Louisiana Eats

There's no denying the last two years have been a major challenge for everyone. Between the pandemic and the surge of natural disasters across the nation, we've seen it all. On this week's show, we learn how people are coping from coast to coast.

We begin in New Orleans with Chef Eric Cook, who battled to keep his first restaurant Gris-Gris open in 2020 while somehow finding the inspiration to open his second, Saint John this year. Eric shares the story of his viral open letter to the city published at a make-or-break moment for Gris-Gris, which articulated the impossible situation he and other restaurateurs found themselves in dealing with the pandemic in the summer of 2020.

Then, Gibson Thomas, publisher and editor of Edible Marin & Wine Country Magazine, shares the latest on how vintners are adapting to an ongoing series of wildfires burning across California.

Finally, we meet Peterson Harter, a Crescent City native and entrepreneur, who has become an advocate for mental health in the Bay Area while operating his popular sandwich pop up, Sandy's SF.

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

Though he’s been on the local restaurant scene since 2010, Chef Jeff Mattia didn’t move to Louisiana until well into his culinary career. At that point, the Marine vet had already worked with some serious luminaries like celebrity chefs Tom Collichio and Todd English. While his career was centered in New Orleans for the first four years, Jeff and his family felt decidedly more at home across the lake in St. Tammany Parish. There, he found the slower pace of life shared much in common with his Hartford, Connecticut birthplace. When the opportunity to open his own Northshore eatery finally presented itself, Jeff was all in, opening Pyre Provisions in Covington in 2020. Based on his pandemic take out success with his barbeque menu, Jeff expanded in 2021 opening Pyre BBQ on the Mandeville Trace. To learn more about Jeff’s restaurants, visit www.pyrerestaurant.com and www.pyrebbq.com.

On this week's show, we take a journey into the Ice Cream Underground to

uncover the magicians taking America's favorite dessert to new heights

right here in Louisiana. We begin with Sam Caruso, who has overcome a host

of challenges to find a sweet opportunity with Laozi Ice Cream.

New Orleans is well known for its legacy restaurant families. And now, just across the Mississippi River in Gretna, the Mandina clan is poised to claim its own place in our culinary pantheon. On this week's show, we meet three generations of family who have made Tony Mandina’s a Westbank culinary institution.

We begin with the restaurant’s namesake founder and his wife Grace Blanchard Mandina. Having no prior experience in the business, the couple ran the restaurant with help from members of their extended family. Grace shares stories of some pitfalls and laughs in those early days, when the ragtag team found themselves having to make it up as they went along.

The Mandinas’ Sicilian roots make their story a particularly rich and delicious one. We learn about the family's history, which can be traced back to Salaparuta, a town in southwest Sicily. Tony recounts the first time he met his aunts in the Old Country in 1960. Ever since then, the family has maintained a connection to their family across the Atlantic, even forging new relationships with distant cousins, resulting in an import/export business.

Tony and Grace's three daughters began working in their parents' restaurant as children. In 2020, middle daughter Kolette Mandina-Ditta took over the reins of Tony Mandina's, along with her daughter Lindsey Marcel. Both of them join us in the studio to discuss growing up in the restaurant, and Kolette describes what motivated her to write "Tony Mandina’s Kitchen," a new book featuring a collection of family history and recipes.

How does a recipe become a retail offering? On this week's show, we track the path of great dishes and drinks from restaurant to retail. We begin with the Bayou State's spiciest new business, Louisiana Pepper Exchange. Founder and CEO Chris White tells the story of how a particular engineering feat of his led him to launch the new company.

Then, we visit with research and development chef Ross Robertson, who is often tasked with turning a restaurant's signature drink or dish into a retail commodity. That's a dream that Warren Chapoton, founder of Juan's Flying Burrito, is currently pursuing. Warren and co-owner Jay Morris tell us the story of the New Orleans-based Creole-Mexican institution, and why they will soon be introducing their very own spice line.

Finally, Christa Cotton of El Guapo Bitters shares how her company is manufacturing bitters and syrups so that every home bar is capable of mixing professional-style cocktails.

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

Located less than an hour from the New Orleans' French Quarter, Baton Rouge, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, St. Tammany Parish has long been a favorite vacation spot. The allure of piney woods, fresh air, charming historic towns, and delicious food has beckoned visitors for over a century. On this week's show, we take you along with us as we cross Lake Pontchartrain to meet some chefs and restaurateurs on Louisiana's Northshore.

We begin at Tchefuncte's in Madisonville with Chef Michael Gottlieb, who’s introducing a whole new level of fine dining on the restaurant's namesake river. Downstairs from Tchefuncte's, Michael also operates The Anchor, which provides more casual dockside food and drink.

Next, we meet the inimitable Liz Munson of Liz’s Where Y’at Diner, a place that offers a very special kind of family-style hospitality along with a killer crab meat grilled cheese sandwich.

We also experience some authentic German-style fun at Horst Pfeifer’s Middendorf’s before catching up with Billy and Sarah Rieger to learn the story of the couple and their dream restaurant, Rieger’s On The Trace, which unfortunately couldn’t survive the pandemic.

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

Halloween is upon us and there's something spooky in the air! On this week's show, we have some very special treats (and no tricks – we promise!). We begin with Sally Asher, owner and operator of Red Sash Tours. On Halloweens past, Sally has taken us on special tours of St. Louis Cemetery No. 3. This year, we tour two different New Orleans graveyards in search of our dearly departed restaurateurs, barflies, and forgotten food luminaries.

On this week's show, we meet some folks who have moved on to new adventures in their lives. We begin with Chef Steve Himelfarb and his wife Becky Retz. In the summer of 2020, they closed their beloved bakery, the Cake Café, after 13 years of business. But this isn't the first major life change for them. Long before there was a Cake Café, Steve worked solely as a music engineer and producer – doing Grammy-nominated work with artists like Buckwheat Zydeco and Beausoleil. We hear about his career in music and food and learn about the new Cake Café Cookbook.

In 2011, Jessica Harris wrote “High on the Hog,” a book that traces the origins of African American food. Ten years later, it has become the basis of the hit Netflix docuseries of the same name. On this show, Dr. Harris sheds light on the resilience and inventiveness of Black cooks who shaped American cuisine.

If you’ve ever had an encounter with a celebrity, you know you can dine out on that story for a long time. On this week's show, we hear from notable writers and chefs in their own right, whose brushes with fame come with a host of tales.