Civil Court Clerk Dale Atkins has made it official: she is not running for DA later this year. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I finalized it this past weekend,” Atkins tells GAMBIT WEEKLY.

She cited the demands of raising a 13-year-old child as her main reason for not running. Atkins is raising the daughter of her sister, who was killed years ago in a drive-by shooting. Another factor, she said, is her legislative mandate to oversee the merger of the city’s mortgage, conveyance and notarial archives offices into her clerk’s office at the end of this year. “I had to prepare an implementation plan by Jan. 1 of this year,” Atkins says. “I put a lot of time, along with others, into developing that plan. … After that, I just decided that the opportunity to be a part of this major change in the civil justice system, and to be able to fashion that plan in a manner that gives the public one-stop shopping with regard to property records, along with the chance to make some significant technical upgrades, is a challenge I want to complete.”

While New Orleans will elect a new DA in the fall, the next election for clerk doesn’t come up until February 2010 — the same time as the next mayor’s race. Moreover, the civil and criminal clerks offices will merge in May 2010.

Atkins’ decision no doubt prompted interim DA Keva Landrum-Johnson to announce last week that she might make the race after all — despite a widely reported commitment she was said to have made not to run in exchange for her interim appointment. No doubt Landrum-Johnson’s take on that alleged commitment will be the stuff of campaign fodder if she runs.

Meanwhile, Atkins’ decision also increases speculation that state appellate court Judge Leon Cannizzaro will make the race. Unlike announced candidate Ralph Capitelli, a former first assistant DA, and Landrum-Johnson, Cannizzaro cannot announce for a non-judicial office without first resigning his judgeship. He is expected to make a decision soon.

Other potential candidates are said to be veteran federal prosecutor Linda Bizzarro and former ad-hoc judge Jason Williams.

It’s not often you get the chance to reflect on one of the worst meals you’ve ever had in the Croissant City. Allow me to spare anyone else the experience.

Having worked in a handful of the city’s finer restaurants for four years, perhaps I should’ve known better than to visit Mayas Restaurant & Bar (located on a restaurant-starved strip of Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District) within its first few months of existence. That said, I’m not sure any amount of repetition will cure what ails the fledgling Latin American eatery.

Mayas’ first impressions certainly don’t presage an impending culinary disaster. The shotgun space is clad in eclectic, if somewhat kitschy, decorations: native masks, natural wood and colorful art. The tables are dressed in crisp linens and the flatware feels substantial. Our server couldn’t have been sweeter. And then the food came.

A delicious-sounding appetizer sampler that promised tastes of the restaurant’s signature frito starters — spring rolls, croquetas, soft-shell crab, tostones, et al. — more closely resembled an assortment of freezer-burned relics. (Imagine shelling out $16 for a fossilized Hot Pocket and a year-old box of Jeno’s pizza rolls.) They were served with a trio of unidentified dipping ramekins, and while I’m no saucier, I’ll take a stab: Chinese-takeout duck, garlicky vinaigrette and coagulated ranch. As in Hidden Valley.

Despite this flubbed handshake, we were still optimistically onboard awaiting our entrée selections. After all, how can you screw up ropa vieja and paella? Here’s one way: boil your shredded beef until it takes on the texture of the old clothes for which it was named and bog down your butter-drenched arroz with bulk-rate seafood — wedding shrimp, chewy mussels and shriveled clams — that smells like a wetsuit left out in the sun. Then charge $45 for them. (To Mayas’ credit, they removed the largely untouched latter from the check.)

We quickly paid the bill and left, in the process forsaking flan and pastel de tres leches, a personal kryptonite. A mile up the road, La Divina’s tongue-numbing gelato beckoned louder.  

The local filmmakers Court 13 Pictures premiere their new film Glory at Sea on Thursday (March 6) at the Prytania Theatre before taking it to the film festival portion of SXSW in Austin. The story is a post-Katrina take on the Orpheus myth. Mourners join a man cast out of Hades to build a boat from the hurricane debris and rescue their loved ones from the bottom of the ocean. Director Benh Zeitlin shot the film at locations throughout the New Orleans area and assembled Katrina debris to create the vessel.

Court 13 includes Zeitlin, whose film Egg won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short at the Slamdance Film Festival, and production designer Ray Tintori, who won a Sundance Film Festival award for the short film Death to the Tinman.

The screening is at 7:30 p.m. at the Prytania (5339 Prytania St.). Admission is $3.

by Sam Winston

A double standard when it comes to covering the Republicans and their association with the religious right?

Barack Obama was questioned at Tuesday night’s debate by Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton about repudiating Louis Farrakhan’s endorsement — which Obama said was unsolicited — in the strongest terms possible. He was repeatedly badgered by Russert, and was forced to disown Farrakhan over and over again.

The very next day, John McCain appeared onstage in Texas with Pastor John Hagee, an influential activist in the Christian Zionist movement. Hagee’s comments about world affairs can make Farrakhan seem pedestrian at times: He eagerly awaits the Armageddon, considers the Catholic Church to be the Anti-Christ, and has said that Jews brought their own persecution upon themselves.” - TPM

The book on John Hagee goes way deeper in terms of racially-charged, radical statements. Here’s what John Hagee had to say about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Read the rest of this entry »

Those in the know will soon start looking in the classified section for discreet, only-in-New Orleans ads for St. Joseph’s altars, like the one pictured above. These decorative, devotional feast displays are traditionally constructed in the homes of the area’s faithful Italian-American Roman Catholics, who frequently invite the public to sample from them.

