“Bay Saint Louis”
We made the short drive (typically just over an hour) to Bay Saint Louis on Monday. Here’s a map of the drive from New Orleans to the Mississippi coast.
We ran into some torrential rain as we exited on to Highway 90 – the kind where you really can’t see enough to drive. I pulled off the road for a short while until it abated.
We had planned on lunch at the Barracuda taco stand before checking into our Airbnb at 3pm. That plan was quickly foiled. As we pulled in, a guy taking down the menu sign let us know that they were closing up for the season to take care of some required maintenance. Word on the street was that they had some electrical supply issues.
We rendezvoused with Kenny and Kara and I found Tacos and Beer as an alternative option. This is a sister restaurant of the place on Saint Charles Avenue that has the long line on Taco Tuesday. We had never been to either – a mistake as the drinks and food were all very good. The cucumber and cilantro margaritas were a big hit.
We checked into the house and found it to be very comfortable and exceptionally well appointed, especially the kitchen. We relaxed by the pool and watched some US Open tennis.
The group (minus sleepy me) played pickleball at the local outdoor court on Wednesday morning. Then we made the short drive over to Randy and Amy’s home for a highlight of the trip- a boat ride with Captain Randy.
Did you see the fish jumping right at the end of that video?
These guys are always such lovely hosts. Amy had made chicken salad and turkey mini croissants and cucumber margaritas for the ride. We anchored up at a quiet “beach” and floated around for a while. Sandi – there really was no gator risk, at least that’s what they told me.
We met for dinner at Butcher Block, a steak house and butcher shop in the Depot area by the train station. There was some confusion on the timing of their happy hour. Kenny and Diana had met the owner, Steve, on a Tuesday morning walk and thought it ran from 5-7pm, apparently actually from 3-5pm. Oh well. Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal – I had a beef tip sandwich which was very good, and cheesy as you can see. Kenny was really looking forward to the beef tip and mashed potato happy hour special.
After dinner we migrated next door to the Hen House, a fancy craft cocktail bar. The drinks were very good and somebody remembered to take some pictures.
I forgot to mention that Mason drove down to join us.
Thursday morning brought another storm. We played board games. Hitster, a recent gift from Sean, was a big hit. You get a 30 second clip of a song and have to name the artist and put the card in the right place in your timeline. Highly recommended if you have a krewe that likes music and has some knowledge of music from the fifties until the present day. Telestrations, a game where you pass books around and have to draw the phrase that the previous person wrote or guess what the picture is, generated some hilarious results. The girls finished off a “folk art” style puzzle. There was a gallery full of this stuff on Main Street.
After the storm passed, we rode the golf cart down to the Blind Tiger on the waterfront. I really enjoyed my redfish tacos and a couple of sips of Mason’s very sweet bushwhacker. This place has been around for a while for good reason.
After lunch, we drove along the beach road for a while and then circled back to Butcher Block for Kenny’s beef tips. I actually can’t remember if he was able to get them on this visit or not. The girls stopped into the wine shop next door and picked up a bottle of a Luxardo liqueur, the owners recommendation on an equivalent to Mr. Black, our favourite coffee flavoured liqueur. They also got a recommendation for a good local bar.
The Full Speed recommendation turned out to be a great one. An excellent bar with great cocktails, a local brewery doing a promotion, a wonderful local musician, and a Jenga game.
The brewery had some fun merch and clever packaging – “Mr. Sippi.”
Brandon Kenyon did an excellent set of music on the Full Speed patio. He started with “What a Wonderful World” and played trumpet and guitar to accompany a very good voice. Here’s the Levon Helm classic made popular by the Band of Heathens:
And some Garth Brooks for Diana:
The rest of the evening was passed with games and the US Open ladies semi-finals.
We checked out before 10am and had an easy drive home.
Barrel Proof, directly across the street from Bill and Shainey’s place, was our destination to watch the Saints game on Sunday. Sandi, Nic and Bill met us there – Nic with a huge trough of gourmet andouille and chicken sliders. Barrel Proof may be my new favourite bar – happy hour prices whenever there’s a Saints game, meaning $6 for their delicious Old Fashioned. And how could you not like a place that is fine with you bringing in your own food. It always helps to have a regular customer (Bill) in the group.
The Saints had a lousy first half and an excellent second half, losing by one point in overtime. Let’s hope we have a lot more of that second half team going forward.
I made the mistake of staying up to watch the Cowboys embarrassing Sunday night performance against the Giants. They are such a frustrating team.
My first book this week was “Showdown in Desire” by Orissa Arend, a tennis friend of Kenny’s. This is a real, physical book that Kenny leant me and so doesn’t work for reading bed. This is a good description of the book:
“Orissa Arend’s Showdown in Desire is a fascinating story that documents the history of the Black Panther party chapter in New Orleans. The author’s objective, which she accomplishes, is to allow former participants to tell the story of the New Orleans Panthers to provide a more holistic perspective of the party and the issues (racism, police brutality, and poverty) that it combated. In addition, the author tells this story to generate greater awareness of a post-Katrina New Orleans that is still ravaged by the same problems that the Panthers fought forty years ago. One of the standout features of this work is that Arend uses over twenty interviews to help tell the story of the New Orleans Panthers. Arend’s interviews range from former Panthers to high-ranking city officials to police officers (including two who infiltrated the party). Furthermore, the work fills a void in the historiography on the Black Panther party, as very few works examine southern chapters of the party.”
—Journal of American History, March 2010
My second book, this one an eBook that I can read in bed on my iPad, was “How to Kill a Rock Star” by Tiffanie DeBartolo. I’m not too far into the story and am enjoying it quite a bit. Here’s an online summary:
“Written in her wonderfully honest, edgy, passionate and often hilarious voice, Tiffanie DeBartolo tells the story of Eliza Caelum, a young music journalist, and Paul Hudson, a talented songwriter and lead singer of the band Bananafish. Eliza’s reverence for rock is equaled only by Paul’s, and the two fall wildly in love.
When Bananafish is signed by a big corporate label, and Paul is on his way to becoming a major rock star, Eliza must make a heartbreaking decision that leads to Paul’s sudden disappearance and a surprise knock-your-socks-off ending.”
More to come on both of these books next week.
Let’s start with something funky and unique from the amazing and ever morphing Herbie Hancock:
An organ jam from Reuben Wilson with some stellar guitar from Grant Green:
And finally, bringing things more current with the soulful Neal Francis. I promise to make it to Tips the next time he visits: