District B candidate Rella Zapletal turns up the music for change at campaign launch event (sponsored)

 

At Zony Mash Beer Project, support for New Orleans’ musicians and artists is an everyday focus. And July 29, support for gig workers, artists, musicians and culture-bearers was on full display at candidate Rella Zapletal’s campaign launch event.

Zapletal, candidate for City Council District B, addressed a crowd of supporters promising to undo recent bureaucratic barriers to safe live music. “I guarantee I will be an accessible councilwoman, who listens to your concerns, develops plans to solve your issues, and, most importantly, delivers results,” Zapletal told assembled supporters.

At former DTB location on Oak, Jazzy Pete’s is out and Mucho Más is on its way in

The building at 8201 Oak St — previously home to restaurant DTB and, most recently, Jazzy Pete’s — will soon be Mexican restaurant Mucho Más, from chef Julio Machado. Chef Machado, who owns Tacos Del Cartel on David Drive in Metairie,  promises an expansion of the menu that Tacos Del Cartel fans have grown to love. He will be running the restaurant with Danny Cruz and Daniel Borst. “I want to show more of Mexico,” Machado said in a press release. “People have asked for this, and we want to give it to them — more dishes from Mexico, more options.”

The menu at Mucho Más will include Carne Asada, Tasajo, Snapper a la Talla inspired by Chef Gabriela Camara, shrimp cocktail, and a classic Tuna Tostada.

Viewpoint: Will proof of vaccination be required for festivals and Saints games?

 

The Delta variant is quickly overtaking America. It already accounts for 93% of Covid-19 infections. To combat it, government and the private sector are announcing new mandates almost daily. Anyone planning to pay $200 or more to see the Rolling Stones at Jazz Fest in October must surely be wondering if a vaccination card or a recent negative Covid-test will be required for admission. Without such precautions, the Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Saints games and other fall special events could become superspreaders unlike any seen before. 

Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis has always said the Fest will adhere to the prevailing Covid guidelines.

Lengua Madre to offer a personal, contemporary take on Mexican cuisine at Thalia and Constance

Big changes are coming to the corner of Thalia and Constance Streets where Lengua Madre, a restaurant that offers a contemporary, personal approach to Mexican cuisine, will open at 1245 Constance St. on Wednesday (Aug. 4). It will be the first solo endeavor of chef Ana Castro, who previously worked as sous chef at Coquette on Magazine Street and as co-sous chef at Thalia, which operated in the same location as Lengua Madre. Castro was also the head of the kitchen at the brief pop-up Here Today in the spring. 

Castro was born in South Texas and raised in Mexico City by her paternal grandmother.

Hotel Saint Vincent ‘a place to slow down’ in the Lower Garden District

The stage was set on a balmy summer night when musician, vocalist and indie favorite St. Vincent captivated the audience in a courtyard that once saw saints of another sort. It was the opening night party for Hotel Saint Vincent in June, and it seemed like the A list was out in full force for one of the more posh hotel opening celebrations the city had seen in a long time. 

The party was also a revelation: It showcased the long and winding road of the building complex constructed as an orphanage just after the Civil War into its current incarnation as a 75-room hotel developed during another seismic cultural and economic shift, the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hotel Saint Vincent is a project of MML Hospitality, helmed by Larry McGuire, Tom Moorman and Liz Lambert, whose expertise in developing hotels and restaurants — transforming, might be a better word — is seen in Austin, Texas, where the company is based.  

The group worked with local developers Jayson Seidman and Zach Kupperman, who are part owners and developers. They are co-founders and developers of The Drifter in Mid-City, and Seidman is a co-owner and developer of the Columns, a late 19th-century Thomas Sully designed house turned hotel and bar that just went through its own re-do in 2020 and early 2021.

Tipitina’s to open coffee shop and bar with live music next door on Tchoupitoulas

Legendary local music venue Tipitina’s plans to expand by opening up a coffee shop next door that will also serve as a bar and live entertainment venue at night. 

The City Planning Commission approved the plans in a unanimous vote on Tuesday (July 27), with the provision that all music must be indoors with windows and doors closed. The coffee shop will be on 4331 Tchoupitoulas St., in a building previously used as a commercial short-term rental space known as Tchoup House. The venue has a rear patio and upstairs deck. 

In comparison to the bopping music club next door, the new entertainment venue will be low-key, focusing more on piano and acoustic performances. 

“The live music that we are envisioning would be akin to a piano bar: small scale, a piano man, or perhaps a jazz or funk trio,” according to a project description the club submitted. “An intimate vibe, nowhere on the level of size or production that the artists who play inside Tipitina’s require.” This expansion represents a hopeful new chapter for Tipitina’s, which like all music venues has struggled mightily to survive the pandemic.

Police blotter: Shooting in Hoffman Triangle, carjacking in B.W. Cooper area, battery in Broadmoor, armed robbery in the Lower Garden District

A shooting, carjacking, aggravated burglary and armed robbery were among the crimes reported in Uptown neighborhoods this week. The shooting occurred Tuesday afternoon (July 27) on Second Street at South Tonti Street. The victim, an 18-year-old male, was transported to a local hospital in a private vehicle. The carjacking occurred overnight on Wednesday (July 28), and police were informed at about midnight on Thursday. The victim, a 37-year-old male, was giving a ride to a man who, in the 3000 block of Thalia Street, took out a gun and demanded his vehicle.

Viewpoint: Politics is in the way of public safety, crime watchdog says

Raphael Goyeneche, head of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said Wednesday (July 28) that the city’s political leadership “must step up and give the NOPD the resources they need to protect and serve the community. Politics needs to get out of the way of public safety. Citizens want to feel safe in their neighborhoods.”          

Earlier this week, the MCC released the Orleans Parish Violent Crime Maps, a three-year look at violent crime by police district. Also included are results from the New Orleans Crime Coalition’s 2021 Police Satisfaction and Police Policymaking surveys. 

The majority of Orleans Parish voters (64%) who participated in the surveys clearly stated they believe the city is not safe. An even larger majority (74%) said that the crime problem has worsened over the past year.