Local Businesses Participate in Tree Planting Program

November 4, 2017 by Charlie London

Photo above of volunteers planting trees is from SOUL NOLA’s Facebook page.

*

Volunteers planting trees in front of Terranova’s
photo by Tommy Lewis

Both Terranova’s and Cafe Degas participated in the November 4, 2017 tree planting organized and sponsored by the group Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL) founded by Susannah Burley.   Faubourg St. John neighbors at  2816 Grand Route Saint John, 2934 Grand Route Saint John, and 2832 Ponce de Leon also received free trees.

What is SOUL?

“It’s an acronym for Sustaining Our Urban Landscape, and the idea is to work neighborhood by neighborhood to help residents form a strategic plan to reduce dramatically the amount of stormwater that goes into catch basins and the drainage system,” said Burley, who also holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from LSU.   Quote from an article by Stephanie Bruno which you can see here:  https://soulnola.org/news/

Everyone knows money doesn’t grow on trees nor does it grow for trees.  If you would like to donate to help put more trees in the neighborhood, please contact Susannah Burley at:  (504) 616-6888 or you can donate to SOUL online at the Trust for Conservation Innovation’s website.   Learn more about donating to SOUL online at:  https://soulnola.org/donate/ or just call Ms. Burley at (504) 616-6888

Cafe Degas participated in SOUL’s November 4, 2017 tree planting
Terranova’s participated in SOUL’s November 4, 2017 tree planting

Photos above of trees by Cafe Degas and Terranova’s are by Charlie London
***
Photos below are from SOUL NOLA’s Facebook page

Jacques Soulas was very happy to receive trees next to Cafe Degas
Volunteers gather at Terranova’s to help plant trees
Lots of opportunities to help during the tree planting. These folks helped by delivering trees. They are pictured next to Cafe Degas

Filed Under: More Great Posts! Tagged With: bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, Cafe Degas, faubourg st john, flood control, free tree, free trees, french restaurant, New Orleans, stormwater reduction, terranova, terranovas, tree, trees

Help Feed New Orleanians – Buy Capstone Honey at Terranova’s

August 4, 2016 by Charlie London

HELP FEED NEW ORLEANIANS

CAPSTONE is a non-profit in the Lower 9th Ward. Capstone is a small non profit that has taken previously blighted or vacant lots in the Lower Ninth Ward and developed them into productive gardens and orchards. Located in part of a food desert, Capstone grows and provides food at no cost to those who need it. Capstone also assists others in starting their own gardens or allows others to garden on their lots when space is available.

Your hive adoption and donation supports their mission to grow food on previously vacant lots and share it with those in need. It also supports other Capstone programs which empower others to grow their own food.

honey-capstone4textCAPSTONE Raw Honey is made from an assortment of local floral varieties. Capstone never feeds their honey bees high fructose corn syrup.
Capstone Raw Honey is only put through a strainer to ensure it retains all of its natural goodness. It is never ultra-filtered, heated, or diluted with high fructose corn syrup.

Each harvest is kept separate and each jar labeled showing the month and year of harvest. Each floral season gives our honey a unique color and flavor. It also contains different pollens from the different times of the year if you are using it for allergy relief.

terranovasWhen you think of a business that is always helping the neighborhood, who do you think of?

Terranova’s

When you think of a business where they try to make you leave with a smile, where do you think of?

Terranova’s

So, naturally, when you think of a business that would support a non-profit with the sale of honey, what business do you think of?

Terranova’s

Go buy some Capstone Raw Honey at Terranova’s today!

Terranova’s Superette  |  3308 Esplanade Avenue  |  New Orleans, LA  70119

***

Your donations of time, supplies, or money to Capstone will help make their projects successful.

If you would like to donate your time as a volunteer or arrange for your group to volunteer please contact Capstone and they will be glad to work with you.

If you have supplies or materials you would like to donate to Capstone please contact Capstone and they will make arrangements to accept your donation and utilize it to help our community. Some examples would be gardening tools, plants, seeds, construction tools or rebuilding materials.

Capstone is a 501 (c) (3) non profit and will gladly accept your financial donation.
You will be issued a non profit receipt to use as a tax deduction if you wish.
 
 
 

Capstone accepts PayPal

You may mail a check to:
Capstone118, Inc.
1641 Deslonde St.
New Orleans, La 70117

Capstone is a small non profit that has taken previously blighted or vacant lots in the Lower Ninth Ward and developed them into productive gardens and orchards. Located in part of a food desert Capstone grows and provides food at no cost to those who need it.
http://www.capstone118.org/

Filed Under: BlightStat Meetings, CRIME, Featured, HISTORY, Living Well Tagged With: bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, blight, blighted lots, capstone, faubourg st john, honey, New Orleans, new orleans best neighborhood, non-profit, terranova, terranovas, urban farming

LOCAL STORES HAVE WHAT YOU NEED

October 28, 2015 by Charlie London

Both Canseco’s and Terranova’s have all the Halloween candy and treats you need right here in Faubourg St. John! The stores are across the street from each other in the 3300 block of Esplanade in New Orleans.

