Random Acts of Kindness and 3 Birthday Meals

My birthday celebrating started early this year with a dinner at John Besh’s Domenica with old friend Richard Dreyfuss and his lovely and amazing wife, Svetlana. Over the 25 years we’ve known each other, Richard and I have worked on 3 movies together, collaborated on a Katrina relief project and he even wrote the foreword to my book, Know Small Parts: An Actor’s Guide to Turning Minutes into Moments and Moments into a Career. The menu from Executive Chef Alon Shaya, 2015’s  James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: South award winner, provided a delicious take on some traditional Italian dishes as well as offering show-stoppers like the Squid Ink Tagliolini with blue crab & herbs. We finished the meal with 3 beautiful and decadent desserts selected by our charming server, Cristina. Each dessert was decorated with a chocolate birthday banner. We were there for hours enjoying fabulous food and great company with perfect service. I’m definitely going back for that squid ink pasta dish.

Festigals Parade, Mardi Gras World and Food!

I love sharing my city my way but one of the best things about having out-of-town guests is that it can push you to be a tourist in your own city. My mother has been coming to New Orleans throughout her life so we have things we ALWAYS like doing – like getting beignets at Cafe du Monde or snoballs (from my fav – SnoWizard). But we also like exploring new things, even taking a tour. Last week had plenty of both.

Halloween Concert/Parade and Willie Mae’s Chicken

Working on the theory of “better late than never,” here’s how we spent Halloween last week. New Orleans has too many festivities to choose from but I didn’t want to miss the last Jazz in the Park concert from People United for Armstrong Park. Bonerama played early but I got the the park in time to see Da Truth Brass Band preparing the way for Kermit Ruffins to take the stage. Ruffins played beautiful ballads like What a Wonderful World as well as an upbeat medley of songs including Do Whatcha Wanna and The Treme Song. When he busted out the Stevie Wonder, the crowd created a Soul Train dance line and boogied down the center, many in costumes. (video below)

Birthday at Commander’s Palace

It’s become a tradition to celebrate my birthday at the magnificent Commander’s Palace, one of the oldest and best restaurants in New Orleans. Don’t take my word for it being the best, Chef Tory McPhail just won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: South. Not surprisingly, 4 of the 5 nominees were from NOLA. For the last couple of years, I’ve enjoyed showing off my favorite Trashy Diva dresses while dining. This time, I changed things up with a casual gown I found at Naaz on Magazine Street.

Trombone Shorty Closes Jazz Fest and Living Colour’s 25th Anniversary

It was certainly the coldest Jazz Fest I’ve ever attended and mud was still a factor on closing Sunday. Turns out that there was not one single pair of of rubber boots left in town. Hotels were calling everywhere but many unprepared out-of-towners were left bootless and muddy. Cold wind whipped at scant tank tops and short skirts.