Got Gumbo? 2015

This was my 5th Got Gumbo? event benefitting the United Way and it’s one of my favorite annual evenings. At the Royal Sonesta, 15 restaurants provided up to 4 dishes each to compete for Best Traditional Gumbo, Best Seafood Gumbo, Best Exotic Gumbo and Best Vegetarian Gumbo as well as the People’s Choice for Best Dessert, Best Float (decorated table display) and Best Gumbo. That’s 15 restaurants, each with multiple chefs, competing in up to half a dozen categories each so you can eat yourself silly surrounded by fun table displays and charitable gumbo-lovers (United Way  receives the $25 ticket price as well as the bar).  And, of course, there’s a band – Rick Trolson’s New Orleans Po’Boys.

Got Gumbo? 2014

Gumbo is the perfect metaphor for our city, our music and our culture – all of the ingredients work together without ever losing their individual flavors. This was my 4th United Way’s Got Gumbo? at the Royal Sonesta but the contest has been running for 14 years. I had a friend visiting from out of town who’d been here a week and hadn’t eaten anywhere outside of his hotel and national chains. He joined us and got to taste over 20 restaurants competing in 4 categories of gumbo: traditional, seafood, exotic and vegan. Way to make up for lost time!

Po-Boy Fest 2013

Po-Boys have been a New Orleans staple since their conception in 1929. The submarine-like sandwich was invented by Bennie and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors who opened Martin Brothers’ Coffee Stand in the French Market in 1922. During the nationwide transit strikes of 1929, the Martin brothers vowed to feed their former coworkers. When they’d see the strikers coming, they’d say, “Here comes another poor boy” and the  Po-Boy was born. Since then, people have been stuffing these sandwiches with everything from fried oysters to Thanksgiving leftovers. 

COOLinary – Eating in NOLA Gets Affordable

Every August, about 40 restaurants participate in “COOLinary” – low priced menus designed to inspire locals to dine during New Orleans’ least toured month. Each restaurant offers a COOLinary menu of 3-course meals priced $20 or less for lunch, $35 or less for dinner (though some offer only lunch or dinner, not both). It’s a great excuse to try some of the finest and priciest restaurants in town as well as try new items at favorite haunts.

Got Gumbo?

Tonight, I attended the 11th Annual Got Gumbo? cook-off at the Royal Sonesta in the French Quarter. My taste-buds are still after-glowing. The ballroom was lined with tables from 20 different local restaurants competing in up to 6 categories. Half were judged by a panel and the other half were determined by our votes. There was even a Jazz band. What fun!

a French Quarter apartment hunt

When I was sitting on my couch in L.A. planning to move to New Orleans, I was open to many experiences of this city. I looked at a home in Mid-City, a neighborhood shifting identities in the last few years. I liked the idea of living across the street from City Park, home to an art museum, botanical garden, sculpture garden, a golf course and on and on and one of my favorite places in the city, the Singing Oak (which I call the Bing Bong Tree).