John, the manager at Canseco's said, right now, they have the largest supply of Halloween candy they've ever had.
John, the manager at Canseco’s said, right now, they have the largest supply of Halloween candy they’ve ever had.
Terranova's has all kinds of treats for Halloween.
Terranova’s has all kinds of treats for Halloween.

Why Buy Locally Owned?

There are many well-documented benefits to our communities and to each of us to choosing local, independently owned businesses.

Think Local FIRST!

Top Ten reasons to Think Local – Buy Local – Be Local

  1. Buy Local — Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms — continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.(Click here to see summaries of a variety of economic impact studies; these include case studies showing that locally-owned businesses generate a premium in enhanced economic impact to the community and our tax base.)
  2. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.
  3. Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun — all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit.  “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust
  4. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
  5. Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents.
  6. Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.
  7. Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.
  8. Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
  9. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.  A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
  10. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, canseco's, esplanade, faubourg st john, food, fun, grocery, halloween, halloween candy, New Orleans, shopping, shops, stores, terranovas

Bike Racks Abound in Faubourg St. John

October 28, 2015 by Charlie London

article and photos by Charlie London (except as noted)
bikerack-terranovas
Bike racks are nothing new in Faubourg St. John. Terranova’s has had one for over 30 years. There is a story about the one that is by the store now. A few years ago, two N.O.P.D. officers arrived at Terranova’s on horseback, entered the store and asked if it would be ok to tie up their horses to the bike rack. The always affable Terranova family agreed.

The officers secured the horses to the bike rack then proceeded on foot. Before they could get more than a few yards away, a car backfired causing the horses to rear up and pull up the bike rack out of the cement. The bike rack was destroyed. Not long after the incident, a Terranova’s customer indicated that a bike rack was under their house and they would be willing to donate it. Paul Laplace installed the bike rack still in use today.

bikerack-cansecosCanseco’s Supermarket has a bike rack too!

bikerack-fairgrinds
Several years ago, then owner of Fair Grinds, Robert Thompson installed a bike rack in front of the coffee shop. There was much discussion about the use of an on-street parking spot for the bike rack. The bike rack at Fair Grinds gets regular use by patrons of the area.

bikerack-fsjna-friendsoffortierA few months ago, several bike stands were put up at the bus stop on Esplanade near the corner of Grand Route Saint John. The bike racks are part of the “Where Ya Rack” program and were donated by the Friends of Fortier Park and the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association.

David Armond captured this photo of the bike racks by the bus stop right after they were installed.
David Armond captured this photo of the bike racks by the bus stop right after they were installed.

bikerack-fortierpark
Last Saturday, a large bike corral was installed by Fortier Park on Mystery Street near the corner of Esplanade. It too is part of the “Where Ya Rack” inititiative. The bike corral was donated by friends and family of Bill Kraemer.

bikerack-fortierpark1Michael Ward wrote this about Bill on the neighborhood Yahoo group:
Bill was a good friend of ours. He rode his bike from Albuquerque to New Orleans. He would come out to stay with us every Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras. Most of time for Halloween too. He loved New Orleans and one year while he was staying at my house for Jazz Fest, he took ill and was diagnosed with blood cancer. He died the next year. We miss him greatly. His widow and friends contributed for a bike corral through the “where ya rack” program with the YLC. It was installed Saturday on Mystery street and Esplanade in the marked off no parking corner in memory of our friend Bill.

bikerack-badparkingbikerack-badparking1
While bike racks abound in Faubourg St. John, there are still those who chain their bikes up to whatever is convenient. Hopefully, they will notice the abundance of bike racks soon.

The Fortier Park beautification project is the brain child of Bobby Wozniak.  It is an urban oasis worth bicycling from anywhere to visit.
The Fortier Park beautification project is the brain child of Bobby Wozniak. It is an urban oasis worth bicycling from anywhere to visit.
A bird stops by Fortier Park to enjoy the splendor.
A bird stops by Fortier Park to enjoy the splendor.
Fortier Park
Fortier Park

Filed Under: HISTORY Tagged With: bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, bike lanes, bike racks, biking, bus stop, exercise, Fair Grinds, faubourg st john, fortier park, New Orleans, nopd, parking, riding, terranovas, touring, where ya rack

Everybody Loves Terranova’s

April 18, 2015 by Charlie London

Terranovas90yearsAdvocate

Terranova’s, family-owned supermarket in N.O, celebrates 4 generations

by Mimi Reed | Special to The Advocate on April 19, 2015

In this era of Costco and Sam’s, nobody expects a little family-owned grocery store to last into its fourth generation — not even the owners.

