05/26/11

Crime and Cooking

I first ate a meal at Boucherie in December of 2008. That was not long after the place opened, but I was impressed enough that I included it in a list of the most memorable meals I’d had that year on my Web site. Indeed, I liked it so much that I went back within a week to bring a friend to whom I’d raved about the first meal.

Chef Nathanial Zimet and his business partner, James Denio, had been cooking some of the same food I had at Boucherie out of a big purple truck to late-night crowds outside of venues like Tipitina’s. I got to know them a little after writing about the eatery for the

Posted at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3

05/19/11

On Alan Richman’s Appearance on Treme

I like to think that our relationship is intimate, reader. That we know each other, and that should we meet in a restaurant or a wind-swept alley, we would kiss on the cheek. Because we are comfortable. We are familiar. We appreciate each other. I picture you now, alone in your bedroom. Perhaps you have just bathed? Is your hair still damp? Do droplets of water still cling to your skin? Perhaps you have poured yourself a glass of wine; perhaps you have deployed the sandalwood candles given to you by a distant relative, to be used only on special occasions? Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “What the holy hell is this guy on about because it is beginning to really creep me out?”

What I am “on about,” fickle reader, is sharing....

Posted at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3

05/12/11

Happenings and Notes of Interest

The New Orleans Wine and Food Experience kicks off its 20th annual festival on May 24. For five days, New Orleans will host a celebration of wine, food and good times generally. (Good times are not guaranteed unless you’re with me.) Check out the Web site linked above for a listing of all the activities at NOWFE; highlights include wine dinners at multiple local restaurants on Wednesday, May 25, and the Royal Street Stroll on Thursday, May 26. The latter is particularly nice if it’s not too hot out. NOWFE is a nonprofit organization from which numerous groups benefit. One of those is Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

05/05/11

Haute Dogs

New Orleans is not known for great hot dogs. It’s also not known for great hockey. These things are probably not related, though I suppose anything is possible. When I was in high school, there was a short-lived Wienerschnitzel (I think) hot dog franchise on Causeway near West Esplanade. I had a girlfriend who lived near the lake, and my route home from her house took me by the place with only a slight deviation.

At the time, to me hot dogs meant boiled wieners with mustard on a stale bun. What I got at Wienerschnitzel was a revelation. It’s been 20 years, but I swear I can still taste the kraut, relish, cheese and chili dogs I ate at midnight three or four nights a week. The experience taught me to appreciate the humble hot dog, and to this day I go to great...

Posted at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0