Crescent City

World Beat: The Music of iFest

Performers from New Orleans to Zimbabwe enliven this year's Brazilian-themed Houston International Festival.

Acts You Shouldn't Miss at iFest's First Weekend

Rocks Off asked our staff members who will be covering the Houston International Festival for us this weekend to give us one or two choices for artists they don't want to miss. Forro In the Dark Bud Light World Music Stage, 2:30 p.m. Saturday/Center Stage, 6:30 p.m. Saturday As one of the first ac ... More >>

The Dan Marino Restaurants

The 13 restaurants that nearly made our 30 essential Texas restaurants list.

Top 10 Restaurants in River Oaks

The last time we tackled the Top 10 restaurants in River Oaks, Tony Mandola's was still open in what is now Brasserie 19's spot in the River Oaks Shopping Center. Needless to say, things have changed a bit in three years. And in spite of its ritzy exterior, River Oaks still has plenty of inexpensive ... More >>

Generationals

Crowbar

Bartender Chat: Susan of The Big Easy

It's Mardi Gras weekend, y'all, and I can't think of a better place to kick off the party than The Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club, a little slice of NOLA in the Bayou City. I stopped in earlier this week to get a jump start on my bon temps since this Thibodaux native will be celebrating Mardi Gra ... More >>

Ana Popovic

Top Five "Non-Bro" Sports Bars

thesegoto11.wordpress.comUpturned collar, one of the classic indicators you might be a bro​From the response I got to the question "What is your favorite 'non-dude / non-bro' or 'douchebag-free' place to watch sports in Houston?" on Facebook, it would seem that a sans-bro sports bar is somethi ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Beignets

Photo by Matthew DresdenChez Beignets II​A few years ago, when I spent a month getting around Houston entirely by public transit, I found myself checking out from Central Market one warm spring evening at 10 p.m. It had just rained, and the air was fresh and cool, and I didn't feel like waitin ... More >>

Crescent City Beignets

​Sometimes, nothing satisfies quite like a plate full of hot dough, fat, and sugar. I'm speaking, of course, of beignets. When the mood strikes, these pillowy confections simply can't be replaced. People may try to ply you with Indian fry bread, funnel cakes, or perhaps even sopapillas. The pa ... More >>

Openings & Closings

Photo courtesy of AvaInside Ava Kitchen & Whiskey Bar​First things first, for anyone who might be heading out to Skewers (3991 Richmond, 713-599-1444) for its grand reopening: Don't. At least, not yet. The restaurant's PR team emailed us an explanation for the delay this week: Skewers is not ... More >>

Jackson's Watering Hole's Sazerac

I Put A Spell On You: The Vixens And Visuals Of Voodoo Fest

Photos by Mark C. AustinMGMT: "Ruh Roh! Better play something off the first album!"​Village Voice Media dispatched Houston photographer Mark C. Austin to New Orleans this past weekend for the Voodoo Music Experience, the Crescent City's annual three-day Halloween engorgement of live music and ... More >>

Stirred & Shaken: Jackson's Watering Hole's Sazerac

Troy Fields​Heading into New Orleans on I-55, just before you cross the fourth-longest bridge in the world (and the second-longest in south Louisiana), you'll pass a couple remote restaurants/bars that for reasons I can't explain fit perfectly in the alluvial landscape. The exterior of NOLA-th ... More >>

Dr. John & the Lower 911

On the Road in New Orleans

Shrimp and grits from Surrey's.​With the economy in the dumps and airline companies being more annoying than ever, more and more people are choosing to spend their summer vacation at closer, drivable locales. One popular destination is the Crescent City. With its old-world charm, plethora of g ... More >>

A Gulf Coast Juneteenth

Top 10 Restaurants in Upper Kirby

​Let's leave aside a second some of the things we hate about the Upper Kirby district -- the bizarre desire to forge a connection with the U.K. based solely on sharing the same initials and installing anachronistic red phone booths on random street corners, the fact that Kirby itself is always ... More >>

Beignets at The Big Mamou

​On a basic level, beignets are French doughnuts, pastries of deep-fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar and served piping hot with a side of coffee. Much like free drinks and lottery tickets, they are impossible to turn down -- warm, sweet and crisp-golden. Yet despite their splendor, few ... More >>

Live From ACL: Buckets of Rain, and a Bright Spot or Two

Photos by Chris GrayThis photo was NOT taken Saturday. Trust us.​ The streak is over. In eight years, Austin City Limits has seen plenty of days of unbearable heat, but hardly any rain. The most significant time was during Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' headlining 2006 set, but even that was m ... More >>

New Orleans Brass Band Invades Big Top Tomorrow

​In a late and welcome addition to the Big Top Lounge's calendar, tomorrow night finds the New Orleans Hustlers Brass Band making their Main Street debut. Fans of the Rebirth, Dirty Dozen or Hot 8 brass bands will dig these guys, most of whom settled here after Katrina but have played out more ... More >>

Blind Boys of Alabama

Josh Neufeld

Josh Neufeld's Katrina comic isn't kid stuff

Soul Rebels Brass Band/Rebirth Brass Band

The Radiators

Roast Beef and Fried Rice

Calliope's turns out authentic New Orleans food with an Asian twist

The Whole Wide World: Toubab Krewe's Live at the Orange Peel

Toubab Krewe Live at the Orange Peel (Upstream) www.toubabkrewe.com Listening to Toubab Krewe, you'd never guess that all its members hail not from the Western African nation of Mali, but from Asheville, N.C., where the band recorded its latest disc at the Orange Peel - the same venue where ... More >>

Tonight: Big Sam's Funky Nation, Amplified Heat, Rudyard's Anniversary, Randy Rogers Band and More

Racket vs Racket Jr

Weekend Music: Carry On, Wayward Sons

Ms. Strange Love

Really Good Sax

Tap that Brass!

To NOLA, with Love

Musicians from far and wide are "Bringing Back the Big Easy"

My Darlin' New Orleans

What hath God wrought?

Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes

Thursday, May 5, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9899.

The Radiators

Saturday, April 16, at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak Drive, 713-862-3838.

Best Brunch

Brennan's

Playbill

The Iguanas

Blackwater Southern

Suplecs

Best Beignets

Crescent City Beignets

Closer to Home

Not all the best acts at the festival carry passports

Swamp Ghosts

Racial tensions still haunt Geno Delafose's Louisiana stomping ground

Zydeco's Birthplace

Hint: It's where you're standing

Battlin' Beignets

Dish

Dish

Fat Monday

Doctor of All Trades