Featured on Bon Appétit!

I’m on the Bon Appétit homepage!

I am featured in an article titled, New Orleans: A Love Story. I was contacted by the magazine a few months ago when they were searching for a local food writer with the inside scoop. I was asked to answer a very long list of questions about where to get the best po boys/ beignets/ cocktails/ etc… Unfortunately, of the 20 or so questions I answered they only printed one of my answers! Instead of including the restaurants that I recommended they stuffed the article with cliches about Commander’s Palace and the Ya-Ka-Mein Lady.

I am still very grateful for the opportunity and ecstatic that my face is on the homepage of such a fabulous site (kissing a crawfish of course), but I’m bummed I didn’t get to promote all my favorite spots.

The good news is I now have a ton of  unpublished material and pics that I can publish for all of you lovely readers!

Stay tuned for some tantalizing food porn. 

Crawfish Boil

The World's Largest Crawfish Boil was a huge success! Zatarain's broke 2 records in just 2 hours after selling out 29,000 pounds of crawfish to over 8,000 people. 

According to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the event broke the record for the largest attendance, and the largest amount of crawfish boiled at a crawfish boil in a single day.  More importantly, the event raised $40,000 for Second Harvest Food Bank!

 Though the crawfish didn't last as long as planned, it was a really amazing event - with free live music and  a ton of beer for sale!

Hopefully the success of the event will encourage more organizations and companies to throw similar city-wide crawfish boils! 

I had a wonderful time eatin' crawfish, drink in' beer and showing off my fabulous crawfish shoes!

How cute are those?  

From BBQ to Braai

I'm super excited to attend "From BBQ to Braai," one of the tastiest charitable events I have ever been invited to. The event will feature traditional South African BBQ alongside an exceptional collection of South Africa's finest wines. Tickets are just $20 for unlimited food and wine and ALL proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the New Orleans Habitat for Humanity.

The event is the first stop on the "From BBQ to Braai" tour which sets out to promote a better understanding of South African culture through wine, food, and music. The tour is sponsored by Wines of South Africa, the international marketing body of the South African wine industry. 

The event will take place on Saturday, February 22nd, from 2pm-5pm at the Falstaff Beer Garden. Buy your tickets HERE!  

Exciting News!

I have very exciting news to share with all of you! After 3 successful DIY segments on The 504, I will now be their official DIY expert & regular guest on the show! That means even more crafting and hanging out with the always lovely Sheba Turk – plus free publicity for Back Bayou Vintage, so I’m pretty stoked! To kick off my reign as “Miss DIY,” I was featured in an entire episode of The 504- not just the usual 6 minute segment, the whole 30 minute show! Watch the episode here and follow my DIY blog: BackBayouVintage.com!

New Beignets on the Block!

Morning Call has reopened their doors in Mid City! Now you don't have to drive all the way to Metairie to get your hands on their deliciously doughy beignets. Situated in the heart on City Park in the Old Casino building, the restaurant maintains its old world charm, a good reminder that it was the first beignet cafe in New Orleans. 

Though I may get some criticism for saying this, I must admit I like their beignets better than Cafe du Monde. However, I can't say the same thing about their cafe au lait, which is good, but not as great as CDM's.

They also are open 24/7, have a menu full of tasty local cuisine (including aligator sausage), and they have soft serve! Plus, you can rent out the venue for private events (which would be awesome for a wedding). I just went to a lovely masquerade ball there last week. Check out my Back Bayou Vintage blog post to see more pics of the venue and the event!

Bon Appetit!

Chinese New Year!

Since yesterday I wrote about the Vietnamese New Year, I figured I should also mention that it's also the Chinese New Year! Moreover, it's the year of the dragon! How awesome if that!?!?!?

So to celebrate this momentous occasion I decided to reflect on some lovely Americanized Chinese food you can find in New Orleans. One of my favorite spots to go is Hoshun on St. Charles. Their portions are enormous (as you can see above) and they serve a variety of pan-Asian cuisine, including sushi (which is okay, good, not great), Vietnamese, and Thai. One of my favorite dishes they serve is their Thai curry soup, yummmmmmmmmm!

Vietnamese New Year!

In honor of the Vietnamese New Year I wanted to post quite a few photos of incredible Vietnamese cuisine from all over the city!

Above is a beautiful bowl of pho from Singleton's (a spectacular corner store in the Black Pearl). Their Pho is a bit on the peppery side, but still phenomenal (or shall I say pho-nomenal! sorry...had to!).

 

This fabulous beverage is from Pho Orcid in Metairie. This Egg-Cream-esque drink is an exquisite combo of condensed milk and soda water. Stir it all together and viola! delicious drink!

Aside from their large list of fantastic drinks, Pho Orchid serves up a lot more than just pho!

Their egg rolls and Banh Mi were good, but not as fabulous as what you'll find in the East or on the West Bank, but great Vietnamese fare for Metairie. The pork itself in both was delicious, but the Banh Mi was very under-dressed, leaving pat'e and aioli to be desired. 

Last, but certainly not least is one of my absolute favorite places to get pho (Aside from Pho Danh 4 and Pho Nola of course!). Below is a photo of probably the best pho broth I have ever had. Granted, I was a bit inebriated at the time, but I remember it being out of this world! You can get this alluring bowl of soup late into the evening down the Street from Mimi's in the Marigny at the Lost Love Lounge Vietnamese Kitchen. I originally was obsessed with going here because they used to be called "Pho King" (say that one 3 times fast)! 

Though I am quite disappointed with the name change, their pho more than made up for it (plus the karaoke... oh ya, karaoke! Its awesome). 

Like Pho Orchid, their pho was not nearly as mind blowing (or cheap) as what you'll find in the East or in the Wank, but still pretty good (and definitely awesome in the middle of the night).

