Some down time while shooting “Wolverine 3” in New Orleans — Professor X, i.e. Patrick Stewart (he’ll always be Picard to us, however), stops in at Cafe du Monde for a plate of beignets piled with a snowstorm of powdered sugar, along with a cafe au lait, and a selfie.
Category: Louisiana (Page 1 of 3)
Did you know that Gonzales, Louisiana is the Jambalaya Capital of the World? That’s what they decided to start calling themselves in 1967, the idea being that, along with a brand new Jambalaya Festival, the self-proclaimed title would help make a name for the town. And, you know what? It worked! Continue reading
Call ’em mudbugs, crawdads, crawfish, or crayfish – doesn’t matter a bit, as long as there’s a steaming red mound of the boiled critters in front of you, preferably accompanied by plenty of ice-cold beer and a zydeco band. Is that how you want to spend your Memorial Day weekend? Then point your car towards northern Louisiana (Shreveport, to be precise) for at the 33rd annual Mudbug Madness. Continue reading
Vote for the Best Ice Cream Parlor, Lobster Roll, Cuban Sandwich, …
USA Today’s 10Best has got a mess o’ polls going on right now, many focused on regional food specialties across America. In each category, a team of experts has selected 20 candidates, and it’s up to you to choose the winner. For instance, in the category of Best Po’ Boy in Louisiana, one of our favorite spots, Parkway Bakery and Tavern in New Orleans, is currently leading the vote tally, which will continue to accumulate until May 9th. Continue reading
Hitting the Cajun Boudin Trail
Pork, rice, spice, and liver – those ingredients, in widely varying ratios, are stuffed into hog casings by Cajun butchers to create their famed boudin. Boudin touring is one of the most enjoyable experiences in Cajun country, west of New Orleans, as far as we’re concerned, in part because the vast majority of the good stuff comes from the most humble and unassuming sources (you won’t find the Louisiana landscape littered with identical McBoudreaux and Boudin King eateries). Continue reading
Croissant, Scraps, and Beignants (!) in Lafayette LA
The Times of Acadiana showcases three Lafayette, LA spots that do amazing things with croissant dough, and we don’t know where to begin! How about beignants, the awkwardly named Acadian variation of the Cronut, where large pinches of croissant dough are deep-fried like beignets, then dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon and drizzled with honey. They are available Saturday mornings from Rêve Coffee Roasters. Continue reading
10 Best American Food Cities?
Let the debate begin! Tom Sietsema, food writer for The Washington Post, did some extensive dining across America, with the goal of determining the nation’s top ten eating cities. Some results? The top three cities are all on the Pacific coast! Houston beats Philadelphia, and both beat Chicago and New York! We’re glad to see the recognition for Charleston, SC and New Orleans, two truly fabulous and unique food cities. Gotta hand it to Mr. Sietsema, agree or disagree, it took a lot of research and a passion for eating (and big brass ones) to produce such a list. There is a ton of great info here for future travelers, and a lot of appetizing reading. See for yourself.
America’s 20 Most Popular Bakeries
How do you define most popular? One way would be to see what gets posted most frequently to Instagram, and that’s exactly what Refinery29 did, working with Instagram to determine America’s 20 most popular bakeries. But, we might also ask, how do you define bakery? Because the “bakery” that was anointed the most popular in America has never baked a single thing in its 153 year history! Cafe du Monde‘s New Orleans beignets take a hot oil bath before a heavy powder with confectioner’s sugar. Eh, big deal, they want to call Cafe du Monde America’s most popular bakery, it’s alright by us. Continue reading
Feel the Warmth at Bon Ton Cafe of New Orleans
“Comforting food with a Cajun touch.” Tom Fitzmorris, veteran New Orleans restaurant reviewer, recently paid a visit to Bon Ton Cafe, a yearly ritual he observes on the first cold evening of the year. He captures our feelings about one of NOLA’s old-timers perfectly. We might add that it’s under-appreciated in this town. It doesn’t get negative attention, it simply doesn’t get much attention at all. Perhaps that’s because it serves the same food, made from the same recipes, year in and year out. It’s not an approach designed to excite the foodies, but it excites us because it’s always executed well, and served with warmth and style. Read more about Mr. Fitzmorris’ visit here.
