Like so many ancient buildings in New Orleans, the Swoop-Duggins House has a checkered past worthy of a novel. Dating back to the mid-to-early 1800s, the three-story brick townhouse served as a brothel in its early years. Fast-forward a century and then some, when the building housed the eponymous restaurant of the late Christopher Blake, who former Mayor Dutch Morial pronounced to be the “Gourmet Laureate” of New Orleans. After a brief run as The Sporting House lunch destination and then as ...