So in summation, Tet (the Vietnamese New Year) was yesterday, Vietnamese food is incredible (and my favorite), and its Tuesday- So go get yourself some pho/banh mi/ and spring rolls and celebrate the Year of the Dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenny Sklar.... Published!!!

I finally made it in print! Though 99.9% of my articles have been published online, I've finally crossed the threshold to paper publishing... and the article wasn't even about food! Though I love food writing, I was beginning to eat myself into a writing rut, so this was a nice change of pace. If you'd like to read the article you can check out The Musical Old U.S. Mint online here or pick up the latest copy of OffBeat Magazine (available at most coffee shops around town).

The Last Supper

The Last Supper is just a week and a half away!!! No, I'm not talking about THAT last supper, though there will be a minor Chirstian theme to this one too (considering the star is a Reverend), I'm talking about  The Last Supper of The Man Who Ate New Orleans! Unlike the original last supper, this will NOT be a gloomy event, infact, it's a celebration! Celebrating Ray Cannata's accomplishment of his monsterous goal of eating at every restaurant in NOLA!!!! Plus, it's an event to showcase and promote the fabulous film that follows Cannata's gastronomic journey through New Orleans Cuisine, appropriately titled The Man Who Ate New Orleans.

The big event will be on October 21 at the St. Charles Hilton, with music by Rebirth Brass Band and fully catered by Besh Steakhouse (wine pairings included). The guests will be the first to see a short from the documentary, and may end up in the real deal because the dinner will be filmed and added to end of the feature! So if you want to possibly be in a movie, while sipping on wine, dancin to Rebirth and grubbin on fancy steak you DO NOT want to miss this EPIC event! Tickets are $200 per person (and partially tax deductible, woohoo!) and are available online.

I sure hope to be there, Don't You?!?!?!?!?

Cafe Reconcile V. Liberty's Kitchen

For my newest OffBeat article, Good Deed on a Dime at Liberty’s Kitchen and Cafe Reconcile, I decided to have a philanthropic twist in honor of the recent Jewish Holiday: Yom Kippur, aka the day of repentence dun dun dun.... So of course in my very own heretical fashion, I found a way to do a good deed by eating unkosher food!

Above is a gorgeous photo of a fried crawfish remoulade salad from Cafe Reconcile, restaurant pictured below.

The food is really fabulous here, but my favorite part about the restaurant is that we share the same tag line!! I knew "Feed Your Soul" was a good one.

One of my favorite reconcile dishes is their boneless fried chicken, to find out more about it check out Good Deed on a Dime at Liberty’s Kitchen and Cafe Reconcile.

cfe Reconcile sure kicks butt when it comes to good old fashioned soul food, but when it comes to salads, Liberty's Kitchen absolutely comes in first.

To find out more about this awesome salad read

Good Deed on a Dime at Liberty’s Kitchen and Cafe Reconcile!

Bon Appetite!

Horinoya

Horinoya: absolutely the best sushi I've had in the greater New Orleans area.

The pictures say it all.

Now that's what I call sashimi.... melt in your mouth, perfect cuts of raw fish, yummmmmm.

Great for a date night or a business lunch!  

Check it out!

And for your entertainment, you may want to watch this hilarious video from Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, about a real live shushi lady!!! Click here for the youtube link.

A New Era

I have good news and bad news... Bad news is I no longer have much time to write these lovely posts, but the good news is I still have a million gorgeous pictures of scrumptious food that I just can't let go to waste. So for the time being, the Hungry Heretic is going to act as a gastronomic photo diary. I know that photos are at least 90% of why most people like food blogs so hopefully no one will be too disappointed. And to kick off this new phase of the Hungry Heretic, feast your eyes on the tantalizing pictures of Lilette, one of my favorite restaurants in the city, starting with my favorite dish: White truffle parmigiano toast with wild mushrooms, marrow and veal glace -12- I'm literally drooling.

Raw fish plate of the day -13- (2nd best appetizer I've had)

Potato gnocchi with sage brown butter and
parmigiano cream -9.5-

Raw salad of brussel sprout, beet, onion, fennel, carrot, arugula, hazelnut and Banyuls vinaigrette -9.5-

 Bouillabaisse with lobster, scallop, cod, shrimp, clams, mussels and Alaskan king crab claw in a saffron-lobster broth with rouille crouton -38- 
Yummmmmm!!!!! Pricey but soooo good and enormous! It's big enough for two if you get apps. 

 Paneed black drum with Israeli cous cous, leeks,
tomato and ver jus mussel butter -28-

 Grilled Hawaiian fish of the day with braised escarole, 
sunchoke puree and satsuma-basil butter -31- The Basil was overwhelmingly delicious!

Quenelles of goats cheese crème fraiche with poached pears, pistachios and lavender honey -8.5-This dessert was what made me decide that Chef/Owner John Harris and I have the exact same taste in food, palette soul mates if you will. 

The Company Burger

Out of all the articles I've written for OffBeat Magazine, In Good Company at The Company Burger has definitely received the most attention, and that is likely because these burgers are so darn good!!

Their classic Double is dripping with gooey delicious melted cheese, and topped with homemade pickles and farmers market red onion. Just look at it, it's practically begging you to take a bite of it.

Throw some bacon on top of that and you will literally reach palate nirvana. 

Their onion rings can convert even the most hard core dieter into a fried food lover. After taking one bite of these sweet crunchy red onions I decided to never have a white onion-onion ring again. Whoever thought of using red onions is a straight up genius. 

And in case you're more of a breakfast food lover you can always get a single with a fried egg and bacon on top (only $3 extra for both)!

And these are just the simple options, just wait till I try their lamb burger! If you don't believe my rave reviews you better go try it for yourself!!! Read more about it here: In Good Company at The Company Burger. Enjoy!!!