Why are we even commemorating this fifth of May day? It is not the celebration of Mexican Independence Day. El Grito de la Indepedencia (The Cry of Independence) is held every September 16 in honor of Mexico's independence from Spanish rule in 1810. These festivities mark the victory of an outnumbered and poorly outfitted Mexican army over invading French forces at the Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla) in 1862. Cinco de Mayo was first recognized in California in 1863 and continues to be widely celebrated in the United States. While a source of great national pride for Mexican-Americans, it is almost completely ignored south of the border.

Hominy was one of the very rare items my dad prepared for the family pantry — he'd much rather spend time tending the kitchen garden than preparing his harvest. But each year, he spent several days shucking dried corn, cleaning it, taking it through the nixtamalization process, and canning it. We ate it all winter; I didn't realize it wasn't a common side dish in most American households until I was grown. So when Chef Tenney Flynn started musing about writing a feature for me on the history of corn, and hominy, in southern cooking, I was all for it. His feature story appears in the January/February 2017 issue, on sale now; in a break with tradition, we've posted the story here on our website.

I love the beautiful turquoise waters and white sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, but the Pacific Ocean has it beat hands down on majesty in my mind. There’s something about those enormous breakers rolling in after traveling thousands of miles that just gets me.

Fortunately, I have family and friends living all along the west coast, from Vancouver, BC down to Los Angeles, so I get to visit it often. 

From our waters to your plate, the Louisiana Seafood Festival is a celebration of all the fresh and flavorful seafood that makes our state great. This year the party offers 3 days of live music, celebrity Chef cooking demonstrations, a beer garden featuring local and craft selections, a Kid’s tent, and artist village, and, naturally, over 2 dozen delicious food and drink vendors. Some of the new participants this year include Ajun Cajun, Dat Dog, Dirty Dishes, Praline Connection, Quintin’s Ice Cream, Voleo’s Seafood.

In the WWL-TV Cooking Pavilion, 16 celebrity chefs, representing the top seafood chefs in the state, will reveal their secrets to exceptional seafood preparation and cooking. Just a few of those you can check out include Wilfredo Avelar from Emeril’s new restaurant, Meril, Austin Kirzner from Red Fish Grill, Tory McPhail from Commander’s Palace, and Andrea’s Andrea Apuzzo.

The world’s premiere gathering of everything spirits happens each summer, appropriately enough, right here in New Orleans. For 2016, Tales of the Cocktail^® will be The Year of the Mule; the Moscow Mule to be exact. There are several reasons I am a fan of this refresher. First, it only has 3 ingredients proving once again that a cocktail does not need to be complicated to be great. It also has an important place in the booze world’s marketing history being one of the earliest examples of “regular” folks being influenced by the media and the drink choices of celebrities.

This is a Booze Classic Column dating back to 2013 (the event information has been updated for 2016). With the world’s greatest cocktail symposium taking place in New Orleans in just a couple months, it seemed like a good time to pour ourselves another glass of Tales of the Cocktail!

I remember thinking how appropriate it was that a group of people came together to celebrate the cocktail in the city where the Sazerac – and some will say the cocktail itself – was born.  That this was happening in one of New Orleans’s most unique watering holes, the Carousel Bar, only further enhanced the moment.  Many of the details of that occasion are a little fuzzy.  It was, after all, eleven years ago.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  No Andy Williams, not Christmas, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the unchallenged greatest music and culture event on the planet.  While yesterday did not end on a great note, we have one more day to stage a great finish to a great Fest {pun compliments welcome}!

Today –

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  No Andy Williams, not Christmas, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the unchallenged greatest music and culture event on the planet.  I hope you all caught up on your rest because it’s Locals Day, the kickoff to weekend number 2!

Today –

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  No Andy Williams, not Christmas, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the unchallenged greatest music and culture event on the planet.  I hope you all had better luck getting to see all your picks yesterday that I did. It was so great being out there and seeing the sights and sounds and my Fest friends that I just do not know where the day went.

Today –

If I could only see one stage today it might be Fais Do Do. Jambalaya with Cajun living legend D. L. Menard gets the party started, followed by the lovely and talented Gal Holiday. Louisiana legends Warren Storm and Tommy McLean appear next with Willie Tee & Cypress. The three closing acts sandwich the Osborne Brothers between the zydeco sounds of Keith Frank and the Zydeco Sweetheart herself, Rosie Ledet.