I was enjoying a sampler of chilled oysters at Lüke, one of Chef John Besh’s collection of eclectic restaurants sprinkled around New Orleans, when I struck up the usual ice-breaker conversation with a young man having a beer while waiting for some take-out. He’d just flown in from D.C. with his family, he explained; first time in New Orleans. And "Why here," I asked? Well, seems he’d thought about taking the wife and kids to Disney for a break, but New Orleans had seemed much more adventurous and creative.

Now there’s an understatement! But unbeknownst to him, he and his family would only be scratching the surface of what southern Louisiana really has to offer, as I myself discovered. I was visiting the state on a “buffet trip” of sorts designed to let me sample the delights of New Orleans’ surrounding parishes (counties, to us northerners), and New Orleans was my dessert course.

May/June 2011