WHAT’S
in store
Somethin’s COOkiN’
By Megan Braden-Perry
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alligator corn dogs. Somethin’ Else The Beach Boys, Cafe serves up CNN’s Anderson Cajun and Creole Cooper and Susan dishes, like this Sarandon have also plate of chicken dined at the cafe. etouffee. All the food is PHoTo BY fresh — even the CHErYL GErBEr mint that garnishes glasses of iced tea — and the one freezer on the premises houses only ice cream. If the produce doesn’t come from Prestenbach’s garden, it’s likely from a vegetable stand deep in Cajun country. “I do what I call the Bayou Shuffle,” Prestenbach explains. “When you’re heading down the bayou, you pull up on these little vegetable stands and I’ll just buy them out. Then I bring it all back.” Six months after opening Somethin’ Else, the duo realized other small business owners shared their need for affordable local meat and seafood. In response, they opened Vieux Carre Seafood and Meats. It services their cafe, as well as Felix’s, Sylvain, Tony Moran’s and Killer Poboys. “Chefs can just come and pick out the shrimp … and they don’t have to buy 30 pounds of it; they can get a pound if they want,” Walker says. The Travel Channel’s Food Paradise recently featured boudin balls from Vieux Carre Seafood and Meats. For two boys born and raised on the bayou, the success of their native cuisine is a dream come true. “We were just astonished to see the feedback once we opened,” Walker says. “This has been a blessed, blessed establishment.”
SHopping NEWS LaNgENStEiN’S (800 Metairie road, Metairie, 831- 6682; 1330 Arabella St., 899-9283; www.langensteins.com) has partnered with thE OCCaSiONaL WifE (4306 Magazine St., 302-9893; www.theoccasionalwife.com), an organizing service and store, to offer grocery delivery services. Call 2618782 or visit The occasional Wife’s website for more information.
Now through Tuesday, July 31, BaSkiNROBBiNS’ (citywide; www.baskinrobbins.com) flavor of the month (orEo ’N Chocolate) is one dollar a scoop.
by Missy Wilkinson
Floor samples, furniture, accessories and glassware are up to 50 percent off at NiChE MOdERN hOME (1901 Hwy. 190, Suite 5, Mandeville, 985-6244045; www.nichemodernhome.com). thE fRESh MaRkEt (3338 St. Charles Ave., phone n.a.; www.thefreshmarket.com) a nationwide chain of specialty grocery stores, celebrates the grand opening of its newest location 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 25. There will be chef demonstrations, food samples, gift card drawings and free coffee samples for the first 1,000 customers.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > july 24 > 2012
elf-proclaimed bayou boys from Houma, Blaine Prestenbach and Craig Walker originally planned to open Somethin’ Else Cafe (620 Conti St., 3736439; www.somethinelsecafe.com) in 2006. But obstacles ranging from problems with contractors to construction red tape slowed the process. Even coming up with the name and concept was a struggle. “When we were having conversations about the name, we kept saying, ‘It’s got to be somethin’ else,’” Walker says. “Blaine was like, ‘Dude! Let’s name it Somethin’ Else!’ That was it, it was perfect.” The duo acquired a run-down building — which had housed nine different businesses over five years — and painted the walls, built new cypress tables, removed the video poker machines and added a picture window. “Believe me, we had everyone coming and saying we were crazy and that … no one could make it here,” Walker says. “Those same people are the people who eat here at lunch and breakfast.” The restaurant opened in 2009 serving traditional Cajun dishes made with Louisiana ingredients, including popcorn rice, brown jasmine rice, cheese and rice grits from Houma. “You get a lot of transplants who come here to be chefs and they pick up on what’s going on and start trying to change stuff up,” Prestenbach says. “It’s like, look, jambalaya don’t have a black bean in it. You can’t do that — what are you trying to do?” Popular dishes are the egg-in-the-hole, chicken-fried biscuits, jambalaya (brown, never red), roast beef and bread pudding. Customers have included Mos Def, who bought whole sweet potato cheesecakes, and Lauren Conrad, who Tweeted about the file gumbo and the made-from-scratch
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