.

I want to get it straight from the get-go that I am not, nor have I ever considered myself, even remotely, a ‘foodie.’ That said, you don’t get to be a Big Boy by a macrobiotic diet of unseasoned beans.
 
While I refuse to be lumped in with all the foodies out there, I will heartily admit to loving food. Add to that the ‘ambiance of the authentic’ in a time when most that surrounds us is far from real and I’m there. Where? New Orleans, of course.
 
Don’t get me wrong, there are restaurants and bars, food stands and dives all over the world that please me, but no place in America has more of them in such a small concentration than New Orleans. I add that qualifier to get the folks in New York, San Francisco and Chicago off my back. Remember, I said, I have favorite places everywhere.
 
I’m not going to come even close to mentioning all the great food in New Orleans or where to get it. There are way too many other sources for that, but among my personal favorites are:
 
Parasol’s Bar in the old historic ‘Irish Channel’ at 2533 Constance St.
Beyond the drink, I go to this Irish bar for one thing and one thing alone, their Roast Beef Po Boy. It’s the best there is.
 
Of course, if I were ever to grow tired of the Roast Beef Po Boy at Parasol’s, there is a close second to my heart:
 
Parkway Bakery & Tavern at 538 Hagan Avenue. It claims to be “New Orleans’ oldest Po Boy Shoppe.” I don’t know if it is or not, but I do know there Roast Beef Po Boys are up there among the very best on earth. I got stuck at Parkway during a torrential down poor that led to flash flooding several years ago and at that moment I could think of a better place to be.
 
Liuzza's By The Track located at 1518 North Lopez is where I like to go for a BBQ Shrimp Po Boy. Plain, simple, delicious.
 
Best cheap breakfast: Slim Goody's, a diner in the western part of the Garden District at 3322 Magazine Street. It also has some great vegetarian options.
 
Cafe Reconcile located at 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard: Not only is this the best meat-and-three joint in New Orleans, it's a non-profit that trains young people from the neighborhood to work in the restaurant industry as chefs, cooks, servers and managers. This is one of my favorite restaurants, for how often can you make the world better by loading up a plate?
 
Central Grocery at 923 Decatur Street is always a welcome stop for lunch in New Orleans. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s all about their muffuletta, New Orleans' other great sandwich. Served on a circular loaf of soft Italian bread piled with ham, salami and provolone cheese that is covered with a spread of chopped green and black olives, a bit of anchovies and a hint of garlic.

Of course, while your at it, what’s a trip to New Orleans without at least one or more trips to Café du Monde (800 Decatur Street across the street and down a bit from Central Grocery) for the ultimate reurrection from a long night of drinking in New Orleans with powdered-sugar beignets, hot from the fryer, chicory coffee and orange juice (good any time of the day).

Mimi's in the Marigny, 2601 Royal Street. There is little doubt that they have the best tapas in New Orleans, located in the city's funkiest neighborhood. Bars on two levels, billiards downstairs, lounge upstairs with awesome food late, late at night amid a very funky lounge scene, usually with a great DJ thumpin.

My favorite thing to do at Mimi's: show up on Sunday nights for DJ Soul Sister -- old school R&B, funk, groove. Great dancing.

 
When it comes to burgers, it’s a toss up for me between Port of Call located at 838 Esplanade Avenue (Truly great burgers, but usually there’s a line to get them.) and Yo Mama's at 727 Saint Peter Street in the Quarter with equally great burgers.  It's a bar that specializes in peanut butter bacon burgers and some rare and delicious tequilas. A winning combination in my book for sure.
 
Boucherie was opened by chef Nathanial Zimet who used to pull up ‘Que Crawl’ – a purple truck on the neutral ground outside Tipitina's nightclub during set breaks and sell AWESOME food to everyone with his take on New Orleans specialties, like fried boudin balls and duck gumbo. Late last year, he opened a real restaurant called Boucherie with more ambitious dishes than those he still serves at his truck, but nothing costs more than $15. Both the truck and the restaurant are better than just good and kind of off the map of the mainstays.

