GayNewOrleans.COM GayEasterParade.COM October 21-November 3, 2008 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM MAIN~21 of 56

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1 GayNewOrleans.COM GayEasterParade.COM October 21-November 3, 2008 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM MAIN~21 of 56

2 chop chop by Rip & Marsha Naquin-Delain New Orleans Restaurant Guide Bywater Restaurant, Deli & BBQ, 3162 Dauphine St., is noted for its gumbo, barbeque, pizza, sandwiches and specials serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hours are 9am-9pm Mon.- Fri., and Sat. & Sun. Closed Wed. Call for additional info. MasterCard/Visa accepted. Cafe Amelie, 912 Royal St., offers romantic courtyard or indoor dining along with both eclectic culinary creations and drinks. Serving lunch and dinner, Wed.-Sun. 11am- 9pm, and Sun., brunch 10am-3pm. Call for reservations or additional information. Clover Grill, 900 Bourbon St., is open 7 days and features breakfast including build your own omelettes. But let s not forget their fab burgers grilled right under a hub cap and then there s all those sandwiches, sides, desserts and shakes. Call or visit CloverGrill.COM. Country Club Restaurant, 634 Louisa St. Under the direction of new Chef Miles Prescott, you will find delightful menus offering French bistro cuisine including appetizers, soups, flatbreads, salads, sandwiches, wraps, entrees and desserts. Serving 7 days 11am-10pm. Call for additional information or visit TheCountryClubNewOrleans.COM. Krystal, 116 Bourbon at Canal, Open 24 hours, it's one of the best stops for fast food with tasty burgers, hot dogs and breakfast. Call for more info. Magazine Perks, 4332 Magazine, serves gourmet coffee, sandwiches, pastries, danish and cakes. Open 7 days 7am- 10pm. Call or visit MagazinePerks.COM. Marigny Perks, 2401 Burgundy, serves gourmet coffee, sandwiches, pastries, danish and cakes. Open 7 days 7am- 10pm. Call or visit MAIN~22 of 56 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM October 21-November 3, 2008 GayMardiGras.COM SouthernDecadence.COM Mona Lisa Restaurant, 1212 Royal St., features Italian specialties including salads, pizzas, sandwiches and both lunch and dinner entrees. Lunch 11am-5pm Thurs.-Mon., Dinner 5pm-10pm 7 days. Try this mouth watering Combo Pizza chock full of pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, black olives and anchovies at Mona Lisa Restaurant, 1212 Royal Street. You can't go wrong with the tender sliced BBQ beef brisket served with your choice of two sides, in this case baked beans and peas, along with buttered French bread available at Quartermaster: The Nellie Deli, 1100 Bourbon. Call for info. NOLA Smoothies, 315 Decatur St., features smoothies, fresh juices, bubble tea, supplements and more. Two of the most popular smoothies are the Raspberry Cheesecake with raspberries, fat free cream cheese, honey, graham cracker, soy milk and whey protein, and the Bananas Foster with banana, brown sugar, low fat vanilla ice cream, isopure protein and soy protein. Open 7 days, Mon.-Sat. 10am-8pm and Sunday 10am-6pm. Call for delivery and information. Orleans Grapevine, 720 Orleans, is located in a beautifully renovated 1809 building offering a pleasant atmosphere, extensive wine list with over 350 selections and delicious food including prime steaks, lobster tails and rack of lamb. Serving dinner 5-11pm daily. Call for additional information. Petunias, A Restaurant, 817 St. Louis, is open daily 8am-10pm serving breakfast, brunch, lunch, crepes, po-boys, salads, gumbo, Cajun/Creole specialties and dinner. Call for more info. Quartermaster: The Nellie Deli, 1100 Bourbon St., was voted Restaurant/Deli of the Year once again and is open 24 hours 7 days. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, the deli offers free delivery. Call to order. Tomatillo's Restaurant, 437 Esplanade Ave., is open Tues., Wed. 11am-10pm; Thurs.-Sun. 11am-11pm. The restaurant refers to itself as "A Mexican Joint" featuring appetizers, soups, salads, make your own combination plates, house specialties, burritos, desserts, and of course, specialty margaritas. Call for reservations.

3 GayNewOrleans.COM GayEasterParade.COM October 21-November 3, 2008 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM MAIN~23 of 56

