Louisiana Eats

Indomitable Spirits

The life of a chef is often regarded as glamorous and exciting, but in reality, it’s a hard life – exemplified by long hours and frequent financial challenges. For many, it’s the only life imaginable. Nathanial Zimet, the ambitious chef behind Boucherie and Bourrée in New Orleans, falls directly into that category. Drawn to the restaurant business at the age of 15, the North Carolina native soon learned it was the only career for him. On this week's show, we sit down with Nathanial to explor...

Warming Hearts and Homes

Whether it's newly built or has been in your family for generations, your home is your refuge and sanctuary. It's where you nurture your family and where friends come to call. On this week's show, we have lots of friends who have come a-calling with advice on how to make your home the spot where everyone wants to be.  We begin with Beau Ciolino and Matt Armato. You may know them from their wildly popular lifestyle blog, Probably This. With a love of DIY projects, the couple has spent years t...

Warming Heart and Homes

Whether it's newly built or has been in your family for generations, your home is your refuge and sanctuary. It's where you nurture your family and where friends come to call. On this week's show, we have lots of friends who have come a-calling with advice on how to make your home the spot where everyone wants to be. We begin with Beau Ciolino and Matt Armato. You may know them from their wildly popular lifestyle blog, Probably This. With a love of DIY projects, the couple has spent years tr...

Farm Yards & Vineyards

Seasoned Spice Experts

On this week's show, we’re joined by seasoned spice experts who want to shake up the way you think about spices. We begin with Linda Shiue, a doctor and chef who guides her patients to cook healthier meals by harnessing the power of spices. Linda was just starting to spread the word about spices when we first met her in 2016. Now she's back in our studio on the heels of publishing her new book, Spicebox Kitchen: Eat Well and Be Healthy with Globally Inspired, Vegetable-Forward Recipes. Then,...

St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Wild Bush Farm And Vineyard

There’s a lot more to a successful wine business than just growing grapes! Monica Bourgeois and Neal Gernon are experts on that topic. The two wine lovers met while working in the New Orleans hospitality industry.They gained retail experience managing bottle shops before transitioning to wholesale wine distribution, making great California vineyard friends along the way.Together, Monica and Neal identified a void in the wine business. They began to imagine a way to combine special blends, art...

St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Wild Bush Farm and Vineyard

There’s a lot more to a successful wine business than just growing grapes! Monica Bourgeois and Neal Gernon are experts on that topic. The two wine lovers met while working in the New Orleans hospitality industry.They gained retail experience managing bottle shops before transitioning to wholesale wine distribution, making great California vineyard friends along the way.Together, Monica and Neal identified a void in the wine business. They began to imagine a way to combine special blends, art...

Give The People What They Want

You can’t always get what you want. That’s been especially true during these unpredictable times. Now more than ever, there’s something comforting about the familiar – like a restaurant where you can order exactly what you want off the menu and are greeted with a smile whenever you walk through the door. That’s the experience of anyone who walks into Liz’s Where Y’at Diner – one of the happiest places north of Lake Pontchartrain. From the palm trees to the peace signs to the tie-dyed t-shirt...

A New Orleans Vacation

The summer of 2022 is looking like a perfect time for a vacation. After enduring a lot of stay-at-home time over the last two years, there's plenty to explore in one of America's favorite playgrounds – New Orleans. On this week's show, we learn about Vue Orleans – the 20 million dollar multimedia experience that opened earlier this year at the foot of Canal Street. Then we travel to Egypt with the help of the New Orleans Museum of Art, which has rolled out the red carpet for Queen Nefartari,...

Restaurants To Retail

How does a recipe become a retail offering? On this week's show, we track the path of great dishes and drinks from restaurant to retail. We begin with the Bayou State's spiciest new business, Louisiana Pepper Exchange. Founder and CEO Chris White tells the story of how a particular engineering feat of his led him to launch the new company. Then, we visit with research and development chef Ross Robertson, who is often tasked with turning a restaurant's signature drink or dish into a retail com...

Jazz Fest Encore: Tales From The Track

It’s Week Two of the 2022 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and after a two-year hiatus, that’s something to celebrate! On this week's show, Louisiana Eats is back at the track with more stories of the food, fun, and feasting that's been going on there for half a century. We begin with Louis Broussard, master electrician at Jazz Fest, who has been hanging around the grounds since childhood when his father worked there as a horse groomer. He shares incredible tales of his father’s Fairg...

