Nothing, but nothing, has the power to spoil New Orleans' appetite. The people of this city love to eat, and they eat it all -- from simply fried oysters and perfectly dressed po' boys to cutting-edge dishes served Cajun style. Here, a meal-by-meal primer of the Big Easy from a lucky visitor who came to eat and stayed to listen.
The sad state of the economy doesn't appear to be affecting the festive mood in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As fireworks exploded over the Big Easy on New Year's Eve, 22-year-old Adolph Grimes III pulled up to his grandmother's home near the French Quarter after a five-hour drive from Houston, Texas.
Puddles of moonlight on a glassy, smooth harbor. Fresh shrimp coupled with stone-ground grits. Palmettos dancing in an ocean breeze. I fell in love with these things on my very first visit to Charleston, that oh-so-Southern belle perched happily on the coast of South Carolina. Even now, memories of that long-ago trip bring an unbidden smile.
By Sunday, thousands of people had evacuated New Orleans, leaving behind a shell of a city.
On a cigarette break from washing dishes in the French Quarter, Michael Kennedy swung open the door of Café Maspero, and the briny smell of raw shrimp followed him outside.
The first of 200 ships idled by a massive oil spill began crawling down the Mississippi River Friday after the Coast Guard reopened the waterway to traffic
The first archaeological dig at one of the nation's oldest cathedrals has turned up a mix of new finds in the heart of the French Quarter
For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, the 1920s-era St. Charles Avenue streetcar will clack along its entire 13-mile route Sunday
Izzie Alley, 11, looked around cautiously as she stepped inside the small New Orleans garage that has been temporarily converted into a studio apartment for the Strauss family.
Nothing, but nothing, has the power to spoil New Orleans' appetite. The people of this city love to eat, and they eat it all -- from simply fried oysters and perfectly dressed po' boys to cutting-edge dishes served Cajun style. Here, a meal-by-meal primer of the Big Easy from a lucky visitor who came to eat and stayed to listen.
The sad state of the economy doesn't appear to be affecting the festive mood in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As fireworks exploded over the Big Easy on New Year's Eve, 22-year-old Adolph Grimes III pulled up to his grandmother's home near the French Quarter after a five-hour drive from Houston, Texas.
Puddles of moonlight on a glassy, smooth harbor. Fresh shrimp coupled with stone-ground grits. Palmettos dancing in an ocean breeze. I fell in love with these things on my very first visit to Charleston, that oh-so-Southern belle perched happily on the coast of South Carolina. Even now, memories of that long-ago trip bring an unbidden smile.
By Sunday, thousands of people had evacuated New Orleans, leaving behind a shell of a city.
On a cigarette break from washing dishes in the French Quarter, Michael Kennedy swung open the door of Café Maspero, and the briny smell of raw shrimp followed him outside.
The first of 200 ships idled by a massive oil spill began crawling down the Mississippi River Friday after the Coast Guard reopened the waterway to traffic
The first archaeological dig at one of the nation's oldest cathedrals has turned up a mix of new finds in the heart of the French Quarter
For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, the 1920s-era St. Charles Avenue streetcar will clack along its entire 13-mile route Sunday
Izzie Alley, 11, looked around cautiously as she stepped inside the small New Orleans garage that has been temporarily converted into a studio apartment for the Strauss family.
My husband, Peter, and I were in New Orleans for the French Quarter Festival, but we wanted to do more than listen to big brass bands. Like many of the people slowly returning to the city, we had to pay our respects to the area devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Two years have passed since Hurricane Katrina smashed into New Orleans. And if you hang out downtown and don't look too closely, you might think that everything is back to normal.
I spent eight days in New Orleans, reporting on sports in that city two years after Hurricane Katrina. It wasn't the first time I'd mopped up on a big story.