“What store exists for 90 years?” the unflappable Karen Terranova asked recently as she coaxed a neighborhood child to come behind the counter at Terranova’s Supermarket.

Between taking care of customers, she was trying to get the boy to wash his sticky hands in a bucket of water, kept in back of the cash register for just such a purpose. “Oh, come on now,” she said. “It’s clean water. I’ve got a nice towel.”

On Saturday, the compact grocery wedged onto the corner of Esplanade Avenue and Mystery Street since 1925 threw a party to celebrate its 90th anniversary. And what a party. More than 100 people showed up despite soaked grass, mud and rain. John Boutte hushed the crowd when he sang “Stand by Me” with backup from the Iguanas. Walter “Wolfman” Washington and his band had kids dancing in the mud. As it happens, all of the musicians are Terranova’s shoppers, and they all simply volunteered.

“They’re wonderful, hard-working people, the Terranovas,” Boutte explained.
Po-boys of grilled sausage and red gravy and icy beer kept everyone fed.
The event wasn’t publicized except by word of mouth because Karen didn’t want a mob scene — she just wanted to thank her customers, many of them longtime Bayou St. John residents.

Of the numerous family-run small groceries that once dotted the face of New Orleans, Terranova’s is a rare survivor. Karen, 56, and her husband Benny Terranova, 61, inherited the place from his mother and father, Lorraine and the late Anthony Terranova, who inherited it from his father and mother, Benjamin and Lena Terranova — who came from Contessa Entellina, Sicily, and was transported to New Orleans for her marriage. Karen and Benny now run the store with their son, Anthony, 31, and his wife, Jennifer, 31, who married into the clan seven years ago and has worked there since.

Terranova90th-Advocate1

To say they are a close family doesn’t do this group justice. “I tell everybody I’ve been married 94 years. I double mine,” said Karen, who grew up down the street above CC’s Coffee and who, long before her marriage, was Benny’s sister’s best childhood friend. “Because if you go to work every day with your husband, it’s literally the truth.”

‘It’s the sausages’
90T9sausageAsk the four Terranovas to explain the store’s longevity and they’ll all say the same thing. “It’s the sausages and all,” said Benny, who learned butchering from his father and has taught the craft to his son. Two or three times a week, Benny and Anthony make the store’s legendary fresh sausages, stuffed pork chops, muffalettas, hogshead cheese and chicken stuffed with artichoke dressing, among other recipes invented and handed down from Benny’s father and grandfather. They still wrap most everything in thick, waxy butcher paper, taping it up snugly. If someone isn’t a regular, they’ll write cooking instructions right on the paper.

Boutte still shows up at the meat counter three or four times a week despite his recent move to Lacombe. “What’s that Creole paté? Yeah, baby — hogshead cheese! It’s better than foie gras,” said Boutte, ever charismatic. “My mother loves it. I know she ain’t supposed to have much of it, but she smiles when I bring it home. She’ll put it in grits or on crackers.”

Vic Bush, a psychiatrist and disc jockey, used to live in the neighborhood on Grand Route St. John. (“Not too many of us psychiatrist/DJs out there,” he conceded). In his new home city, Lafayette, first-rate Cajun stuffed chickens, sausages and boudins are sold all over town. But he still drives back to Terranova’s regularly for green onion sausage and the rest of Benny’s and Anthony’s creations. On Saturday, he came back not only to stock up but also to DJ at the party. Terranova’s, he said, is not only in his blood. “It’s in my cholesterol.”

The store’s other secret weapon is its endearing atmosphere, one part “Moonstruck” and three parts purest New Orleans neighborliness. Terranova’s is the place to go if you want to experience what the world was like before money turned into plastic and commerce became anonymous.

Housed in an ordinary green cinderblock building with a scrap of a red tile roof, it has painted concrete planters out front lush with rosemary, oregano and basil for customers to pick on their way out. Homemade signs decorate the door: Adorable Asparagus. Prissy Pineapple. Bodacious Beets.

Inside, speckled terrazzo floors are well worn, and wood-paneled walls are evocative of basement recreation rooms from the 1950s. An old cigar box on the counter holds slips of scratch paper for whoever needs it. Shoehorned into 1,680 square feet are four aisles, a wall of refrigerator and freezer cases, and an old-school butcher counter.

‘Make that person smile’
But it’s plenty enough to attract customers who walk in all day long with canes, walkers, strollers, babies in arms, backpacks and rest of their lives in tow. They come in to buy milk, meat, bananas and vodka but also to talk about their most recent surgery, the cheese sauce recipe Karen gave them and who in the family raved about it, or whether the new dating website they joined is any good. “Bring him to the party,” Jennifer said last week to one of her customers who was dating someone new. “We’ll check him out.”

guidry-terranovas2015apr18Whether it’s a local luminary, a jockey or trainer from the nearby Fair Grounds or a nameless disheveled fellow who shuffles in for a pint of Early Times and a can of Coke, Karen treats everyone similarly.
“Your most important mission,” she said, “is to make that person smile before they leave. You want to lighten their day.”

