Lafayette, La. – Lafayette has been named one of the Top 10 Foodie Cities by Livability.com, a national website that ranks quality of life and travel amenities of America’s small and mid-sized cities.

I, along with Judy Walker of the Times-Picayune and Brett Gauthier, Brennan's executive pastry chef, will be judging the inaugural Edible Book Day on April 5 at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The competition is open to amateur cooks and professional chefs, with awards handed out in each category. Other competitions around the country have yielded some pretty spectacular entries, and I'm sure this one will as well. (Pictured here: a Harry Potter cake from an edible book festival at North Virginia Community College (Photo by NVCC Libraries))

The event is included in the regular museum admission fee; stop by and say hello while you're there. 

Dat Dog’s doing something right.  When I first heard about this place, no one was less excited about making a special trip to pay $5 for a hot dog than I was.  However, after spending a Saints game hanging out at the bar at their expanded Freret location - with great food, service, and local beer, I can tell you this place is truly a “wiener”.

The exciting news is that Dat Dog opened their second location this past Friday, March 15 at 3336 Magazine Street in NOLA.  The new location has an outdoor beer garden and seated patio, and will offer the same artisan hot dogs and Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler attitude as the original Freret Street hotspot.

The 5^th Annual Hogs for the Cause Fundraiser and Cookoff takes place March 22 & 23, 2013 in New Orleans when City Park becomes City “Pork”.  The park’s new Festival Grounds become home Friday night to a Tailgate Experience as well as a Gala Dinner.  On Saturday, it becomes a cookoff and music festival!

Hogs For the Cause is a non-profit organization that hosts an annual music and food festival to raise money for pediatric brain cancer care.  This year over 80 teams will compete to be crowned the Louisiana pork champion.  Attendees are invited to vote and help choose the winners by donating to their favorite team by sampling their food.   While teams battle it out on the grill, music will be playing throughout the day and into the night.  This year there will also be a Friday night gala dinner.

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Here are about 90 soup recipes including chowders, vegetable, shrimp, crawfish, oyster and more.

Click here to see a list of "Souper" recipes to fill your bowl

In the comments section below give a shout out to your favorite King Cake baker. This is for all around Louisiana from Shreveport and Monroe down to the Gulf. Please provide Name and if possible address with phone. For a good inexpensive version I go to Rouses - they ship too. I know you all have your favorites give a shout out to your baker.

Add your favorite baker to comments below.

Welcome to my kind of King Cake Party! We could talk from Epiphany to Mardi Gras about king cakes and la galette des rois, and stuff you find inside; however, I prefer a discourse on drinking one’s way through Louisiana’s epic culture.

So, let’s drink some king cake! Before you all start thinking that Bill’s olive has finally done slid off his martini sword, try this easy-as-pie cocktail I created several years ago that tastes abundantly similar to one of our sweetest Carnival traditions:

KING CAKE COCKTAIL

1 oz. – 30 proof Cinnamon Schnapps
½ oz. each – Amaretto & Pineapple Juice
¾ oz. each – Irish Cream Liqueur & Whole Milk
Colored Bar Sugar* – Purple, Green, and Gold

We pay close attention to what you, the reader, are interested in, and use the information to plan editorial content for the print magazine, the website, and our email newsletter. Here's the list of the most-viewed recipes on our website for the entire year, with links to the recipes; please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section below:

The chefs of New Orleans know how hard it can be to rebuild after a natural disaster - so they're reaching out to help New York recover from Hurricane Sandy. Tomorrow, six of the city's culinary best (along with New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu and the famous Stooges Brass Band) will be cooking up and serving 1,000 meals to those who were affected by the storm in Far Rockaway.