Category Archives: Uncategorized

This morning I read a Business News Daily article that listed the most stressful jobs in America. Enlisted military personnel came first, firefighter, second, and airline pilot, third. Police officer landed in fourth place. I wouldn’t argue with any of those rankings. Broadcaster came in fifth. I’m not sure I agree with that. Before IContinue reading “Another Blessing”

NEW YORK— I first came to the city sometime in the mid-1960s. My grandparents lived here. My father had recently passed away, and my mother drove my brother and me up to stay with her parents for a few weeks. They lived in an apartment building somewhere around 72nd and 2nd. All I remember aboutContinue reading “A Different Kind of Welcome”

For the majority of the 23 years, I have written this weekly column, the primary focus has been on food and restaurants. In 2011, a dozen years into my writing career, I spent six months overseas with my wife and two kids and the column morphed into a semi-travel column, at least during the timesContinue reading “In Search of Voice”

For the past 23 years, I have written a 1,000-word column every Monday morning. Always early in the morning. I haven’t missed a week. Ever. I typically let the column sit for a day and then revisit it on Tuesday morning, catching things that need to be edited, sentences that need to be swapped aroundContinue reading “Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning”

“To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.” – William Faulkner “Work hard and be kind and amazing things will happen.” – Conan O’Brien As a child, I can remember my mother criticizing older men who kept hopping from profession to profession. In those days I probably thought, “Whatever I endContinue reading “In Honor of Mississippians”

If I carried a business card, there would be a lot of job titles listed on it— restaurateur, author, producer, columnist, writer, cook, designer, documentarian, show host, travel host, board member, manager, president, CEO, founder, and chairman of the board. But the most important job title I have— or ever will have, and it’s notContinue reading “The Best Job, Ever”

Forty years ago, I worked my first shift in a restaurant. It was almost the first hour, of the first shift of the first day that I discovered what I wanted to do with the rest of my life— open a restaurant. That is not an exaggeration or oversimplification. The restaurant bug hit me instantly.Continue reading “Enter Enzo”

NEW ORLEANS— This city is, unquestionably, one of the top five restaurant cities in America. I would imagine that if one were to poll national food critics New Orleans would be listed among the top three. To my taste— and I’ve eaten extensively in most of America’s top restaurant cities— New Orleans is number one.Continue reading “RSJ’s New Orleans Restaurant Recommendations 2022”

We are a nation of regional dining concepts and local dishes. Chicago has deep-dish pizza parlors. New Orleans has po-boy shops. Ohio has chili parlors. Maine has lobster shacks. South Florida has crab shacks. Maryland also has crab shacks (there are a lot of shacks in regional dining). Oyster bars are scattered across the GulfContinue reading “Support Your Local Catfish House”