Pontchartrain Pete

I was invited to spend Labor Day weekend with NOLAnotes and BSIComics at a friend’s camp in Intracoastal City, La. It’s pretty much directly south of Lafayette near ((but not on) the Gulf. The nearest towns are Abbeville, Erath and Delcambre, all pretty much Cajun fishing communities that have served to support the offshore oil [...]

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Updated 07/23/2009. Tales of the Cocktail 2009 is now over. From the opening ceremony Wednesday, July 8 (celebrating the 75th anniversary of NOLA’s own Herbsaint), to the Wormwood Society’s grand soirée closing things out on Sunday night, it was a whirlwind of boozing, networking and learning. Tales of the Cocktail’s official cocktail, the Creole Julep, [...]

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While I’m still working on some more detailed posts on things I learned at Tales of the Cocktail this year, I want to hand out some kudos to everyone involved. Ann and Paul Tuennerman, along with the Cocktail Angels Melissa Young, Christina Gaspari and Michelle Dunnick and the rest of Ann’s staff did a remarkable [...]

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Updated, see below. So a while back, while researching the Roosevelt Hotel’s opening, I couldn’t help noticing all the references to the Ramos Gin Fizz, along with the Sazerac (at the Sazerac Bar) it’s the hotel’s signature drink. The Ramos Gin Fizz was the favorite drink of Governor Huey Long, famous rogue politician who, they [...]

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The Hotel Montleone, one of New Orleans’ historic hotels, and home to Tales of the Cocktail, is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its Carousel Bar. The Royal Street landmark is famous for its literary connections. Literary greats have haunted its halls for decades. Tennessee Williams was a frequent guest, Truman Capote often quipped that he [...]

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Tom Fitzmorris opined, back in 1977, that there were three restaurants he couldn’t live without: Antoine’s, Maylie’s and the Bud’s Broiler on City Park Avenue. Tom would have say whether all of that still stands today, since although Antoine’s is going strong, Maylie’s has been closed for years now (the also-defunct Smith & Wollensky last [...]

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It’s celebrated for its storied dining rooms named after and decorated with memorabilia from some of New Orleans’ most staid carnival krewes. Antoine’s is expanding on its traditions with a new venue, next door to the hallowed restaurant: the Hermes Bar. The bar’s grand opening was Friday, coinciding with the opening day of French Quarter [...]

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New Orleans and cocktails, two things nearest and dearest to my heart. Each year Tales of the Cocktail presents all the best of these two things; cocktails, cocktail history, New Orleans’ cocktail history, and, for the finale, your chance to participate in New Orleans cocktail history in the making. I’ll have more details for everyone [...]

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I let loose my New Year’s resolution a couple of weeks ago: To eat better in 2009. Better steaks, better shrimp, better meals all around. One wag, Yat Pundit, echoed the theme with “less Subway, more Parkway!” Yeah, you rite! That reminded me of a glaring omission in my life. I’ve yet to have a [...]

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“On my honor I will do my best: To do my duty to God and my country…” Oath, Boy Scouts of America. “I vow to personally buy the first Sazerac for any visitor who asks ‘Hey, where do I get a Hurricane?’ and pledge to pull out the Herbsaint and Rye no matter the time [...]

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I’ll let the press release from Ann Tuennerman explain all the good news: TALES OF THE COCKTAIL OPENING RECEPTION TO BE HELD AT THE NEWLY RESTORED ROOSEVELT HOTEL TOAST OF THE EVENING TO OCCUR AT THE ORIGINAL SAZERAC BAR NEW ORLEANS, LA—December 1, 2008 – Tales of the Cocktail, a cocktail and culinary festival celebrating [...]

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Met the folks today for a nice little brunch at Ralph’s on the Park. Before heading to the park, that is, for some Japan Fest at NOMA. Started things off with a Sazerac and a little chicken and andouille gumbo: Finished with the BBQ shrimp and grits. Pretty good, a nice touch is they peel [...]

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We went to catch up on streetcar photos for StreetCarArt.com today. They placed another set last week; Nola caught the ones in Lakeview last week and today we went to get the ones installed on Chartres, Jackson Square and at Cafe du Monde. They’ll be posted at the streetcar site soon. I collided with one [...]

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It was quite the strange trip yesterday, Labor Day 2008. Gustav beat the odds and made landfall at the exact spot the models had it going to 18 hours before, and within 50 miles or so of the models from 48 hours before. It was not nearly as strong as predicted, which was the reason [...]

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More from Tales of the Cocktail, day 2 for me, day 3 for everyone else. After attending the absinthe seminar, we headed back downstairs to formulate a plan. A plan never actually materialized, in no small part because we chose the hall outside one of the tasting rooms to check the schedule. Inexorably drawing us [...]

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I’ve decided to break this Tales of the Cocktail post into a few non-linear small parts. This part covers the first and last happenings of the day, the absinthe seminar and end-of-day cocktails at the Carousel Bar (below). I continued on my quest at Tales of the Cocktail to learn all there is to know [...]

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With that challenge, Kevin Brauch (the reporter on Iron Chef America who is not Alton Brown, thank Gawd) opened up Tales of the Cocktail. But first things first. Today’s kick-off event was Toast to Tales of the Cocktail in the Riverview Room of the Hotel Montleone. NOLA blogger Loki of Humid City and the Krewe [...]

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Yesterday’s coffee klatch evolved into the ultimate tweet-up: lunch with Nola, Yat Pundit and Ryan (joined by his lovely fiance) at Galatoire’s Restaurant. Galatoire’s is on Bourbon Street, near the corner at Iberville. Besides fantastic Creole cuisine, it’s famous for quite a few quirks, among them that they don’t take reservations for the first-floor dining [...]

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It was a busy day. I started out on a quest to find a combination recuperation/baby’s first birthday gift for Nola & CS–a bottle of Kübler absinthe. Alright, it really wasn’t much of a first birthday gift for Sun; I promise to make it up to her next year. First stop, Martin Wine Cellar in [...]

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O.K. folks, I have received a request (or was it a challenge?) from Yat Pundit to post my quick and dirty version of a classic New Orleans dish, Chicken Bonne Femme (Good Woman’s Chicken?). Tujague’s has probably the best known version of the dish which is prepared with garlic, potatoes, white wine and, of course, [...]

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