Back At The Track: More Jazz Fest Tales

It’s Week Two of the 2022 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and after a two-year hiatus, that’s something to celebrate! On this week's show, Louisiana Eats is back at the track with more stories of the food, fun, and feasting that's been going on there for half a century. We begin with Louis Broussard, master electrician at Jazz Fest, who has been hanging around the grounds since childhood when his father worked there as a horse groomer. He shares incredible tales of his father’s Fairg...

Jazz Fest Rebirth 2022

It's been a long time since May 5, 2019 – when the high temperature that beautiful sunny Sunday barely hit 72 degrees at the New Orleans Fairgrounds and Jazz Fest 2019 called it a wrap. The following year, the festival went silent, one of the earliest high-profile events forced to cancel due to the unfolding global pandemic. Plans for a 2021 edition of the fest were also scrapped. With the festival gates finally open again this spring, Louisiana Eats is celebrating this happy return with some...

Life On The River's Edge

Between the levee and the Mississippi River is the batture – a lively slip of wilderness that a tiny community calls home. There's batture land right here in the midst of metropolitan New Orleans – but unless you're lucky enough to know a batture dweller, there's a good chance you weren't aware of one of the city’s most unconventional neighborhoods. That was certainly true of Macon Fry when he arrived in New Orleans in the 1980s. After a chance encounter with a batture resident at a local wat...

Old Friends Make The Best Friends

Since 1960 the Rouses family has specialized in making customers feel right at home when shopping in their stores - which now number 64 groceries stretching across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. One of the ways Rouses ensures that feeling of home is through their employees. There are few better examples of that than Marc Ardoin, manager of the Rouses Market on Freret Street. Marc has been with the company for eleven years, but his tenure on Freret Street has been very significant to due ...

A Visit To Rouses Market

Since 1960 the Rouses family has specialized in making customers feel right at home when shopping in their stores - which now number 64 groceries stretching across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. One of the ways Rouses ensures that feeling of home is through their employees. There are few better examples of that than Marc Ardoin, manager of the Rouses Market on Freret Street. Marc has been with the company for eleven years, but his tenure on Freret Street has been very significant to due ...

Quick Bites: Old Friends Make The Best Friends

Since 1960 the Rouses family has specialized in making customers feel right at home when shopping in their stores - which now number 64 groceries stretching across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. One of the ways Rouses ensures that feeling of home is through their employees. There are few better examples of that than Marc Ardoin, manager of the Rouses Market on Freret Street. Marc has been with the company for eleven years, but his tenure on Freret Street has been very significant to due ...

Historical Eats

What do Antoine’s in New Orleans, Sylvia’s in Harlem, The Mandarin in San Francisco, and the once powerful chain of Howard Johnson’s restaurants all have in common? According to Yale professor Paul Freedman, they are all part of an influential group of Ten Restaurants That Changed America. On this week’s show, we sit down with Paul to discuss his book by that name, which weaves together culinary and social history – from lunch counter dining to the vanguards of haute cuisine. We then zoom in...

St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: The Gloriette's Chef Steven Marsella

Just across the causeway in the sleepy little town of Covington lies a landmark hotel, The Southern Hotel. Originally built in 1905 the mission-style hotel has lived many lives over the years. Opened in 1907 the hotel boasted hot water electric lights AND carpeting. In 1912 it was bought by a physician and used for a while as a sanitarium/resort treating people with respiratory illnesses. Shuttered in 1960 it sat vacant for more than 2 decades until re-opening in 1983 functioning as governm...

Tammany Taste Quick Bites: The Gloriette's Chef Steven Marsella

Just across the causeway in the sleepy little town of Covington lies a landmark hotel, The Southern Hotel. Originally built in 1905 the mission-style hotel has lived many lives over the years. Opened in 1907 the hotel boasted hot water electric lights AND carpeting. In 1912 it was bought by a physician and used for a while as a sanitarium/resort treating people with respiratory illnesses. Shuttered in 1960 it sat vacant for more than 2 decades until re-opening in 1983 functioning as govern...

