From delicious food to open-late gyms, Abigail Breslin shares her favorite spots in The Big Easy.
Scream Queens—a controversial and completely campy comedy series on Fox—follows the lives of a group of sorority girls who are being hunted down by a serial killer. What we’re really interested in, however, is the show’s location: the always scenic New Orleans. We caught up with Abigail Breslin—who stars as Chanel No. 5 in the show and calls the city “a second home”—to get her official guide to The Big Easy.
“If I’m going out for a really nice dinner, I like to go to R’evolution. I love the atmosphere and the food is so good—I get the venison Carpaccio. They also have these truffle fries that are amazing. I also love Baru; I would go there a lot with Billie [Lourd]—who plays Chanel No. 3—for their portabello guacamole. Lolette is another favorite—the Italian wedding soup is really good.
Bouligny is probably my number one spot. We would go there a lot after work [since] it’s open really late, and sit outside for dinner. I’d always get the cheese plate, the tempura green beans, and the short ribs. We kind of felt like stalkers because we’d just be there all the time. Café du Monde is a little crowded, but it’s something that you have to do. You get beignets and a coffee and sit outside and boom—that’s living."
“French Truck on Magazine has the best iced lattes in the world. It’s really small—it kind of looks like a little shotgun house. I would stop there literally every morning on my way to work because it was about two blocks from the studio. There are some tables [to sit at] outside, but that was my favorite place to get coffee on the go, and they have coffee beans to take home, too. If I want to go sit down and have coffee I’ll either go to Hi Volt, and I always get the shock proof coffee, it’s so delicious—and a piece of the avocado toast. Mojo is also really good for sitting down."
“I really like The Roosevelt. It’s old-looking but it’s really cute and they’re always really nice there. I also love the W in the French Quarter because it has a little courtyard you can visit. The Omni is really nice, too. They have a really nice restaurant called the Rib Room that has amazing food."
“For manicures, there’s a great place called Blanc. I don’t get a ton because I bite my nails, but everybody else in the cast would go there a lot. They actually came to the set one day while we were filming an episode and did manicures for the scene that we had to do. (That was for episode seven, ‘Beware of Young Girls,’ and we had to have red nails in it.) I went in one day for a massage and it was really good, I would definitely recommend. I also went to the Ritz Carlton spa—very ‘Chanel.’ I got a massage and I think a pedicure, too—the spa there is amazing.”
“I would go to Pure Barre a lot—they have one there on Magazine—and I really liked it because it’s one of the only places that I found in New Orleans that would stay open late. If I got off work later in the day I could go because they’d have a class at like, 8pm—and it’s a really nice studio. One time I went to Romney, which I know that Lea Michele and Emma Roberts went to a lot. It’s an amazing Pilates and cycling place, but Pure Barre was kind of my thing. I’d also workout sometimes [at a] gym on Julia Street called Prime Fitness RX, which is really great because it’s open 24 hours.”
“If I just want a mall setting, I’ll go to the Canal street shops. I really love Trashy Diva on Magazine—they have vintage style dresses and it’s got a very 50’s vibe. Basically every day I’d just walk down Magazine and there are so many different shops that you can go into—so that’s what I would do. I’m not the world’s biggest clothing shopper—I usually just sit in my house and shop online—but if I were going out to take people places, I’d mostly go to Voodoo shops and cool little psychic shops.
At Voodoo Authentica you do this thing called gris gris bags. There’s one woman who works there, and you tell her what you want and don’t want in your life and she mixes all of these spices and herbs into this little tiny bag. Then she goes out back and puts a blessing over it. Then, on the next full moon after you get it, you have to put a piece of your hair in it and then you have to stand outside and hold it up to the moonlight for seven minutes. I remember one day I was doing it, but I was filming when the full moon happened and I was like, ‘Wait, I have to go!’ And I just stood outside in the parking lot and everybody was like, ‘Abbie, what are you doing?’ I was like ‘I’m sorry, I just want all of this to happen.’ And it actually worked.”
“About 45 minutes out of the city you can go on a swamp tour. It’s something that everybody should do in New Orleans because it’s really cool—you go out on this airboat and they drive you around the swamp. Sometimes it goes really fast and it’s kind of scary, but you put on these headphones and you see alligators, and it’s really pretty.
They actually bring a little baby alligator on to the boat for everybody to hold, so I’d recommend doing that for fun. But it’s like, an hour and a half tour, so make sure you use the restroom before you get on the boat.”
