How Have You Been?

I have encountered children every day this week, which is not always the case. Spring is in the air. If children are the future, the future is now.

Today is another beautiful New Orleans day. Can you feel it? I feel it in my bones and in my nerves. Like a musician friend of mine, I have a song in my heart.

I cannot carry a tune. Prose is my cage. My days are constructed out of prose and idleness. Welcome to my world. Would you like to go to Mandina’s?

It is air-conditioned at Mandina’s, at least the one on Canal Street is. I understand there is another location outside New Orleans. I have never been to the other one. I have never felt a need to investigate. Enjoying the best, I have little interest in trying the rest. Ask anyone.

People always ask me for recommendations for a place that is like Mandina’s but not Mandina’s. They are looking for a Mid-City Creole neighborhood restaurant that has stood the test of time by serving up low-key humble classics full of flavor in generous and affordable portions. New Orleans comfort food. The kind of place where people who live or work nearby pop in once or twice a week.