Destination: New Orleans

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Apr. 25, 2011
By LINKS Magazine

New Orleans is nicknamed "The Big Easy," but it might not be easy to wake up for a morning tee time after a night out in a town full of fantastic food and great music. That might be one reason why they say: "It's New Orleans. You're different here."

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WHERE TO PLAY

English Turn Golf & Country Club: Now open to the public, this semi-private 1988 Jack Nicklaus design is the former host of the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic of New Orleans (1989-2004, 2006). Located just 15 minutes from the French Quarter, this challenging course features water on every hole, large sand and waste bunkers on many others, and large tiered greens. Guests can stay on site at the Villa.

Oak Harbor Golf Club: Opened in 1992, this course is located about 30 minutes outside the city, a short drive across Lake Ponchartrain. Designed by Lee Schmidt, who worked for both Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye before forming his own firm with Brian Curley, the layout features some hilly terrain, water in play on 14 holes, large greens, and winds off the lake.

TPC Louisiana: Current host of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, this Pete Dye design opened in 2004 and is located just a short drive outside the city. Dye worked with PGA Tour players Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson, a New Orleans native, in putting together a course featuring gently rolling hills, stately stands of cypress and oak trees, and plenty of water hazards and bunkers.

WHERE TO STAY

Chimes Bed &Breakfast: Serving guests since 1986 in the historic Uptown/Garden District, this top-rated B&B offers five rooms all with private entrances and baths, French doors opening into a courtyard, wireless and ethernet internet connection, and free parking. Plenty of restaurants, shops, antique stores, and coffee houses are within walking distance.

Le Pavillon Hotel: Built in 1907 and a member of Historic Hotels of America, this grand old lady and its 226 rooms are located in the heart of downtown, just a five-minute walk from both the Superdome and New Orleans Arena and five blocks from the music clubs of Bourbon Street. Enjoy French cuisine with Louisiana influences in its Crystal Room.

Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans: Located on the edge of the French Quarter on Canal Street, the former Maison Blanche department store building is now a 452-room luxury hotel with a 25,000-square-foot spa and top-rated Farm-to-Table restaurant named M Bistro. The courtyard plays hosts to events such as crawfish boils and voodoo ceremonies.

WHERE TO EAT

Bayona: Opened in 1990 in a 200-year-old cottage in the French Quarter, this restaurant is the brainchild of chef Susan Spicer, author of the 2007 book "Crescent City Cooking." Spicer describes her cooking style as "New World." Signature dishes include cream of garlic soup, grilled shrimp with black bean cake and coriander sauce, and peppered lamb loin with goat cheese and zinfandel sauce.

Galatoire's: Located on Bourbon Street and founded in 1905, the restaurant's French Creole cuisine is the creation not of a superstar chef but of four generations of family ownership. Playwright Tennessee Williams was a regular customer, and mentioned the restaurant in "A Street Car Named Desire." Specialties include the barbeque shrimp and jumbo lump crabmeat appetizer, Louisiana seafood eggplant cake, and filet b�arnaise.

La Boca: This steakhouse in the Warehouse District bills itself as "our little corner of Argentina," the country co-owner Nicolas Bazan III grew up in before moving to New Orleans as a teenager. The menu features certified angus beef, painted hills organic beef from Oregon, and Snake River American kobe. Other specialties include Chorizo do la Casa (grilled sausage) and french fries La Boca.