On this week’s show, we look back on the lives of some extraordinary people we lost in 2018. We begin by revisiting our 2011 conversation with the late, great Anthony Bourdain. We had the opportunity to speak with Anthony after he was hired as a scriptwriter for the HBO series, Treme. Seven years later, we were absolutely devastated when we heard of Anthony’s suicide and remembered that long ago conversation.
Read MoreOn this week's show, we meet the great Dario Cecchini, a world renowned Italian butcher. Dickie Brennan invited the Cecchini family to New Orleans earlier this year to return the exceptional hospitality Dario had extended to Dickie’s son, Richard Brennan III, who served as Dario’s apprentice in Italy.
Dario and his wife, Kim, join us in the studio to talk about their life and work in Panzano, a little village in Italy's Chianti region. Then, we hear from Richard Brennan III about his extraordinary apprenticeship.
Read MoreWhen it comes to historic restaurants, there’s no place like home – if you’re lucky enough to call New Orleans home! On this week's show, we time travel through the storied past of iconic French Quarter landmark, the Napoleon House. Chef Chris Montero gives us a tour of the historic property, from the bar to the cupola and all points in between. As it turns out, in addition to being an accomplished chef, Chris is also a passionate preservationist and historian. He shares two centuries worth of Girod and Impastato family lore and talks about the future of the establishment.
Read MoreOn this week's show, we explore the intersections between hunting, gathering, fishing, and our changing environment. We begin at the Best of Bycatch dinner at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, where a highly invasive fish is on the menu: the Asian Carp.
Read MoreA growing trend in the craft cocktail movement has bartenders mixing drinks with little to no alcohol, shifting their focus to flavor. On this week's show, we'll explore the new wave of non-alcoholic craft drinks, starting with cocktail vanguards Don Lee and Bobby Murphy, who experiment with non-alcoholic ingredients at the New York City establishment Existing Conditions.
Read MoreThere’s nothing like a cup of good, hot coffee. On this week's show, we look at the art of the coffee bean in our state and beyond.
We begin with a local favorite—PJ’s Coffee—which Phyllis Jordan founded 40 years ago. Phyllis reflects on the early years, when she became the first commercial iced coffee purveyor in New Orleans.
Read MoreOn this week’s show, we indulge our sweet tooth with the help of some influential dessert makers. We visit the Swiss Confectionery, a family-run bakeshop that’s been in business in New Orleans for almost a century. Their custom-made delicacies are fixtures at New Orleans weddings, birthdays, and other celebrations.
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Chef Isaac Toups has long been a favorite guest on Louisiana Eats! In past episodes we’ve talked hunting rabbits and even had a front row seat on Isaac’s rendition of the Cajun Night Before Christmas!
Read MoreThis week, we learn the health benefits of paying closer attention to what we consume and our emotional well-being.
We begin with Dr. Ronald D. Siegel, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. A long-time student of mindfulness meditation, he explains the psychology of happiness, and why humans use food and drink as a pathway to achieve it.
It’s that haunting time of year again, when pumpkins glow and black cats screech, and you can be guaranteed we’re ghost hunting on this week’s show!
Read MoreOra King is a sustainably raised salmon from New Zealand, whose story is almost as delicious as the fish itself. Back in early 1900, two avid fishermen somehow managed to bring live King salmon home to New Zealand from a fishing trip to California. The salmon thrived there and the rest is Ora King history.
Read MoreOn this week's show, we'll explore the immense influence that Italian foodways had on the development of New Orleans cuisine. We'll time travel through the years of the family-operated Uptown gem, Pascal's Manale. This history, which is now immortalized in Poppy's new book, The Pascal's Manale Cookbook, focuses on two Sicilian immigrant families, the Manales and the Radostas, forebearers of today's Defelice clan, who continue the Manale tradition today. Three generations of family share their stories with us.
Read MoreOra King is a sustainably raised salmon from New Zealand, whose story is almost as delicious as the fish itself. Back in early 1900, two avid fishermen somehow managed to bring live King salmon home to New Zealand from a fishing trip to California.
The salmon thrived there and the rest is Ora King history.
Read MoreTo tell a truly engaging story, you have to dig deep beneath the surface. When it comes to radio storytelling, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, also known as the Kitchen Sisters, are masters. Through projects like Lost and Found Sound and Hidden World of Girls, the independent producers tell stories for NPR and online "from the flip side of history."
On this week's show, we take a journey in sound with these two radio luminaries, discuss their amazing trajectory on NPR, and learn how they came to uncover Hidden Kitchens, their duPont-Columbia and James Beard Award-winning radio series.
Read MoreOra King is a sustainably raised salmon from New Zealand, whose story is almost as delicious as the fish itself. Back in early 1900, two avid fishermen somehow managed to bring live King salmon home to New Zealand from a fishing trip to California.
Read MoreOn this week’s show, we’re sharing untold stories of lives spent in service.
We begin with a tour of the Kemper-Williams Residence at the Historic New Orleans Collection with decorative arts curator Lydia Blackmore, who conducted exhaustive research on the individuals who worked for the Williams family.
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In this Louisiana Eats Quick Bite episode, we travel to Denver, Colorado for Slow Food Nations with our friends from Camellia Brand beans. With the theme, “Food For Change,” Slow Food USA gathered together many of the world’s greatest thinkers and influencers to further their goal of good, clean food for all. For three days in July 2018, Denver’s Larimer Square was the hotspot for tasting and talking – from the Taste Marketplace to panel discussions and cooking demonstrations, we’re taking you there!
Read MoreOn this week’s show, we take an in-depth look the evolution of restaurant dining in the America and speak with the co-owner of one the nation's top restaurants.
We begin by exploring two centuries of historical and cultural changes with acclaimed Yale historian Paul Freedman. His book Ten Restaurants That Changed America weaves together culinary and social history, from the innovators of roadside dining to the vanguards of haute cuisine.
On this week’s episode, we sit down with Loyola University history professor Justin Nystrom to explore the influence that Sicilian Americans have had on New Orleans foodways. Surprisingly, that influence didn’tbegin with the heavy influx of Sicilians who populated the city in great numbers during the late 1880’s. Those rural Sicilians made their mark on the French Market and created the sandwich we know as the muffalatta. Actually, the first wave of Italian immigrants were urban dwellers who arrived on our shores in the 1830’s and became wealthy importers and restaurateurs. Who knew that Commander’s Palace was actually founded by the son of an immigrant from Ustica whose father had Americanized his surname from Camarda to Commander? Or that those same Ustican immigrants were important members of the Southern Yacht Club – taking their leisure racing sloops on Lake Pontchartrain? Not exactly the image you might have in your mind of our Sicilian immigrants.
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