Sights of Slidell

For this little Catholic church on bustling Robert Blvd. (right next to Ryan's), October is always an exciting time to be here. The school, which is kidnergarten through 8th grade, puts on their annual food and fun festival. There is always great food, live entertainment, and great rides for the kids. Slidell doesn't have a town festival with rides and entertainment. Slidell is well-known for its street fairs that are centered in Old Town (off of Fremaux Avenue).

The favorite meeting place of the locals is the Northshore Mall where there are many shops and surrounding restaurants. Located on Northshore Blvd, the mall has many new and interesting stores that appeal to everyone and all ages.

The shops in the Mall includes some of the major department stores like Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, JC Penney, and Dillard's. There are many jewelry stores, a game arcade for the kids, and a Ms. Fields cookie counter where you can get fresh cookies, cookie cakes for special occassions, and make a cookie shaped like a tie for Father's Day (that you can design for your Dad). Claire's Boutique, the Icing, and Justice (formerly Limited Too) are great stores for preteens and girls to shop for earrings, clothes, necklaces, headbands, sunglasses, and other fun accessories. For teens and young adults, there is Aeropostale, Forever 21, and Rue 21 stores.

Kirklands Home and Hallmark are interesting stores for adults who want to decorate their home, or give a card to a special someone for the holidays . . . or young-at-heart who like to play the cards that sing songs and annoy the sales associates. There is also a GNC place to get vitamins. In addition there is also B. Dalton, a sister bookstore of Barnes and Nobles, that is very small and has a good find every now and then. In a personal opinion, I'd rather go to Mandeville than shop at B. Dalton because honestly the customer service is much better, and there's more of a selection.

The Food Court is full of many sights and smells from Chick-Fil-A to Asian cuisine. There is also Mexican food, Arby's, an ice cream and smoothie shop, Subway where you can eat fresh and make friends with Jared, and sample the great pizza near Subway. The best eating experience I had recently was at Chick-Fil-A when I was the hundreth customer, so the girl who took my order rung a cow bell and told me my meal was free (after I ordered). I would have ordered more than a three dollar kids meal. Finally, near B. Dalton is a pretzel shop that has the best mouth-watering pretzels and cheese dip.

At times, Slidell can seem like a "one-horse town" because there's not that many things you can do. It's an ordinary town that half was flooded during Katrina, and is recovering.

You can go shopping at the Northshore Mall that has a Journeys, Pac Sun, Claire's, The Icing, Kirklands, a pretzel shop, Forever 21, Burlington Coat Factory, Dillards, JC Penney, Areopostle, Sears, a food court where you can get Chick-Fil-A, tacos, Arby's, pizza, and Subway. There is a B. Dalton, a son-like store to Barnes and Nobles, but the manager of the store is rude and unprofessional, so I'd rather travel to Metairie and Mandeville before buying a book out of there.

The Cucos Mexican Restaurant (a New Orleans tradition with the first establishment in Metairie) and O'Henry's closed down. Still, Slidell has an Olive Garden, Times Restaurant (or the Train Station since you get to see all the trains pass by when you're eating), KY Restaurant (in Old Town, has good food but not open on weekends), Applebee's, Outback, Ruby Tuesday, Italian Pie, Cici's Pizza, Popeyes, KFC Chicken, Copeland's, Los Tres Amigos, La Caretta, Church's Chicken, Bear's (near Chase Bank and Capital One on Gause), Burger King, Wendy's, Mc Donald's, and Krystal Burger off of Airport Road.

Quick Tips:

A few suggestions would be that there is a lot of traffic. Leaving earlier than usual to go to one place would be key to getting around. Also, they're brake-happy.

Best Way To Get Around:

There are taxis (Good Old Days, Parish Cabs) available, but I suggest by car to see what this little city has to offer. Car, bike, motorcycle.

"It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears."~Plutarch

Cucos Mexican Cafe is in the Bon Marché square surrounded among a beauty and hair salon and a realty place. After Katrina, their hours were shorter and grew longer as daylight savings time came into effect. They're open from 11am to 9pm Monday through Thursday, 11am to 10pm on Friday and Saturday, and 11am to 8pm on Sunday.

The atmosphere is truly south of the border with orange ceramic tile, straw floral arrangements, and wooden beams. There is a clay statue of a howling dog (named Howling Mad), a mule that has an armadillo underneath it holds the toothpicks. The food is excellent with a range of chicken and cheese quesadillas and enchiladas, tacos, chicken flautas, tostadas, nachos, burritos, and many delicious others.

I often get the Dinner Creation, which lets you chose two to three options of your meal. If you like nachos and not sure what to get, the Tres Combo Nacho offers beef, chicken, and cheese nachos. A Cucos favorite is called the Macho Nacho that has beef, cheese, black beans, and guacamole on the nacho. Also, if you've never tasted some of the food, I would try a Sampler Platter (nachos, enchiladas, taco, quesadillas, chimipoquitos (mini chimichangas)) that is a taste of everything. The deserts include a fried ice cream, a vanilla scoop of ice cream wrapped in a granola shell and dipped into the frier, then topped with whipped cream, chocolate, and honey with a cherry on top! Then, there's the Soapillas, sort of like French beignets that come with a side of strawberry syrup and honey with powdered sugar.