Yet she’s not a pushover. Children are sometimes cut off if they buy too much candy. If they skip school and dare to come in the grocery, their parents get a phone call. “Karen watches over them like a mother,” Boutte said.

“To me, it’s a hive,” said Erin Peacock, owner of Lux, a salon and spa on nearby Ponce de Leon Street. “You find out everything that’s going on. Oftentimes, there’s a child under the age of 6 working the cash register on Karen’s hip. And it’s always like a comedy routine. If I go in too early, Karen always razzes me: ‘Oh, well, I see someone’s living the life of Riley, leaving work at 5:30.’ Every time, I ask Anthony how he’s doing, and he says something like ‘STU-pendous.’ The next day he always has to come up with a new adjective, better than yesterday’s.”

When pianist A.J. Loria ambled in last week in his yellow plastic clogs, unshaven and in need of cigarettes, Jennifer was working the register and introduced him to a bystander as “my future ex-husband.” Anthony pretended to accidentally ram into him with a large box of eggs, which he then laid down on the counter. “I’m going to play ‘Oh Terranova’ at the party,” Loria said playfully while clucking into the egg box and sliding coins at Jennifer across a worn patch of Formica. ”A new song. You’re in it, baby.”

‘I was so overwhelmed’
So it goes, warmly and with brio, all day long. Those who get closer come to learn that the Terranovas are also supportive and generous beyond anyone’s expectations. When Peacock’s then-husband was in a serious motorcycle accident and spent three months in the hospital, she handed over her business to a friend so she could be with him. One December day, she was in her salon, and Karen walked in. She had an envelope in her hand,” Peacock said. “She said, ‘Every year, we collect a certain amount of money and give it to someone in the neighborhood who needs it.’ It was a stunning amount of cash, a 30-pound turkey and a Visa gift card. I was so overwhelmed.”

If the Terranovas know something about being exemplary neighbors, perhaps it’s because this clan has spent its entire American existence on a piece of ground a few blocks square. Benny’s mother, Lorraine, soon to be 90, lives upstairs from Terranova’s in the apartment where Benny grew up. “They take wonderful care of me,” Lorraine said of her family. “All I have to do is mention something I want, and they get it.” Lorraine’s husband, Anthony, who spent most of his hours behind the butcher counter, died in 2007.

“I have never in my whole life seen as many people at a funeral as his,” Karen said.

“He thought he was only a little old butcher,” Lorraine said. “He had no idea. But he was well-liked by everybody.” At Anthony’s wildly crowded wake at Holy Rosary Church on Moss Street, the line of mourners had to be prematurely cut off so Father Bob Massett could finally say Mass. Afterward, the hearse glided by Terranova’s on its way to the cemetery. “He made one last pass. It was really quite emotional,” Karen said.

If Anthony and Jennifer stand on the back porch of the new home they just built a few streets down, they can see the back of his tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3. His presence is still felt in the shop, too. Besides being a butcher and grocer, Anthony was a woodworker, and Benny keeps his smooth, amber-colored picture frames and a large wooden swan planter he made near the butcher counter.

‘Mothers were possessed’
Clustered on a wall, the frames hold photographs of babies from the neighborhood — a Terranova’s tradition launched when a customer worried that his infant daughter, Lila, wasn’t getting enough nutrition from breast-feeding. The man started coming in to weigh her on the meat scale before and after feedings every day. Anthony photographed Lila, and soon other mothers wanted their babies to be immortalized on the baby wall. “Some mothers were possessed,” Benny remembered. “They had to get their babies’ pictures up. They dolled them all up.”

Now a poised 14-year-old attending Benjamin Franklin, Lila Thaller, the first baby on the wall, showed up at the party with her dad. “Before she could see over the counter, she used to charge candy there,” Matt Thaller recalled.

Asked if he dreams about retirement, Benny said, “Not really. You waste your life thinking about retirement.” Working from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week is just the way he grew up, he said.

And he’s always liked it in the store. Until Katrina destroyed it, there used to be a framed photograph of Benny at age 5, wearing an apron and sweeping the grocery’s floor with a tiny broom.

Though the store lost all of its perishables during Katrina and the family had to clean every inch of the place while wearing masks slicked with Vick’s VapoRub, Terranova’s was one of the first groceries in the area to reopen after the storm, and it stayed open seven days a week for months.

“The hardest thing the first generation had to face was the Great Depression,” Karen said. “The second generation had to withstand the fact that a state-of-the-art A&P opened across the street. And the hardest thing Benny and I ever dealt with was Katrina.”

‘You have to earn it’
As for the fourth generation, the fact that it exists at all is a phenomenon almost unheard of, according to business analysts, who estimate that only 3 percent of family businesses survive to that stage. Nevertheless, Anthony and Jennifer appear content and admirably poised to take over someday.

