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 and sweet and featuring them on menus far from home.

Cooking Up Books From Scratch

Building a cookbook is a lot of work. From recipe testing to photography sessions to finalized editing – the process can be grueling. On this week's show, we hear how it gets done from beginning to end and meet some authors who fell in love with cookbooks at an early age.

Quick Bites: Cajun Nation Cajun Seasoning

Cajun Nation is a Louisiana made seasoning blend that is catching fire in the world of flavor. Created by brothers, Alfonzo and Troy Bolden who grew up on a working plantation in the 1970’s, their voyage from sharecropper’s cabin to owning and operating a successful seasoning business makes for quite an amazing tale.

Dining, Drink, FoodPoppy TookerMay 14, 2021Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, Cajun Nation Seasoning, Alfonzo Bolden, Troy BoldenComment

Festin' In Place, Louisiana Eats! Style

It's full-on festival time in the state that knows how to fest better than most – except once again, due to pandemic restrictions, there are no fests right now. Though with vaccines widely available, and the recent easing of Covid-19 rules, a future with safe public gatherings suddenly doesn’t seem so implausible. Inspired by WWOZ and local restaurants whipping up everything from cheesy crawfish bread to high-proof strawberry lemonade, on this week's show, we look back at some of our favorite festival experiences as we gaze hopefully into the future.

Asian Foodways in America

Children's picture books often contain stories that grown ups can benefit from too. That's certainly true of Andrea Wang's new picture book, Watercress, an autobiographical tale of a child of immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage. With illustrations by Jason Chin, Watercress takes taste memories to new highs and lows as Andrea recalls a moment in her childhood when her family foraged for the perennial plant on the roadsides of her rural Ohio home.

A Taste of the State

From beignets to poor boys, gumbo to jambalaya, and crawfish to boudin, Louisiana’s cuisine is as eclectic as it is delectable. On this week’s show, we explore our state’s rich food culture, based on centuries of Creole and Cajun traditions.

Food, Drink, DiningPoppy TookerApril 17, 2021Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, Liz Williams, Maggie Heyn Richardson, Stanley DryComment

St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Rieger's on the Trace

One of the hidden gems of St. Tammany Parish is the Tammany Trace. Originally a well-travelled corridor for the Illinois Central Railroad, today the Trace travels 31 miles through five Northshore communities – accessible only by bike or on foot.

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.

Give Peas a Chance

On this week's show, we meet farmers, distillers, and plant breeders who are pioneers in their fields – and celebrate peas on earth. We begin with Ben Branson, founder of Seedlip – a distillery that produces non-alcoholic spirits using peas grown on his 300-year-old family farm in Northern England.

The Sweet Taste of Bitters Success

How many varieties of bitters are stocked in your bar? Once upon a time, there were only two choices – our beloved, local Peychaud bitters and Angostura – originally crafted in Angostura, Venezuela. Today, there are literally hundreds of varieties – a dizzying selection to say the least.

Food, Drink, DiningPoppy TookerMarch 27, 2021Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, Peychaud's Bitters, El Guapo, Christa Cotton, Tim McNally, The Sazerac HouseComment

One Man's Trash

On this week’s show, we meet some individuals who are working to tackle the widespread problem of food and water waste. Laid off during the pandemic, hospitality workers Adam Orzechowski and Emily Shoemaker combined a zero-waste commitment with a fermenting obsession that resulted in a new business they aptly named Farm to Funk. Adam and Emily are now bubbling up internationally based concoctions using refuse from local farms that customers are snapping up at pop-up markets across the area.

Legacies on the Move

One of New Orleans' greatest treasures are the legacy businesses that have kept locals wined and dined for generations. On this week's show, we learn about two institutions that share both an area code and the devotion of family required to keep a legacy going.

Louisiana Eats! Explores The Northshore

Located just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, the area widely known as Louisiana's Northshore is a mere 40-minute drive from the French Quarter. As close as the Northshore is geographically, in every other way it is a world apart. Made up of multiple small towns, each with its own identity, St. Tammany Parish is a wonder to wander – which is exactly what we’re doing on this week’s show.

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.

The Call of the Wild

Here in Louisiana, we have more than our fair share of delectable heritage foods. Many of them are harvested from the wild. On this week's show, we go Down on the Batture with Tulane University environmental professor Oliver Houck. He explains the ecology of this small sliver of land, the bounty of foodstuffs found there, and the opportunities it provides for fringe living.

Food, Drink, DiningPoppy TookerFebruary 20, 2021Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, Down on The Batture, Oliver Houck, Bill Heavey, Joey FonsecaComment

An Artistic Feast

Food is an inspirational muse for artists of all disciplines. On this week's show, we explore the many intersections of food and art from the visual to the written word. We begin with muralist Zac Maras who recently turned the exterior of Toups Meatery on North Carrollton in New Orleans into a riotous celebration of Louisiana foods. The story behind the mural is the subject of a new documentary by filmmakers Jonathan Evans and Marian Gay. Video of the mural being made can be seen on the Louisiana Eats YouTube channel here: Mural.

A Covid Carnival

It’s Mardi Gras season in Louisiana in a year like none other. The coronavirus pandemic brought an abrupt halt to annual balls and parades, and "donning a mask" has taken on a whole new meaning. But that hasn’t stopped revelers from finding safe and innovative ways to celebrate.

Anxiety, Addiction and the Pursuit of Happiness

One year ago this week, the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the United States. In the 12 months since, Covid-19 has devastated communities and economies across the country, and fundamentally altered our lives. Progress is being made on the vaccine front, and there’s a glimmering light at the end of the tunnel. But without a doubt, this has been a difficult year for our collective mental health.

St. Tammany Taste Quick Bites: Christine Schmitz

In the tiny town of Madisonville, located on Louisiana’s Northshore, there is a little bakery turning out some of the most perfect French pastries found anywhere on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Christine Schmitz is the owner and baker at Morgan Street Bakery and if you’ve never tasted her king cake – you’ve never lived. It’s well worth a drive across the Causeway, but be forewarned – once you’re there, you just may end up taking home a lot more deliciousness than originally bargained for!

Food, Drink, DiningPoppy TookerJanuary 23, 2021Louisiana Eats, Poppy Tooker, Christine Schmitz, Morgan Street BakeryComment

Chefs, Bartenders & History Buffs

There’s no getting around it. If you want to be a successful chef or bartender, you have to have a consuming passion for food, drink, and hospitality. Especially in New Orleans. But what distinguishes our city from many other dining destinations is the fact that we’re one of the oldest cities in America – with three centuries of history and tales too delicious to believe. On this week’s show, we meet three foodies whose appetite for history is as keen as their love for cooking and cocktails.

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