Photos from some of my recent trips to New Orleans. My friend Brett Anderson has just resumed reviewing restaurants in the New Orleans Times-Picayune for the first time since Katrina struck, according to the New York Times. He reviewed the classic New Orleans restaurant Mr. B's Bistro in his typically straightforward, clear-eyed fashion. Anderson lauded what he found delicious (barbecued shrimp) and fairly criticized what he found wanting (fried catfish). In other words he did what a good restaurant critic does. This is good news for Serious Eaters everywhere, who shouldn't need anymore reasons to visit the Big Easy to do some serious eatin'. When I last visited Brett in April he was already in reviewer mode, directing our...
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Brett Anderson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune recently wrote a terrific series chronicling the post-Katrina reopening of legendary New Orleans neighborhood restaurant Mandina's. The New York Times' Frank Bruni interviews New York chef-restaurateur Jimmy Bradley (the Red Cat and the Harrison). My favorite part of the Q and A: Frank Bruni: Is there a rule of conduct or etiquette in your kitchen that you enforce above all others?Jimmy Bradley: I use this quote from George Washington Carver: “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”...
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Alan Richman is a colleague and friend. He is one of our greatest and most celebrated food writers. He is a professional curmudgeon who can be pointed and funny when he sets his sights on appropriate targets. All of that being said, Richman has written a slothful, meanspirited, and myopic piece about New Orleans food, restaurants, and culture in the November GQ. I could go on and on about Richman's shamefully skewed view of New Orleans. But another friend and colleague, Brett Anderson, has written an extremely insightful and cogent response. Please read Richman's piece and Anderson's response and decide for yourself. Chezpim also weighed in on this weighty topic....
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