A refuge for literary luminaries for more than sixty years

The last time I was in the Hotel Monteleone prior to working on this story was as a volunteer for the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival in March, and it’s hard to imagine a more appropriate setting. The Monteleone’s Carousel Bar was a frequent haunt for Williams, where he gleaned material for his work from the conversations going on around him. He spent a two-week period at the hotel in the fifties, and Frank Monteleone picked up the tab as a thank-you to Williams, who brought New Orleans and the Hotel Monteleone national attention with A Streetcar Named Desire. The landmark also figures heavily as a symbol of the city in The Rose Tattoo.

Ernest Hemingway always stayed at the hotel when he visited New Orleans and it's referenced in his story “The Night before Battle.” Truman Capote claimed to have been born in the hotel—only a slight bit of creative license, his mother did go into labor while staying at the Monteleone, but managed to get to Touro Infirmary in time for the delivery…READ MORE

"When you can't get over the bar anymore, that's when it's time to retire."

“So,” I asked, “Do you suppose I could get under the Carousel Bar to see what makes it turn?”

And so it was that a most accommodating member of the Monteleone’s engineering crew led me on a sort of spelunking expedition that involved crawling, at times on hands and knees, through tunnels filled with the miles of pipework and electrical conduit that keep the hotel above humming—until at last we reached a spot directly beneath the bar. There, a vintage one-quarter horsepower motor hummed away, turning the twenty-five seats above it around the only revolving bar in New Orleans on two thousand large steel rollers; at a constant rate of one revolution every fifteen minutes. That's a turn it’s been making, I was about to discover, for almost sixty-three years.

“From what I understand it’s the same motor that was first put in 1949,” explains Marvin Allen, the Carousel’s lead bartender. For the last decade Allen has been hopping that bar to come to work… READ MORE

Joe Maynard, Criollo's Chef de Cuisine

A bold new restaurant celebrates New Orleans' diverse culinary cultures

Joe Maynard’s enthusiasm is contagious as he leans forward into our conversation.

“It’s very exciting to know that somebody is growing peas for me.”

Maynard is talking about his plan to work with local farmers, and the arrangement for them to grow produce specifically for the menu items he has in mind for the upcoming season at Criollo, the restaurant opening in the Monteleone at the end of this month for which he is Chef de Cuisine. And for a chef who prizes fresh ingredients, you can understand how peas grown locally just for him could indeed be exciting.

“I want to see the local farmers survive because their products are beautiful and unique,” he adds.

A Miami native and former New Orleans resident, Maynard began cooking at a young age. With a culinary degree from the…READ MORE

Five days of wine and culinary delights from our region...

What began as a small, intimate, one-day gathering of wineries and chefs twenty years ago has grown into a grand celebration of wine and food that attracts more than 10,000 people each year, and returns over five days next weekend. The twentieth anniversary of the New Orleans Food & Wine Experience includes Wine Dinners hosted by more than thirty New Orleans area restaurants; Vinola, NOWFE's premium tasting event; the Royal Street Stroll—NOWFE's signature event—a definitive evening event set in the heart of the French Quarter; and culinary seminars which fill the days and nights with all things wine and food. The weekend culminates Friday and Saturday…READ MORE

Dodging the summer heat with things to do in the French Quarter...

So it’s summer in the city, and while the mornings and evenings around these parts are often still very pleasant, the middle of the day can be wicked. What to do? What to do?  Fortunately, in the French Quarter there’s plenty to do where you’ll never break a sweat. The Hotel Monteleone’s rooftop pool comes to mind of course (Fun fact: Joe Frazier trained on the rooftop for his fight with Muhammad Ali and guests could pay a dollar to watch), and then there are the myriad museums scattered across the Quarter.

“To protect the paintings and artifacts, the temperature is kept at a constant 72 degrees,”  explains Arthur Smith from the Louisiana State Museum about why a visit is even more appealing in the summer. “Even better in this…READ MORE