It's New Orleans: Midnight Menu +1

When you grow up on the Bayou you learn to catch and cook pretty much anything that moves. When you get to be Executive Chef at one of New Orleans leading hip restaurants like Tivoli and Lee you can be "influenced" by your childhood roots but you can t totally replicate that cuisine. Chef Marcus Woodham is a product of Bayou Goula but the dishes he creates and serves on Lee Circle are a couple of degrees removed from the squirrel head gumbo his mom makes. Once you ve gotten past the subject of Squirrel Head Gumbo you crack the heads open by "giving them a good whack" with a butter knife by the way you d be forgiven for assuming the rest of the conversation would seem pretty tame. Not on this show. Don t let Kirk Estopinal s suave demeanor fool you. Kirk, as co owner of Cure, Hotel Modern, Bellocq, and Cane and Table, is admittedly a master of craft cocktails, Southern dining, and hospitality. What you might not know about him, and probably until tonight only his wife knew about him, is that Kirk has leanings toward cannibalism. As Chef Marcus said after Kirk explained his yen for eating placenta, "We ve got some catching up to do." When Margo and Ray s guests are not eating cute animals or babies they re working with Margo and Ray on the Dexy s Midnight Runners tribute band.

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Molly Kimball is New Orleans highest profile proponent of eating healthy, but she s no tyrant. Molly is happy for you to go to your favorite restaurant and order your favorite meal. She also believes that your favorite restaurant can make your favorite meal with no white carbs meaning without or with less white sugar or white flour. Putting her money where her mouth is, literally kind of Molly s crusade Eat Fit NOLA works with New Orleans restaurant chefs to craft their same awesome meals without the fat and heart attack quotient. Over 40 NOLA restaurants, including Brennan flagships Commander s Palace and Cafe Adelaide, are on board and the program is catching on in commercial kitchens city wide. Molly s 1 is her visiting friend Jocelyn Lockwood who, on her first night back in New Orleans in almost a year, bravely agreed to come on Midnight Menu 1. If you think you ve seen Jocelyn and Molly before, you have they were together on WGNO TV s Get The Skinny when Jocelyn lived in New Orleans. Around a year ago Jocelyn and her husband sold up and went travelling, hitting hundreds of hot and not so hot spots around the world. On the way they sampled all kinds of food, including stingray, whale, and reindeer And that s not the weirdest or most disturbing food incident on their trip. That one occurred when Molly and her husband Brad joined Jocelyn and her husband for a romp through Vienna. Molly had no idea when she gamely volunteered Jocelyn as her 1 that she d have to sit through re living the Vienna schnitzel tossing incident. All that and a whole lot more on this fun and food fact filled low fat Eat Fit edition of Midnight Menu 1.

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When acclaimed Boston chef Dustin Brien mistakenly applied for a job as a line cook at Salu restaurant on Magazine in Uptown New Orleans neither he nor the equally confused owner understood what either of them was thinking. Once they got the confusion sorted out, the restaurant owners decided to ditch their plans to hire a chef they had lined up and put their chips on Dustin. It turned out to be a good bet. Chef Dustin shook up the menu and, insider tip he s in the process of changing it up again and moved the restaurant from tapas to bistro. Half a block down Magazine Street the owners of Salu decided to convert their restaurant Byblos into a Mexican restaurant under the stewardship of ex Emeril s, ex Guillermo Peters disciple Richard Papier. Thus was born Arana and the brothers in arms team of Chef Richard and Chef Dustin. These young chefs are at the top of their game. Their love of food, entertaining, and life itself whether or not they choose to remember it shines through this entire sparking conversation at Salu.

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The last thing you d think of as British food is hot dogs, right Right. And if you were going to import hot dogs into Britain the last person you d turn to would be a foodie from New Orleans. Right Wrong. Skip Murray introduced the unsuspecting Brits to the delicacies of second rate meat on lame white bread roll buns before realizing if that if he amped up his game he could create a gourmet dog and be on to a worldwide first. That s exactly what he did and had a thriving business in London for many years. Till Katrina hit. The hurricane s damage messed with a lot of people s psyches and Skip was one of them. It dragged him home. Back in New Orelans Skip got together with a few friends from high school and with them took a chance on a 475 square foot dilapidated shack on Freret Street that was the first Dat Dog. More recently he s branched out and opened a location that sells more than dogs, that s Dis and Dat. When you meet a guy called "Kiss" what s the first thing you think Gene Simmons, right What s the second thing you think, "Well, being called Kiss can t be anything to do with Gene Simmons, that would be crazy." Guess what You were right the first time. Kiss is the general Manager of Dis and Dat and he is in fact named after and lives his life according to Gene and Kiss. You ve got to hear Kiss tell you the story to believe it. Midnight Menu 1 is recorded live without makeup at The NOLA Brewing Tap Room.

