Umami Mart

Once upon a time in the Crescent City, there was a culinary institution and hotel named the La Louisiane Hotel and Restaurant down Iberville Street in the French Quarter. La Louisiane, as it was know to the locals, was opened in 1881 by Louis and Ann Bezaudun in an old wine merchants space. Their nephew […]

This past July, the culinary and spirits festival Tales of the Cocktail (a.k.a. Tales) celebrated its 10th Anniversary. The world’s best craft bartenders, taste makers, brand ambassadors, cocktail bloggers, liquor sponsors, and cocktail aficionados plus a legion of media and public relations people descended on the Crescent City for a week of booze filled seminars, […]

Let’s face it, mid-winter is almost upon us and there is not a ground hog is sight. It is getting downright tundra cold out there and Mother Nature is sure to unleash a deep freeze. Some say one should think of a warm place like a tropical island when winter’s freeze is cutting through your […]

PREFACE: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 1 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 2 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 3 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 4 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 5 Alas my friends, as all good things eventually come to an end, so did this year’s Tales of the Cocktail, […]

  PREFACE: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 1 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 2 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 3 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 4 Of all the seminars I attended down at Tales of the Cocktail, the most memorable had to be a seminar called Bax vs. Clift: Progressive […]

PREFACE: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 1 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 2 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 3 I had never been to New Orleans prior to going down for this year’s Tales of the Cocktail, so when it came to deciding where to eat and drink (which are always my […]

PREFACE: Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 1 Tales of the Cocktail Recap Part 2 New Orleans is perhaps most famous for its great food and rich musical tradition. They’re what folks often point to as the most tangible markers of a New Orleans culture that’s sometimes too intangible to define. So despite a schedule packed […]

PREFACE Tales Recap Part 1 Anticipating that I’d have a hangover the size of a punch bowl, and knowing that I’d be competing as a finalist in the Catdaddy Bar Chef Challenge in the afternoon of my second day at Tales of the Cocktail, I intentionally lightened my schedule to allow some breathing room.  In the […]

Last week I gave the foolhardy impression that I could give a daily recap of the events at Tales of the Cocktail, while still down at Tales. Instead, I left you high and dry as I ate and drank and partied and competed and sat in seminars with a hangover, then ate and drank and […]

Walking through the French Quarter during Mardi Gras, I saw this really huge purple and orange sign, sparkling from blocks away. When I got closer, a cute boy was pushing a cart, with fake boxes of ice cream and glass bottles of booze. Onlookers, who seemed more like locals, kept stopping him to take his […]