Louisiana Eats

The days are growing longer, the jasmine is in bloom, and across Louisiana, we're treasuring the gift of spring before heat, humidity, and hurricane season are upon us. On this week's show, Louisiana Eats is celebrating the tasty treats of springtime!

With Derby Day approaching, we're polishing up our silver cups for the perfect drink for this time of year – the Mint Julep. Legendary bartender and raconteur Chris McMillan of Revel Cafe & Bar joins us with a tribute to that sophisticated and refreshing cocktail.

We then move from adult beverages to childhood sweets – specifically ice cream. But not the flavors you'll find in any grocery store. Jillian Duran of Rahm Haus tells us how she uses her fine pastry making skills to create both ice creams and ice cream cakes like nothing you’ve ever seen.

And finally, spring marks the arrival of blueberry harvest season in the South. We travel to Poplarville, Mississippi, where Donald Van De Werken and Jeff Brown of JD Farms are preparing to reap some of the biggest, sweetest, best blueberries in the region.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Traditionally, the concept of sustainability referred to making enough money to keep a restaurant, or any business, up and running. In recent years, however, the term has expanded to take into account maintaining the environment that provides the raw materials businesses use. This is especially true for restaurants – businesses that would simply not exist if the supply of meat, fish, and plant-based food were not sustained. On this week's show, we hear from two chefs and a farmer who are doing their part to provide for their customers, while finding ways to live in harmony with the planet.

First up is a field trip to the kitchen of GW Fins, an upscale seafood restaurant in the French Quarter, where we learn about Chef Michael Nelson's innovative work with dry-aging fish. The result is an elevated dish that is denser, more tender, and more flavorful. And customers can’t get enough.

Then, we hear from Will Harris of White Oak Pastures. A pioneer in regenerative farming, Will is the author of A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food.

Finally, we visit Chef Marcus Jacobs at his Mid-City seafood market, Porgy's, where he's on a mission to introduce folks to the treasure trove of lesser-known fish species found right here in the Gulf of Mexico.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

In many places, the cocktail hour is an honored – even sacred – tradition. And in few places is that more true than New Orleans. On this week's show, we explore the fascinating evolution of cocktail culture in the Big Easy – its past, present and future.

We begin with craft cocktail master Neal Bodenheimer. Neal, who opened Freret Street bar Cure in 2009, traces the city's long love affair with concocted libations in his James Beard-nominated book, Cure: New Orleans Drinks And How To Mix 'Em.

Next, we swing over to Gravier Street to join flavorist Christa Cotton on a tour of her El Guapo factory where she creates her internationally award-winning bitters and much-loved cocktail mixers.

Finally, we sit down with T. Cole Newton, one of New Orleans' premiere bartenders and bar owners. His book, Cocktail Dive Bar, not only shares recipes from his famed Mid-City hangout Twelve Mile Limit, but also imparts plenty of thoughtful wisdom Cole has garnered from over a decade in business.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

On this week's show, we meet inventors and pioneers who have changed the way we eat. We begin with the Bayou State's spiciest new business, Louisiana Pepper Exchange. Founder and CEO Chris White shares the story of the amazing engineering feat he accomplished and how it led to the launch of his company.

Then, we learn about plant breeder Dr. Calvin Lamborn, known as the Father of the Sugar Snap Pea. We speak with his son, Rod Lamborn, who is working hard to preserve his late father's legacy.

Finally, we hear the fascinating story of Leon Godchaux, Louisiana's own titan of the sugar industry in the 19th century. His rags-to-riches tale comes to life in Peter Wolf's book, The Sugar King: Leon Godchaux, A New Orleans Legend, His Creole Slave and His Jewish Roots. Peter, who is Godchaux's great-great-grandson, tells us how this poor, illiterate Jewish immigrant built a business empire with his innovative spirit.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Chinese cooking has been a part of the American dining scene since the mid-1800s and remains an integral aspect of the industry today. This week, we take an in-depth look at the Chinese restaurant tradition from a variety of perspectives.

For decades, the parking lot was always full at the little red building just across the parish line from New Orleans. Inside, a packed house of diners could be found happily munching on dim sum and other Cantonese dishes at Royal China Restaurant. In 2021, after forty-plus years in business, Shirley Lee and her husband Chef Tang Lee decided to retire. But now they are back with their new restaurant, Miss Shirley's on Magazine Street in Uptown New Orleans. That hostess with the mostest and her daughter who helps run the business, Carling Lee, visited our studio to tell us how restaurateurs-turned-retirees turned restaurateurs again.

Next, we talk to Curtis Chin, who came of age in Detroit at a Chinese restaurant run by multiple generations of his family. Like many immigrant families, Curtis' parents worked long, hard hours running their business with time for little else. But they made sure that their children were exposed to the wider world and all it had to offer. Curtis reflects on the lessons he took from that childhood experience in his memoir, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant.

Finally, Chef Andrew Lu joins us. Having grown up in Lafayette, the child of immigrants from China, Andrew is truly an Asian Cajun. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the name of his popular pop-up restaurant – Get Your Mom and Dim Sum.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Since reopening with much fanfare in 2015, New Orleans' St. Roch Market has experienced ups and downs, but the city's second oldest city market is still standing. Since 2015, St. Roch has functioned as a culinary incubator for food professional wannabes – and what a bunch of delicious incubation is happening there now!