People in the neighborhood still remember watching Anthony grow up. As a child, he rode his bike everywhere, hunting for frogs and sneaking scraps of meat from his father’s butcher case to feed an alligator that hung out under one of the Bayou St. John bridges. Now, finally, he knows the fabled green onion sausage recipe, which his father kept secret from him until just after the storm. “You have to earn it,” Benny said. “I had to earn it from my father.”

Peacock, for one, takes solace from the family’s stability, not to mention her luck in living and working near their store. “It’s one of the most loving environments in New Orleans,” she said. “Every place else is so suburban and big. There are times when I don’t make it to Terranova’s before closing, and on those nights, I have to evaluate how badly I really want the item I thought I needed.”

Article published in The Advocate April 19, 2015
http://www.theneworleansadvocate.com/news/12134995-123/family-owned-grocery-celebrates-90-years

Photos by Charlie London except as noted

90years-ad1Roni Eilene Cooper wrote this on Facebook after photos of the celebration to honor the Terranova’s were posted there.

Please tell these wonderful people that they are responsible for saving my life right after Katrina when I moved into the best neighborhood I’ve ever known…Faubourg St. John.

It was a neighborhood that truly and wholly embodied exactly what the operational definition of that word should be.terranova90bottle But, it was Terranova’s a place that welcomed this displaced stranger who often could barely make it through the front doors and the equally amazing DeBlanc’s Pharmacy that allowed me to make it through the most devastating years of my life. I cannot thank you all enough. terranovas-award_CharlieLondon-web

I was forced to leave my beloved neighborhood in 2011 and not a day goes by that I don’t conjure up memories of the many acts of extreme kindness I was on the receiving end of when I lived there. Bless you all.

Bless you Terranova’s and everyone working there AND shopping there from March 2006 to October 2011. You wouldn’t remember me, leaning on a cane with IV tubes hanging out of my arm…but I remember all of you and I’ll never forget you. Terranova90cake

Click on any photo below for a larger view.

***

***
Terranova Brothers Superette | 3308 Esplanade Avenue

In the video above, Tom Fitzmorris interviews Karen and Bennie Terranova.
***
Article by Ian McNulty

Terranova’s Supermarket isn’t well known as a place to pick up a sandwich, and that’s fine with Benjamin “Benny” Terranova and his wife Karen, who run the Faubourg St. John grocery and meat market along with their son Anthony and his wife Jennifer. After all, the shop sells only muffulettas and only has them at all on Saturdays, when Benny comes in at 4 a.m. to slice the meats and ladle the olive salad. He makes 10, which he cuts in half, wraps in plastic and stacks by the cash register in front and along the butcher counter in back. It means an early start to a long day at the grocery for what amounts to the possibility of only 20 sandwich sales. But there’s more going on here than simple math.

“This was my late father-in-law’s idea. Eighty years old and he always wanted to do new things,” says Karen, referring to Anthony Terranova Sr., who died last year. “Now we have to keep doing it or else I’m afraid he’ll come back and haunt us.”

Terranova’s Supermarket has been in business on Esplanade Avenue since 1925. Anthony Sr.’s father opened it in the building next door, which now houses the Spanish restaurant Lola’s, and he moved it during the Great Depression to its current location. Benny grew up in the apartment upstairs from the store, and his mother Lorraine still resides there.

To compete with much larger grocery stores, including the various markets that have occupied the spot just across Esplanade Avenue for many years, Terranova’s cannot afford old-fashioned practices. But there is a family devotion that is essential to the place. It explains why a token supply of muffulettas materializes on the butcher counter, altar-like, each Saturday. And it helps explain why this is the neighborhood market for many people who live nowhere near the neighborhood.

The family food traditions of Terranova’s have become the traditions of its customers, and that’s never more evident than during the run-up to the holidays when so much attention turns to the kitchen. For many, Terranova means roasts crammed with artichoke dressing, stuffed pork chops, T-bone steaks and calves’ livers arrayed with reverential order and care on sheets of green butcher paper. But most of all, for those in the know, the word Terranova is so synonymous with great sausage that it might as well be the English translation of the Sicilian family’s name.

Long before he convinced Benny to take on the early-morning muffuletta shift, Anthony Sr. passed down a hands-on inheritance of sausage-making. His sausages include Italian, redolent with fennel; hot, seething with garlic; and green onion, sweet and herbaceous.

“I got broken in to this place by the sausage, now I’m hooked,” says Darryl Geraci, a regular customer who was visiting one recent morning.

On this particular day, Geraci clears out the shop’s entire sausage selection in one fell swoop, and that still is not enough. He’ll be back for more in the afternoon, he says, after Benny and Anthony have a chance to restock.

Terranova’s maintains a small inventory of everything. Karen attributes that to the financial imperative to run out rather than throw out. It also means perishables are especially fresh, and this applies to sausage as well as satsumas and parsley.

