Richard Bienvenu: The Local Voice Behind Completely New Orleans

If you’re planning a trip to New Orleans, you’ve probably discovered that there’s no shortage of people telling you what to do here. The harder part is figuring out whose advice is actually worth listening to.

I’m Richard Bienvenu, a New Orleans native and author, and I created Completely New Orleans to share the city I’ve known all my life. I write about the places, people, food, music, history, and culture that make New Orleans what it is—and hopefully help visitors have a better experience while they’re here.

Meet Richard Bienvenu

I’m a New Orleans native, author, writer, musician, and performer. My background has taken me into a lot of different corners of the arts and entertainment world, but New Orleans has always been home.

Through Completely New Orleans, I write about restaurants, hotels, neighborhoods, tours, things to do, local history, music, food, and the many little details that can turn a good visit into a great one.

I’m not trying to tell you everything there is to know about New Orleans. That would take several lifetimes. My goal is to point you toward places and experiences that are worth your time and help you understand a little of the story behind them.

Why I Created Completely New Orleans

I’ve always believed that New Orleans is best experienced when you know a little about what you’re looking at.

A restaurant can be more interesting when you know the neighborhood it sits in. A historic building means more when you know what happened there. A street, a park, a cemetery, a parade, or even a simple bowl of gumbo can tell you something about the people who built this city and the people who continue to make it what it is.

That’s what led me to create Completely New Orleans.

I wanted to build a New Orleans travel resource that could give visitors practical information about where to stay, where to eat, and what to do—but also give them some of the history, stories, and local perspective that make New Orleans different from anywhere else.

Because I’ve lived here all my life, I don’t look at New Orleans quite the same way a visitor does. I know the famous places, of course, but I also appreciate the neighborhoods, the old stories, the music, the food, the characters, and the places that don’t always make the standard tourist list.

That is the New Orleans I want to share with you.

How Completely New Orleans Helps You

Completely New Orleans is built for people who want useful New Orleans travel information without losing the character of the city.

Here you’ll find guides and articles about:

• Restaurants and places to eat
• Hotels and places to stay
• Things to do and see
• New Orleans neighborhoods
• Tours and experiences
• New Orleans history and culture
• Music and local traditions
• Events and festivals
• Questions visitors commonly have before and during a trip

My approach is pretty simple: give you useful information, honest recommendations, and a better sense of what you’re actually looking at.

If I recommend a restaurant, I want you to have some idea of what makes it special. If I tell you to visit a neighborhood, I want you to understand what you’re going to find there. And if there’s a bit of New Orleans history that makes a place more interesting, I’ll tell you that, too.

There are plenty of websites that can tell you that you should visit New Orleans. I want Completely New Orleans to help you figure out what to do once you get here—and why it matters.

Why You Can Trust My Perspective

My connection to New Orleans isn’t something I picked up from a guidebook. I was born and raised here, and I’ve spent my life around the city and its people.

I’ve worked at the Audubon Zoo, written about New Orleans, shared stories with visitors and locals, and spent years exploring the places, history, food, music, and culture that make this city special.

I’m also the author of Your Own Personal New Orleans Tour: Seven Things You Must Do To Have a Fabulous Time in the Crescent City. The book grew out of the same idea that drives this website: you can have a much better time in New Orleans when you know where to go and understand a little about what you’re seeing.

My background isn’t limited to travel writing. I’ve worked in writing, theater, film, music, and performance. Those experiences have given me a particular appreciation for the stories people tell and the stories that places tell.

And New Orleans has a lot of stories.

I’m still learning them. I think anybody who says they’ve figured out everything about New Orleans probably hasn’t been paying attention.

Start Exploring New Orleans

Whether you’re coming to New Orleans for the first time, returning for another visit, planning a special occasion, or simply looking for some good information about the city, I hope Completely New Orleans helps you make the most of your time here.

Start with the things that interest you most. Find a restaurant, look for a hotel, explore a neighborhood, check out things to do, or browse some of the stories behind the city.

And if you’d like to take a little bit of New Orleans home with you, you can also find my book, Your Own Personal New Orleans Tour, here on the site.

New Orleans has been my home all my life. It’s a complicated, funny, beautiful, sometimes frustrating, always interesting place.

That’s why I keep writing about it.

And that’s why I built Completely New Orleans.

Welcome.