Domenica (504 648.6020; 123 Baronne Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70112; www.domenicarestaurant.com) the newest of Iron Chef finalist / Louisiana native John Besh’s amazing eateries. Using fresh and local ingredients, he conjures up wonderful rural Italian dishes – hand-made pasta, wood-fired pizzas and wonderful house-cured meats. All of this inside the handsomely-restored and chic Roosevelt Hotel

Coquette’s chef / proprietor Michael Stoltzfus serves up dishes like scallops w/ roast pork and mustard green ravioli and old-fashioned chocolate-filled beignets at this, the newest of Magazine Street's wonderful gathering of eateries. A+ local faire and seasonal dishes. (2800 Magazine St.; 504-265-0421)
 
During any month with a ‘r’ in it and May thrown in for good measure – that is oyster season, head over to Casamento’s at 4330 Magazine Street for some of the best oysters around. Truth is, folks around here eat oysters all year round these days, but they don’t eat ‘em within the tiled walls of Casamento’s except during oyster season and to be sure they don’t, the place is closed from June 1 until Labor Day. They have a good gumbo and an even better oyster stew.
 
You might not think of New Orleans as a barbeque city, but you'd be wrong.  The Joint at 801 Poland Avenue is Exhibition A. The place is terrific and off the tourist path, in The Bywater. www.alwayssmokin.com
 
Lola's on Esplanade, that is 3312 Esplanade Avenue, has really good Spanish fare is funky and byo except for maybe wine…I can’t remember. What I do remember and often ask for is their garlic-infused seafood paellas or their fidueas. The fish dishes are great and the ambiance is perfect.
 
 
Napoleon House Bar & Café in the heart of the French Quarter at the corner of Chartres Street and St. Louis Street is a favorite of mine for a drink. Anywhere else my drink would most likely be a Jack and water, but because it is the Napoleon House where my uncles once drank in the backroom speakeasy fronted by a grocery store, I like to order a Pimm‘s Cup in their memory. The story is that a previous owner of the house offered it for use by the Emperor / General in exile. The décor is perfect in every detail and its one of the best places to start a long night.
 
Last time I was in New Orleans, I tried a brand new place called Green Goodess at 307 Exchange Place in the French Quarter. It’s Chris DeBarr’s new place. He came out of Commander’s Palace. One of my best foodie friends took me there and it was well worth it on every level. The place is small and the DeBarr’s handiwork is amazing.
 
Irene’s Cuisine known to most simply as ‘Irene’s’ can be found at 539 St. Phillip Street. I would sum it up as pure local. The cuisine is country French and Italian with garlic a staple of both. The food is worth whatever the wait. Just try not to act the role of the tourist. The regulars would like to think none of us have ever found the place. The wait staff could not be more welcoming.
 
My dad use to tell how, in 1909, his parents first entered the world that is Galatoire's Restaurant at 209 Bourbon Street on 1909. That would be four years after the restaurant opened its doors to the world. He would then always add, “You do have to wonder what took them so long to get here.” But no matter what the delay was, my family has been eating there for the last hundred years. I went there with the Louisiana Revival architect, A. Hays Town, many years ago and sat at what he claimed to be “my table.” As he lived in Baton Rouge, I was never sure that he really had “a table,” but Galatoire’s always seems like the kind of place where someone really could  have “a table.” Beyond that, the food is rich and old-fashioned as is the service and the room. Even though I have waited over an hour for a table for a large party, I even like that fact that its still first come, first serve, at least downstairs. There is a sense that nothing has changed since my grandparents enter the place, though, truth be told, much has had to change even since Katrina. Still, when I’m in New Orleans, a return to Galatoire’s is a must for me, usually with something like broiled pompano covered in fresh crabmeat.
 