RATES: These are the good old days? The Fed left interest rates alone again, and whenever that happens (not moving rates up or down), it always puts a big smile on may face. (I'm pickin' and I'm grinnin'.) This isn't complicated stuff, people, but most everyone misses the very important and to me not-so-subtle point. What Ben (of the Beard) Bernanke & Co. are telling you is that in terms of the tools they have at hand, the economy is PERFECT.
After months of rebuilding, Henry and Flora Hamilton's house doesn't look like it was sitting in 7 feet of water a year ago. The same can't be said for most of their neighbors' homes.
After months of rebuilding, Henry and Flora Hamilton's house doesn't look like it was sitting in 7 feet of water a year ago. The same can't be said for most of their neighbors' homes.
In a city struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, newly re-elected Mayor Ray Nagin urged residents of New Orleans to "start the healing process."
Those of us in CNN's Gulf Coast bureau were invited to a gathering recently for Music Rising, an organization devoted to helping the region's music scene recover from Hurricane Katrina.
First Hurricane Katrina blew away his chosen hospital.
New Orleans, six months after Hurricane Katrina first came ashore, killing hundreds of people and displacing thousands in its wake, is a study in contrasts.
Six months after Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras floats, beads and revelry are luring in visitors, and helping New Orleans' devastated tourism industry roll toward recovery.
Lovely surroundings and cozy accommodations make it easy to connect -- or reconnect -- in these romantic spots.
Two New Orleans police officers were fired Wednesday for their roles in the videotaped beating of a 64-year-old man being arrested in the French Quarter, a police spokesman said.
Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that followed devastated many homes, buildings and, in some cases, entire neighborhoods, leaving residents and government officials to decide whether -- and how -- to rebuild.
For my business, Rhodes Architectural Stone, I travel frequently to China and India. I'm often setting up factories in remote areas where I can't count on having electricity or clean water. I was n...
The scene at Café du Monde on Tuesday was frenetic: employees polishing the counters and wiping the windows, contractors installing new equipment in the kitchen and applying one last coat of paint inside and around the landmark's outside seating area.
Tuesday, October 18; Posted 4:49 p.m. ET From Ben Blake, CNN Gulf Coast Bureau
Government investigators have launched probes of the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program in the wake of complaints of problems responding to victims of Hurricane Katrina, according to a published report Tuesday.
Sunday, October 16; Posted 10:24 p.m. ET From Ben Blake, CNN Gulf Coast Bureau
Friday, Oct. 14; Posted 11:44 a.m. ET From Andreas Preuss, CNN Gulf Coast Bureau
The tragedy of Katrina has left New Orleans with a unique opportunity to remake a city many wonder: What will the new New Orleans be like?
As residents of New Orleans' hardest-hit district lined up for miles to see what was left of their homes Wednesday, one man made a grim discovery.
As New Orleans residents begin the painstaking task of rebuilding their hurricane-ravaged city, many wonder: What will the new New Orleans be like?
As New Orleans residents begin the painstaking task of rebuilding their hurricane-ravaged city, many wonder: What will the new New Orleans be like?
A retired teacher injured during a videotaped beating by New Orleans police says he feels no anger toward the department.
Three New Orleans police officers Monday pleaded not guilty to charges of battery in the videotaped beating of a 64-year-old man, as federal officials opened a civil rights investigation into the incident.
As New Orleans residents begin the painstaking task of rebuilding their hurricane-ravaged city, many wonder: What will the new New Orleans be like?
Posted: 6:49 p.m. ET From Andreas Preuss, CNN Gulf Coast Bureau
Mayor Ray Nagin called Friday for a major expansion of casino gambling in hurricane-hit New Orleans in a desperate attempt to quickly heal its battered lifeblood industry -- tourism.
Posted: 6:15 p.m. ET From Andreas Preuss, CNN Gulf Coast Bureau
Step right up for one of the great real estate investment opportunities of the century: the coming rebirth of the Crescent City. Think I've lost it? Think again. There's no longer any question that...
