Until I drove south to New Orleans as a senior in college, looking for a summer job, I had never been to Louisiana. I got the job, but my old green Ford died on Canal Street, and I would still be there if a kindly old Louisianan in a beat-up pickup hadn't given me a push.
I worked offshore with a roustabout gang that summer, and made some good Louisiana friends. That began a relationship that blossomed over the years, and today we have to get a taste of Louisiana about every six weeks.
That taste usually takes us to Superior Grill in Shreveport. Over the years, we have varied that trip to visit town after town in Louisiana.
I guess when you live less than 20 miles from another state you develop strong feelings about that state, and Louisiana fits that to a T.
Louisiana is everything Arkansas is not, and that's good and bad. For instance, the food. We have a lot of things that are better than Louisiana, but food is not one of them. It seems that the deeper you get into Louisiana the better the food.
You think I'm writing about New Orleans' food? Nope; deeper than that: how about 40 miles out in the Gulf? Some of the freshest seafood I've ever eaten was prepared in the kitchen of an offshore drilling rig. It may have had something to do with working like a dog on 12-hour days, so hungry that I would have probably eaten the napkin, but maybe I'm a sucker for fresh softshell crabs and redfish.
But let's back up 40 miles to New Orleans. There are cities around the country that brag about their food, and I've been to restaurants in those cities, but when we walk into the French Quarter and stop at Galatoire's Restaurant on Bourbon Street, I know that's about as good as it gets.
Louisiana isn't just about food. Heck, the state makes politics a contact sport. I can remember when Jimmy Davis ran for governor on a "You are my Sunshine" ticket, and the Long dynasty, which gave a new meaning to "good old boys." With white supremacist David Duke still on the loose, you know Louisiana's political scene is going to be interesting.
The difference in Arkansas and Louisiana comes down to the special Louisiana spice that touches everything in the state. Some of that spice is naughty, some is nice, and some of it will get you thrown in jail.
America doesn't have many cities that are unique in character, among them San Francisco, San Antonio, and New York. The rest are ordinary American cities. But New Orleans fits into the unique category, and that's part of the draw for us Southerners. We go there to get away. You sure can't say New Orleans is boring.
The south Louisiana Cajuns add a lot of spice to Louisiana, and it carries over to music and food. Where else can you eat blood sausage and listen to "Louisiana Man"? When we lived in Corpus Christi, Doug Kershaw played at an old downtown movie theater. I think my hearing loss is directly related to that concert. My ears rang like an alarm clock for hours.
Louisiana is a part of our marriage, since we spent our honeymoon there, staying in a Quality Inn and eating Krystal hamburgers. When we drove down Bourbon Street, Vertis rolled up the windows and locked the doors. We came home a day early.
We've moved up a notch since then, and visit New Orleans twice a year, but we don't stay at the Quality Inn anymore and we don't eat Krystal hamburgers. Although last year when we were on Bourbon Street, I suggested, just for old time's sake, we stop in and have a Krystal hamburger.
"We're a half block from Galatoire's and you want to eat a hamburger?" I didn't answer, and didn't get my Krystal hamburger.
I guess we have to thank Louisiana for boiled crawfish, which have moved up from fish bait at my house to a once-a-year feast on our deck overlooking the backyard pond, where we toss the heads to the turtles.
And there's Mardi Gras, where beads and drink overtake food. We've been to Mardi Gras ... once, and I've taken it off my bucket list. Fun, but once is plenty.
I was pulling for LSU to win the big one, and it did, but if the Tigers didn't have that Yankee quarterback they would have ended their season early. What about next year's team, since about half the bunch will be going to the NFL? Don't ask their coach unless you have a south Louisiana translator handy.
I'm a diehard Hog fan, and relish whipping LSU, but the one game I remember was the Miracle on Markham. Yeah, those Tigers were already celebrating when that zillion-yard pass shut 'em down. "Touchdown Arkansas," I whispered to a couple of Louisiana folks the next morning at breakfast. They were older, so they just frowned instead of throwing something.
Vertis' great-grandmother was from South Louisiana and had the same name. The French pronunce her name as Vertisse, which sounds a lot sexier than plain Vertis, or as some in Arkansas folks say, Verdis. I guess Vertis has about 121/2 percent Louisiana heritage, so maybe that's what gives her that special spice.
To get the full measure of Louisiana, don't take the interstate when you head south; drive down toward Alexandria through the speed-trap small towns. When you get to Baton Rogue take the River Road to New Orleans, but before you do read Along the River Road by Mary Ann Sternberg.
Email Richard Mason at richard@gibraltarenergy.com.
Editorial on 03/01/2020