone for the entirety of the ride, a couple who might be transient youth and suburban kids blasting rap music from their cars. Also ratchet: Bugs. Lots of them...
Monday, August 20, 2012
New wine shop downtown, big wine tasting Uptown
Posted by Ian McNulty on Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 11:04 AM
- Ian McNulty
- Keife & Co. on Howard Avenue
A new retail shop for fine wines, liquors and specialty foods has opened on the edge of the downtown area. Keife & Co. debuted around the start of August, taking over an interesting corner location at Howard and Carondelet, on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line.
Business partners John Keife and Jim Yonkus had been planning Keife & Co. for several years while each worked in the retail and wholesale wine and specialty foods businesses.
“Our fundamental philosophy is to have wines that are good representations of their areas of origin,” says Keife. “We’re interested mainly in small producers.”
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Public Transit Tuesdays: Claiborne
Posted by Megan Braden-Perry on Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Robert Morris of Uptown Messenger was once a regular Claiborne bus rider, using it as a shuttle to and from City Hall, until he missed scooping a fire and a shooting because he couldn't get there in time. Together we discussed the practicality of this bus line, explored places he's always wondered about and talked New Orleans journalism over lunch, while getting the lowdown from him on his neck of the woods and what it's like to be influential in tacos on Klout...
[Also, I'm sorry this is a bit late. My Internet was on the fritz last night. It's still moving pretty slowly, actually.]
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Johnny White's Sports Bar to charter a party bus and host a second line at their farewell party this Saturday at midnight
Posted by Megan Braden-Perry on Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 7:34 PM
Following a successful 25 years in business, Johnny White's Sports Bar (720 Bourbon St., 524-4909; www.johnnywhitesneverclosed.com), famous for staying open during Hurricane Katrina, is closing—in true New Orleans fashion, no less.
- Johnny White's Sports Bar
Monday, June 18, 2012
The coin-operated happy hour
Posted by Ian McNulty on Mon, Jun 18, 2012 at 9:02 AM
- Ian McNulty
- A wine dispensing system and beer vending machine at Press It.
Signs heralding its future opening appeared quite some time ago, stoking curiosity about just what Press It Bistrot & Automat would look like and how it would function. “Automat,” after all, references a type of coin-operated food dispenser, and the cheap, quick-serve eateries that used them were once a fixture of American cities, starting back in 1902 when the company Horn & Hardart opened the first in Philadelphia.
Press It Bistrot & Automat is now open in the CBD, and it does have some automation to it, though don’t expect any vintage apparatus of chromed-out, food-dispensing cubbies. Rather, this restaurant has a very contemporary look, with flat screen TVs and menu displays, a lounge-meets-coffee shop ambiance and a number of different service styles, most of which are already familiar enough.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Spotted in The Times-Picayune newsroom: Lou Grant
Posted by Kevin Allman on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 1:53 PM
As The Times-Picayune prepares to give way to the newly formed NOLA Media Group, employees are getting ready for individual meetings starting on Tuesday, at which the company is expected to tender a job offer ... or not. (Catch up on all our Times-Picayune coverage here.)
Some employees gathered last night at Ralph's on the Park for drinks — the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group is offering "Save the Picayune" cocktails at each of its restaurants, with a portion of drink sales being set aside for employees who may find themselves out of a job.
Others have taken out their frustrations in a more interesting way: by decorating the paper's newsroom with pithily captioned images of Ed Asner as Lou Grant:
The captions:
• "What the hell is an 'enhanced' newspaper?"
• "What the hell is a 'robust' Web site anyway?"• "How exactly do we do more with less?"
• "Fewer ad dollars, huh? What about a paywall?"
• "A 3-day-a-week newspaper in New Orleans? When did Ted Baxter become an executive at Advance Publications?"
Thursday, May 31, 2012
French connections and Parisian peculiarities
Posted by Ian McNulty on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:00 AM
- Courtesy of Olivier Magny.
Parisians are obsessed with cherry tomatoes, and they're crazy for sushi. They feel guilty about sweets, yet they can justify any dessert so long as it includes salted caramel, which they find “makes indulging almost enjoyable.”
Every Parisian under age 50 wears jeans, but they consider people who wear white socks beneath contempt. And while many Parisians like to disdain Americans as being stupid, or at least without culture, these same Parisians fall into two categories: “on the one hand, people whose favorite after-work occupations consist of watching CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, or Sex and the City; on the other, people who worship Woody Allen and Philip Roth.”
“Parisian are avid consumers of American culture and at the same time are fiercely convinced that such a thing does not exist,” writes Paris native Olivier Magny, who includes all of the above observations in his book “Stuff Parisians Like: Discovering the Quoi in the Je Ne Sais Quoi.”
Magny seems to have no hang-ups about American culture. He’s especially fond of New Orleans food in general and one Southern lady in particular. That would be his fiancée, for whom this author and wine expert moved from France to New Orleans.
On Saturday, June 2, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., he’ll sign copies of “Stuff Parisians Like” and discuss both Parisian peculiarities and wine at Vine Dine, a wine shop/wine bar reviewed here a few weeks ago.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Springsteen and the mango freeze that wasn't
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, May 1, 2012 at 2:48 PM
Now, bringing liquor into Jazzfest is illegal and frowned upon by the authorities. Unsmiling people search your bags as you enter to prevent this. And I can’t encourage or condone stupid and juvenile efforts to sneak in liquor. But, somehow, back at base camp, through inexplicable and possibly miraculous circumstances, I found myself in possession of two flasks of Banks Five Island Rum. Also — and these must have been left in my daypack from a previous event — I found a battery-powered swizzle stick, a large plastic mixing cup, and a small bottle of Bitter Truth Orange Bitters.I know. What are the odds?
As Wayne, ever the consummate host when liquor is involved, mixed rum-spiked mango freezes for his party, Springsteen, who was just a few feet away, seemed to take note:
What happened next is a matter of some conjecture among our party. Some believe he spontaneously chose to crowd-surf, or possibly he lost his balance and decided just to go with it. However, others of us are pretty certain he spotted a delicious mango and rum drink being served below, and thought to himself, “That looks pretty damn good! I wouldn’t mind one of those myself.”
What happened next is a tragedy and a lesson in being prepared. Read it at Wayne's Slow Cocktails blog.
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