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Friday unveiled a panel of civic leaders tasked with developing a plan for the city's rebirth by the end of the year, while more residents were given permission to return a month after Hurricane Katrina.
Residents returning to St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico, are finding near total destruction.
Nesbitt was alive, and that was very good news.
New Orleans business owners started trickling into the city on Saturday and residents were expected to return next week, but the head of the federal government's response to the storm said he wished they wouldn't.
Shortly after sunrise Saturday, the streets of three major areas of New Orleans will begin to fill as people return to check on their shops, restaurants and clubs.
President Bush delivered a prime time address to the nation Thursday from Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans 17 days after Hurricane Katrina churned the city and displaced a million people. This is a transcript of his remarks.
President Bush pledged Thursday night to put the full might and money of the federal government behind the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast and vowed to its people that "in the journey ahead, you are not alone."
Not waiting for President Bush to outline his Hurricane Katrina recovery plans, Democratic congressional leaders Thursday afternoon issued their own call for a domestic "Marshall Plan" to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
Mayor Ray Nagin said Thursday that significant areas of New Orleans will begin to reopen this weekend, almost three weeks after Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast on August 29.
CNN's Sean Callebs in New Orleans, Louisiana Posted: 1:28 p.m. ET
There may be no better way to explain the desperation on the city's ravaged streets than this: In the past few days, two police officers took their own lives and dozens have turned in their badges.
Soon after, "Why did it take so long to help?" comes the question: "Can New Orleans recover?"
NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the location where space shuttle external tanks are assembled, has weathered the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, said the facility's spokesman on Tuesday.
National Guard troops moved toward the French Quarter in an effort to stop rising unrest in flood-stricken New Orleans late Tuesday as police reported looting, attempted carjackings and shootings near the city's main shelter.
An adoptive father serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for producing Internet pornography depicting his preteen daughter now faces 11 state charges, the district attorney's office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said Wednesday.
A young girl seen on child pornography Web sites has been found and is safe, an FBI spokesman told CNN Friday.
Florida and Canadian law enforcement officials Wednesday released the picture of a young girl, reclining on a couch, who authorities described as a possible witness in an Internet child pornography investigation.
The Big Easy became The Big Queasy as the usually laid-back party town worried about deadly Hurricane Ivan rumbling north through the Gulf of Mexico toward the U.S. coast.
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news.
The home of Mardi Gras is under siege, not by the throng of partygoers swarming here this week, but by tiny unseen invaders: Formosan termites.
Ray Davies, the lead singer with the British rock band The Kinks, is recovering after being shot in New Orleans.
The Derek Trucks Band Soul Serenade Columbia
Almost immediately after moving to New Orleans a few years ago, I realized that living here involves becoming an amateur travel agent, forever dispensing tips to potential visitors. And I just as q...
This city may be known as the Big Easy, but deciding what to do in it can be pretty hard. Should you hop aboard one of the fabled streetcars, or amble around Uptown, where oak and magnolia trees pr...
It would be cool to be Nick and Nora Charles, heroes from the fiction of Dashiell Hammett, partly because you'd get to outwit hard-boiled bad guys and solve crimes that baffled cops. But mostly it ...
New Orleans is cool in an over-the-top, drag-queen sort of way, and I just didn't know how the two new W Hotels--which go for a hipster minimalism--would play here. Pretty well, it turns out. The o...
Bruce Cockburn Breakfast in New Orleans Dinner in Timbuktu (Rykodisc)
One of the ironies of modern travel is that, although we typically spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, it's often the first $15 or so that we lay out--for a guidebook--that ends up determinin...
Randy Newman Bad Love DreamWorks Records
Crawfish are hot. So are frogs' legs, alligator, rabbit, pig meat, catfish, sassafras, okra, and corn pone. Hotting them up are fistfuls of hot peppers -- cayenne, bird's eye, jalapeno -- and a bla...
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