Dr. Jessica B. Harris
On June 8 from 6 – 8 p.m. , the Historic New Orleans Collection will host an opening reception for Creole Sweet, a forum on pralines and their spinoffs,featuring culinary historian Dr. Jessica Harris of Dillard University’s Ray Charles Program and Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. The day-long forum will feature talks and panel discussions on the vending, production and consumption of the quintessential Louisiana candy and its cousins. The culinary journey will wend its way from Mexico to Jamaica, from Puerto Rico to Louisiana, and into praline-loving households worldwide.

Taste Buds Management of New Orleans, has been selected as the 2012 Restaurant Neighbor Award Winner in the mid-size business category. The Restaurant Neighbor Award was created by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) to recognize restaurants that exemplify the industry’s philanthropic spirit.

After back-to-back tornadoes hit Alabama and Missouri in 2011, New Orleans-based chefs Greg Reggio, Hans Limburgh and Gary Darling launched Three Chefs One Mission. Remembering the help they received after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, these restaurateurs wanted to respond in kind.

Leah Chase," The Queen of Creole Cuisine," has been selected as a 2012 Faces of Diversity American Dream award winner by the National Restaurant Association (NRA). The award recognizes those who have achieved the American Dream of entrepreneurship in the restaurant industry. In addition to the award, a $2,500 scholarship was given to a student in their honor. Mrs. Chase is the figurehead of Dooky Chase Restaurant in New Orleans. The NRA, in partnership with PepsiCo Foodservice, created the Faces of Diversity awards program in 2007.

This is a really cool thing for New Orleans. On Friday of this week from 1:30-4:30 Woldenberg Riverfront Park will be the site for the battle between eleven well-known Louisiana chefs, each of whom will be paired with a culinary specialists (military speak for chef)  from each of the visiting tall ships currently docked at the Port of New Orleans. Teams will compete in the use of fresh Louisiana seafood.

The star-studded culinary cast will include emcees Chef John Besh, Chef John Folse, and Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board Executive Director (and my friend) Ewell Smith. Confirmed judges include Louisiana Eats! famous food expert Poppy Tooker (another of my good friends) and Rouses Supermarket Head Chef Jack Trueting.

The chef contestant line-up reads like a who’s who of chefs:

After having been locked up in my office for weeks I am looking forward to getting out and rejoining society this weekend.  And, while I really do not care at all about the NCAA Men's Final Four, other than that the presence of the games is a HUGE coup for New Orleans, I am very excited about the Big Dance Party on the Mississippi River at Woldenberg Park, even if the line-up is weird and all over the place.

Congratulations to the chefs and restaurateurs of Lafayette for being named Tastiest Town in the South by the readers of Southern Living magazine. It's well-deserved. Look for a feature story on the culinary delights of the town in the April edition of Southern Living—a tribute to the Cajun underpinnings of the cuisine.

Last year, Rand McNally's "Best of the Road" named Lafayette the best small town for food in the U.S.

Take a food tour here, and let us know your favorites.