Skip to site content
The Group Travel Leader Going on Faith Select Traveler

Singing the praises of St. Tammany

 


Courtesy Louisiana’s Northshore


Tell me about some offbeat sites for off-site events.

• Louisianans depend on bayous, rivers and lakes, and there is no better place to learn about this essential connection than the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum on the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville.

• From early summer to late fall, groups can enjoy Jazz’n the Vines at Pontchartrain Vineyards; its tasting room and adjoining terrace are available for private events.

• Housed in a bungalow with a picket fence, Passionate Platter in Slidell offers groups tours of the kitchen garden. Afterward, they help prepare their own dinner using fresh, local products.

•  In Abita Springs, the first home of Abita beer, visitors can ride the 31-mile Tammany Trace bike path, hear Louisiana roots music at the Abita Opry and see the eccentric collection of the Abita Mystery House.

For a true taste of Louisiana’s Northshore…
Among the best-known restaurants is La Provence, owned by celebrity chef John Besh, named among the top 10 chefs in America by Food & Wine. Guests are greeted with champagne and hors d’oeuvres as they choose dishes such as swordfish piccata, Louisiana sweet-potato ravioli and slow-cooked wild boar.

Bayou Bonfouca edges Palmettos on the Bayou’s 5,000-square-foot covered deck. Smart picks there include a tower of soft-shell crab, crawfish bisque and fried green tomatoes topped with shrimp remoulade. For a different water view, and some spice, try Friends Coastal Restaurant on the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville. Blackened redfish with lump crabmeat or jerked pork tenderloin topped with a mango rum glaze are options. An upstairs event room has a bar and a large deck.

Dakota, named one of the New Orleans area’s Top 25 restaurants by the Zagat Guide, is best known for its lump crabmeat and French Brie soup. A private dining room seats up to 120 guests. Creole turtle soup and a traditional New Orleans Sunday brunch keep diners returning to Annadele’s Plantation Restaurant.

800-634-9443
www.louisiananorthshore.com