Star Turn

Where the Heart Is Actor Ian Somerhalder reflects on the allure of his Louisiana parish

By JENNIFER BRADLEY FRANKLIN

“I wanted to feel something again,” vampire Damon food in St. Tammany Parish. When he’s away, he dreams about bayou Salvatore once said in The Vampire Diaries. “And when I decided to staples like trout amandine and Louisiana blue crab cakes, which he come back home, it all came rushing back, just like I hoped it would.” orders at Morton’s Seafood Restaurant and Bar in Madisonville, Life imitates art for actor Ian Somerhalder, who played Salvatore situated on the Tchefuncte River. He also has fond memories of for eight seasons on the hit show. Though he has lived in sizable digging into hand-tossed pies with friends at McClain’s Pizzeria in metropoles including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Toronto Mandeville, which his sister Robyn once co-owned and operated. (where he’s filming his current sci-fi horror seriesV Wars), nothing And he says Sal & Judy’s Restaurant in Lacombe is one of the primary comes close to the allure of the tiny towns in southeastern Louisiana reasons the parish has become a food lover’s destination. “It’s a tiny that provided the backdrop for his place that sells burgers and formative years. “There’s The Ian pasta, but it’s so good, people Somerhalder something magical about going Foundation come from New Orleans to eat advocates back,” says forty-one-year-old animal there,” he says. Somerhalder, who is based in rescue and When he’s not eating his way rehabilitation. Southern California with his wife, through his trips home, actress Nikki Reed, and daughter Somerhalder loves to get Bodhi. “There’s nothing like it.” outdoors. A vocal environmen- Somerhalder grew up in St. talist and creator of the Tammany Parish on the north conservation-focused Ian shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Somerhalder Foundation, he opposite New Orleans. Money was regularly heads to Covington’s tight, but he says he has only fond thirteen-acre Bogue Falaya memories of that time. “The Park, tucked along the river of bayous and rivers that snake the same name, to simply look through those places—they are all out on the water. For a bit of part of my being,” he says. He and exercise, he bikes along his brother Robert used to set crab Tammany Trace’s thirty-one traps at the mouth of Bayou miles of trails, which follow an Lacombe before the sun came up 1810 railroad line connecting the and fish for trout, sac-a-lait, and parish’s towns. (He recommends amberjack to cook for family pausing at Abita Brewing meals. “We had an abundance of Company for a root beer before life, energy, family, and culture,” he says. “Most people don’t get to getting back on the trail.) He also enjoys taking the Honey Island grow up with that.” Swamp Tour in the nearly 70,000-acre preserve of the same name. These days, when his plane lands in New Orleans, his dad picks “You float through vast swaths of swamp and marshland,” he says. him up and hands him a strong cup of coffee and a beignet before they “From boat level, you see alligators, herons, and ducks.” take the twenty-four-mile Lake Pontchartrain Causeway home. While Somerhalder stays with family when he’s home, he Depending on Somerhalder’s mood, his first stop might be the recommends out-of-towners try the Southern Hotel, housed within Mandeville lakefront (“It’s stunning, with hundred-year-old trees”), a historic 1907 building in the heart of downtown Covington. For Covington’s 1876 H.J. Smith & Sons General Store (“We used to get those who want to spend a night or two on the water, he’s a fan of the our horse feed there; when you live in a big city, you forget that these cabins and campsites at Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville. places still exist”), or Roy’s Knife & Archery Shop (“I used to buy my He calls this 2,800-acre former sugar plantation “a magical place, pocket knives there—back then, an eight-year-old could ride his bike because it’s right on the lakefront, where you can see the area’s to a shop and buy a pocket knife”). biodiversity.” Somerhalder suggests casting a line or setting a

Somerhalder loves a good meal, and he heartily recommends the crab trap to catch your own meal. OMAZE

44 SOUTHBOUND ® SPRING + SUMMER 2020 Star Turn GLASS JAR PHOTOGRAPHY

SPRING + SUMMER 2020 ® SOUTHBOUND 45 Years of fame and living on the glossy West Coast haven’t polished away Somerhalder’s love of Louisiana’s murky bayou water, moss-draped trees, and amber glasses of sweet tea. “Talking about all of this makes me miss home so much,” he says, adding that he’s grateful for regular trips back to Louisiana that give him something to look forward to. Thanks in part to his conservation work, Somerhalder can trust that the sights, sounds, and tastes of St. Tammany Parish will always be there to reinforce his love of home. ❖

TAKE A BITE OUT OF THE PEACH STATE

Somerhalder lived in Georgia’s capital from 2009 to 2017 while filmingThe Vampire Diaries. “Atlanta is as much a part of my life as Los Angeles or New York,” he says. Here are some of his favorite food finds:

VICTORY SANDWICH BAR For casual nights out, he and his friends (including his now-wife) rode bikes to the original Inman Park location of this low-key eatery to “play ping pong and drink Jack- and-Coke slushies.”

RATHBUN’S AND KROG BAR High-end restaurants by chef Kevin Rathbun (“He’s a good buddy”) were in Somerhalder’s regular rotation. “I love Rathbun’s, and we practically lived at Krog Bar,” he says.

HIGHLAND BAKERY Somerhalder fondly remembers sprinting on the Atlanta BeltLine to earn his best-loved brunches at this morning staple. “The peanut butter French toast is stupid good,” he says. HIGHLAND BAKERY

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