So no sooner has Geraci toted all the sausage out the door than Benny and Anthony start another batch. The sausage begins as slabs of raw pork, which they bone, cut and grind in-house. Benny is in charge of the seasoning, and the composition is a secret he keeps not only from curious customers but also from his son. Anthony, 25, has worked in the store since he was a kid, but he is still kept in the dark about the essential recipes of the family business.

“You got to be ready for that,” Benny explains. “You can’t just throw things in there, modify them, because this is our calling card, people know us for this.
“You’ve got to earn it,” Benny says quietly, before switching the conversation, with no discernable segue, to his ongoing complaint that Anthony has no children yet. “He’d rather get another dog,” the father says, eyes rolling.

Benny operates a machine that uses water pressure to push the filling into casings. Anthony twirls the coiled length to create links, which he packs into trays for the display case, where another regular turns up just in time to find a freshly stocked butcher counter.

At the front register, Karen points out customers who first came to the store in school uniforms years back and now bring in their own children. She grew up just a few blocks away and remembers shopping here as a child, long before she met her future husband and joined the family.

“We’re making a living, but it’s more than that,” Karen says. ‘You see people come in looking upset, worried. And when they leave, they’re smiling just because I guess people were nice to them, treated them like people. It’s like you’re putting something else in their bag besides the groceries.”

Terranova Brothers Superette | 3308 Esplanade Avenue | New Orleans
Phone: 504-482-4131

***

Photos below by Chris Waddington


NOLAdotCOM2

NOLAdotCOM4

NOLAdotCOM3

NOLAdotCOM1

***

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 3308 esplanade, bayou st john, faubourg st john, food, good food, good people, love, New Orleans, terranovas

Local Businesses Provide More Than Just Goods

October 23, 2014 by Charlie London

fsj-bastille-2014
The old phrase “use it or lose it” applies especially to neighborhood businesses

Shop at your neighbors’ businesses on Ponce de Leon and Broad. Keep your money working for you right here in Faubourg St. John.
After a long day of shopping locally stop in, say hello to your neighbors and have a drink at…
https://fsjna.org/2011/09/drinks/

LIVING IN A NEIGHBORHOOD—even the swankiest one—with no grocery, coffee shop or other businesses is like wearing a nice new suit of clothes without shoes. It looks great, but you’ve got no place to go. Local shops, preferably within walking distance, are the soul of any community, the place where you bump into your neighbors and get that satisfying sense of belonging.

These neighborhood hang outs don’t need to be fancy or charming. Sometimes their idiosyncratic character is the best expression of your neighborhood’s true personality. A funky, messy junk shop run by a lovable eccentric can be more welcoming than a charming-as-can-be tea shoppe or nostalgically-correct soda fountain. A laundromat with comfy benches out front can become a kind of town square that attracts people.

In many small towns, an ice cream shop is the hot spot for teenagers, while other folks in the community wander down to the gas station to drink pop and tell stories. In a lot of African-American neighborhoods, the barber shop and beauty parlor are the social hubs. These places may not sound like your idea of an exciting time but, to the people who live there, such businesses are as important as sidewalk cafes are to Parisians.

IN OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI, MANY FOLKS CREDIT A BOOKSTORE WITH HELPING HEAL THE CITY’S PRIDE after a vicious anti-civil rights riot erupted in the 1960s. Square Books, right on the courthouse square, restored many people’s faith that this was a caring, civilized community. It also helped revive the sagging downtown.

“What tends to get lost in the argument over the future of independent stores is that the dangers posed to them by superstores and on-line sellers don’t just threaten some quaint form of distributing goods,” writes author Rob Gurwitt about Square Books in Mother Jones magazine. “They imperil the fabric of our community life. Real-life stores—their place on the street, the people they draw in, the presence they cast in the community at large—help define their neighborhoods.”

It’s no secret that local businesses almost everywhere are under siege from mega-malls and big box retailers. Everyone who cares even a little about their neighborhood should make a commitment to patronize local businesses, even when bread or duct tape or CDs can be had cheaper by driving to a national chain store. Vote with your pocketbook to keep your community vital. Indeed, you might even find yourself ahead economically with the money saved on gasoline and unnecessary purchases you would never have made if you hadn’t gone into the big box. And, you’ll be way ahead in terms of community spirit and social enjoyment.

THANKFULLY, SMALL NEIGHBORHOOD STORES ARE BEGINNING TO FIGHT BACK WITH BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS. This is a well-proven model where local merchants work together to spruce up commercial streets by adding nice landscaping, fixing up the storefronts, improving the lighting and other amenities. They also cooperate on advertising campaigns, special neighborhood events, shared parking facilities, and other improvements.