A Taste Of Spring

Spring is in bloom in the Bayou State, which means festivals, outdoor gatherings and, of course, Easter! If you grew up in the Gulf South, there's a good chance your Easter basket was filled with treats from Elmer Chocolate – our state's very own heritage candy company. On this week’s show, we hop over to Ponchatoula to tour the factory where Elmer’s prized Gold Bricks, Heavenly Hash, and Pecan Eggs are made. Then, we participate in "The Slowest Second Line on Earth" at Brennan's in the Fren...

Beaucoup Beignets

The beignet. That simple square of fried dough is undeniably one of the Crescent City’s most famous foods. Few visitors leave town without a ceremonial dusting of powdered sugar that occurs with every beignet bite. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the ubiquitous donut has been sold from French Market stands accompanied by steaming hot cups of café au lait. Twenty-first century chefs and restaurateurs have taken that simple fried dough to new heights, filling them with ingredients both savory...

Festive Feast Days

Down here in Louisiana we love any excuse for a party. Our very Catholic culture dictates that Ash Wednesday is supposed to usher in 40 days of fasting and abstaining, but thanks to a few saints whose feast days fall during that Lenten period, our party just continues. First comes St. Patrick’s Day, when everyone's Irish for the day. Then, just two days later, on St. Joseph’s Day, it's the Italians' time to party. Tulane History Professor Laura Kelley joins us to talk about the Irish in New ...

Powerful Women In The Restaurant Biz

The old adage is that a woman's place is in the kitchen. Despite that well-worn saying, it wasn't until the second half of the 20th century that women began finding their place in the restaurant kitchen. For this week's show, we gather together a powerful group of females who are breaking barriers and setting new standards for excellence in their fields. We begin with Nina Compton of Compére Lapin and Bywater American Bistro, the first Black female chef to receive the coveted James Beard "Be...

To Ignatious With Love: A Culinary Tribute To A Confederacy Of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole's novel A Confederacy of Dunces is internationally revered for having captured the essence and eccentricity of New Orleans — and for introducing readers to its larger-than-life protagonist, Ignatius J. Reilly. On this week's show, we take a culinary look between the pages of the book that was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981. We begin with Spud McConnell, well known for his portrayal of Ignatius on stage. The Gonzales-born actor has become so reco...

To Ignatius with Love: A Culinary Tribute to a Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole's novel A Confederacy of Dunces is internationally revered for having captured the essence and eccentricity of New Orleans — and for introducing readers to its larger-than-life protagonist, Ignatius J. Reilly. On this week's show, we take a culinary look between the pages of the book that was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981. We begin with Spud McConnell, well known for his portrayal of Ignatius on stage. The Gonzales-born actor has become so reco...

King Cake Part Deux: Second Helpings

Mardi Gras 2022 may just be the year of the king cake – at least on Louisiana Eats it is! A few weeks back, we devoted an entire episode to the topic. This week, we're back for seconds! We begin with Patrick Bordnick. Like Pavlov’s dog before them, Patrick's three canine companions have been conditioned to salivate whenever they encounter king cake. Nearly every day from Twelfth Night to Mardi Gras, Patrick and his pups sample a new one and rate it. Patrick then posts their conclusions on hi...

Hospitality's Black History Toasts The Future

Racism in many forms has played an outsized and unfortunate role in Louisiana history. But throughout that history there have been strong, brave leaders who have worked to right the wrongs of the past. On this week's show we introduce you to pioneers past and present who have made a difference. We begin with the newest crusader, Touré Folkes of Turning Tables. Touré is working tirelessly to bring diversity to New Orleans' bar scene by providing Black professionals with training, mentorship, ...

Beverage Pioneers

There’s a lot brewing in Louisiana today. On this week’s show, meet the innovators, the brewers, and the mixologists who are making that magic happen. We begin with the newest – Wetlands Sake. That favorite drink of Japan is now being made right here in our state using Louisiana rice. Founders Nan Wallis and Lindsey Beard give us a tour of the first sake brewery in the Bayou State. Then we meet PJ Coffee’s founder, Phyllis Jordan, who brewed up a revolution when she first began serving cold ...

Long Live The King Cake!

A Family Affair

Southeast Louisiana is home to an unusually wide range of family owned and operated restaurants, shops, and companies. Some have just started, while a surprising number of them are generations old. On this week's show, we look at three different flavors of family businesses in the greater New Orleans area.   First, we have a taste of Chisesi Brothers spicy Cajun meats and hear the delicious story of their 100-plus year-old family history from 5th generation Nicholas Chisesi and his octogena...

