Spend a date night supporting local entertainment
Join Sara Hebert and Chris Jay as they go on dates and share their local activities and restaurant choices.
There is something truly magical about seeing a movie at the theater, but it’s an activity that’s often replaced by snuggling up on the couch with Netflix or an on-demand movie. Actually sitting in a theater seat with a big screen is something that Chris and I cherish and is our No. 1 pick for any date night.
We particularly relish the opportunity to see films accompanied by a live score and we’ve had the opportunity to do so multiple times at the Robinson Film Center and during the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra season. This year, SSO will perform a live score to two of Moonbot Studio’s films, “Silent” and “The Cask of Amontillado” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18. It’s an honor to work with Moonbot’s incredibly talented artists everyday, and I’m looking forward to celebrating our work in a really special way.
“Silent” is an animated short film directed by Brandon Oldenburg and Limbert Fabian. The three-minute short commissioned by Dolby Laboratories celebrates how storytellers, inventors and technology work together to create cinema magic. It also features a cameo by Morris Lessmore, the main character in Moonbot’s Academy Award-winning short “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.” The score was created by über-talented John Hunter, who has collaborated with Moonbot on several projects. He’s created an incredible cinematic adventure through genres of filmic sound that will surely be spectacular performed by a live orchestra.
Hunter also collaborated with our team on “The Cask of Amontillado,” directed by William Joyce and Joe Bluhm. It’s a modern-day interpretation of the Edgar Allan Poe short story by the same name and features the voice talent of Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Toby Jones as Montresor and Tony Award-winning Jefferson Mays as Fortunado. The score is a riveting.
Go to shreveportsymphony.com.
–Sara Hebert
Often, in the course of our never-ending search for fun restaurants, Sara and I enjoy venturing off of the beaten path and exploring the rural areas that surround Shreveport-Bossier City. Recently, we were encouraged to make the trek to the Blanchard area to have dinner at Longwood General Store. Located at 3502 Louisiana 169 in Mooringsport, about 10 minutes north of Interstate 20 Exit 3, Longwood General Store combines a country store, a casino and a restaurant. The atmosphere of this place may be extremely rustic, but you can’t judge this book by its cover – these folks know a thing or two about excellent food and outstanding hospitality.
The restaurant, located inside of the country store, consists of a small seating area nestled among several aisles of various items like paper goods, home cleaning products and other groceries. On any given night, a dozen or so diners – many of them regulars who are on a firstname basis with the wait staff – will linger over fantastic chicken fried steaks, seafood platters and wallet-friendly cocktails prepared by Tammy, the bartender from the adjoining casino.
The main attractions at Longwood General Store are the perfectly prepared ribeye steaks, which range in size from nine ounces to a whopping 48 ounces. Steaks are prepared with the diner’s choice of a Montreal seasoning rub or a red wine mushroom sauce, and are served with a side salad and a baked potato. I’ve ordered the 16-ounce ribeye on several visits, cooked to medium rare, and at this point I feel strongly that this steak with its price tag of $21.95, is of a higher quality than many steaks in our area that sell for two or three times that price.
As good as the food is, it is the service that will keep us returning as long as they’ll have “city slickers” like us. The wait staff made us feel like we were dining with friends. Sara and I hope to be on a firstname basis with their staff soon.
–Chris Jay