Many merchants are banding together in an even bigger way by joining Independent Business Alliances, which draw public attention to the numerous benefits of locally owned businesses (how often do Wal-Mart and Home Depot buy uniforms for the local little league team or sponsor an art fair?) and by lobbying political officials and the media to take note of unfair economic tactics wielded by big retailers. The first IBA began in Boulder, Colorado in 1997 and within two years involved 150 local businesses. There are now IBAs in more than 20 communities—stretching from Corvallis, Oregon, to Greenville, South Carolina— and a national group, the American Independent Business Alliance, based in Missoula, Montana.

IN HARTLAND, A VILLAGE IN THE DEVON COUNTRYSIDE OF ENGLAND, a community school took over management of the Happy Pear green grocer and market when it was about to close. It offers students a wonderful lesson in business management and sustainable economics. And, local townspeople won’t have to drive many kilometers for fresh and organic food. This is just one example of a growing number of community initiatives to preserve and promote essential local shops. In another English village, Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire, 60 percent of residents pledged between five and five-hundred pounds ( $10-1000) to save and refurbish their general store (village shop in the British parlance), with townspeople doing most of the work. It is now community-owned with any profits going back to village itself.

IN THE SEATTLE SUBURB OF LAKE FOREST PARK, RESIDENTS RALLIED AROUND A UNIQUE, REDEVELOPED MALL that was envisioned as a community center as much as a retail outlet. Third Place Commons features a superb bookstore as well as a food court featuring local restauranteurs and a stage for nightly music and performances. It has become such a beloved local hangout that regular customers formed Friends of Third Place Commons, a non-profit group to help keep the place thriving.

Resources: “Square Books”:www.squarebooks.com “American Independent Business Alliance”:amiba.net “Friends of Third Place Commons”:www.thirdplacecommons.org

Filed Under: Featured, HISTORY, Living Well Tagged With: 1000 figs, bayou breakfast, bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, best place to shop in new orleans, buy local, Cafe Degas, canseco's, Fair Grinds, faubourg st john, half shell, local business, lolas, neighborhood stores, New Orleans, pal's, santa fe, swirl, terranova, terranovas, use it or lose it

Bastille Day Celebration

June 30, 2013 by Charlie London

toussaint-photobyToryTaylor-2013july13

Allen Toussaint at the 2013 Bastille Day Celebration in Faubourg St. John. photo by Tory Taylor.

Bastille Day Celebration
in Faubourg St. John.
photos below by Laura London

click on any thumbnail for a better view


bastille2013poster1
Norbert Slama and Raphael Bas (Manouche Musette) will perform from 5 – 7 and Johnny J and the Hitmen from 7 – 9. Cynthia Scott will sing the Marseillaise at 5:30. Ukulele Jake will perform at the Bastille Day Celebration too!

Come on out from 5 pm to 9 pm on Saturday, July 13th and enjoy the Bastille Day Celebration in Faubourg St. John. Generously brought to you by the Faubourg St. John Merchants Association.

(3100 block of Ponce de Leon just off Esplanade)

Please join us for the annual Faubourg St. John Merchants Association Block Party on Ponce de Leon Street between Esplanade and North Lopez.

 

Saturday, July 13, 2013 | 5 PM – 9 PM | Le Marseillaise will be sung by Cynthia Scott

 

Come dance in the street at our annual Bal Populaire! | Local merchants will sell food and beverages on the street. | Art market with local artists | Children’s activities and fun for the whole family! | This event is sponsored by the Faubourg St John Merchants:

Cafe Degas | Fair Grinds Coffee Shop | Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association | Maple Street Book Stores | Nonna Mia | Pal’s Lounge | Santa Fe Restaurant | Swirl Wines

In addition to a cool art market and great kids’ table there will be plenty of food, drink and dancing in the street at the Bastille Day Celebration in the 3100 block of Ponce de Leon on Saturday, July 13th from 5 pm until 9 pm. Plan to join the fun! It’s free!


*******************************************************************

Norbert Slama and Raphael Bas will perform at the Bastille Day Celebration in Faubourg St. John on Saturday, July 13, 2013. More soon!

Johnny J will perform at the Bastille Day Celebration in Faubourg St. John on Saturday, July 13, 2013.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 3100 ponce de leon, art, band, bastille, bastille day, bayou, bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, block, block party, bookstore, business district, Cafe Degas, canseco's, celebration, city, creole, day, esplanade, faubourg, faubourg st john, french, grocery, jacob, jacob windstein, jake, kids, liuzza's, maple street bookstores, market, merchants, music, neighborhood, New Orleans, new orleans best neighborhood, nonna mia, pal's, party, ponce de leon, rock, rock-n-roll, roll, swirl, terranovas, ukulele, ukulele jake

Bastille Day in Faubourg St. John

July 11, 2012 by Charlie London

CLICK HERE to view photos and video from the
2012 Bastille Day Celebration in Faubourg St. John!

bastille2013poster

***

Please join us for the annual Faubourg St. John Merchants Association Block Party on Ponce de Leon Street between Esplanade and North Lopez.

