Festivals

Oak Street Po-Boy Festival is back, with music on four stages and a truck

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After a two-year absence, the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival, the popular event celebrating New Orleans’ beloved sandwich, will return Sunday (Nov. 6). The 14th annual festival will host more than 40 food vendors, four stages of music (plus a piano truck stage), an arts market and kids zone. The 2022 festival will also highlight the history of the po-boy with special programming and events, organizers said in a press release. ​The festival traditionally features a po-boy competition, where local restaurants battle for top honors.

events

Neal Bodenheimer to talk about ‘New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em’

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Neal Bodenheimer, owner of renowned New Orleans bars and restaurants — Cure and Vals on Freret Street and Cane & Table and Peychaud’s in the French Quarter — will be at the Garden District Book Shop on Monday (Oct. 24) for a pre-publication celebration of his debut cocktail book, “Cure: New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em.” Due out nationwide on Tuesday October 25, the book will showcase New Orleans’ iconic cocktail scene through 100 drinks — each chosen to represent the city’s past, present and future. The event will kick-off at 6 p.m. with a welcome reception within The Chicory House featuring bites and select cocktails from the book. Afterward, Bodenheimer and his friend and partner in Cure and sister concept Cane & Table, Kirk Estopinal, who contributed some of his original recipes to the book, will sit down to discuss the book and the cocktail culture in New Orleans.

business

Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco brings tastes of Peru to St. Charles Avenue

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Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco recently opened its second location on St. Charles Avenue in the Lower Garden District. The Peruvian bistro opened in the former St. Charles Tavern on  Sept. 28 and is serving lunch, happy hour and dinner. 

The two owners of Tito’s Ceviche & Pisco, Tatiana and Juan Lock, began searching for a second location for their Magazine Street restaurant before the pandemic. In the summer of 2020, Lock was driving down St.

food and drink

Innovative brunch spot Scrambled to open next to Octavia Books

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Scrambled, a brunch restaurant from chef Steven Green is opening in early November on Laurel Street, in the space that housed Toast’s Uptown location, until that brunch spot closed earlier this year. In June, Green signed the lease for the space on Laurel Street to open Scrambled. He described the venture as a step up from the typical breakfast joint. “We’re going to offer classic breakfast food on our menu, but we’re also going to have fun with it,” Green said. “We want to include things on the menu that will make adults feel like kids again.”

Green, a New Jersey native, attended culinary school at the French Culinary Institute in New York.

business

Staff of life: Talking with Bellegarde Bakery’s new worker-owners

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Bellegarde Bakery, named for what was possibly New Orleans’ first bakery (established in 1722), has joined the small but growing ranks of cooperatively owned and run businesses in New Orleans. The acclaimed bakery at 8300 Apple St. in Hollygrove was founded in 2012 by Graison Gill with a mission to produce high-quality naturally fermented breads made with flour milled in-house. After 10 years, Gill announced his intent to move to London to start a new bakery there. Rather than sell the New Orleans business, he and his team worked to orchestrate a transition to a worker-cooperative model.

food and drink

Avenue Pub purchased by local barbecue and bar veterans

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The Avenue Pub has new owners. Blue Oak BBQ founders Ronnie Evans and Philip Moseley have teamed up with the owners of the Frenchmen Street bar The Rambler, Steve Jeffcoat and Ryan Noland, to purchase the Pub in early September. The longtime St. Charles Avenue spot for beer, bourbon and bites is currently closed for renovations and will reopen sometime this month. Former owner Polly Watts helped her father, Duane Watts, open the divey 24-hour beer hangout in 1987.

food and drink

Vals’ Cuban American chef is serving up a Latin brunch

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The mid-century modern café on the Freret restaurant corridor looks like it would be more at home in Palm Springs. But Vals’ retro California vibe extends further than the décor. What’s drawing attention now is its weekend brunch. The Latin-inspired menu pays homage to the deeper roots of chef Alfredo Nogueira. Self-taught in the culinary arts, Nogueira points to his childhood family table as inspiration.

events

Al Copeland celebrated in biographical cookbook by Chris Rose and Kit Wohl

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“Secrets of a Tastemaker: Al Copeland The Cookbook” by Chris Rose and Kit Wohl was published Sept. 13 by the Cookbook Studio. The book is a biography of fried chicken magnate Al Copeland Sr. It is also a cookbook packed with some of Copeland’s most famous (and not-so-famous) recipes. Copeland was the larger-than-life figure behind the Copeland’s restaurant chain and the famed Popeye’s franchise. Al Copeland Jr., who wrote the book’s forward, and Kit Wohl will be at the Garden District Book Shop on Saturday afternoon (Oct.

Find authentic Mexican fare at Loya’s in Gert Town

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Don’t be fooled by the outside of Loya’s Mexican Restaurant. It’s located in a small industrial-looking building on a strip right off Earhart Boulevard. But inside, the menu is packed with authentic Mexican food made from family recipes. Loya’s owners Perla Sanchez Loya and Maria “Coco” del Socorro Loya are from Mexico City and flavor every meal they serve with their traditions and culture. 

The Loyas are mostly self-taught cooks. Maria honed her skills in restaurants in Mexico City.

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Simply CBD brings the benefits of legal THC to Magazine Street (sponsored)

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You can’t miss the Simply CBD: Cannabis Dispensary on Magazine Street. Decorated with massive, colorful hemp leaves, the shop’s exterior has become a popular photo op for cannabis enthusiasts. The inside of the shop is just as magical for hemp lovers. 

Helpful employees guide customers through the intricacies of various hemp products, many of which contain the cannabis-derived compounds cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is a psychoactive compound that causes the intoxicating effects of cannabis. “Many customers come into our shop looking for marijuana,” says general manager Collin Avrard.