Picture it.
You and your person, at summer’s end, seated across from each other as sunset washes in through the windows. It’s a beautiful evening on the Northshore. Your bellies are full, the wine is still flowing, and you’ve just deemed this place your new favorite restaurant. “But,” one reminds the other, “we’ve only just begun.”
It’s long been a tradition for Louisianans to escape to the l’autre côte du lac, as the piney woods region north of Lake Pontchartrain was once known, to wait out the long summer days in escapist bliss. People came for the shaded lanes and laid-back culture of the lakeside communities, for the peace of rural woodlands, for the slower pace of the small towns. And, they came for the food.
Even measured against New Orleans’s globally acclaimed dining scene, the smaller but no-less creative Northshore culinary community has historically kept up in terms of creativity, quality, and diversity. In fact, the waterside locale—influenced as it is by Louisiana’s diverse mélange of cultures, from Creole to Spanish to Lebanese and more—has attracted its own fair share of chefs, who are drawn by the Northshore’s discerning diners, access to locally grown ingredients, and the chance to enjoy a more leisurely pace than bigger city markets demand.
As a result, dining experiences on the Northshore run the gamut: from the contemporary (pan-seared sweet tea duck breast, served in a renovated train car at Covington’s LOLA, anyone?), to classic (picture digging into an Oyster Creole Couvillion, served with a waterside view out to a century-old lighthouse at Madisonville’s Tchefuncte’s. You might find yourself transported to the South of France while ordering filet au poivre at Chef Joey Najolia’s acclaimed Café Lynn, or chowing down on Covington’s own Chef Pat Gallagher’s bbq spare ribs. These flavors and more—they’re all on the Northshore.
There’s no better time to get to grips with the Northshore’s sparkling restaurant scene than August, during Tammany Taste of Summer. This month-long celebration of local food culture presents more than twenty of the region’s most sought-after dining establishments, offering multi-coursed prix-fixe menus at unmatched prices (some as low as $20!). Seriously, there’s no better opportunity to knock out multiple must-trys without breaking the bank, while enjoying the time-tested tradition of a summer retreat to the Northshore.
Visit the Northshore to plan your dining itinerary. Each restaurant publishes its menu ahead of time at TammanyTaste.com.
