Jun 16, 2022

Crisler’s – a satisfying soul food side trip in Crystal Springs, Miss.

It’s rarely a challenge to find good soul food in the Deep South.  But if you really want great soul food, it’s been my experience that you need to skip the cities and get off the beaten path as much as possible.  Punky and I applied this logic on one of our road trips to New Orleans not long ago, and my senses proved to be spot-on after we discovered Crisler’s outside of Crystal Springs, Miss.


Jun 7, 2022

Going Full Blast for brunch in the Big Easy

The older I get, the more I have come to realize how much I enjoy brunch as one of my favorite social activities.  Going out to brunch is the perfect compromise for both the morning procrastinators and those who are afraid to let the day slip away. After all, what’s not to like?  It could be breakfast.  It could be lunch.  And there could be adult beverages involved. 

Perhaps this is why New Orleans seems to have so many brunch-worthy places to dine.  From famous restaurants like Brennan’s to smaller neighborhood bistros, I know of no town with more places devoted to brunch.  And it’s at one of those little neighborhood gems where Punky and I like to go that I first came to this realization – the appropriately named Full Blast Brunch.    


A commoner dines at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern, Monroe, Wis.

I wasn’t sure a place existed that could be the perfect representation of Wisconsin life, but then I traveled through Monroe, Wis., one week...