Category Archives: Uncategorized

This past weekend, we hosted a small gathering of friends. My wife had worked hard to prepare several dips, spreads, and hors-d’oeuvres for the group to go along with the alcoholic punches she conjures up for such occasions. In the middle of the party, I walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a block ofContinue reading “For the Love of Cream Cheese”

The first time I ever sat at a community table was in the early 1980s at Paul Prudhomme’s legendary restaurant, K-Paul’s, in New Orleans’ French Quarter. In those days, the New Orleans restaurant world was filled with traditional French-themed restaurants. Actually, that wasn’t just a New Orleans thing. From the 1940s through the 1980s, ifContinue reading “Community Tables”

There is a substantial case of wanderlust deep in my soul, and the call to travel has always been strong inside of me. In the song, “As Long as I Can See the Light,” John Fogerty sings, “Guess I’ve got that old travelin’ bone. ‘Cause this feeling won’t leave me alone.” I, too, have one—Continue reading “Magical Mississippi Tour 2018 Recap”

The Beatles were such a huge part of my childhood that they filter through almost every aspect of my life— even as a 57-year old. One walk through my office and it’s clear that I am much more than an “average fan” of the four lads from Liverpool who turned the pop music and rock-and-rollContinue reading “MAGICAL MISSISSIPPI TOUR”

Over the past 30 years, I have met a lot of people in my line of work. A lot of them are foodies. Many tell me they have the “best recipe” for this, that, or the other. In the 20-plus years I’ve been writing this column I have received countless cookbooks, old family recipes, andContinue reading “The Hushpuppy Whisperer”

There is a national crisis afoot and it has nothing to do with taxes, trade, or immigration. Breakfast cereals are going the way of the dinosaur. I was a kid during the breakfast cereal heyday of the 1960s and 1970s. It was a glorious time to be alive. We might have only had three channelsContinue reading “Get Off of My Lawn and Start Eating Cereal Again”

A strange phenomenon occurred after I opened our first fine-dining restaurant in 1987. It’s still happening. Most people assume the chef/owner of an upscale establishment must eat upscale food all of the time. They picture a life filled with micro greens, waygu beef, caviar, and foie gras. Nothing could be further from the truth. MostContinue reading “Fries”

A few years ago, I read a restaurant survey that ranked customer’s priorities when dining out. The study listed food, service, atmosphere, and location. The results were a little surprising to me in some areas. Restaurant patrons in that survey listed “service” as their number one priority. Atmosphere came in second, food third, and locationContinue reading “It’s All About the Food”

A couple of decades ago I wrote a column that posed the question, “If you could have dinner with six people throughout all of history, who would you invite?” The column received a lot of response from readers as they sent in their list of six dinner guests. My original list consisted of Paul McCartney,Continue reading “Six Dinner Guests”