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Our latest edition of Living in Lekha features our friend Leslie Pariseau, a true multihyphenate. Leslie is a writer, editor, and occasional producer, in addition to owning two of our favorite local spots: St. Pizza and Patron Saint. 

Leslie wears Lekha in New Orleans, Louisiana. Photography by Alex Marks.

You’re a Midwesterner who has found a home and community in New Orleans. What drew you to the city and why did you decide to grow roots here?

The idea of home, before New Orleans, was always a bit opaque for me. From the time I was conscious of where I was from, I wanted to leave. And, it’s funny, New Orleans was one of the first places I ever felt truly at home after leaving Ohio. I went to school in Ann Arbor, spent my last year in Paris, moved straight  to Miami, and, in the disorientation of culture shock, came to New Orleans for a week in 2007 at the tender age of 21. I wandered around in the swampy July humidity with a film camera and a paper map attempting street names with a French accent and getting chided by cab drivers. It was wonderful. New Orleans got inside of me in a way no place else ever has. In between that first trip and moving here, I lived in New York for 12 years becoming a journalist, co-founding a magazine, editing for magazines, getting an MFA, rueing the MTA, always thinking about how to get back to New Orleans.
Your background is in writing and editorial. How did you decide to branch out into owning a business in hospitality?

Writing—and actually earning a living doing it— is to learn how to run a small business.  If you’re writing in New York City and don’t have a financial cushion, you’re hustling to pay the bills. In high school and college, I worked in hospitality to pay tuition, and when I moved to New York I got a job with the Momofuku group at Ssäm Bar back when the national dining scene was experiencing a massive shift in style. At the time, we were the city’s only three-star restaurant with paper napkins and throw-away chopsticks that didn’t take reservations. It was an education in producing a show every night, welcoming in millions of hungry New Yorkers, and paying rent in cash while doing a free internship at the food magazine Saveur. More than anything, I wanted to make it as a writer, and, at the time,  you could do that working in restaurants at night and editorial during the day. I’ve built a near 20-year career doing every kind of writing imaginable—ghostwriting books, copywriting for fragrance and spirits brands, cover stories for travel magazines, television treatments—and, in many ways, writing is a service. And all service is about fulfilling desire. At the end of the day,  hospitality is about fulfilling desire. 
Tell us about the origins of Patron Saint and St. Pizza – two of our absolute favorite local spots!

Moving to New Orleans created for me some space both physically and intellectually, as did the pandemic. What emerged was a tangible hybrid of my interior creative landscape combined with the interest I’d cultivated in wine, a subject for endless conversation about politics, climate change, luxury, emotion, and history. The wine shop started as a daydream really, an idea to fill shelves with agriculturally beautiful things, supporting a small yet mighty cadre of producers, and creating a space that felt like a cornerstone of the neighborhood. While we waited for construction to begin, Patron Saint  started as a little pop-up  with two shelves of wine and a table at Here Today just a few blocks away. In the course of time, the  lease for the space next to the forthcoming shop opened up and Tony started dreaming of a pizzeria and tavern. He couldn’t get the idea of a pizza sibling out of his head, so we just went for it. I wouldn’t recommend building two places simultaneously and opening both within four months while also raising a one-year-old and balancing other careers, but we did, and we love it. These places flipped my life inside out, literally and figuratively. 
You have both a restaurant and a wine shop – one would imagine you’re the ultimate host! What do you think makes a party or gathering a success? Any easy tips for people hosting at home?

Before we opened these places, we used to host so much more at home! We’ll get back to it soon. But, as we do at the wine shop and the restaurant, we think a lot about music and lighting. Tony has dozens of dinner party playlists, and we always have candles on the table so everyone looks and feels good. Before guests arrive, I like to have the bulk of the work done so I don’t feel or appear harried and can be present for conversation; Tony is better at working in the kitchen and entertaining simultaneously. 

The first moments of a dinner party should feel celebratory, so there’s always a sparkling wine open, some caviar or tinned fish, and a spread of easy little things—olives, chips, salty nuts, cheese. I’m not sure if this is a good host tactic, but when the night is winding down, if it seems like people are ready to go, I’ll say I’m headed off to bed, and if people still seem like they’re having a great time and Tony’s up for hosting solo, I have no qualms about slipping out and letting everyone else close the night down while I head off to dreamland. 
What drew you to the Lekha pieces you’re wearing?

I’m in a phase of life where I’m seeking a balance between clarity and dreams. In clothing, this manifests in grounded pieces—jeans, linen, button downs, leather—mixed with what I think of as a soft edge, which feels so beautifully embodied by Lekha’s organza. Rough silken texture, sheer to show some skin, softly structured. The slip dress has this same feeling for me; it’s a sensual, soft shape, but in a color that has depth and texture. I go nowhere without my brown Lekha suede jacket. 

Lastly, a rapid fire round:

Favorite recent discovery?

Tulane baseball games—popcorn, big beers, peanuts, sunshine.

Something you can't live without?

Chocolate: I eat chocolate every day for breakfast. Books: Heaven is an infinitely renewed pile of books. My daughter’s laugh: Totally contagious, the best sound in the whole world.

Dream dinner guest?

My daughter at all of her ages. I love sitting with her now, at almost three, reading books and talking about our days, and I’m equally as excited to sit with her at six and 15 and 20 and 30 to hear everything that’s going on in her wild little brain.

Sunrise or sunset?

Sunset. I love twilight. Let’s watch the stars come out.

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