Kolette Mandina called in to kick off our exploration of the Sicilian influence on New Orleans food. Kolette runs the Westbank gem Tony Mandina's along with her daughter Lindsey. They purchased it from her father Tony Mandina last year. We spoke about the cousins in the old country and her famous Red Gravy. available in stores all over town. And we talked about my sister's shrimp mold.

Today is National Cheeseburger Day, so we talked a bit about the question: Cheese on a burger or no? And if yes, what kind of cheese? And we heard from Phillip Buccieri, the new chef of MeMe's, our favorite restaurant ever in Chalmette..

It was a fun show today. Nicole Dorignac and Mary Ann had a throwdown channeling their mothers, comparing stuffed artichoke recipes. We talked about Greek salad and food in Boston, which became a city in 1630 today. 

Stan Meadows checked in from his travels out West, calling us from Las Vegas, where he plans to spend the winter. We talked about his visit to The Potato Museum in Idaho,, and his plans for dinner tonight at Emeril's Fish House. I recommended Scarpetta and a village at the Grand Canyon. And we talked about LW, his traveling companion, and beloved hound dog.

It was a show full of restaurant reports, mostly ours. We talked about Acorn, and the Rib Room, Houmas House and The Mill. And that was just one weekend! We had calls about Anchor and the cast iron cooking of a pork belly.

A busy show today with a lot of gourmet callers wanting to talk about steak tartare. When we looked up a recipe for steak tartare in the Joy Of Cooking, a recipe for cheese straws fell out, and we talked about that too.

The Grocery Goddess Nicole Dorignac calls in to talk about the state of grocery shopping in COVID world. Allocations, her new exclusive line of beef called Braveheart, and holiday items. And we got a thorough report on Tchefuncte's, a new star in the New Orleans dining scene.

It's Wednesday so that means Stan our traveling man called in from Idaho, where he was standing by on his way to the Idaho Potato Museum, home of the world's largest Pringle. he planned to get takeout (all that is allowed) from the museum's restaurant. He will report next Wednesday on his all-potato meal. There was a two-hour wait for food. If that doesn't prove his commitment to food, what does? 

Ashley Jones called in to talk about her passion for cast iron cookware, which started when her new mother-in-law gave her a family heirloom.  We talked about seasoning pans, the health benefits of cast iron, ad its newfound resurgence in popularity. Her great book, Cooking With Cast Iron: The Complete Guide to Selecting, Seasoning, Cooking, And More is, like its author, full of heart and exuberance about the subject. Visit her blog at bigsisterknows.com

We were visited by the Red Bean Edition, our daughter Mary Leigh, and we talked about processed cookies like E..L.Fudge and L'il Debbie. And the Grocery Goddess Nicole Dorignac checked in with us to report on the grocery situation in COVID world.