Jazz Fest Feast

Some people see Jazz Fest as this:

Image courtesy of Ian Hoch/NOLA Defender.

When I think of Jazz Fest, I envision this:

Cochon de Lait Po-Boy from Love at First Bite.

While most Jazz Festers will be parked 100 yards from the Acura Stage listening to the Beach Boys or dancing in front of Congo Square to Cee Lo Green this weekend, I will likely be engaging in an internal debate as to whether I should go for that second cochon de lait po-boy from Love at First Bite. (And I must say that I had a taste of this pork perfection two weeks ago at French Quarter Fest, and it was best that I have eaten in the last 5 years.)

But as discussed in our article on feasting your way through Jazz Fest, doubling up on your favorite Jazz Fest foods may prevent you from enjoying the bounty from the Fair Grounds. So much to eat, so little stomach space to spare. You can read up on our tips for a multi-course Jazz Fest meal by clicking on the above link or by picking up a copy of OffBeat Magazine's Jazz Fest Bible on your way into the festival.

The food at Jazz Fest has been written about ad nauseum, so we will spare you from another Top 10 list. Instead, we want to know what you think are the most underrated and the most overrated eats at the Fest.

I'll start:

Most Underrated - Fatty's Cracklins
Most Overrated - Crawfish Enchiladas

Liuzza's By The Track Bloody Mary: Is It Worth It?

Jazz Fest is so close you can almost see the loud, Hawaiian shirts, straw hats, and dream catchers walking through the Faubourg St. John. For many, no trip to the hallowed Fairgrounds are complete without a stop at Liuzza's By The Track for a Bloody Mary. They then shuffle there as yet un-sunburned selves past the Mystery Street entrance and proceed to embarrass themselves with what they term dancing.

To be honest, I would rather not drink than have a Bloody Mary. Too often, some jackal with a fistful of celery salt, ruins the simplicity of the drink by stuffing it with all sorts of garden garnishments. If I wanted to be reminded of yard work, I would just drink in my backyard. The bartender then loads it up with hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and enough citrus to make lemon ice box pie jealous. What is worse is they simply layer the drink over ice, barely pausing to shake it, mix it, or otherwise craft the drink. The warmth of the drink melts the ice and soon you are holding a tepid, heartburn delivery system with fennel seeds stuck in your teeth.

Behold a well-made Bloody Mary. It is jet cold and pairs perfectly with three Advils. The garnishments are a bit much for me, but the snack of spicy green beans at the end at least allows you to tell your mom you are eating your veggies. The citrus component is well-deployed acting to provide a contrast to the tomato base without causing your lips to pucker. A slight undercurrent of spice helps to remind you that you are doing something you shouldn't be doing. Namely, playing hooky from work and paying $55 to see a band that plays for free on Tuesday nights at the bar down  the street from your house.

If you are going to Jazz Fest, and you should, start or end your day with a Bloody Mary from Liuzza's By The Track.

Liuzza's By The Track Bloody Mary: Is It Worth It? Definitely.
1518 N. Lopez Street
218-7888

Like the photo? Obviously, it isn't my handiwork but that of Renee Bienvenu.

The Gospel According to OffBeat

Jazz Fest 2011 officially kicks off today, and as the throngs pass through the entrance gate, the most seasoned veterans will be sure to grab a copy of the Jazz Fest Bible, which is as quintessential to Jazz Fest as sunscreen and a contraband bottle of vodka to spike your mango freeze. In addition to the low down all of artists, stage schedules, and editors' picks, you can read Rene's little diddy on how the Jazz Fest seafood vendors are still going strong one year after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

And if for some reason you're still hungry after you leave the Fair Grounds, those willing to brave the crowds can swing by Cafe Degas, which coincidentally is the subject of our Dining Out column in this month's issue of OffBeat. With weather like it is today, a seat in the open air dining room may be worth the wait.

Have a great weekend.

Jazz Fest Grub

Jazz Fest has finally arrived and with it our annual cravings for those festival treats we usually only enjoy on the infield of the Fairgrounds with a lukewarm Miller Lite to wash it all down. Rene has opined before on how the setting vastly improves our opinion of the food at Jazz Fest, but we both agree that there are certain dishes which cannot be passed up. With so many options to choose from, you could eat all day long and still leave wanting to try more. Here are a couple of my favorites.



I must admit that the chicken fricasse never crossed my radar until a few years back, but now the Bennachin booth in Congo Square is one of my first stops upon arrival.  The combo plate with jama-jama and plantains is a feast that can last you through the entire day if necessary.

When the cochon de lait po-boy from Walker's (a/k/a Love at First Bite) is freshly made, there may be no better sandwich on the planet. However, last year those crazy kids over at St. James Cheese Company taught me a trick that takes this Jazz Fest staple to another universe - adding Fatty's Cracklins ON TOP of the cochon de lait po-boy. This must be what heaven tastes like.

