👋 Chelsea here. Although not an exclusive veggie eater, I've made a point in recent years to focus more on plant-based meals.

• Not only has this made my doctor happier, but it's made me feel better overall, too. (And it's pretty good for the environment.)
• It's also a reminder that going vegetarian doesn't have to be a life choice; it can just be a meal-by-meal goal.

Although not an exhaustive list by any means, here are my favorite go-to places for vegetarian meals. Most are not exclusively veggie, which makes gathering with friends even easier.

🥙 1000 Figs: You could make a meal out of the dips and bread alone, but you'd be missing out if you skipped the bright green falafel in either sandwich or platter form. Website.

🍜 Budsi's Authentic Thai: The menu has tons of veggie options, but my favorite is the drunken noodles with tofu. Here's why.

🥒 Sneaky Pickle & Bar Brine: The restaurant focuses, although not exclusively, on vegetarian cooking from scratch. The cashew-based mac and cheese is not to be missed.

🥖 Killer Poboys: Poboys typically come stuffed with shrimp, roast beef or oysters, but Killer Poboys gives a nod to the veg lovers with roasted cauliflower, sweet potato and barbecue tofu options, too.

🥘 Plume Algiers: As a West Banker, this is an easy drop-in for me, which is great because Plume has a lunchtime Thali bowl with a vegetarian option that's big enough to usually feed me twice.

🧀 Sweet Soulfood: This Broad Street cafeteria takes its inspiration from the Southern meat-and-three but holds the meat. Instead, Chetwan Smith reimagines classic soul food and South Louisiana dishes as plant-based. Why I love it.

Share with a veggie lover

🍴 North America's 50 best restaurants will be announced tonight in New Orleans at 50 Best's black-tie event. (Details)

• Dakar NOLA and Emeril's were on last year's inaugural list.
• Jewel of the South and Cure are on the organization's best bars list.
• And, Chris Hannah of Jewel of the South won the Roku Industry Icon Award this year. (Instagram)

🏆 The James Beard Foundation will announce its winners next month. New Orleans has several restaurant and media nominations for the so-called Oscars of the food world.

🚇 Documents show Mayor Helena Moreno pitched Elon Musk's Boring Company on a mile-long tunnel that would connect the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center with the Caesars Superdome. (The Times-Picayune 🔒)

🚔 An inmate turned himself back in after a clerical error led the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office to mistakenly release him. (WDSU)

Fewer Americans want to become pastors, accelerating a leadership vacuum inside one of the country's oldest civic institutions.

The big picture: Churches are trying to fill pulpits as older clergy retire, congregations shrink and burnout rises.

• More than 4 in 10 clergy surveyed in fall 2023 said they had seriously considered leaving their congregations since 2020, per Hartford Institute data reported by The Associated Press.
• The leadership crunch comes as the U.S. saw 15,000 churches close last year and as a record 29% of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated.

Zoom in: Rural churches are hit first because many already share pastors, rely on part-time clergy or ask one minister to cover multiple congregations.

• When those churches close, towns can lose informal hubs for food aid, child care, disaster relief and elder care.

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