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Traditionally in America there have been two sure fire ways to get out of a life of poverty sports and music. Here is New Orleans there s also another route food. Following in the footsteps of Catholic Charities success story Cafe Reconcile in Central City, Cafe Hope started up on the Westbank, giving disadvantaged kids courses in kitchen and front of house skills that they can then apply in the wider world of restaurants, service industry, and culinary arts. Cafe Hope s Executive Director Luis Arocha tells Ray and Margo inspiring tales of his students but none can be more inspired or inspiring than Luis himself. The tale of his conversion from wealth management professional to running a charity is the most life changing food story you ve ever heard. Stan Meadows restaurant adventures are as unique as any food tale you ve heard too. Stan runs the only good restaurant between Gulfport, Mississippi and Panama City, Florida Stinky s Fish Camp. The secret to Stinky s success is Chef Richard, a graduate of Commander s Palace restaurant in New Orleans. When folks from the newly re modelled Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans ate at Stinky s they were so impressed they hired the Stinky s peeps to open a restaurant in the hotel. That new restaurant is called Trenasse. Trenasse features the fresh Gulf fish dishes that Stinky s is famous for, under the direction of Chef Jean Pierre, a Bayou Lafourche kid who went off to culinary school, cooked at Daniel in New York, was sous chef at Commander s, and is creating tradition and re creating taste at Trenasse. This show is our first at the Tap Room, NOLA Brewing Company s watering hole next to the brewery on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Irish Channel.

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If you don t hear this for yourself you won t believe it. It s hard to imagine a more innocent opening question to ask Chef Kevin White, the kitchen mastermind behind the Freret Street bistro success, Wayfare. Margo simply asks Chef Kevin, "How did you get started cooking " From there the conversation starts down a fascinating road that takes us from eating snakes in the Iraqi desert to cooking pasta with Mario Batali in New York. So far so good. So how exactly does that turn into a plea for the use of women s breast milk in cooking Ray is as enthusiastic about the culinary delights of breast milk as Chef Kevin, and Margo is not exactly opposed to the concept. If you ve wondered when you re ever going to hear a serious discussion about recipes for human breast milk, from milkshakes to cheese, complete with a healthy dose of hilarity, you re in luck. Chef Kevin s serious about solid food too, specifically sandwiches. Describing Wayfare as a "dynamic sandwich brasserie," the Batali trained pasta chef describes how he set himself a specific goal on moving from New York to New Orleans "to put fine dining in a sandwich." The skill and imagination that goes into Chef Kevin s sandwiches from 35 different home made mayonnaise varieties to the sandwich names are an ode to the universal staple as lyrical and loving as Mike Coustay s fondness for Scarlett Johansson. Mike aka Mikey is Chef Kevin s 1 guest. Although his appearance with Chef Kevin was a surprise, we d met Mikey off the air when we first started Midnight Menu 1. He was also starting up a food podcast. Since then Mikey has gone on to become less of a podcaster and more of a Tweeter nolachef504 as well as having the distinction, he claims, of being banned first from Whole Foods and now from all 38 of Rouse s supermarkets. We started Midnight Menu 1 because we believe people in the world of New Orleans food have so much more going on than recipes and as people are as fascinating as our musicians and other creative artists. If we ever wanted proof we were right, this show is it This is one of our most entertaining, informative, revealing, fascinating, surprising to say the least and fun Midnight Menu 1 s. From the secret to cooking perfect pasta to the marginally weird visionary recipes for breast milk, this is New Orleans culinary conversation at its finest.