Indomitable Spirits

The life of a chef is often regarded as glamorous and exciting, but in reality it’s a hard life – exemplified by long hours and frequent financial challenges. For many, it’s the only life imaginable. Nathanial Zimet, the ambitious chef behind Boucherie and Bourrée in New Orleans, falls directly into that category. Drawn to the restaurant business at the age of 15, the North Carolina native soon learned it was the only career for him. On this week's show, we sit down with Nathanial to explore...

Louisiana Eats: An Acadiana Road Show

On this week’s show, we’re traveling through Acadiana to explore traditional and contemporary Cajun foodways. We begin with George Graham, who shares his obsession through stories of cooking in the region through his nationally recognized blog and book, Acadiana Table: Cajun and Creole Home Cooking from the heart of Louisiana. Then, Then, we revisit our 2017 trip up River Road to LaPlace to see just what Chef Jarred Zeringue’s got smoking at Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse, a beloved institution on ...

An Acadiana Road Show

On this week’s show, we’re traveling through Acadiana to explore traditional and contemporary Cajun foodways. We begin with George Graham, who shares his obsession through stories of cooking in the region through his nationally recognized blog and book, Acadiana Table: Cajun and Creole Home Cooking from the heart of Louisiana. Then, Then, we revisit our 2017 trip up River Road to LaPlace to see just what Chef Jarred Zeringue’s got smoking at Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse, a beloved institution on ...

Louisiana Eats 2021 Year In Review

This edition of Louisiana Eats takes a look back at the year that was 2021 – its challenges and its losses. Many restaurants and bars have closed their doors in the last two years, but when JoAnn Clevenger announced that New Orleans' beloved Upperline Restaurant would not reopen after initially closing due to the pandemic in March 2020, the entire city reeled with the news. We revisit our conversation with JoAnn from 2016. The future of the English Tea Room & Eatery in Covington seemed in do...

Louisiana Eats! 2021 Year In Review

This edition of Louisiana Eats takes a look back at the year that was 2021 – its challenges and its losses. Many restaurants and bars have closed their doors in the last two years, but when JoAnn Clevenger announced that New Orleans' beloved Upperline Restaurant would not reopen after initially closing due to the pandemic in March 2020, the entire city reeled with the news. We revisit our conversation with JoAnn from 2016. The future of the English Tea Room & Eatery in Covington seemed in do...

Spirited Celebrations

It's the time of year for gathering together family and friends to celebrate all that has been and all that will be. An important element to all those spirited celebrations are the spirits themselves. On this week's show, we look at cocktail culture and mixed drinks perfect for any type of get together. We begin with T. Cole Newton, one of New Orleans' premiere bartenders and bar owners. His book, Cocktail Dive Bar, not only shares recipes from his famed Mid-City hangout Twelve Mile Limit, b...

Rooted In Agriculture

Food just tastes better when you know the farmer who grew it, the beekeeper who spun the honey from the hive, or the cottage producer of some delicious new fermentation purchased from your farmers market. On this week's show, we meet them all. We begin at JD Farms in Poplarville, Mississippi, where Donald Van De Werken and Jeff Brown have been growing the biggest, sweetest, best blueberries in the region. Then we’ll visit with Matthew Raiford, self-described CheFarmer who is spreading the g...

Coping With Disaster

There's no denying the last two years have been a major challenge for everyone. Between the pandemic and the surge of natural disasters across the nation, we've seen it all. On this week's show, we learn how people are coping from coast to coast. We begin in New Orleans with Chef Eric Cook, who battled to keep his first restaurant Gris-Gris open in 2020 while somehow finding the inspiration to open his second, Saint John this year. Eric shares the story of his viral open letter to the city p...

St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Pyre Restaurant's Chef Jeff Mattia

Though he’s been on the local restaurant scene since 2010, Chef Jeff Mattia didn’t move to Louisiana until well into his culinary career. At that point, the Marine vet had already worked with some serious luminaries like celebrity chefs Tom Collichio and Todd English. While his career was centered in New Orleans for the first four years, Jeff and his family felt decidedly more at home across the lake in St. Tammany Parish. There, he found the slower pace of life shared much in common with hi...

Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Pyre Restaurant's Chef Jeff Mattia

Though he’s been on the local restaurant scene since 2010, Chef Jeff Mattia didn’t move to Louisiana until well into his culinary career. At that point, the Marine vet had already worked with some serious luminaries like celebrity chefs Tom Collichio and Todd English. While his career was centered in New Orleans for the first four years, Jeff and his family felt decidedly more at home across the lake in St. Tammany Parish. There, he found the slower pace of life shared much in common with hi...

Meet The Mandinas

New Orleans is well known for its legacy restaurant families. And now, just across the Mississippi River in Gretna, the Mandina clan is poised to claim its own place in our culinary pantheon. On this week's show, we meet three generations of family who have made Tony Mandina’s a Westbank culinary institution. We begin with the restaurant’s namesake founder and his wife Grace Blanchard Mandina. Having no prior experience in the business, the couple ran the restaurant with help from members of...

Restaurants to Retail

How does a recipe become a retail offering? On this week's show, we track the path of great dishes and drinks from restaurant to retail. We begin with the Bayou State's spiciest new business, Louisiana Pepper Exchange. Founder and CEO Chris White tells the story of how a particular engineering feat of his led him to launch the new company. Then, we visit with research and development chef Ross Robertson, who is often tasked with turning a restaurant's signature drink or dish into a retail co...

Crossing The Causeway

Located less than an hour from the New Orleans' French Quarter, Baton Rouge, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, St. Tammany Parish has long been a favorite vacation spot. The allure of piney woods, fresh air, charming historic towns, and delicious food has beckoned visitors for over a century. On this week's show, we take you along with us as we cross Lake Pontchartrain to meet some chefs and restaurateurs on Louisiana's Northshore. We begin at Tchefuncte's in Madisonville with Chef Michael Got...

Cemeteries, Specters & Poltergeists

Halloween is upon us and there's something spooky in the air! On this week's show, we have some very special treats (and no tricks – we promise!). We begin with Sally Asher, owner and operator of Red Sash Tours. On Halloweens past, Sally has taken us on special tours of St. Louis Cemetery No. 3. This year, we tour two different New Orleans graveyards in search of our dearly departed restaurateurs, barflies, and forgotten food luminaries. Then, we drop by Courtyard Brewery, a New Orleans neig...

Taste Memories From The Marigny

On this week's show, we meet some folks who have moved on to new adventures in their lives. We begin with Chef Steve Himelfarb and his wife Becky Retz. In the summer of 2020, they closed their beloved bakery, the Cake Café, after 13 years of business. But this isn't the first major life change for them. Long before there was a Cake Café, Steve worked solely as a music engineer and producer – doing Grammy-nominated work with artists like Buckwheat Zydeco and Beausoleil. We hear about his caree...

Taste Memories from the Marigny

On this week's show, we meet some folks who have moved on to new adventures in their lives.  We begin with Chef Steve Himelfarb and his wife Becky Retz. In the summer of 2020, they closed their beloved bakery, the Cake Café, after 13 years of business. But this isn't the first major life change for them. Long before there was a Cake Café, Steve worked solely as a music engineer and producer – doing Grammy-nominated work with artists like Buckwheat Zydeco and Beausoleil. We hear about his ca...

Africa to America

In 2011, Jessica Harris wrote “High on the Hog,” a book that traces the origins of African American food. Ten years later, it has become the basis of the hit Netflix docuseries of the same name. On this show, Dr. Harris sheds light on the resilience and inventiveness of Black cooks who shaped American cuisine. Then, we catch up with Senegalese American chef Serigne Mbaye, whose fine dining pop-up, Dakar Nola is currently creating a sensation in the Crescent City. We learn how the ambitious y...

Africa To America

In 2011, Jessica Harris wrote “High on the Hog,” a book that traces the origins of African American food. Ten years later, it has become the basis of the hit Netflix docuseries of the same name. On this show, Dr. Harris sheds light on the resilience and inventiveness of Black cooks who shaped American cuisine.

Books, Bands & Bon Vivants

If you’ve ever had an encounter with a celebrity, you know you can dine out on that story for a long time. On this week's show, we hear from notable writers and chefs in their own right, whose brushes with fame come with a host of tales. We begin with Sean Wilsey, whose star-studded childhood was hardly a bed of roses. He’s the author of More Curious, a book of essays that examines American identity, often through the lens of food and drink. This year marks the centennial of the late south...