Out and About

Mother's Day Another Way
One of this region's diverse ways to
spend Mother's Day is at the Baton Rouge Zoo,
which presents a program that delivers a
flower for mom, crafts for the kids, and more
than 1,800 animals for the whole family to see.
For those who still haven’t quite decided how to mark the maternal milestone this Sunday, here comes the mother load of Mother’s Day activities around the region! Some moms might want to sup with the symphony, some to monkey around at the zoo; others could prefer to shake it in a second line. If any of this sounds like your mom’s M.O., here are a few thoughts for making Mom’s day magical:

In Baton Rouge

• Each May the Baton Rouge Symphony presents a lavishly catered, musically diverse Mother’s Day luncheon. This year the orchestra presents a string quartet to serenade lunchers at De La Ronde Hall, downtown. $35 or $20 for children includes the meal. Noon at 320 Third Street. (225) 383-0500 or www.brso.org.

• Mother’s Day at the Baton Rouge Zoo is offering the first one hundred moms to enter the zoo a flower, and will feature “mom and me” themed Safari Amphitheater programs and an opportunity for little hands to craft a gift for mom. The zoo presents more than 1,800 animals for mom to marvel at, including a white tiger, elephants, alligators and flamingos. 9:30 am—6 pm at 3601 Thomas Road. $6 adults, $5 seniors, $3 age 2–12, free under 2. (225) 775-3877 or www.brzoo.org.

In Vacherie
Oak Alley Plantation’s Mother’s Day plans promise a goodly range of soups, salads, entrées, and classic brunch dishes, to be served in the site’s open-air pavilion. Prices are $39.95 for adults, $24.95 for kids ages 12–17, $14.95 for kids 6–11. 3645 Highway 18 (River Road). (800) 442-5539 or www.oakalleyplantation.com.

In Darrow
The plantation mansion Houmas House offers sweeping views over sculpted gardens and fountains that surround this “Crown Jewel of Louisiana’s River Road.” The plantation will host its traditional Mother’s Day brunch at the Latil’s Landing restaurant, for which executive chef Jeremy Langlois will present a Sunday brunch buffet replete with dishes like bisque of curried pumpkin, crawfish and corn soup; herb roasted salmon with saffron tasso cream sauce; and chocolate panna cotta with spring berries. 11 am –2 pm at 40136 Highway 942, Darrow. $55 adults, $25 kids under 10. Reservations required. (225) 473-9380 or kk@houmashouse.com.

In New Orleans
• The Windsor Court Hotel, which has been recognized in Wine Spectator, Food & Wine, Gourmet, and Travel + Leisure as one of the best in the country, also has fine things on offer for Mother’s Day. On the four-star hotel’s second floor, The New Orleans Grill offers a flower-bedecked champagne brunch with live jazz by The Christopher Kohl Trio, all within strolling distance of the historic French Quarter. The buffet includes a dizzying array of soups, seafood, salads, entrees, meat and cheese stations, and desserts, including things like Marinated Mushroom Roasted Pepper & Belgium Endive; Prosciutto Wrapped Sea Bass & Wilted spinach; and German Chocolate Torte. 11 am–2:30 pm at 300 Gravier Street $68 adults, $34 kids 5–12. Make reservations at (504) 522-1994.

• The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is promising a Mother’s Day second line which will parade down Lelong Drive and through the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, with the Hot 8 Brass Band serving as pied pipers. The celebration corresponds with the closing of photographer Judy Cooper’s exhibit Living Color, which documents Cooper’s engagement with the personalities, and by extension, the cultural forces, that combine to form the Crescent City’s rich cultural heritage. Cooper’s subjects are her fellow New Orleanians, and the idiosyncrasies that she is able to reveal through her casual portraits of them. They span the spectrum of New Orleans society—here are Uptown society women, local artists, second-liners, church women, and her old Bywater neighbors. Mom and the family can also take in NOMA exhibits George Rodrigue’s Louisiana: Cajuns, Blue Dogs, and Beyond Katrina; and International Contemporary Photography. 2 pm in NOMA’s Zita Marks Templeman Galleries, 1 Collins Diboll Circle in New Orleans’ City Park. Free. (504) 658-4100 or www.noma.org.


You can find more to do this weekend and all month by searching the hundreds of events listed on our calendar at www.countryroadsmag.com!