Mila-mazing
I was raised in a small town in a rural part of North Louisiana. My mother and grandmother were both exceptional cooks, and my dad always said they could make boot leather taste good—that was high praise indeed.
I'm only in my twenties, but it seems like such a long time ago that I tasted their wonderful, soulful food. To be honest, I wasn't sure I'd ever taste food like that again, but a recent meal at Mila brought it all back to me—and then some.
Mila opened about a month ago in the Renaissance Pere Marquette Hotel in downtown New Orleans in the same space that formerly housed the now defunct Rene Bistro. Bridget was eager to visit Mila, as she had always wanted to eat at Longbranch, the chefs' former restaurant that had opened in the months following Hurricane Katrina.
Although the chefs, Allison Vines-Rushing, a 2004 James Beard Foundation's "Rising Star Chef of the Year" award winner, and her husband Slade Rushing, were young, talented, and devotees of using local, organic fare, we could never make the forty mile trek out to rural Abita Springs. Needless to say, we were excited they had opened a new restaurant closer to home.