If my dad or grandfather were still around, I have little doubt that they would be frequenting Chef Donald Link's Herbsaint Restaurant and Bar located at 701 St. Charles Avenue. You see, like my dining choices, Donald’s cooking is inspired by his grandfather. And while Galatoire’s will always remain linked to me and my times in New Orleans, there is little doubt that Donald Link is the man of the hour. Dinner at Herbsaint can match any other grand meal in New Orleans these days. Julia Reed and her husband, John Pearce, first introduced me to the joint and for that, I will owe them forever.
 
So while we’re about praising the mastery of Chef Link, let’ not forget  Cochon. This is Donald’s second restaurant. With a his tip of the hat to his own Cajun roots with dishes like Spoon Bread with Okra and Tomatoes or Rabbit and Dumplings or the makings of a Louisiana Cochon du Lait (pig roast) with Turnips and Cracklings – all of it his sophisticated take on Cajun cuisine and all things pig (930 Tchoupitoulas St.; 504-588-2123). And then above it, Calcasieu, his new private dining space (504-588-2188).
 
A trip to New Orleans without a muffalotto at Central Grocery or a Po Boy at Parasol’s or dinner at Galatoire's is never complete. Now add Herbsaint and John Besh’ Domenica to the top of that list. What’s good there? Ask Donald or John, they’re both usually around. A fro me, I would say simply “Everything!”

At this point, I begin to ponder why exactly I don’t live in New Orleans. Oh, yea, possibly because I would weigh in at 350 Lbs. That’s why.

So enough of my recommendations. After all, if you need more than these, then you already live there and don’t need any of these. It’s your town, for Pete’s sake. Bon appétit.

Historical novelist Robert Hicks, whose 'A Separate Country' is set in New Orleans in 1879, sees a link between the city's cultural richness and the difficulty of life here

By Susan Larson
September 30, 2009, 4:00AM

For historical novelist Robert Hicks, the muse lives in many places -- a Confederate battlefield in the hills of Tennessee or in the heart of a widow who tends a cemetery in his best-selling first novel, "The Widow of the South." In his most recent book, "A Separate Country, " the muse has taken up residence in New Orleans, a city struggling to get back on its feet after the Civil War and to survive a yellow fever epidemic.

Christopher Berkey / AP PhotoNovelist Robert Hicks, shown near his home in Franklin, Tenn., is the author of "A Separate Country," a novel set in New Orleans following the Civil War.  The city was home to Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood and his wife, a Creole belle named Anna Marie Hennen, the central characters in "A Separate Country." After Hood succumbed to yellow fever, he was buried in Metairie Cemetery.

At first, Hicks felt humbled in the face of his subject. "I thought, 'Who am I to write about New Orleans?' " he said. "The real fear is that people would say, 'You're a poser. You live in the hills of Tennessee.' But James Lee Burke and Julia Reed and a bunch of writers have been so nice to me, just so kind."

Hicks, a Florida native, has fond family memories of New Orleans. "My first airplane flight was to New Orleans -- it was a prop jet. My grandparents started going to Galatoire's in 1909. There was always this kind of great ease in the city. When I came back during my book tour in 2005 and there were really no bookstores, hardly anything, all of a sudden, the city became a completely different thing to me. And I made the decision that the next book would be about New Orleans."

Hicks wanted to continue the story that had begun in "The Widow of the South, " about the bloody battle of Franklin, Tenn., and one thing led to another. "I thought, 'I've got Hood. He's there in New Orleans.' At one point, Hood and the painter Degas were living across the street from each other. And I began to delve into the New Orleans of Degas. And I began walking the streets -- at that point, after Katrina, it was such a strange and funky place, so much about it came straight out of the 19th-century mentality."