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Mike Yusko came to New Orleans the same way many have before him "I met a girl from Hammond." Yanked out of the cosmopolitan world of tending Bohemian bar in downtown Los Angeles, Mike found himself pioneering the cosmopolitan world of Bohemian Freret Street at newly opened Cure. Creating drinks named after movies and Czech novels, like The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Mike didn t start writing moody novels in his off hours, but he did start making movies. Like the festival favorite, I m Gonna Punch Sam Mackey In The Face. One of the stars of Mike s movies is the urbane import from the hinter farmlands, John Cleese lookalike, Wayne Corbett. Wayne showed up in town with nothing to do a few years ago and with no real kitchen experience landed a job at the newly opening Bouligny Tavern, making dishes like gnocchi which he had never heard of and couldn t pronounce. Everything went great for a few years till Wayne realized that people s appetites were never satisfied and there would be no end to cooking. Not being able to stand the thought of lifelong job security, Wayne teamed up with his pal and movie director, Mike. Mike at this stage had the lease on an ex brothel and was opening what is becoming New Orleans hippest bar, The Cellar Door. If you re wondering, given this rambling tale of what could be a classic Southern buddy movie, why this story would be called "Handful of Sand," well, that would be a total spoiler. All you need to know going in is all the best martial arts advice comes from your grandma, and three socks in a rock is a mistake. Keep those two facts in mind as you listen to what might be the absolute best episode of Midnight Menu 1 in the show s history.

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Harveen Khera s ethnic background daughter of Indian and Malaysian parents growing up in London and her cuisine career including working in San Francisco s finest restaurant and opening her own bar prepared her for almost any epicurean eventuality. Except being the chef in a New Orleans kosher kitchen. But that s exactly what she is, and she s killing it. Harveen is the founding chef at Hillel s Kitchen, the local, organic, seasonal, kosher restaurant in the Hillel House on Broadway, a part of Tulane University. She makes everything from scratch from granola to bread, from burritos to burgers has a full fresh juice bar, bagel bar and salads. There s even a free matzah ball soup hotline if you re sick Hillel delivers. Harveen s non food partner in this enterprise is the guiding light of Tulane Hillel, Rabbi Yonah Schiller. Harveen s 1 guest on tonight s show, Yonah s philosophy of community and sharing inspires and shapes the dining experience. Midnight Menu 1 moved into a new home tonight at Chappy s Restaurant on Magazine Street next to Monkey Hill Bar. Chef Chappy has transformed the old Grill by The Hill into a whole new and far finer dining experience.

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Sometimes you meet people who have moved to New Orleans and when they tell you their life story all you can think is, "Thank God you found New Orleans. There s no other place in the world you could be yourself." How about tonight s guest on Midnight Menu 1 for an example Where else in the world could you be a genuine Samurai custom cake baker hat maker Mardi Gras parade Marshall make up artist Meet Midori Tajiri Byrd. Yes, they re all Midori s cakes. And that s not half of the story. Midori is genuinely a Samurai the last of a long line of Japanese warriors and rulers whose Japanese family lineage stretches back into the mists of history. Check out the traditional tattoo on her palm. Midori s 1 describes himself as "the only chef in New Orleans without a tattoo" and the reason he doesn t have a tattoo is the reason he ended up a chef. A veteran of a slew of NOLA restaurants from Harrah s to Isis Matthew Ratcliff is a chef for hire, catering events with his company Crescent Cookery. Matthew made some brisket and mrliton picked sandwiches for the evening s get together and Midori made a cake. This is a totally fun and fascinating Midnight Menu 1. From Samurais to sweets and sandwiches. And much more in between. There are more pix and more activity over at our Facebook page.

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Two guys walk into a bar. One owns a beer brewing store. The other is opening a brewery. They sit down at a bar table with the guy who owns the bar, and a guy who despite being known as "The Man Who Ate New Orleans" hasn t had anything to eat all day. They proceed to drink extra strong craft beer that the guy from the beer brewing store brought with him. What happens next You re listening to it. Margo thankfully for her sake couldn t make it tonight so Phil from Phil s Grill sat in for her and co hosts the show with Ray. Besides drinking beer Phil is also drinking one of Phil s Grill s signature cocktails The Toussaint Tchoup which is a bourbon drink garnished with a piece of fried bacon. yes, IN the drink. Kyle duPont from Brewstock the brew shop explains the finer points of brewing your own beer at home. Scott Wood breaks the big news that after years of jumping through hoops, today is the day he got an occupational license from the City of New Orleans to wait till you hear this open a brewery Courtyard Brewery is officially in business as of this episode of Midnight Menu 1. When Cameron from NOLA Foodsmiths showed up with some pork belly sliders and pumpkin cheesecake it was too late to undo the damage. If there wasn t already a show called Men Behaving Badly, this could be the pilot.

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