Lunch at Dooky Chase’s Restaurant

Dooky Chase is one of the most beloved and respected restaurants in New Orleans and has served Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush as well as Hank Aaron, Ernest Gaines, Quincy Jones, Jesse Jackson, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and more. Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday and supper Friday nights, the menu includes Creole favorites like Shrimp Clemenceau and Stuffed Shrimp but it was impossible to resist the allure of tasting as many things as possible with the buffet ($19.95) which started with a spicy vegetable soup and ended with a warm peach cobbler. I couldn’t get enough of the candied sweet potatoes, crispy fried chicken and like-my-daddy-makes green beans.

Farm to Table Chefs Taste Challenge

The first annual Farm to Table Chefs Taste Challenge pitted 10 chefs from across the country in a one-dish-each culinary battle at the Morial Convention Center. The chefs participated in a lottery to determine ingredients so there were a variety of proteins and and interesting takes on classic dishes made from fresh, sustainable ingredients donated by various State Agricultural Departments. As such, not all the ingredients were local to Louisiana but all were “farm to table” fresh from their donating states creating a culinary cross-country trip across America in one well-appointed room.