French Quarter Fest 2022 – Sun.

The 4 days of French Quarter Fest came to a close on Sunday. Employing over 1,700 local musicians, the fest features genres from funk, R&B and jazz to rock, gospel and Zydeco. Over 1,500 volunteers and a variety of local companies handling sanitation, security, stages, sound, etc. insure that all of the money spent producing the festival remains within the local economy.

We started the day with Shrimp Ragivote over Fried Green Tomato ($9) from Tujague’s Restaurant.

French Quarter Fest 2022 – Sat.

Saturday is always the busiest day of the 4-day French Quarter Fest. All of the 20 stages and 50+ food booths were open and crowded. We started with the quieter sounds of Sarah Quintana before moving on to rocking and rolling with Irene Sage Band. When it comes to covers of anything by Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac, Irene Sage is still the only singer that fills me with joy. 

Big Chief Monk Boudreaux & the Golden Eagles filled the big stage with beaded and feathered Mardi Gras Indian suits. I especially loved the Big Chief’s rendition of Indian Red.

Lunch was another Cochon de Lait Po-Boy ($12) from Walker’s Southern Style BBQ – one of my favorite fest foods.

Glen David Andrews kicks off Armstrong Park Thursdays

The People United for Armstrong Park concert series began its 5th season with Treme’s own prince, Glen David Andrews. French Quarter Fest, the free 4 day local music and food extravaganza, just ended on Sunday. Days later, Billy Iuso and Honey Island Swamp Band played Wednesday at the Square, a free concert series. (I was stuck waiting on the Cox cable guys). And now, Thursdays in the Park are back – more booths of food, cocktails and crafts and more free music!

Gumbo Fest, Glen David Andrews and a “Pop Up” Restaurant

This weekend, the Superdome hosted the Sunday Night Football game bringing lots of Cowboy fans and the NBC Sports film crew into town. One of the film crew wives organized a dinner for the crew by getting some of her favorite local chefs to open a “pop up” restaurant in the Golden Feather Mardi Gras Indian Restaurant on Rampart. Surrounded by staggeringly beautiful, elaborately beaded and fully-feathered Indian suits, Melisande Short-Colomb and Venessa Williams of Cajun Moon Catering treated us to a paper plate feast. 

French Quarter Fest Saturday

The French Quarter Fest is as much about local cuisine as it is about our amazing music with over 65 local vendors tempting tastebuds with everything from spicy seafood to sweet snowballs. Saturday, the  festival was also the proving ground for Rouses Crawfish Eating World Championship. There were several rounds of competition culminating with the 4th annual win for Sonya Thomas AKA “The Black Widow.” She managed to pack 2.2 pounds of crawfish into her 100 pound body in 10 minutes. Louisianan hunk Adrian Morgan came in second with 2 pounds. I finished one Pulled Pork Sandwich topped with Cole Slaw ($6) from The Joint while watching