A College Town Worth Visiting

Sending children off to college is a rite of passage. There are all the feelings, of course: the lead-up of 18 years of prep, the dread of an empty bed, the anticipation of a child’s new adventure.

And also: a child’s new adventure brings new adventures for her parents. Some call this the “empty (or semi-empty) nesters gone wild” phase. For those of us whose children chose to go to college in a vacation-worthy city or college town, it’s that much better.

Rich Deutsch feels like he and his wife Michele have gotten to experience two of the best college towns – Austin and New Orleans – through their children. Their son Colton just graduated from The University of Texas, where Rich, a lawyer, in Houston, teaches international commercial arbitration and international investor-state arbitration and serves on the advisory board of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business. And their daughter Berkeley just completed her first year at Tulane.

“It’s been a lot of fun with Colton being in Austin,” Rich says, “but that wasn’t a big adventure, because I know Austin pretty well. Austin is eclectic and cowboy and old Texas, and of course there’s the music and food scene there. But it’s totally different from the music and food scene in New Orleans.”

In Austin, Michele says they like to eat at Elizabeth Street Café, a Vietnamese-French café and bakery; Birdie’s, a prix-fixe, counter-service restaurant that Food & Wine named the 2023 Restaurant of the Year; and the South Congress spot Neighborhood Sushi. She recommends the Kelly Wearstler-designed Austin Proper Hotel for a home base.

Further comparing Austin to New Orleans, Rich adds: “You could walk across the whole Tulane campus in about 10 minutes. At Texas, that would take you 45 minutes.

“I’ve been going to football games in Austin with Colton for 15 years. That’s all I knew. Football games at Tulane are a completely different experience. There’s no Bevo, but you get to follow a New Orleans band in a parade into the stadium. I’ve gone from being the complete Austin freak to the complete New Orleans freak. You would think I’m on the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce board.”

The Deutschs had been to New Orleans before as tourists, visiting Bourbon Street or going to parties. But together as parents of a new resident, Rich and Michele, who owns a cookie-baking business, have embraced the city.

“As parents, you get all excited thinking that your son or daughter can go to school across the country. You think, wouldn’t it be great if my kid were in the mountains or by the ocean. But then they go, and they’re so far away. With New Orleans, you get the excitement and experience of going out of state, but it’s not too far away. You can hop in the car or hop on Southwest and get there. I just like the whole idea. The best was when Berkeley called and said Let’s have dinner.” Rich made a quick trip and enjoyed a little father-daughter time.

NEW ORLEANS CONVERTS Berkeley and Michele Deutsch parade into Tulane's 30,000-seat Yulman Stadium before a football game.

That proximity was a huge benefit a few weeks ago when Berkeley’s dorm flooded, just before the end of the school year. “That was an unplanned visit,” Rich says of the time he spent moving her out of and into her dorm room. “The hard part of that was that she was on the eighth floor, and of course the elevators were not working. So I was carrying stuff up and down 16 flights of stairs. And by the way, none of the 18- or 19-year-olds were offering to help.”

But after the shlepping, while Berkeley arranged her room, Rich explored the city. “When you have [a child] living there, they plug you into what you wouldn’t see as a tourist,” he says. “You don’t have to go to Bourbon Street.”

Michele and Rich call Shaya, the award-winning Mediterranean restaurant on Magazine St., a favorite. They’ve also come to love several “little, local breakfast places” they wouldn’t have found on their own. Molly’s Rise and Shine tops their list. “If you live there,” Rich says, “everybody knows about it.” The French restaurant Lilette is another star in the Deutschs’ book, as is St. James Cheese Co. (which was started by a ’90s-era Tulane couple). Mealtime, Rich says, “is when we can be together.” Otherwise, Berkeley is in class, and Michele and Rich explore. 

When he was there for the flood clean-up, Rich says Berkeley went to Jazz Fest with friends (he wasn’t invited), while he went to see a show at the Joy Theater, a historic landmark movie theater turned event venue. “Totally New Orleans,” he says. For hotels, they like the Garden District Hotel St. Vincent or an Airbnb near campus to truly feel a part of the neighborhood. Walks in Audubon Park, adjacent to campus, fill any spare time.

Rich also is a fan of an independent local bookstore. “New Orleans has some fabulous ones,” he says. “Once I was at Octavia Books so long that I don’t know how I made my flight home. That’s the fun thing – she can be studying for finals, and I can go to the bookstore. It’s neat to get to spend all this time in college towns where, for most people, you go for a vacation, but we’re just visiting our kids there.”

The Deutchs are thankful for the draw of the city their daughter calls home during the school year.

“When Colton left [for school], that was hard,” Rich says. “I don’t think I went upstairs for four months. And when Berkeley left, it was a bigger change than I had anticipated. You spend 20 years getting them ready, and then they’re gone. It’s a big adjustment. You make this huge commitment to put your kid in the best possible position to have the life they want to have, then they’re going down that path, and you can kind of feel left behind. Or on the flip side, you can enjoy it and be a part of it.”