Author Archives: Robert

The following is the third in a four-installment summer-column series covering my top 10 dining experiences for breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch in New Orleans. There are a few items to note: This list purely subjective. Everyone has varying tastes and preferences. This is not a ranking of overall quality from a critical/review standpoint. ThisContinue reading “RSJ’s Top 10 New Orleans Dinner Spots”

The following is the second in a four-installment summer-column series covering my top 10 dining experiences for breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch in New Orleans. There are a few items to note: This list purely subjective. Everyone has varying tastes and preferences. This is not a ranking of overall quality from a critical/review standpoint. ThisContinue reading “RSJ’s Top 10 New Orleans Lunch Spots”

The following is the first in a summer-column series that will cover dining in New Orleans. Over the next four weeks I’ll list my top 10 dining experiences for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch in New Orleans, one of the nation’s top-three restaurant cities. There are a few items to note: This list purely subjective.Continue reading “RSJ’s Top 10 New Orleans Breakfasts”

While dining with friends last week, the lunchtime discussion turned to “What is Mississippi’s most quintessential food?” Several options were discussed— blueberries, fried chicken, sweet potatoes, catfish and watermelon. I think arguments can be made for all those foodstuffs. If pressed, I would probably have to say fried catfish. But for the sake of today’sContinue reading “Watermelon, Watermelon, Watermelon, Spit!”

Now that we have almost reached August, it seems a perfect time to stop and appreciate the culinary bounty available to us as residents of the Deep South during summer. The following are my top 10 summer foods 10. Peas I almost put fresh mint in this category, but that’s an herb and not aContinue reading “RSJ’s Top 10 Summer Foods”

There are some things that can’t be explained. I can’t tell you how magnets work. I couldn’t begin to describe how black holes function, why people ever watched a television show that featured any member of the Kardashian family, or why the cheapest, most unassuming, hot dogs at Bunyan’s BBQ in Florence, Ala. are soContinue reading “Bunyan’s Slaw Dog”

As I walked through my kitchen yesterday morning, I noticed my daughter who was hovering over the waste basket, intensely focused on a task. I spoke, but she was so tuned into what she was doing she didn’t hear. “Good morning, Sissy,” I said, again. Nothing. I walked over to where she was standing andContinue reading “Food Quirks”

NEW ORLEANS— To live 90 minutes away from one of the top restaurant cities in the world is an embarrassment of riches for a restaurateur/food writer/food lover. It would be as if Bruce Springsteen lived next door to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, or if Joe Montana lived a hop, skip,Continue reading “My Kind of To-Do List”

I dozed off for a few minutes and Ranch dressing was crowned the king of all American condiments. I was a ketchup kid who grew up in the condiment-barren ketchup generation. Ketchup reigned supreme for most of the 20th century. It was red, it was cheap, and it was manly. Salsa made a nice runContinue reading “The Ranch Generation”