For a primer on the tradition, and a taste of its offerings, check out this event on Sunday, March 2, from Slow Food NOLA and the Savvy Gourmet.

The food advocacy group is presenting a celebration of the St. Joseph’s altar at the Uptown gourmet emporium with local food guru Poppy Tooker and Arthur Brocato, proprietor of the incomparable Angelo Brocato’s Ice Cream.

Brocato will explain the significance of the altars and prepare three of the sweet treats typically found on them, including biscotti regina, or sesame seed cookies; cucidati, or fig cookies; and anise biscotti.

In addition, Tooker will prepare pasta Milanese, a traditional entrée on St. Joseph’s altars.

The event is from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and there will be a cash bar. Call Savvy at 895-COOK (2665) to reserve a spot.
- Ian McNulty

New Orleans is known the world over for entertaining its guests in style, but next weekend the city will be taking a moment to celebrate itself. The Crescent City Celebration will include a triumvirate of events hosted by the Neighborhoods Partnership Network, a local organization that works with area residents to improve their quality of life by engaging them in revitalization efforts and the civic process.

The celebration will include a Trumpet awards luncheon, a Toast to New Orleans Neighborhoods and the Fourth Annual Festival of Neighborhoods. The events spotlight how New Orleans neighborhoods are vital planning and organizational forces at the forefront of the city’s redevelopment efforts.

The celebration also will recognize the outstanding achievements of local communities in rebuilding their neighborhoods — and serve as an occasion for more networking among citizens, planning groups and sponsors. The weekend’s events will encourage future efforts in the hope that neighborhoods will continue to be buoyed by their partnerships and their successes. Read the rest of this entry »

by Sam Winston

“How can educators help students become more knowledgeable, motivated, engaged, and healthy?

More than 8,000 educators will tackle this question and others when they converge on New Orleans, La., March 15-17, 2008 for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s (ASCD)”

Also, based on a mention of fundraising ASCD has been doing leading up to this conference, it seems like some schools have gone outside the RSD or their district (charter and non-charters) for funding for extracurricular needs or basics like books. Full list funding activity can be viewed here.

by Sam Winston

I guess it makes sense but I honestly didn’t know they came from San Francisco either.

See Ian McNulty for more on the difference between Chinese-American and Chinese- Chinese in New Orleans.

I know my last post was about Vi Landry’s death and I’m not trying to dwell on it to bum out casual blogofneworleans readers, whoever you are, but I’ve been super ill this week and in between running a 102 degree fever while DJ’ing at the St. Roch Tavern on Saturday (as I do ever Saturday, hint hint) and breaking out in hives from head to toe (including one on the tip of my tongue) on Monday morning, the one thing I managed to do was bike down to the Bywater for Vi’s Second Line.And may I say:I’ve been to a lot of parades, street parties, festivals, shows, whatever in New Orleans, all for a lot of different causes, and this was one of the most loving and beautiful events I’ve ever seen. About sixty or so people, mostly local Bywater and Midcity weirdoes: Local artists, punks and bohemian types mixed in with old neighborhood people who new Vi when she bar-tended at Vaughan’s, or through her mom who lives on Alvar Street. Even Bill Moss, my old boss from French Quarter bikes, brought his trumpet down. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have ever dredged through a plate of starchy batter, candy-sweet sauce and deep-fried anything at a typical Chinese restaurant in these parts and found yourself wishing you could get a taste of whatever the Chinese cooks were whipping up for their own staff meal back in the kitchen, I recommend you proceed directly to China Rose, a restaurant in Fat City I reviewed this week.

The standard menu is pretty familiar, with the usual Americanized Chinese fare ranging in quality from pretty good (the sizzling beef) to dreck. But the thing here is their Chinese menu, an alternate bill of fare not prominently promoted but brought out for anyone who asks for it.

I had grown accustomed to requesting the Chinese menu, but after a month of periodic visits to work my way through its offerings I was startled to discover yet a third menu lurking by the hostess stand. A Chinese gentleman, who introduced himself as a local university professor, revealed this menu to us after noting approvingly of our choices from the larger Chinese menu.

This third menu is all about noodles. Some are noodle soups, others are noodles with sauce, meats and vegetables. An example of the latter we tried was a deliciously spicy dish called dan-dan noodles (pictured above) — a pile of springy, nutty, ramen-like noodles mixed with bits of minced pork and scallions and dressed with hot chile oil and large chunks of ginger.

But apparently, China Rose’s range doesn’t end with an American menu, a Chinese menu and this noodle menu. Our new professor friend advised us that at some point we simply had to try the Chinese wonton soup (emphatically not the “American” wonton soup), a dish that is not listed on any menu but is, according to our friend, a specialty of the kitchen.
My column on China Rose is done, but I think I have a lot more eating to do here.

- Ian McNulty