“I felt like I was lip-syncing, like I was Ashlee Simpson on Saturday Nigh Live,” says Adolfo Garcia. Garcia is talking about Rio Mar. More specifically, why, after owning and serving as executive chef at Rio Mar for more than ten years, he up and sold his share to longtime partner Nick Bazan. The nightly [...]
Two hundred years ago, nearly nine years after Thomas Jefferson bargained with Napoleon, Louisiana became a state. Prior to that, she was swapped between European powers like a child of divorced parents. But on April 30, 1812, Louisiana—and by extension, New Orleans—became American. Given that New Orleans celebrates death more than most towns enjoy life, [...]
The heart of boudin country lies two hours west of New Orleans in the flatlands surrounding Lafayette. There, boudin is nearly as omnipresent at a gas station as lottery tickets and cold beer. Make it a habit when traveling to towns like Mowata or Scott to keep an ice chest in the back of your [...]
8:41 a.m. I am one minute late to meet Chef Scott Boswell. Immediately the cell phone, Twitter, and my email begin alerting me to this fact. When I finally walk up to the exterior of Stella!, his fine dining restaurant on Chartres Street in the French Quarter, Boswell is already walking towards the Ursuline Convent [...]
According to the people who track these sorts of things, real cocktails are the new black. A genuine cocktail made with an intoxicating liquor or two, some rare bitters, and a generous shake over chipped ice has replaced the martini bar, cigar bar, wine bar and beer garden. May the peanut butter and jelly martini [...]
During a memorable set at last year’s Jazz Fest, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam took to the bully pulpit and skewered BP for the disaster that was becoming the Deepwater Horizon. In not-so-kind words, he strongly encouraged BP’s executives to send down their sons and daughters to clean up the oil spill. At that time, [...]
It is a well-told tale that Americans cared little for wine until the mid-’80s when a 60 Minutes report revealed the French Paradox. The French Paradox, in short, goes like this: eat whatever you want, but especially foods high in fat from dairy or animal products, and supplement your diet with three glasses of wine [...]
What rhymes with “orange”? Nothing. What goes with orange? For New Orleans’ mixologists, the only limit is that of their imagination. We approached some of the city’s finest to get a sense of how they construct a cocktail when given such a common element as a starting point. Sean Thibodeaux, Clever The Bloody Mary [...]
When Jazz Fest releases the “cubes” each year, eager beavers begin mapping, plotting, and GPSing their way around the grounds. But real fans of Jazz Fest know the only real planning you need to do is deciding what you are going to eat. Especially if you are a chef. Jazz Fest crowds can make or [...]