Saturday, July 13, 2013 | 5 PM – 9 PM | Le Marseillaise will be sung by Cynthia Scott

Come dance in the street at our annual Bal Populaire! | Local merchants will sell food and beverages on the street. | Art market with local artists | Children’s activities and fun for the whole family! | This event is sponsored by the Faubourg St John Merchants:

Cafe Degas | Fair Grinds Coffee Shop | Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association | Maple Street Book Stores | Nonna Mia | Pal’s Lounge | Santa Fe Restaurant | Swirl Wines | Terranova’s Grocery

In addition to a cool art market and great kids’ table there will be plenty of food, drink and dancing in the street at the Bastille Day Celebration in the 3100 block of Ponce de Leon on Saturday, July 13th from 5 pm until 9 pm. Plan to join the fun! It’s free!

Check out the great music lineup below. Come dance with us!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: 3100 ponce de leon, art, band, bastille, bastille day, bayou, bayou st john, block, bookstore, business district, Cafe Degas, canseco's, city, creole, creole stringbeans, day, esplanade, faubourg, faubourg st john, french, grocery, jacob, jacob windstein, jake, kids, liuzza's, maple street bookstores, market, merchants, music, neighborhood, New Orleans, nonna mia, pal's, party, ponce de leon, rick olivier, rob savoy, rock, rock-n-roll, roll, stringbeans, swirl, terranovas, ukulele, ukulele jake, zazou, zazou city

Great Bastille Day Lineup

June 21, 2012 by Charlie London

In addition to a cool art market and great kids’ table there will be plenty of food, drink and dancing in the street at the Bastille Day Celebration in the 3100 block of Ponce de Leon on Saturday, July 14th from 5 pm until 9 pm. Plan to join the fun! It’s free!

Check out the great music lineup below. Come dance with us!

ZAZOU CITY from 5 pm until 7 pm


UKULELE JAKE from 7 pm until 7:30 pm


CREOLE STRINGBEANS perform from 7:30 until closing



Click on the flag for a PDF of the poster.
Print one for yourself and your friends!

Please join us for the annual Faubourg St. John Merchants Association Block Party on Ponce de Leon Street between Esplanade and North Lopez.

Saturday, July 14, 2012 | 5 PM – 9 PM | Le Marseillaise will be sung by Cynthia Scott

Zazou City | Ukelele Jake | Creole String Beans

Come dance in the street at our annual Bal Populaire! | Local merchants will sell food and beverages on the street. | Art market with local artists | Children’s activities and even Napoleon! | This event is sponsored by the Faubourg St John Merchants:

Cafe Degas | Fair Grinds Coffee Shop | Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association | Maple Street Book Stores | Nonna Mia | Pal’s Lounge | Santa Fe Restaurant | Swirl Wines | Terranova’s Grocery

Filed Under: More Great Posts! Tagged With: 3100 ponce de leon, art, band, bastille, bastille day, bayou, bayou st john, block, bookstore, business district, Cafe Degas, canseco's, city, creole, creole stringbeans, day, esplanade, faubourg, faubourg st john, french, grocery, jacob, jacob windstein, jake, kids, liuzza's, maple street bookstores, market, merchants, music, neighborhood, New Orleans, nonna mia, pal's, party, ponce de leon, rick olivier, rob savoy, rock, rock-n-roll, roll, stringbeans, swirl, terranovas, ukulele, ukulele jake, zazou, zazou city

Magical Mystery Tour

April 25, 2012 by Charlie London

photos by Charlie London

Just in time for Jazz Fest, large photos of faces appeared recently at Terranova’s Superette at 3308 Esplanade. The posters were put up by Frank Relle on Monday, April 23rd. The posters are a promotional effort for Team Gleason.

Frank Relle says,
I was standing in the checkout aisle at the grocery when Steve told me he had been diagnosed with (ALS) Lou Gehrig’s disease. I assume he saw the color leave my face because in true Steve form he put things in perspective reminding me, “We all have limited time” and encouraging me to, “get busy living”. I didn’t know what to say, how do you respond when your friend tells you he has a terminal illness? What do you do?

Following Steve’s lead with his creation of TEAM GLEASON whose mission is to inspire, act, and learn; I decided to photograph an Inside Out Project in honor of Steve, Michel, Rivers and their countless supporters.

The idea of the project is to put on your best face and to “get busy living”.

The photographs will be posted on the walls around New Orleans in late April, 2012.

For more information visit:

www.teamgleason.org

www.insideoutproject.net

Filed Under: Magical Mystery Tour Tagged With: 3308 esplanade, anthony, bayou, bayou st john, benny, esplanade, faubourg, faubourg st john, frank relle, jennifer, karen, landrieu, New Orleans, Steve Gleason, team gleason, terranova, terranovas

Copyright © 2023 · BG Minimalist on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in