"A Separate Country" is a powerful evocation of New Orleans as it was in 1879, a book thick with history, rich in atmosphere. The characters walk the city's rough and tumble streets, witness the corruption of the Louisiana Lottery and the toll of the yellow fever epidemic, enact their very human love affairs, hide their secrets. To read it is to visit, for the length of its pages, an all-enveloping, passionately rendered past, beautiful and hallucinatory. "This city is not for the fainthearted, " Hicks writes.
"A Separate Country" by Robert Hicks. AUTHOR! AUTHOR!What: Robert Hicks signs 'A Separate Country' (Grand Central Publishing, $25.99).

When and where: Oct. 17, for a discussion from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. and a book-signing from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. at the Louisiana Book Festival at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge, and Oct. 19 at 5:30 p.m. at Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans.

_________________________
FROM 'A SEPARATE COUNTRY'
"I stepped outside onto the courtyard outside the library and had a smoke. There is a kind of Louisiana sky that is so deep and blue and bottomless and bright that the occasional cloud that slips off the Gulf can cast a shadow with the power to shock and startle, before quickly moving off, leaping over walls and roofs and into the next courtyard. I blew smoke and watched a cloud glide over, and quickly the courtyard went black before reappearing again in blinding color. Mockingbirds and sparrows flitted away from the darkness, calling to each other in search of the light. If I had been aboard that cloud, I thought, I could have looked down on one hundred square blocks of the city, each carved into a delicate labyrinth of courtyards and hidden gardens. My wife had mastered these labyrinths, grown up in them. They would always be a mystery to me."
-- Robert Hicks

John Bell Hood's struggle to make a life for himself after a life of war and murder, maimed by the loss of one leg and the use of one arm; and Anna Marie Hennen Hood's passion for her husband and love for her family of 11 children come to life, as the characters live with secrets in their past that can cloud love in the present. This is also a story about stories. As Hood trusts his old acquaintance, Eli Griffin, to decide whether to publish his books, and as Anna Marie writes her journal for her daughter, Lydia, we see how memory and history color each human life and how tenderly those stories are passed on.

This story was unfolding in Hicks' mind as he witnessed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As he traveled on a book tour that fall, everywhere he went, he said, "Hotels were full of people from New Orleans with dogs -- in Birmingham, (Ala.); in Memphis, (Tenn.); in Houston. I just kept going down to New Orleans, just trying to understand in my head what was happening to the Hoods . . . and I realized that the only way I could write about New Orleans today was to write about New Orleans then."

A lot of what drove Hicks to write "A Separate Country" was realizing that "a lot of what I knew about Hood was fiction. In the 1960s, there was this kind of revisionist history about Hood to make him into a villainous, murderous, jealous man, and that's not what I found. I hope I was honoring New Orleans, writing about the continuing impact of those five bloody hours at Franklin, and my goal also became -- and it's not what I began with -- I want those people who feel like they actually know who Hood is, if they've been living on the fiction that we call history. Maybe my take isn't right, but if it stirs the pot and we get a reassessment, it was worth it."

Hicks has come to writing in a roundabout way, yet in hindsight it seems inevitable. A music publisher and artist manager, he also is a partner in B.B. King's Blues clubs. An art collector and preservationist, he moved to Tennessee in 1974 and eventually joined the board of the house museum of Carnton. "The Widow of the South" emerged from his efforts to preserve the house and the Franklin battlefield. Along the way, he also co-curated an exhibition of "The Art of Tennessee" and joined the board of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The time he's logged in New Orleans inspired "A Separate Country, " and the story will continue in a third book.

"I get the sense that a lot of extraordinary places are hard places. I live in a cabin outside of Franklin, Tenn., (a late 18th-century cabin called 'Labor-in-Vain, ' near Leiper's Fork) and it's a hard place, like a lot of great places, like New Orleans. But if I can get people to read this book and love these people, it's worth it. A lot of people never look up and see what it is that they have. I live in a beautiful hollow, and have for 30 years, and one day a friend of mine said, 'Is this not one of the most beautiful roads on earth?' And I said, 'You're right.' I had grown accustomed to it. It's so easy for people who are there to be overwhelmed by all the hardness and miss all the richness."
. . . . . . .
Book editor Susan Larson can be reached at slarson@timespicayune.com or nola.com/books or at 504.826.3457.

