Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Superdome is also home to the annual Allstate Sugar Bowl; the R&L Carri-
ers New Orleans Bowl; the Bayou Classic; and the Essence Festival, the
world's largest African American music festival. Over the years, it has un-
dergone numerous facelifts, but none as sizable as the one following Hur-
ricane Katrina in August 2005, when the Superdome served as a last-resort
shelter for thousands of evacuees. The powerful storm peeled off part of the
roof, and the damage from flooding was so extensive that the building had to
be shut down for more than a year for repairs. That year, the Saints played
their home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, about 90 miles upriver
from New Orleans. The Superdome reopened to much fanfare in September
2006, when the Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons in a nationally televised
prime-time game.
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Continue walking down Poydras to LaSalle Street. To the right, down
LaSalle, is Champions Square, a festival and concert venue built after the
Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010. Saints fans, donning their black and
gold, enjoy partying at the Square before each home game.
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Across from the Superdome is the 26-story Benson Tower, an office building
owned by Saints and New Orleans Pelicans owner Tom Benson. The Hyatt
Regency New Orleans, which was shuttered for six years after Katrina, is on
that same block. The Hyatt is home to Borgne, another of John Besh's popu-
lar restaurants. As of this writing, plans were under way to convert a park-
ing lot at the corner of Poydras and Loyola Avenue into an entertainment
complex anchored by a 40,000-square-foot Dave & Buster's restaurant and
arcade.
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Cross Loyola. To the right, on the median, is the Richard and Annette Bloch
Cancer Survivors Plaza, one of two dozen parks around the country estab-
lished by Richard Bloch, cofounder of H&R Block and a cancer survivor
himself until his death from heart failure in 2004. The building at Loyola and
Poydras is the Energy Centre, which at 39 stories is the city's fourth-tallest
structure.
Between O'Keefe Avenue and Baronne Street, you'll pass a strip that in-
cludes several restaurants, among them Horinoya, serving Japanese cuisine;
Reginelli's Pizzeria; and a Jimmy John's sandwich shop that's part of a fran-
chise owned by Saints quarterback Drew Brees. The newcomer to the block
is Johnny Sánchez, a taqueria co-owned by John Besh and Mexican Americ-
an chef Aarón Sánchez, a regular judge on
Chopped
on the Food Network.
The restaurant opened in the fall of 2014.
