DIGEST: Louisiana Food in the Media

[Mayhaw Man]

Stuff from the past two weeks out of Gambit, The Times Picayune, and the Lagniappe.

Robb Walsh, and gentleman and fellow eGulleteer, gets a good book review:THE TEX-MEX COOKBOOK: A History in Recipes and Photos

Marcelle Bienvenu finds Creoles in Acadiana:

Honey, I found a local Creole Tomato supplier

Picayune Food Editor Judy Walker knows where to pick blueberries (just come to my house and keep going about 5 miles-I am surrounded by the things)

You Pick Em- You Eat Em

Ideas for when you've got the blues (berries that is)

Stuff to do with fresh blueberries

We have better kitchens and chefs in our chemical refineries than some parts of the world have in their restaurants (and I can back that up-don't laugh)

A "Roundup" plant full of good chefs and things to eat

And our electric company puts out a better cookbook than many chefs can:

The New Orleans Public Service Company Cookbook (that's NOPSI to you)

Brett Anderson like sitting outside and eating at "Shell Shucked"

Gambit Weekly's Sara Roahen like Mimi's and I do to. In fact, I think that I like it more than she does. You tourists should put this on your list of places to go besides the usual stuff.

Mimi's has lots of little plates full of good stuff to eat!

And last but not least, Chris Rose of the Picayune has written a really funny piece on Jessica Simpson, New Orleans, and her eating habits. (Chris is a paid stalker-when not following around Britney or getting in fights with her Dad-he dishes on Celebs and cultural oddities around New Orleans-His archived stuff is worth the trouble if you are looking for something to read about New Orleans)

Hey Baby, You need a light?

[Mayhaw Man]

Here are a bunch of articles from the last two weeks. Updates have been tough given my computer difficulties.

Who needs art? We have food.

The Southern Museum of Food and Beverage

Taking the kids out to eat? Tell them to behave, dammit!

Children and Dining

And even more about those charming children

Wimbledon is serving Strawberries and Cream. So is the

Windsor Court Hotel

Picayune Critic Brett Anderson is Big on

Big Shirley's on Esplanade Ave.

Wanna dine and watch Alligators?

Jump Up! on the Bayou

We've got a guy in the run for the Championship

World Domination in Grilling Near-Film at 11

Pableaux Johnson (recently nominated for a James Beard Award) like weenies

A man and his sausage (no pictures)

Pableaux part two

There's a big Gumbo Contest going on. Get in on the action.

Vote for your Favorites!

I like Martinique Bistro and so does Gambit Weekly's Sara Roahen.

Martinique Bistro on Magazine St.

Some moron tore out his kitchen and has no plans beyond destruction. Read about it here

One of my Abita Columns in the Picayune

It's hot down here right now and the rooms are priced to move! Summer is a good time to visit if you don't mind a little humidity and a lot of rain. Hey, we've got plenty of drinks to cool you off, so come on and get down here!

[Mayhaw Man]

Here are the semi regular updates from The Picayune, Gambit, and The Lagniappe Roto in The Picayune. A little summer reading for a hot summer's afternoon. Enjoy!

Brett Anderson likes La Louisiane

Picayune Review of La Louisiane

The Baquet Family is selling Zachary's on Oak St.

No more Trout Baquet

THe Picayune Review of Rasputin-THE Russian Rest. in New Orleans

Rasputin

You can now make a withdrawal at The Bank on Burgundy

Cravings and Loan

Who needs Texas, The Carolinas, or Memphis?When we've got Zydeque!

Eat like King Louis-Armstrong that is!

Red Beans and Ricely yours

Judy Walker loves this Crawfish dish, you might too.

Magical Crawfish

My favorite Louisiana Foodwriter, Marcelle Bienvenue, likes to fish. Me too!

