Maurepas Foods And Bywater

Unfortunately, we only had one free evening in New Orleans. We met Shannon, my paralegal's sister, who is a long-time NOLA resident. At her suggestion, we had dinner at Maurepas Foods in the Bywater neighborhood. It's across the street from Christopher Porché-West's studio.

Wow. Exquisite dishes based on Cajun and Creole cuisine with inventive twists. Unusually for an American restaurant these days, the portion sizes were exactly right for human beings, rather than swine. The prices were very reasonable. Highly recommended. The top picture shows Mrs. C and Shannon across the table. Carolyn is in a dreamy bayou reverie while Shannon discusses the wine list with our server. By the way, look at the second picture closely.

The Bywater neighborhood was fascinating and I hope to explore it more. The rest of the shots are images in the area that caught my eye.

This ends the New Orleans series. There are more pix in the set on Flickr here. A new series about St. Louis starts tomorrow. The subject is fabulous. It says so.           

A New Orleans Photographer

I met Christopher Porché-West on the evening after I shot my TV commercials in New Orleans last week. His studio and workshop is at the corner of Burgundy and Desire in the Bywater neighborhood. Could there be a better address? It was across the street from the place where we had dinner so we went in for a look.

The place is a gorgeous, tiny museum. You gotta watch the video on his website to get a sense of his view of America's most exotic, mysterious city. If you find yourself in New Orleans, you must visit. Once you've been, you'll understand why.