On this week's show, we speak with the market's new director, longtime vendor Kevin Pedeaux, and learn why that bustling spot on St. Claude is the place to be these days. We then go stall by stall to meet the vendors – the St. Roch stars who are cooking up some of the most diverse offerings to be found under one single roof today.

Next, we hear from one of St. Roch Market's biggest success stories. Chef Charly Pierre began creating delicious Haitian dishes based on the traditional street foods that abound in his ancestral homeland. Charly's career has since skyrocketed. He's been featured on a number of national cooking competition shows, and garnered accolades from the likes of Zagat, Eater, and the James Beard Foundation. These days, Charly can be found in the kitchen of his own Basin Street restaurant, Fritai.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

March 19th might be just another day in other parts of the United States, but here in New Orleans it's a day when revelers take to the streets in honor of the Feast of St. Joseph. The tradition of food altars dedicated to Jesus' foster father came to the Crescent City in the late 1800s with immigrants from Sicily, where Joseph is the patron saint. What was called Mi-Carême (or Mid-Lent by the Creoles) was a day when fasting was suspended and festivities abounded. On this week's show, we explore the holiday and join in on the celebration.

Tony Marino's family were faithful followers of St. Joseph, and today, he keeps the tradition alive at his Bourbon Street home in New Orleans' French Quarter. We sit down with Tony to hear what it takes to pull off his annual street party, complete with altars and a life-sized statue of St. Joseph.

Then, Arthur Brocato, third generation of Angelo Brocato's Ice Cream and Confectionary, joins us to share his family's history and explain the special role Brocato's has played in the St. Joseph's Day celebration. Founded in the French Quarter in 1905, the gelateria and pasticceria continues those traditions today on Carrollton Avenue in Mid-City.

Finally, historian Laura Guccione joins us to reveal what she's discovered about the fancy dress balls that were once part of the St. Joseph tradition and to explain the mystical tie between the feast day and the Mardi Gras Indians.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

On this week's show, we meet New Orleans chefs who have stepped into the spotlight. We begin with Anh Luu, who is well known locally for her signature "Viet-Cajun" menus that meld together the flavors of Southeast Asia and her native Louisiana. In January, the whole country got to know Anh when she was featured on the eighth season of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series, Queer Eye. She tells us about her life and culinary career and describes how the Fab Five changed her life.

We also have an extended conversation with chef and YouTube star Toya Boudy, whose first cookbook is Cooking for the Culture: Recipes and Stories from the Streets of New Orleans to the Table. Toya tells us about her struggles growing up in her beloved New Orleans and how she found success on cooking competition shows – stories she shares along with recipes in her deeply personal and unique cookbook.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

A lot of magic can be made with nothing more than flour, sugar, and, of course, butter! On this week's show, we explore the magic that some folks are achieving with just that combination.

First, we hear from Juliana Fernandes and Juliana Freire, the dynamic duo behind one of New Orleans' newest eateries, Juliana's Brazilian Bakery and Café. Playfully decorated in pastel pinks and greens, the cozy Lakeview neighborhood café features a pastry case brimming with beautiful cakes and Brazilian bonbons known as brigadeiros. The kitchen also offers a breakfast and lunch menu, including the Brazilian national beans and rice dish, feijoada. The two Julianas tell us all how their little Brazilian outpost came to be.

Next, we chat with the affable Ralph the Baker, a local cook who has become an international social media sensation. He explains how he has built his online presence to include millions of followers and why he's the baker who almost never bakes.

Finally, we learn about the little bakery that king cake built. Only a few years after Martha Gilreath achieved fame for her Nolita king cakes, she has opened up a brick-and-mortar bakery in New Orleans – selling items like bialys, boudin danish, and something called "cros'saints." We stop by her warm, sunny space, located just a few blocks from Bayou St. John in Mid-City.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Most of the country makes New Year's resolutions that kick in right after January 1st. But in Louisiana, there tends to be a slight postponement. That's because Carnival Season, a time of indulgence, kicks off on January 6th with the astounding king cake eating and cocktail drinking that comes with it. So, our resolutions about healthy living and sobriety tend to wait until Ash Wednesday – the day after Mardi Gras. This week, we hear from experts about the merits of clean living.

Since she first opened her practice, Dr. Erika Siegel has extolled the virtues of eating the right foods as the foundation of good health. Across a decade and a half, the naturopathic physician collected all of her sage advice and put it into a book, The Nourish Me Kitchen. The first half of the two-volume set offers easily digestible recommendations from stocking a healthy pantry to getting a good night's sleep. The second half features more than 300 recipes for creating healthy and delicious meals. Dr. Siegel joins us in the studio to discuss her book and share some practical advice on achieving and maintaining optimal health.

Then, two of the Big Easy's native sons, Chris Copeland and Dan Forman tell us about how their NOLA Detox and Recovery Center incorporates New Orleans-style hospitality and food to help clients overcome addiction.

For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.