Celebrate a Creole Christmas with a Reveillon Dinner in New Orleans
If you grew up a Creole in 19th-century New Orleans, you likely enjoyed one of the biggest feasts of the year following Christmas Eve midnight mass. All the stops were pulled out for these multi-course meals, called reveillons, which traditionally featured the finest the family could afford. Such celebrations virtually died out by the middle of the 20th century as kitchen staffs for private homes became a thing of the past for all but a very few. Over the last couple of decades, however, a reveillon revival has taken place in New Orleans, centered in restaurants for the month of December. Continue reading
Grimaldi’s Bringing Coal-Oven Pizza to Tennessee
Brooklyn, NY coal-oven pizza specialist Grimaldi’s has been expanding like mad across the U.S. This year’s new openings in Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina bring the total number of Grimaldi’s to 39. And the expansion hasn’t slowed: they’ve just announced their first Tennessee store, in the Memphis suburb of Germantown in the Saddle Creek center. If there isn’t yet a Grimaldi’s in your vicinity rest assured there probably will be before too long.
You’d be forgiven for assuming that The State Fair of Louisiana is a festival of Cajun and Creole cookery. Yes, a few representatives from the southern bayous will be served, but take note that the fair is held in Shreveport, in the northwest corner of the state, near Arkansas and Texas. Note, as well, that musical performances will include David Allan Coe, if that means anything to you (if not, and you’re interested, Google his name with the word underground). In other words, this fair is more redneck than Cajun. Continue reading
They claim that a quarter of the rice eaten in the U.S. comes from Crowley, Louisiana. Who are “they”? Why Crowley, of course! We have neither reason nor desire to question the assertion. Crowley is in Louisiana so, to our ears, it has the ring of truth. Crowley is also host to the annual International Rice Festival (that’s International, mind you, not National!). Rice, an unsexy staple grain, seems an unlikely subject for celebration, which simply serves to piqué our interest in this fest all the more. The party begins this Thursday, October 15th and will run through Sunday, the 18th of October, 2015. Continue reading
Louisiana Peach Festival, Ruston LA, June 24th and 25th 2016
The peaches that hang from the trees in north-central Louisiana orchards are ripe and ready to eat from mid-June through mid-July. Until 2011, some of these locally grown peaches were peeled and cut up by volunteers. Then the Louisiana Tech Dairy incorporated them into the locally beloved peach ice cream that was only produced for the two days of the Louisiana Peach Festival in Ruston (the flavor was too labor-intensive for year-round production). Continue reading
Call ’em mudbugs, crawdads, crawfish, or crayfish – doesn’t matter a bit, as long as there’s a steaming red mound of the boiled critters in front of you, preferably accompanied by plenty of ice-cold beer and a zydeco band. Is that how you want to spend your Memorial Day weekend? Then point your car towards northern Louisiana (Shreveport, to be precise) for at the 32nd annual Mudbug Madness. Continue reading
Did you know that Gonzales, Louisiana is the Jambalaya Capital of the World? That’s what they decided to start calling themselves in 1967, the idea being that, along with a brand new Jambalaya Festival, the self-proclaimed title would help make a name for the town. And, you know what? It worked! Continue reading
Upperline, New Orleans LA
REVIEW
The famous Creole restaurants of New Orleans – Galatoire’s, Brennan’s, Commander’s Palace, Antoine’s, Arnaud’s – are long-operating, historic institutions. Some of them, like Galatoire’s, are among the finest restaurants in the country, while some of the others are less so, but what they have in common is a traditional approach to Creole cooking. Upperline also serves Creole food and we think it is as necessary to a visitor’s survey of Creole cuisine as the best of the old-line restaurants, but it’s only been around since the 1980s and it takes a more modern approach to Creole cooking. Continue reading
Sal & Judy’s, Lacombe LA
REVIEW
When talk turns to that unique Creole/Italian cuisine of the New Orleans area, Mosca’s is always the first (and sometimes only) place to be mentioned. There’s good reason: it’s wonderful. Add two stars if you really, really love garlic. But Mosca’s is not the only game in town, and garlic is not the only way the Creole/Italian game is played. Continue reading
Napoleon House, New Orleans LA
REVIEW
Here’s an idea for your next New Orleans trip: stop in at an historic pub with a French connection and enjoy a British cocktail along with a sandwich invented a few blocks away, have some Creole food on the side, and finish up with an Italian dessert. This can only be the Napoleon House, at the corner of Chartres and St. Louis in the Vieux Carré. Continue reading
Piece of Galatoire’s Sold
In an interesting new twist to a story we don’t fully understand, a 10% interest in Galatoire’s of New Orleans was sold by 75% (now 65%) owner Jean Georges to Bollinger Shipyards founder Donald “Boysie” Bollinger and Red River Bank Chairman John Simpson. Both of those men were, but are no longer, part of Bourbon Investments, a group that had attempted to purchase Galatoire’s in 2009 and lost out to Mr. Georges. Bourbon Investments is now suing Galatoire’s over the sale.
