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interview gucated.com) on Sunday, and the Taboo Brass Band and dancer Moxie Sazerac of the Slow Burn Burlesque troupe are among the local performers on the bill. For some though, the strongest draw is the cornucopia of vegan foods Veggie Fest offers. There will be cooking demonstrations and food from New Orleans restaurants, caterers and chefs for hire who specialize in vegan options. The festival also has a bazaar featuring local resources and national suppliers ranging from raw food producers to fair-trade coffee importers. It’s a chance to sample vegan ice cream, mock meats and dairy-free dips and to see myriad foods and drinks made from hemp, soy, rice and nuts, including a vegan version of jerky. Being vegan is about a lot more than just what one chooses to eat, and Veggie Fest takes in the full measure of this lifestyle. But it also puts food front and center, and in this way at least the Veggie Fest format isn’t so different from the many other festivals around town. Nothing gets New Orleans out to an event like food, and that seems to be as true for local vegans and vegetarians as it is for the omnivores. For schedules and tickets, see www. nolaveggiefest.com.
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ovey Wakefield is a native of Erath, a Cajun hamlet just south of Lafayette, and her husband Brett Wakefield is from New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina, they lived in Houston and were unable to get some of the Louisiana foods they wanted to eat. That inspired them to launch NolaCajun.com (877-789-6652; www.nolacajun.com), an e-commerce business that functions like an online Louisiana grocery. They now stock 500 different Louisiana food products and other goods and ship around the world. The Wakefields moved to New Orleans in 2009. You’ve said holidays are your busiest time, but what are some other spikes in demand for Louisiana foods? Wakefield: We discovered quickly that we’re a very seasonal business. Our big, big time is from October to May because that’s also the tourism season when people are thinking about New Orleans and seeing New Orleans in the media. And any time the Saints are doing well, we’re doing well, because people keep hearing about New Orleans that way too. What do you stock beyond the well-known Louisiana brands? W: There are so many little mom-and-pop businesses that make great products but don’t have the money for a big web presence and can’t get into stores beyond the little groceries in their towns, so we offer access to them. There are items like pickled quail eggs or pickled mirliton, just because pickling whatever you have on hand is such a country thing to do around here. But we don’t do pickled pig feet. We can get them no problem, but I just don’t want to look at them. So besides pigs’ feet, do you have to turn other items away? W: We’re very specific that whatever we carry has to have a Louisiana connection. People buy Big Shot Soda by the truckload, and even though it’s not made here any more, it was once and it’s still synonymous with New Orleans for a lot of people, so we’ll carry that. We also have to stick closely with FDA rules. So someone will occasionally ask if we can carry their blood boudin. Well, as much as I know my customers would love that, I just can’t do it. — IAN MCNULTY
Bistro Daisy 5831 magazine St., 899-6987 www.bistrodaisy.com Roasted chicken with porcini dust and thyme is reminiscent of the chef’s work at Peristyle.
Lilette 3637 magazine St., 895-1636 www.liletterestaurant.com A textbook French rendition is abetted by balsamic-glazed onions.
Maximo’s Italian Grill 1117 decatur St., 586-8883 www.maximosgrill.com Rustic-style roasted chicken gets a kick from Italian sausage seared in habanero-infused olive oil.
Munch Factory 5339 franklin ave., 324-5372 www.themunchfactory.net Chicken is sauteed, roasted and finished with a creamy fines herbes sauce.
Root 200 julia St., 252-9480 www.rootnola.com Dehydrated mushroom paper is draped over a deeply smoky bird.
OFF tional programming and community outreach efforts. For details visit www. hollygrovemarket.com.
hot competition You know you’re in a respectable south Louisiana hardware store when beside the hammers and paintbrushes, you can find propane burner rings, large stockpots and wooden paddles — all tools of the trade for the serious crawfish boiler. In the same spirit that some approach the barbecue smoker, others around the region are fanatical about crawfish and they have their methodologies worked down to some unique cross between science and ritual. On Saturday, a new event called Crawfish Mambo is putting this passion on display with a competitive boil and inviting the public to feast on the results. This inaugural Crawfish Mambo, scheduled for 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, May 12, rain or shine, is a benefit for the
University of New Orleans Alumni Association, and it will be held on the UNO Lakefront Campus. Spokesman Jeffery Ory says teams based around restaurants, bars and even law firms have all stepped up to participate, with each team agreeing to boil a minimum of 10 sacks of crawfish. At an average weight of between 30 and 40 pounds per sack, there’s bound to be a lot of crawfish, and while official judges will determine the festival winners, the public gets to have all they want of the various entries. The festival provides the crawfish, and seasonings, sides and extras are up to the discretion of the teams. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the gate, and beer and other beverages will be for sale around the grounds. Six musical performers are scheduled throughout the day, including Paul Sanchez, Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and Bonerama. The deadline for team registration is Wednesday, May 9. Visit www. crawfishmambo.com for details.
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Trends, notes, quirks and quotes from the world of food. “If I offered any (food) truck that they’d never have to be on the street again and they only had to do catering, every single one would do it.” — Matt Geller, CEO of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association, a Los Angeles-based industry group for food truck operators, quoted in a recent National Public Radio story about how issues from parking to city regulations have more operators looking to get off the streets and into private catering.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > may 8 > 2012
The Hollygrove name has been turning up on menus at more and more New Orleans restaurants, where it’s practically become a byword for locally-sourced food. On Monday, May 14, you can see a lot of these same restaurants at Hollygrove Market & Farm (8301 Olive St., 483-7037; www.hollygrovemarket.com) for its annual Party in the Garden. The event is an important fundraiser for Hollygrove, a nonprofit urban farm, a market for other small-scale farmers and food producers, an education center and a hub for the local food movement. Guests have the run of Hollygrove’s gardens, while restaurants and bars serve food and drink from stations around the site. Since forming in 2008, Hollygrove has developed a strong distribution network with local restaurants, and 21 of them will be on hand for the event, serving food prepared in part with local produce. Participating restaurants include La Petite Grocery, Iris, Satsuma Cafe, The Company Burger, Boucherie, Crescent Pie & Sausage Co., Maurepas Foods, The Three Muses and others. Restaurants aren’t the only participants. Local produce has been turning up on craft cocktail menus, and the Party in the Garden will feature garden-inspired drinks from Cure, Bellocq and others. The Party in the Garden includes live and silent auctions of items donated by Hollygrove supporters and an auction for a farm-to-table dinner at Covey Rise Farm, a Hollygrove supplier on the Northshore. The party is from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Tickets are $40 in advance and $45 at the door. Proceeds support Hollygrove’s educa-
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