4 cookin' w/auntie dee...from M-20 1 teaspoon rum flavoring 1 (17-ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed ½ cup apricot preserves 1 egg yolk, beaten 1 tablespoon milk vegetable cooking spray Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add one cup sugar and rum flavoring; beat until smooth. Cut each sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly into each square of pastry; top each with 1 tablespoon of apricot preserves. Combine egg yolk and milk in a small bowl; stir well. Brush edges of pastry squares lightly with egg mixture. Fold each square of pastry into a triangle; press edges together with a fork to seal. Place tarts on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray. Brush tarts with remaining egg mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for about fifteen minutes or until lightly browned and puffed. Remove tarts to wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar. Yield: eight tarts. You may contact me at donniejay@hotmail.com or via this publication. I enjoy hearing from my readers so don t be shy. Are there any special recipes you might be missing or something you d like to know? Please contact me. trodding the boards by Patrick Shannon, III nedcat@earthlink.net The Bug The Bug by Richard Strand is not about giant roaches in a post Katrina city, thank god, it s about computer bugs that disrupt the mindless bureaucrats in a factory that makes some kind of electronic gizmos, or more so it s a about a worker who refuses to be transferred from his assembly line job and has to face three robotic females who work in the office of the big boss and insist on keeping him from speaking with the man. They have the mind sets of by the book machines such as we can even today find at City Hall in New Orleans. Mindless idiots who go around in circles and loops like the well done background projection of the play. It s a comedy about a very serious situation that suggests the world is ruled by computers or machines, an old theme but one well presented in this excellent production by the Loyola University Department of Theater and Dance in the Lower Depths Theater. With smooth flowing direction by Benjamin Clement and a set that was so chic and clever that it became another character in the play. This clever set consisting of three desks and chairs in front of a backdrop of a looping projection of white squiggles was created by Geoffrey Hall who also did the lighting design. Robert Self did a great white noise and new age type of sound and Kellie Grengs did the stylish costumes. The acting was faultless as we got to enjoy the work of Joshua Eichorn as Dennis Post; Rebecca Elizabeth. Hollingsworth as Linda Taylor, Britanny Chandler as Davida Rajeski, and Cynthia Davila as Kimberly Miles and Mark Kropp as David Hanks. This was a production of high artistic value with every theatrical element in place to make it a work of art not soon to be forgotten. All Shook Up While the rock opera Rent was rattling the rafters of Le Petit Theatre with its poignant and musically explosive scenes and semi-arias, across the river in Westwego, music from the 50s of the Elvis Presley era was shaking up their stage with lots of pelvic thrusting and good old boy meets girl non-gay (more or lest) love lusting with an exquisitely perfect production of All Shook Up a rock and roll retelling of Shakespears s Twelfth Night. This charming show was a comedy of mistaken identities and confused young lovers set in 1950s small town America. A hip swinging and pelvic thrusting young man named Chad arrives on his motor bike in black leather jacket and tight jeans and manages to turn a small town and all its eligible young ladies into swooning cow-eyed love crazed admirers. He somewhat resembles Elvis Presley except that the actor doing this role was much more handsome, that actor being a buffed and muscular Richard Arnold, who did the role with a sweet but sexy charm, lots of charisma, and sang like a butch angel such songs as All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock, Heartbreak Hotel, It s Now or Never, and Burning Love to name five of a total of about 25. Libby Tatum in the role of the young girl mechanic Natalie who falls in love with Chad when she gets into male drag so to speak, the comedy becomes intense as Chad doesn t know if he should or should not kiss her/him, after she/ he becomes his best friend as a boy. Played by Miss Tatum with wide eyed sweetness and a great deal of convincing acting, she made this role amusing and just a little edgy for poor old Chad, who just can t understand why or how he can be in love with his best buddy, his new sidekick.. Of course all s well that ends well and this delightful show closes with a happy resolution as the real sex of those involved is exposed, so to speak and Chad can kiss his best buddy who is really the girl mechanic we meet in the first act. Rich Arnold in All Shook Up Photo: Jefferson Performing Arts Society. The cast contained other top local stars which sang their hearts out and made everything work under the excellent smooth direction of Claude Giroux and the always astonishing choreography of Lynn Lawrence. Magical Musical Director was Don Hopkinson, with fine costumes by Whitney Locher and Kelly Jame-Penot. Eye candy sets were by Jason Bolen with fun lighting by Shannon R. Miller. Among our locally acclaimed performers in this excellent production were Meredith Long as Sylvia, Chris Shaw as Jim, Chase Kamata as Lorraine, Melinda Falgout as Mayor Matilda Hyde, and Ford Dieth as Sheriff Earl. Guest artists were Jacob Moyer Moats as Dennis, and Scott Johnson as Dean with Jennifer Wengarten as Sandra.. All Shook Up was an evening of entertainment of the highest quality done with pizzazz and a delightful sense of good fun and the chance to hear great old songs sung by great performers. RentThe recent and awesome production of Rent, the rock opera inspired by Puccini s grand opera La Boheme as done at that old dowager of community theaters in America, Le Petit, was a total hit that shook the rafters and waddled the old Joey Taranto & Christopher Woods in Rent Photo: Eliot Kamenitz lady s butt more than when our town s most legendary director, Stocker Fontelieu produced on that same stage, the dyke-riddled drama The Killing of Sister George decades ago. I m not going into the plot details except to say it s about artistic bohemians and love and courage and young deaths and regrets just like the Puccini opera which is basically about the same things. If you don t get this comment you should not be reading this review or perhaps you should learn more about opera and theater. Beautifully co-directed by Derek Frank and Sonny Borey, the set for Rent is a loft apartment in Greenwich Village, NYC circa 1980s when the AIDS virus was in full swing and young artists and gay men were dying in droves. Mr. Franklin was also Musical Director and with Jonne Dendinger A.K.A. Dr. Jonne, was Band Manager, Keyboards, and rehearsal pianist. The beautiful multi-level set was created by Joshua Palmer who was also Tech. Director, although he is given no credit in the program for set. Why? Who knows? Let s continue with the tech crew: Of course the super talented Karen Hebert did the knockout choreography. Cliff Stromeyer did the sound which was not overly loud the night I attended, and Scott Sauber did [continued on Main-26] MAIN~24 of 56 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM October 21-November 3, 2008 GayMardiGras.COM SouthernDecadence.COM

5 GayNewOrleans.COM GayEasterParade.COM October 21-November 3, 2008 The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM MAIN~25 of 56