TAPrice

Jazz Fest vendor Vance Vaucresson, whose family has been selling hot sausage po-boy since the very first festival, has faced as much post-Katrina troubles as anyone. His sausage plant flooded, his office manager committed suicide after the storm, and on the final day of last year's festival none of his workers showed up to cook. Amazingly, he keeps going. His family has been making sausage since 1899, so he's got a good reason not to give up. And now, Chris Rose reports that some lousy thieves stole his custom-built grill. That's really the lowest. Sounds like he'll be able to pull off both French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest, but not without some difficulties. You can read the whole sad story here: Chris Rose (Times Picayune): The Grill Is Gone

Jazz Fest gets all the attention, and rightly so. French Quarter Festival is a smaller event that draws mainly locals--but it's free, the music is great and it's got some good eating as well. Just look at this list: French Quarter Festival Menu The FQF vendors are primarily area restaurants. On the whole, the quality and variety doesn't reach the level of Jazz Fest. But it's a good warm-up for the big festival. Personally, I always like the beef brisket sandwich with horseradish sauce from Tujague's. Also, the desserts from Flour Power are killer. Any other recommendations?

Yeah, Jamila's merguez is great. I had dinner there just last week. What wonderful people. I crave the dark roux gumbo from Prejean's.

Jazz Fest has posted the food vendors for this year: 2007 Jazz Fest Food List There are some new items (Wayne Baquet's Trout Baquet) and others that have not been seen since 2005 (oysters on the half shell). The good news: the number of vendors is almost back to pre-Katrina level. The bad news: Vietnamese food and cracklings still haven't returned. I know you're coming to Jazz Fest, so what are you dying to eat?

Tim, Do you think there is a greater interest in New Orleans food recently? Has all the post-Katrina talk of New Orleans made people hungry (or at least curious) about the cuisine? New Orleans musicians seem to have a higher national profile than before the storm.

Don't get me wrong, some bloggers produce writing as good as you'll read anywhere. I assume many of these carefully polish their prose. I think I've just been overwhelmed by too many people who write too much. By this point, I skip most blog posts that run longer than a paragraph. A few years ago, blogging seemed more exciting and my tolerance for long posts was higher. I've also realized that I'm more likely to learn something from an article with reporting than blog posts that (almost never) have any reporting.

Personally, I don't consider it writing if it hasn't been rewritten. Honestly, this is why I'm less enthusiastic about blogs these days. Writing is a hard slow, process for me (I know others do it with more ease). Given the choice between reading a considered and edited article and a blog post that runs on far too long, I choose the article. And if I read too many blog posts, I no longer have time to read the articles.

Thanks for all that, Brooks. I'm hoping to make it down Friday. You mentioned Dooky Chase opening, and just for the record, it won't actually open to the public on Holy Thursday. It's an invite only event for the hundreds of volunteers who helped over there. She opens to the public on Monday. Pretty amazing that those too places in the Treme are opening the same week. It took too damn long, but that's true of pretty much everything in our recovery.

Honestly, I just don't stress about the mess. I also tend to favor more informal spreads for larger groups (barbecues and such). That way I can serve everything on paper plates with no shame. Being able to dump the dishes into a trash can helps a lot. I may just have a higher tolerance for filth.

In the six months I was stuck in Dallas after the storm, I read reports of a few displaced New Orleanians setting up restaurants there. I met a writer this weekend, who relocated to the Northwest after the storm, and he was working on a piece about a New Orleans chef who opened a restaurant in Portland. Immediately after the storm, there was much talk about the diaspora Creolizing the rest of the country. Honestly, I think it was more wishful thinking than anything else. I wonder, though, how much the food has spread. It's been a year and half since Katrina. Are there more Creole restaurants around the country? Can you get a good plate of red beans in Atlanta? Are people sipping chicory laced coffee in California?

Honestly, given all the creepy commercials that BK runs, they might actually use that slogan.

Oh yeah, the bacon double cheese burger with a slice of foie is my favorite item on the value menu. I wonder if the small percentages are actually a good thing. When Wal-Mart announced its big push into organic, there was a lot of concern expressed that this would overwhelm small producers. How exactly will BK promote this? It seems tricky. Whole Foods success rests on its ability to appeal to shoppers with both taste and ethical concerns (yes, I know that organic doesn't equal better taste, but that's not how it's marketed). I think Steven, in another thread, mentioned Chipotle's use of Nimen Ranch products as a precedent. Again, though, Chipotle can promote this move on both taste and ethical grounds. If BK is only using 10%-20% "ethical products," then its PR machine can really only promote the ethical benefits of this move. "Come to BK, help animals, and have a 1 in 5 chance of getting some better tasting pork" might not be the best slogan. Maybe these will be specially designated items.

