Tammany Taste Quick Bites: The Gloriette's Chef Steven Marsella

Just across the causeway in the sleepy little town of Covington lies a landmark hotel, The Southern Hotel. Originally built in 1905 the mission-style hotel has lived many lives over the years. Opened in 1907 the hotel boasted hot water electric lights AND carpeting. In 1912 it was bought by a physician and used for a while as a sanitarium/resort treating people with respiratory illnesses. Shuttered in 1960 it sat vacant for more than 2 decades until re-opening in 1983 functioning as government offices for St. Tammany Parish after Hurricane Katrina it was again shuttered until it was purchased by local preservationist Lisa Condrey Ward and her husband Joseph. In 2014 107 years after the date of its original opening, the Southern Hotel reopens to the public.