The best part about fishing is the eating and there are three tasty recipes buried in this article

Fried Grouper Sandwiches, Green Tomatoes, and Stuffed Flounder

Wanna cook like a chef? Rene Bajoux of Rene Bistro says you have to think like a chef

The Mind of the Chef

Got Some Ice Cream and want to do something with it?

Here are some ideas for that Ice Cream

If Marcelle says it's good, that's usually good enough for me

Fried Catfish with Guacamole?

Sara Roahen of Gambit Reviews Pho Tau Bay

Meaux Feaux fo Yeaux

News of the week from Gambit. THe big news is those awesome Couchon de lait po boys that are at the Jazz Festival have found a home in New Orleans East at

Walker's Southern Style BBQ

New York Style BBQ......Maybe, Maybe Not-But Sara Roahen likes it

Sugar Park Tavern

The Crepes are thin and stuffed at

Cafe de Mello

Got Seafood? Will Boil on the Westbank.

Perrino's Boiling Pot

And that's the news. Have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow.

[maggiethecat]

Brooks: Since visiting New Orleans I read your digest semi-religiously, while trying to conquer a few of the Deadly Sins--Envy and Gluttony spring to mind immediately.

But what caught my eye especially in the last few entries was the mention of blueberries! I had no idea they grew that far south, picking them as I did as a little girl the woods behind my subdivision in the Great White North. Bluberries on the bayou: who woulda thunk?

[Mayhaw Man]

Look in the June 10 Roundup. All of those places are pretty near my house (one of them is walking distance).

Actually, blueberries do pretty well here, but much like other vined or caned fruit, they are a spring and every early summer thing. By July 1, everything is dying or dead. My tomato plants look like hell and except for Okra (mmmm, okra) everything else in my garden is shot to hell.

The beauty of living here, however, is that about the third week of August we can plant a whole nother garden and fully expect it to make until Thanksgiving or beyond if we get lucky. Some years it won't freeze at all. I have, several times in the last 20 years, been pulling tomatoes at Christmas. But by then I don't care about htem anymore because the Satsumas and Navel Oranges are in and that's all I want for a few months.

We are still here and the train pulls through from your way every day and the airport was still in working condition last time I left, and the Verti Mart is open 24/7 (except for Sunday night between 1 and 3 when they mop ).

I'll leave the light on for you.

Brooks

[Mayhaw Man]

The update has been on vacation for the month of August. It's awfully hot here and lethargy set in pretty hard. Now that September has arrived we are starting to move a bit, although no cooler here-not til mid October really, so we natives just play like we have 4 season instead of 2 (hot and wet and cold and wet).

Here are a few articles that have appeared in the Times Picayune during August and a few more from the New Orleans Gambit Weekly. I hope that you enjoy them.

I will begin this update with an article that, while not strictly about food, is as important to food and dining in Louisiana in general, and New Orleans in particular, as anything with the possible exception of Mardi Gras

Keith Spera ruminates on the future of The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Have you had a particularly memorable meal in New Orleans?

Then tell the Picayune about it and get into the Fall rest. guide.

A few listings concerning nectar-a New Orleans tradition

In the Pink-What nectar is all about!

Nectar to go

Go to the Nectar

Muriel's on Jackson Square is having the LPO over for dinner next Thursday and you are invited

Classical Dining

Picayune Critic Brett Anderson loves Siamese, a new Thai place in Metairie

Brett gets all Thaid up

Brett Anderson says that things are looking up at Indigo

Three Beans for Indigo

South Louisiana is the center of the "meat and three" universe and New Orleanians eat their fair share. Writer Pableaux Johnson covers three of the better places here.

Meat and Three

We are very lucky here in Louisiana. We have better and more seafood than pretty much anywhere on the planet and to top it off, in the Fall, we have White Shrimp (that's lake shrimp to those of you in the know). Pableaux Johnson talks with home town boy and James Beard winner Frank Brigsten about this delicious bounty

Louisiana white shrimp are better than your shrimp-no matter the color

On the other hand, the high cost of fuel and the low cost of inferior, low quality but plentiful foriegn shrimp has got the shrimpers catching hell coming and going. Here is a little info about how they are going about trying to save their way of life.

