EAT THIS!: NEW ORLEANS yaya

You'll never go hungry in New Orleans. Here is my VERY EXHAUSTIVE list. I did not narrow it down!

First We Eat has been renamed to EAT THIS!, which will be the bossy new title for my food, travel and restaurant guide. First We Eat, I casually caught as I was reading another Substack, seems to be a very popular thing to call food writing essays, et al, courtesy of MFK Fisher and there are many things out there working with that title. This new title works for me. Pretty to the point. Hope it works for you, too!. Love, L

/ Red Beans and Rice with a side of Fried Chicken at The High Hat Care /

I’m a definitely a romantic. There’s no real doubt about that. Hopelessly, at best. But I fall into the category of romantics that like their romance a little dark and complicated.

This kind of obnoxious statement immediately reminds me of that very good scene in When Harry Met Sally - the one where Harry tells Sally he always reads the last page of a book in case he dies because he is always thinking about death and Sally shouts in disgust, “this doesn’t make you DEEP or anything!”

I am fully aware that this kind of thing, me needing my love to be gritty and full of hard truths, doesn’t make me deep or interesting or anything. But it does mean that I fell head over heels in love with New Orleans, the grittiest most romantic city on the face of the earth, not the first time I met her (for I was just a young girl who still thought the hardest part of living was missing an artist lover in a Parisian cafe à la Joni Mitchell), but the second time I met her after a few years of real living and a few nasty hardships of my own and carried with me the ability to understand that what she had in store for me, and anyone else who was paying half attention to her gifts for that matter, was a handshake agreement to see me and feed me, boy does she feed me, and love me no matter what kinds of messes were being made in my life, no matter what kind of mistakes I might have made, no matter what kind of misery I might be fighting off.

New Orleans will love you when your teeth are kicked in and you have no where else to go, just so you know.

She will also love you when you are shiny and bright and every street corner will be your well-lit stage. There will be music somewhere, don’t you worry. And it will be all for you because you are expected to feel yourself and be yourself, no questions asked.

This is the only kind of love I am interested in these days and she has it all.

I recently took my mom to New Orleans with me, which was a different kind of trip. She does not live her life by food like I do - at least, not the way I do. I spend so much time with other chefs, I forget that not everyone can eat for 24 hours straight. She gave it her all, though! I was proud of her. But it was funny to be reminded that this isn’t really a normal way to be. I don’t buy clothes so I can eat at restaurants. I don’t spend money on anything for myself, really, because it means I can travel and spend three days not worrying about a single dime spent on food. I’d rather sit over a long, langorous lunch with a person I love and talk and eat and drink and drop a few hundred bucks a few times a year than buy any single thing or object to display in my house or wear on my body. I also have the good fortune of being a chef with very good friends so I’m the lucky benefactor of their generosity very often - one of the few perks in the hard knocks life of a restaurant chef.

But, I promise no favoritism on this list - I mean, all my favorites are on this list and some of them are my friends, but I don’t really know anyone who is bad at their job, especially in a kitchen, so if they are on here, they are GOOD!, not just my friends. I also am going to do this in bullet point form and try for brevity so as not to require you to read every single little thought that lives in my head, even I get tired of me. But I will have notes on any important info that seems pertinent, so don’t you worry.

Three categories - which are my favorite categories to travel by in New Orleans:

• First: A Proper Luncheon (not to be confused with regular old lunches)

• Second: A Well Rounded Dinner

• Third: Late night, Casual Lunches and In-Between Meals - because you have to keep your stomach stretched with snacks and cocktails and regular lunches whenever you’re not taking a three hour luncheon or an important dinner by one of the best chefs on the planet.

Let’s begin! There’s so much to cover!