BEST SMALL TOWN
WHEN ASHLEY CULICCHIA CASH moved back to her Louisiana hometown of Covington after about a decade away, the first thing she noticed was how much the downtown had changed. “The growth has been unbelievable,” she says. “There’s more shopping, food, and fine dining. Even the streets seem bigger and wider. There’s so much more to do here than all those years ago.”
Cash soon became immersed in the local scene, setting up her event-planning business and gift store, The Graceful Host Shop, on Lee Lane. She’s now part of a bustling but cozy historic downtown, where just about every store owner is eager to share with visitors their own favorite spot within walking distance. “There’s a lot to check out,” Cash says. “You don’t even need to get in your car to go from a clothing boutique to a wine bar to a restaurant to a hotel to an art gallery. You can walk to all of those.”
Covington is only an hour north of the flashy distractions of New Orleans, and the drive is primarily spent traversing the Causeway Bridge across Lake Pontchar-train. First established in 1813, the town has an unusual layout that includes small public areas, called ox lots, within every block. Originally places for people to sell their wares from wagons and oxcarts, those lots remain today in what is now the historic district. Some of them serve as free parking spots, which help downtown businesses and their patrons.
“You can’t ever really place Covington just in the present without also factoring in all that its past lends,” says Lisa Condrey Ward, a co-owner of the Southern Hotel. “It’s such a walkable, well-planned town and has a deep history of hospitality.”
Ward herself is part of that legacy. With the creation of the Southern Hotel, she and her business partners fostered a new era for the town of fewer than 12,000 people. They have carved out a warm and inviting place for visitors and locals to stop in for quick cocktails before dinner; take a respite following an afternoon spent biking the Tammany Trace, which curves through town; or host a wedding.
And she says that another new era has already arrived. “We’re at the beginning of a renaissance,” Ward notes. “There’s been a critical mass starting to build—new businesses and a lot of great restaurants coming in—and we’re also getting more retail all the time.”
Ward is among them, with a hotel expansion and The Greenwood, an event center about 4 miles from the Southern Hotel. So, too, is BRG Hospitality, which owns Tavi, an Israeli restaurant that’s known for its wood-fired pita bread and is just down the block from the hotel. BRG’s co-owner Octavio Mantilla believes in Covington so much that his company is planning to increase its presence there in the near future.
“We like the feel,” Mantilla says, “and we like the people. It’s just a little gem.”
—Chelsea Brasted
BEST GUMBO DOOKY CHASE’S RESTAURANT IF IT’S THE THURSDAY before Easter in New Orleans, there’s no hotter dish in town than the gumbo z’herbes at Dooky Chase’s. Known by Catholics as Holy Thursday, this is the only time of year that the legendary restaurant serves its special green gumbo, as it has done since the late chef-owner Leah Chase started the tradition in 1973. The dish gets its verdant color from massive amounts of leafy vegetables. The recipe in The Dooky Chase Cookbook calls for mustard, collard, and turnip greens—plus spinach, beet and carrot tops, romaine lettuce, and green cabbage (along with meats like sausage, brisket, and ham). Cookbook author and New Orleans native Kevin Belton—who has eaten nearly every type of gumbo—says that this one is layered and complex. “Every bite, you’re tasting a whole meld of flavors,” he notes. “No matter their religious beliefs or what they have going on, this is a day when people say, ‘I have to be there.’ ” —Lisa Cericola
BEST BBQ JOINT
Three miles downriver from Bourbon Street in the heart of the Bywater neighborhood in New Orleans, The Joint is always smokin’. Brisket, ribs, pork, and sausage are served on paper-lined platters or piled on top of locally baked John Gendusa Bakery buns. They are joined by rotating specials like chopped brisket cheesesteaks and pork or brisket tacos on house-made flour tortillas. It can all be found in a brown-and-yellow striped building located at the corner of Mazant and Royal Streets.
—Robert Moss
2. Central City BBQ New Orleans 3. Johnson’s Boucanière Lafayette 4. Blue Oak BBQ New Orleans 5. Grayson’s Bar-B-Q Clarence 6. Frey Smoked Meat Co. New Orleans 7. Sweet Daddy’s BBQ Covington 8. LA23 BBQ Belle Chasse 9. Big Mike’s BBQ Smokehouse Houma and Thibodaux
CEDRIC ANGELES