Shrimpers bring their shrimp and their white boots to the Crescent City Farmers Market

Here in Union Busting Country labor day has never been a big holiday, but if you happen to have the day off (lucky you) you wmight want to try some of these recipes that are listed in the Picayune by Editor Judy Walker.

Food Labors for Labor Day

Marcelle Bienvenue's husband Rock is whining about the end of summer-she straightens him out pdq.

Summer's end grilling (although summer won't end here for another two months)

Wine, cookbooks, farmers markets, etc.

Scoop du Jour from the Picayune for Sept. 2

Here are some uses for crab boil that you might not have thought of on your own.

Crab Boil-It's Good for what ails you.

See you soon.

[Mayhaw Man]

Time for another media update. We are coming up on the busy Fall tourist and convention season and ya'll need to be up to date with the latest news concerning food and dining in Louisiana. Well, here it is!

Picayune food writer Brett Anderson writes a good piece on dining in New York, while at the same time "watching my back" by revealing what bachelors in South Louisiana eat when they are "home alone". Pickled okra is a mainstay of well stocked bachelor refrigerators.

A Well Fed Refugee

You can write a story about dining in New Orleans and have it appear in the Times Picayune. Details here:

Writing Contest

Pableaux Johnson skips out on the music at Festival Acadiens in Lafayette and heads for Romero's, a mecca for pie lovers all over Louisiana.

Piyo on the Bayou

Tulane had a fun class that taught students how to make a basic Rosh Hashana meal in their dorm rooms.

Rosh Hashana 101

Gambit's Sara Roahen is trying hard to love Big Shirley's on the edge of the Treme'.

Big Shirley's

[bavila]

March 2006 Atlantic Monthly (You may need subscriber status to read online.)

Open for Business

A post-Katrina visit to the restaurants of New Orleans, where eating out has become essential group therapy

[Robert Peyton]

GQ has recently published a "review" of New Orleans dining by Alan Richman. Mr. Richman apparently visited New Orleans in July, 2006, and disliked just about every aspect of the City.

The piece is also not online to my knowledge, but appears in print in the November issue of GQ. Other writing by Mr. Richman may be found here: http://men.style.com/gq/features/richman

I've written about the piece on my own website, so I won't do so here, other than to say that other writers have done a better job of covering New Orleans, in my very biased opinion.

[TAPrice]

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

Through the whole meal, I kept thinking about how some food doesn’t translate well when you move it from its source. In fact, it happens with most cuisines. Some, like classic French bistro food or certain Italian dishes, make the leap better than others. Less Euro-centric cuisine doesn’t seem to translate as well.

.....

The food of New Orleans — quirky, emotional, historic and rooted in its surroundings perhaps more than any other American cuisine – is more difficult than most to transplant.

New York Times Diner's Journal

[Toliver]

I was sorry to see this sign of the times:

"Times-Picayune to cut paper to 3 days a week"

The Times-Picayune, one of the nation's oldest newspapers, will no longer offer print editions seven days a week and instead plans to offer three printed issues a week starting in the fall. The change means New Orleans would become the largest metro area in the nation without a daily newspaper in the digital age.

They'll still exist daily on Nola.com, but it's not quite the same.

[TAPrice]

I was sorry to see this sign of the times:

"Times-Picayune to cut paper to 3 days a week"

The Times-Picayune, one of the nation's oldest newspapers, will no longer offer print editions seven days a week and instead plans to offer three printed issues a week starting in the fall. The change means New Orleans would become the largest metro area in the nation without a daily newspaper in the digital age.

They'll still exist daily on Nola.com, but it's not quite the same.

In case you hadn't heard, Brett Anderson--along with half the paper's newsroom--was fired yesterday. Sad day.

[Jason Perlow]

This pretty much uniformly sucks. Brett should go rogue with his own blog.