Please follow and like us:
Facebook
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Visit Us
Pinterest
Pinterest
RSS
Follow by Email
On this edition of The NOLADrinks Show, we continue with our “NOLA Neighborhoods” series. This time, we feature the Oretha Castle Haley Blvd area in New Orleans’ Central City. We chat with Pepper Bowen of the Culinaria Center, Hugo Montero of Casa Borrega, and Brent Rosen of the National Food and Beverage Foundation.

Pictured above from left – Brent Rosen of the National Food and Beverage Foundation, Bryan Dias of The NOLADrinks Show, Pepper Bowen of the Culinaria Center, and Hugo Montero of Casa Borrega.

NOLADrinks Show – 9-16-19 – NOLA Neighborhoods – Oretha Castle Haley

We kick things off letting you know about this week’s show and our “NOLA Neighborhoods” series. The idea of the series is to highlight the historical, cultural, and economic importance of various neighborhoods around the area – some of which you may not know or know well. We also let you in on next week’s show with Dale Degroff and Julie Reiner.

Then, we head over to The Southern Food and Beverage Museum (SoFAB), part of the National Food and Beverage Foundation (NatFAB) on Oretha Castle Haley (OCH) Blvd in Central City for our featured interview. We’re joined by Pepper Bowen, director of the Culinaria Center (part of NatFAB); Hugo Montero, proprietor of Casa Borrega, a long-standing Mexican restaurant on the boulevard, and Brent Rosen, president of NatFAB.

[wpdreams_rpp id=0]

In the beginning, Brent and Hugo let us know a bit about their spots in the area including some background on Casa Borrega and what prompted Hugo to open a Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood about 20 years ago. Brent lets us know about NatFAB as well as SoFAB and what the organization and museum are all about.

After a bit, Pepper joins us and gives us some background, historical and cultural, on the OCH area. We discuss the neighborhood’s racial and ethnic history and how it has changed. We also discuss how the OCH area has followed a similar trajectory in this regard to other parts of the city over time.

Pictured above – Pepper Bowen of the Culinaria Center.

Pictured above – Brent Rosen of the National Food and Beverage Foundation.

Pictured above from left – Bryan Dias of The NOLADrinks Show and Hugo Montero of Casa Borrega.

We then let you know about things happening in the area and why you might want to check it out. This, of course, includes visiting the Southern Food and Beverage Museum and Casa Borrega, as well as several other spots to soak in the neighborhood’s hospitality, history, and culture.

On “Another Shot with NOLADrinks,” Brent, Hugo, and Pepper stick around for a continued conversation on the area including a broader discussion of the ethnic and racial make-up of OCH including its rich African-American heritage and that of other groups. We also talk about the New Orleans dynamic of how so much of our cultural and economic importance comes from many of the various neighborhoods around the city with which many are not familiar.

We close things out with our Parting Shot sharing some thoughts on tourism and sustainable tourism in New Orleans.

The map below shows the location of Casa Borrega and the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. You can subscribe to, stream, and download The NOLADrinks Show with Bryan Dias podcast using the links and player at the top of the post.

Cheers, You All!

~ Bryan

[wpgmza id="128"]