From Vacancy to Vitality Presentation

at APA National Planning Conference

PlusUrbia’s Juan Mullerat, APA, will present solutions that prove even our densest cities have room to grow without demolition.

He will be part of the From Vacancy to Vitality panel presentation at the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference in New Orleans.

The program, featuring examples from PlusUrbia Design’s work in Little Havana along with examples from New Orleans’ Canal Street, — will take place at 8:30 AM – 10 AM CDT on Tuesday April 24.

Professionals attending will learn how new planning approaches can remove regulatory barriers and provide incentives to conserve valuable older buildings and encourage reuse and infill.

Mullerat has spoken at the last two APA Florida annual conferences. PlusUrbia has been honored with national, regional and local APA awards, the highest honor in the profession.

https://plusurbia.com/vacancy-to-vibrancy-presentation-at-apa-national-planning-conference/

GREAT MAYA REEF

AUDUBON AQUARIUM OF THE AMERICAS

We live in South Florida, where great sea creatures live a few miles from our home.

We have climbed great Mayan ruins in Tikal and other parts of Guatemala.

We are big believers in sea level rise, but we can assure the reader that no part of Mayan architecture has been flooded.

...except at the Great Maya Reef in the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans.

Looking to freshen up it's two decade old experience where visitors walk through great glass tunnels to experience the sea without getting wet, the Aquarium kept the gigantic tanks.

It added a make believe world of submersed Mayan ruins.

Sounds crazy.

But somehow it all works.

From the Audubon folks' press material:

"The new 4,200 square-foot Great Maya Reef at Audubon Aquarium of the Americas opened March 8! (2014) This new experience transforms the opening exhibit of the Aquarium into a great, submerged Maya city of the Yucatan peninsula."

"The adventure begins as visitors walk through the 30-foot-long tunnel into a submerged Maya city of mysterious ruins, surrounded by exotic sea creatures. This underwater world of the ancient, flooded metropolis is alive with lion fish, yellowtail snapper, moray eels, spiny lobsters and more all at home among stunning coral, sunken artifacts and forgotten treasure."

Be sure to see the cownose rays getting fed.

It's magical for kids and adults.

The Aquarium is located on the edge of the French Quarter, facing the mighty Mississippi River at the foot of Canal St.  The entrance, at #1 Canal Street, faces the river.

The Aquarium features outstanding wheelchair access. For more information, call  (504) 581-4629

Open Tue - Sun | 10am5pm, closed Mondays.   Adult Admission  -$22.50

http://www.auduboninstitute.org/aquarium

AUDUBON BUTTERFLY GARDEN AND INSECTARIUM

A DIAMOND AT THE U.S. CUSTOM HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS

 

We may have been the only Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium visitors without kids, but what did it matter?

Even a pair of childless Miamians celebrating their combined 50th birthdays can have a lot of fun in this very wheelchair-accessible attraction.

Displays feature outstanding barrier-free access (though we did pass on the area offering free fried, chocolate covered and other allegedly gourmet preparations of edible insects!

The largest free-standing museum in the world dedicated to all things bug and arachnid begins in the Prehistoric hallway with 30-inch insect replicas.

We loved the disgustingly realistic display of real cockroaches taking over a mocked up kitchen under glass

According to the museum:

It's always dinner time for this family of American cockroaches in New Orleans.

Known also as the palmetto bug or water bug, American cockroaches are the largest common species of pest cockroach.

So pull up a chair, relax and enjoy dinner time with these critters.

Frommer's loves the gallery that simulates the experience of being underground and exposes the tiny world living in our soil.

The Japanese-inspired butterfly gallery, full of fluttering beauty, ends the experience.

The gift shop is outstanding too.

Tue - Sun | 10am - 5pm, Closed Mondays. Admission: $16.50 

423 Canal Street near North Peters Street, New Orleans.  504/581-4629

Because it is located in a Federal building, all visitors must pass through metal detectors and have their belongings scanned.

http://www.auduboninstitute.org/insectarium

PALACE CAFE – A GEM ON CANAL

PALACE CAFE –PART2

The first arrival was a loaf of fabulous French bread.

 

Root beer was the beverage of choice – remember, it’s bad to drink alcohol before during a flight – and it goes surprisingly well with classic creole flavors.

 

Our appetizer was met with a bit of suspicion. Crabmeat Cheesecake is it sweet, savory, gimmicky?

 

The answer is no, yes, no. 

 

The signature dish features a pecan crust, wild mushroom sauté and creole meuniere.

 

Rich, yes. 

 

Cloying, not at all.

 

My main was a generous bowl of seafood gumbo, the best I’d had during a week in the Crescent City.

 

My wife Heidi went with barbecued shrimp prepared with Abita Amber BBQ and lemon, rosemary.

 

The large, almost prawn size shrimp were served on toast made of the famed Leidenheimer local bread.

 

We had just ordered a double dark chocolate brownie -- covered with chocolate ganache and served with hot fudge, double cream, and toasted walnuts – when the executive waiter asked us if we had eaten Bananas Foster during our visit.

 

I explained that I’m not a big fan of bananas, so...so we gave into temptation and there we were with our waiter telling us the history of the Brenna’s original -- fresh bananas sautéed tableside in brown sugar and cinnamon, then flambéed with banana liqueur and rum, served over vanilla bean ice cream.

 

I ate my fair share of Bananas Foster and chocolate brownie.

 

Sated, we had the perfect Palace Café experience to salve leaving day with plots for our return to the culinary confections of this Mighty Mississippi River town.

http://www.palacecafe.com

PALACE CAFE – A GEM ON CANAL

PALACE CAFE –PART 1

 

Since the famed original Brennan’s closed more than a year ago, Palace Café may be the best of the many New Orleans restaurants operated by various permutations of the Brennan family.

 

Certainly, it is the grandest space.

 

Housed in the historic Werlein’s music building, Palace Café is one of the most beautiful adaptive reuses of an historic building in America.

 

The dining room is a perfect blend of high ceilings and a preserved grand staircase and modern accessibility.  An elevator serves wheelchair users well in this airy palace of creole dining.

 

Open since 1991, Palace Café has won a ton of major dining awards while witnessing the revival of Canal Street and the renaissance of the Central Business District as a Garden of Eden of new and old style New Orleans cookery.

 

Casual outdoor seating, during the cooler months, provides a front row seat to the restored Canal Street Streetcar line and all the pedestrian activity along the regenerated grand boulevard that borders both the CBD and French Quarter.

 

We stopped in right at 11:30 a.m. lunch opening because we wanted a fine meal in our bellies before we flew back home.

 

The bowtied and jacketed waiter understood our please for expedient service, so we could make to the hotel and taxi to the airport.

 

Nothing felt rushed, underdone, or hurried during our luncheon in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on Canal.

 

605 CANAL STREET,  504.523.1661  http://www.palacecafe.com

• Lunch
  Monday - Saturday: 11:30 - 2:30
• Dinner
  Nightly, 5:30 - til
• Sunday Brunch
  10:30 - 2:30