Would it be possible for a mainstream corporation to adopt an ethical purchasing policy and not generate enormous amounts of skepticism, even cynicism? At the same time, will any real change take place in our food supply without the backing of a big corporation?

I saw the Joe York documentary last night, and it was just tremendous. If you get a chance to see it, don't miss it. Setting aside the subject, it was a wonderful as a piece of filmmaking. York is really adept at making still imagines feel dynamic. He also uses the visual footage of the city as a way to comment on the interview. There was a hilarious jab at a lot of big name chefs. I can't really explain the sequence and do it justice, because it was all about context and editing. Getting to the content, the movie showed just how difficult it is to bring back one small restaurant. It was really moving and honest about the project. The room was packed with people, many of whom had been involved in rebuilding Willie Mae's. I saw a lot of people that I had worked with on the project. Honestly, even if Willie Mae fries her chicken today, sits down this evening and decides she's ready to retire, I think the project was still worth it. It made a lot of good people care about our city and visit our city when we needed them. I should also mention that our own Brooks has a lot of screen time in this film. I think this officially makes Brooks a movie star.

Damn me and my pre-modern mindset! Ok, "Soviet hagiography" makes more sense. While the article may not offer much insight into Ramsay, I thought it was an interesting case study in why a great chef isn't necessarily a great restaurateur.

Hagiography? I thought saints had to perform miracles. The article, if anything, seems to justify the poor reception Ramsay received in New York. He comes across as a terrible manager--generally uninvolved and not helpful when present. I was surprised by the problems he had getting his staff to perform to his standards. Perhaps no one could meet Ramsay's standards, but there did seem to be some real problems in the kitchen. No surprise at a new restaurant, but--if I'm reading the article right--almost everyone was handpicked and imported from his English operation. Despite all this, I came away from the article with some sympathy for Ramsay. He came across as a talented guy who has extended himself beyond what he or his organization can handle. Before, I honestly thought of him more as a media buffoon (despite all the stars I knew he had).

If you're around New Orleans this weekend, Joe York will debut his documentary "Above the Line: Saving Willie Mae's Scotch House." The free showing takes place Sunday, April 1, at 9:30 p.m. at the Republic (828 S. Peters St.). Hope to see you there.

Dan Baum still seems to be spending most of his time eating. I couldn't let this quote go by without comment:

Here is a new blog from Chris DeBarr, the chef at the Delachaise in New Orleans. It's a little wine bar doing pretty adventurous food. Most nights, DeBarr cooks the food, runs the plates and even washes the dishes. All this gives him a unique perspective. Chris DeBarr's blog

Kim Severson argues that New Orleans food doesn't travel well. You have to come down here to taste the real thing. New York Times Diner's Journal

I have it on good authority that Leah Chase will be back cooking at Dooky Chase by Easter. The traditional gumbo des herbes on Holy Thursday will be a private event for the hundreds of volunteers who helped restore the restaurant. Three-hundred people are on guest the list and they're expecting at least 1,000 to show. After the Easter Sunday, Dooky Chase will again be open to the public. I'll update with more info when I get it.

Are you talking about the article by Wayne Curtis in the current issue of Saveur?

In the 1970s, there was a bar in Greenwich Village called Kettle of Fish that was renowned for its ovate burgers served on a slit length of French bread. ← Now that I'm staring at my original comment, I realize that one of my favorite sandwiches is a hamburger po-boy. That's basically a couple of hamburger patties on a crusty French loaf. Now, in my defense, a hamburger po-boy isn't really a burger at all. It's an entirely different beast.

Yes, and soft, squishy bread is perfect for toasting. I can't imagine breakfast at a diner without toasted white bread.

For many years, I could not stomach rice. In kindergarten, I once got sick and blamed it on some rice we ate that day. Now, a more mature, logical mind might have blamed the illness on the polish sausage my dad picked up that morning at a convenience store and sent me off to school with for lunch. (And no, my parents' eating habits have never improved.) I suppose a part of me knew that the sausage was to blame, but I wasn't about to give those up. For very similar reasons, I don't like vodka.