Join NY Times best-selling author, Robert Hicks, on a journey to New Orleans, the setting for his newest book, A Separate Country. It is based in the years after the Civil War, on John Bell Hood, arguably one of the most controversial generals of the Confederate Army—and one of its most tragic figures. Robert E. Lee promoted him to major general after the Battle of Antietam. But the Civil War would mark him forever. At Gettysburg, he lost the use of his left arm. At the Battle of Chickamauga, his right leg was amputated. Starting fresh after the war, he married Anna Marie Hennen and fathered 11 children with her, including three sets of twins. But fate had other plans. Crippled by his war wounds and defeat, ravaged by financial misfortune, Hood had one last foe to battle: Yellow Fever. A Separate Country is the heartrending story of a decent and good man who struggled with his inability to admit his failures-and the story of those who taught him to love, and to be loved, and transformed him.

This is an exceptional opportunity to follow in the steps of the Hood family and to see how their story unfolded in the mind of the author.  We’ll visit the Hood home, the cemetery, understand the city of New Orleans in the Reconstruction era, and come to know the city through its history, its people, and its food.   We promise you’ll be inspired, captivated by the lure of the city itself, and come away with a new found sense of its historic past.  No stranger to the “Big Easy” Robert will lead us to places he knows well and that have inspired him to return, not just to write his book, but because it is a place that never disappoints. 

Thu/March 18:  Arrive in New Orleans where we will stay at the luxurious Maison Dupuy Hotel in the French Quarter. Our welcome reception this evening will give us time to become acquainted with one another and our host, Robert Hicks.

Fri/March 19: Today we’ll learn about the Hood family and the Reconstruction era as we see the Hood home, Lafayette Cemetery, the home where Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, died and take a leisurely walking tour of the French Quarter.  During the Reconstruction era French painter, Edgar Degas would visit his cousins in New Orleans and create some of his most famous paintings of the Cotton Market and his cousin, Estelle Mousson, who would marry his brother Rene.  We’ll visit the New Orleans Fine Arts Museum and the Degas House to learn more about the family, the art, and the history during the Civil War and post-war eras. Dinner with Robert Hicks at one of his favorite “haunts”.

Sat/March 20:  Today we venture out to the Warehouse District to visit the famed Ogden Museum of Southern Art.  Robert’s involvement with the “O” and his background as a collector and an expert on Southern arts makes this visit a must on our itinerary.   And, as luck would have it, we are also next to the Confederate Museum which opened its doors in 1891 and since that time has been celebrating over 100 years of Southern heritage and tradition.  It is the oldest museum in Louisiana and houses one of the largest collections of Confederate memorabilia in the U.S.  And to continue our museum day, we can’t miss the famed WWII Museum nearby.   

Sun/March 21:  One of the most celebrated things in New Orleans is food.   Today we start with an early lunch at the New Orleans School of Cooking where the history of the food is presented as the food is prepared by the chefs.  It’s as entertaining as it is satisfying! We’ll save the afternoon to spend some leisure time together as a group or as you wish.   Tonight we’ll meet for our farewell dinner – Robert’s choice!

Mon/March 22:  After breakfast transfer to the airport for your flight home or choose to extend your stay.

Tour Price:  $1595 per person double occupancy   Single: $1995

Tour Includes:  Four nights hotel accommodations with taxes, breakfast daily, sightseeing with Robert Hicks as indicated, admissions, one lunch, two dinners, welcome reception, motorcoach transportation for sightseeing, airport transfers, a signed copy of A Separate Country.

A $300 per person deposit is required no later than December 15, 2009 to secure your place on this tour.

To Make Your Reservation Contact: Charlene Corris Custom Travel Concepts, P. O. Box 80391, Springfield, MA 01138
Toll-free:  866-956-4440   
Email:  histours@aol.com

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