Lunch menus are served during the week from 11 am to 3pm and are cheaper than the weekend dinner menus. On Wednesdays, it's $1 Tacos and 3-for-1 margaritas. The margarita is a regular rita that comes in a 32-ounce cup and is about $4.95 until 7pm.

There's a bar in the center of the restaurant that has the usual Chardonnay wines and margaritas (strawberry, peach, raspberry, melon, mango, coconut, or Blue Monday). The well-known drink is the Ultimate Margarita (Cuervo Gold Tequila, Cointreau, and citrus juices with a shot of Grand Marnier). A Gold Margarita is like an Ultimate Margarita, except it does not come with a shot of Grand Mariner, and it a whole lot cheaper than an Ultimate Margarita. Happy Hour is from 3 to 7pm in the bar only. The wait staff is friendly and happy in answering questions. From the hostesses to the waitresses, they enjoy their job of making people feel welcome to the establishment.

**Cucos Mexican Restaurant closed down in early May of 2008. **

"The way you cut your meat reflects the way you live."~Confucius

Along the busy Highway 190, there are small restaurants and supermarkets that accent Slidell's rural small town charm. South Seas is hidden on the right side of the highway, but if you find yourself near Northshore Mall, then you passed it up. It's a small shack-like Chinese restaurant that knows how to make a Manhattan, Margarita, Tom Collins, and Japanese Sake. Inside is an oriental design from pink walls, large ink prints, lanterns, and has a fountain with live fish outside.

They have soups (Won-ton, Egg Drop, Chicken Noodle, or Rice) and salads. The restaurant also offers Chop Suey or Chow Mein, egg foo young, sweet and sour chicken or pork, fried rice, poultry, beef, pork, seafood, crawfish, and even food for those on a diet. The dessert is a usual fortune cookie (and ice-cream) that usually gives an accurate reading of your personality. My last one said 'You are a lover of fine arts and music' and I was like wow, a fortune cookie that was actually right. Another admirable thing I found about the restaurant is that the locals come in to have to go orders. Big red crates loaded down with food and fortune cookies. The number is (985) 646-1205.

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity." -Voltaire.

Seasons Restaurant is a lavender building that has stone steps and leads into a hallway that you pass up another set of stairs and enter this spacious top floor of the Old Ice House.

I suggest going to the restaurant during the week for lunch when the prices are cheaper. The atmosphere is very cozy on the top floor with a picture from the World Fair in '84 and a lamppost from the bottom level with dragons and a huge wingspan on it.

The food is mainly seafood with salads, pastas, steaks, and spirits. One woman at a table next to us ordered vodka and I was like, "they serve vodka"? During twelve on the weekdays, the restaurant is very slow. But, as soon as it's one o'clock, the crowds tend to pour in.

This is a major night scene restaurant for romantic evenings and listening to the jazzy vocals of TiJonne Reyes. A friend told me she likes to be wined and dined and a classy restaurant would be Seasons, which she was right. Hey, I'd go for the shrimp over linguine in Alfredo sauce.

"On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet/ To chase the glowing hours with flying feet."~George Gordon, Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

What comes to your mind when you think of Cinco de Mayo? Free margaritas, karaoke nights, Mexican independence? Cinco de Mayo is known for the Mexican independence, when it's really a day of national pride when France and another country attacked Mexico because they owed them some money! I never knew that until earlier yesterday.

Cucos Mexican Restaurant, in my opinion, is the best Mexican restaurant. There's Carreta's and Los Tres Amigos, but they don't top the food and quality service. The restaurant had a band setting up outside as many people crowded around and went to the bar to indulge in jelly shots, beers and margaritas.

The staff wore these bright orange shirts that had Cinco de Mayo emblems. It could be purchased earlier that week for $10.00 each. Cucos doesn't celebrate one day only, but a whole week long event that is planned for several weeks. A kids' day with free balloons, free margaritas and half off, karaoke nights, and the ultimate tradition of the staff wearing the shirts and jeans instead of their usual elegant black attire.

The band they had was Witness, who played music such as Jimmy Buffet to nowadays rock music. They sold beer, hot dogs, chips and cheese outside. The restaurant was open, but they weren't taking any to-go orders. Although the music was loud, some people were stumbling in drunken pleasure, it was still a powerful and awesome celebration of how Americans celebrate a Mexican holiday.

Heritage Park is one of Slidell's little major parks where interesting events take place. Concerts for holidays or festivals are held on stage. Medieval renactors fight each other on Wednesday nights. Plus, an excellent romantic walkway near the bayou and around the park. There is also picnic tables and a drink machine for lovely picnics and something to cool down on the humid Louisiana summers.

The best way to see Heritage Park would be to look for the Tymes Bar and Grill on Front Street, which if you keep going down, there's going to be an entrance. Also, near the movie theater Movies 8, there's an entrance to the park.