Satsuma season here, in more ways than one.

Crisp fall weather (yes we get it here too) means citrus season. The Jesuits brought citrus to the area known today as Plaquemines Parish. Satsumas (a sweet, easy to peel seedless mandarin) is a local favorite that does not ship too well and so its success is very much due to the farmers markets and roadside stands of the area.
Starting out as more green than orange and a bit tart in taste in late September, they sweeten when they become all orange by the end of October. In my mind, the arrival of satsumas kick off the one of the best seasons here in Southeastern La when citrus, seafood, mirlitons and greens are available.

Satsuma (3218 Dauphine) is now also a favorite restaurant in the city; Peter and Cassi Dymond took over Coffea (from founder Gwen who can now be found at the New Orleans Food Coop) and transformed an excellent "third place" to a first class restaurant as well. Foraging from farmers markets, farms, neighborhood yards and by comparing ideas with their fellow chefs in town, the menu is often changing but always healthy, tasty and exciting. Cassi seems to handle more of the inventory and staff managing, while Peter is seen doing the buying and foraging, although they both handle whatever comes up and clearly communicate and plan ahead of time, so the drama is invisible, which is unusual in small restaurants. They constantly evaluate and adapt as needed which keeps the place lively and interesting, like so many innovative small businesses.

The care that these two have taken to build their menu is also seen in how they built their staff. Everyone is courteous and warm and take the time to stop and have a chat, no matter how long the list of to-dos. Katie and Will are my two favorites, but the entire staff has the potential to be added to that list.
When I'm low on energy, I go there. When I have visitors to impress about the quality of life in New Orleans, I go there. When I want to have some good chat and see people, I go there.
Breakfast has been my time to visit, but now that they have added dinner from Wednesday to Sunday, I expect to be a frequent visitor at that time too. I had the honor to be invited to their sneak preview of the dinner menu this week and can vouch for another great addition. Prices will be between 10 and 14 dollars for entrees and is BYOB. BYA (bring your appetite) too.



Chicken breast

flank steak salad

Lafitte Greenway Community Meetings

Revolution of the Mind by the dBs

"buying a chevrolet is not a revolutionary act"

Opposition to St. Claude Healing Center

The Cult of Convenience -- the Mall on St. Claude excerpt:

Your life is so difficult, so demanding. The dues you've paid as a bohemian transplant roughing it in the wilds of downtown New Orleans are immense... people calling for accountability, using the term gentrification, those are just guilt peddlers. Guilt is so last-century. You don't even consider yourself white, really, not deep down.


The gaudily, perpetually brightly lit, thunderously air-conditioned, aromatherapized, McDonaldland-Massacre-paintjob Mall on St. Claude is there. What's done is done. It's there, and my lord, is it convenient! Plus now, if the people hanging around Hank's annoy you or get in your face, you'll have a safe place to run to... thanks to Pres Kabacoff, who created it for that very reason.

Nolaanarcha

Goodbye Fair Grinds owners and thank you

Today is the end of an era. A neighborhood era, and one of my personal eras too.
The day of the sale of the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse has come.

I remember when I met Robert and Elizabeth, sitting outside the empty shell of what we had started calling "the nacho cheese and stale donut place" which inhabited the building before they bought it. The True Brew that had been there a few years before had found new owners after it had closed and those owners had quickly devolved it to the point where the owners simply taped a donut box to the window to show the type of products they carried.
Needless to say, I had stopped going.
When I walked by and Robert said hello I stopped to talk and started a conversation with the two of them that has continued for over 10 years now. They explained patiently what they had probably explained at least 20 times that night-that they had bought the building and wanted to know what the neighbors wanted to put in there. (long story made short, neighbors overwhelmingly wanted a good coffeehouse.)
I bonded quickly with Robert over 3rd places and social cohesion strategies and politics then later with Elizabeth over books and people watching and history. Their love of their adopted city was profound, anyone could see that. They had traveled widely and experienced much and loved to share what they knew. Those things became the next bonding.

When it opened, I was there that day, ordering Morrocan mint tea which had been recommended by Elizabeth. I knew this was a special place. I did not know that day however, how much it would come to define my neighborhood and my personal circle.
The evolution of my taste for good coffee and tea began that first day and continues with the baristas to this day. Baristas like Jordan and Lawrence (among many others) who also defined the place in their time with their wit and knowledge. Now, I have Lee and Eric to continue the tradition with more names to come...
I actually did some work for the place in the early days, doing data entry for Elizabeth and I really enjoyed it. Would have loved to have stayed on doing it, but my full-time job began to take over and so I became only a customer and a friend.
I made many friends through the place and had a larger number of friendly interactions with neighbors. I watched some drama unfold and saw some losses be absorbed by people while there. Katrina was a bad milestone for all of us here, but for people in MidCity we had a respite and a place to gather your emotions or supplies or people to go back and finish the cleaning. I am sure the entire downtown owes Fair Grinds thanks for recovery. When you can find support nearby, you move more quickly to a positive result.
Over the years, I worried about my friends who were working every available minute and using all of their resources to build their business. I worried about their health and the future of a social justice business model in a corporate world. I still worry, but am glad to see the next owners were attracted to the mission rather than just the profit part of the business. That tells me (and hopefully tells Robert and Elizabeth) that their work will continue.
The number of neighborhood projects, business ideas, national and international movements that have been directly supported there cannot be counted. It's too lengthy. The number of people who made a true connection can also not be counted. It multiplied past everyday numbers years ago..
I can remember so many moments now that I have shared because of that first one that evening 10 years ago when I stopped to talk to 2 people on a bench. I thank them for all of them and look forward to sharing new ones with them as fellow customers and friends.
Thank you Robert and Elizabeth.

Rising From Ruins

Even though I'm in this documentary, I have not watched it. Actually, maybe that's why. I watched some of it today, and noticed a lot of subtext I was glad to see. I think I'll ask people to see this when they ask me to explain New Orleans post Katrina. However, its a bit long on anecdotal stories and short on overall analysis, but still really useful and amazing to see the city only a few years after the devastation.
Some things I thought while I was watching:
Pres Kabacoff trying to explain his flawed Walmart project is priceless.
Blakely seems like he is totally over his head and loopy (on his bike with his group without helmets by the way.)
Sad to see the Viet Village farm project.
The farmers markets look great if I say so myself...Poppy looks crazy in that hat though...
Naomi Klein was pretty good.
Freakin Nagin and his "mother of all storms" b.s. about Hurricane Gustav comes across exactly as he is.
Sadly, many of those projects have not been finished.
Hardware store people are always grumpy.



indieflix

Next American City » Buzz » Generation Y and New Orleans

Reading this, I remember reading what Gary Groesch said about New Orleans right before he died:

"If you want to be a frontline soldier on environmental protection, social justice or environmental racism, come to Louisiana." .... Gary Groesch, activist, in a speech to LEAN.


Next American City » Buzz » Generation Y and New Orleans

lost architectural rules...

Rant.

(and no, I am not responsible for the grammatical error in the title._