Throw in a crawfish sack and softshell crab po-boy, and I'm almost ready for my mango freeze for dessert.

Jazz Fest Food

When it comes to Jazz Fest, there are two kinds of people: those that go for the bands and those that go for the food. Place us in the latter category. Every festival goer has his/her favorite foods (mine meat pies for me, cochon de lait po-boy for Peter), and chefs are no different. This article in the Jazz Fest Bible put out by offBEAT Magazine, gives you a chef's eye view to eating right on da grounds.

The food at Jazz Fest is so extensive and diverse that one would need to attend everyday in order to try it all. But if you had to pick just a few things to eat at the Fair Grounds, what would they be? Is crawfish bread really worth waiting in line for? What's the most underrated food available? Is there anything wrong with just drinking Miller Lite all day and baking in the sun? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Whatever you are eating this weekend, remember to bring your pancho because it looks like it's going to be a wet one.

Jazz Fest '09

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of Jazz Fest. Like you needed another reason to go? The weather outlook for this weekend is very optimistic, so take to the Fairgrounds and revel in the greatest celebration of our unique culture. Not sure which acts to see or what to eat? Pickup a free copy of the Jazz Fest Bible at the gates. This pocket sized guide is the handy dandy work of our editor over at offBeat, complete with the our rundown of the food vendors. There are too many to list here. But no worries because no matter what you decide to eat, for some reason it always tastes better at Jazz Fest.

Tomorrow Chef Donald Link will be in the Book Tent from 2:00-3:00 signing copies of his new book Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link's Louisiana. On a related note, Calcasieu, Chef Link's new private event facility, will be serving dinner this weekend and next. Checkout the menu on the right hand side of the page under the heading "Stay Current."

Besides Jazz Fest there is also the Zurich Classic over at TPC (where the food in the Champion's Tent has been pretty good in my past experiences), and also the Hornets come home for Game 3 tomorrow at noon.

I still beelieve.

Semolina's Bistro Italia

On a late Sunday afternoon, The Folk Singer and I were walking down Magazine Street looking for a place to eat. Slim Goodies and Gott Gourmet Cafe were both already closed, so we settled on Semolina's Bistro Italia. Before we move onto the food, let me say that this is a great space for a restaurant with its tall ceilings, outdoor tables and windows for watching passersby, and mirrored walls which give the appearance of a much larger dining room.

We began with an unorthodox but artfully presented caprese bruschetta made with garlic bread, grape tomatoes, and boccichini mozzarella. Different but good.

The Folk Singer had the Jazz Fest perennial favorite crawfish roban (but made with penne instead of rotini). In my opinion, this dish is the archetype for Rene's theory on the food at Jazz Fest.

I had the meatball ciabatta with a side of sun dried tomato polenta. The polenta was thick and buttery (but that's how I like it), and the sandwich was neither the best nor the worst I've had. On a sidenote, I kind of felt guilty about liking the bread because I am pretty sure it came straight from Sysco.

Semolina's Bistro Italia - Par.

Jazz Fest Food: The Myth

I would rather never go fishing. And when I wore a skinnier man's clothes, I did not really enjoy ham. Strange yes; but give me a second to prove a point. When fishing, a ham sandwich tastes absolutely amazing. In reality all food tastes better in the outdoors.

You would send food you get at Jazz Fest back to the kitchen in a heartbeat if you got it in a restaurant. Yet, with the sun on your back and a parade of Indians passing by, it tastes like the best food in the world. Enough so that the symbiotic relationship between food and music keep raising the bar for each other. Come for the music, come back for the food. Love the food and discover a new band. Let me be real clear here: I love Jazz Fest, I have no complaints about it. But the food is not that good.

Now coupled with the atmosphere, the joie de vivre, the sounds, the smells, the outdoors, the thankfulness for another Jazz Fest, it works. And thank God for that.

The best thing I had, and we ate a lot, the Poulet Fricasse wowed us with simplicity. Grilled chicken on a wooden skewer; juicy, flavorful, and on a stick. The cochon de lait poboy varied from overly dressed to dry; but all in all that sandwich kicks some serious pork butt. The dibbi (grilled steak pita) had a killer mayo-hot sauce and was just what I needed. Crawfish Monica; good little dish there, but come on its cream, butter, green onions and pasta. Not rocket science there.

The crawfish beignets Lady had she described as "grease, that's is all I taste." Certain items like oyster patties and fried eggplant receive no help from being consumed in the heat. The mango freeze blew me over in the sheer refusal of it to taste like anything.

Ever notice that the "Authentic Louisiana and New Orleans Food" served at Jazz Fest usually only shows up at Jazz Fest? What restaurants serve a Cochon De Lait Po-Boy? A Crawfish Sack? When was the last time you saw Jambalaya on a menu? And why do restauranteurs not put those items on their menus?

I completely understand that the food will not meet expectations one would have if eating at a restaurant. Volume catering and cooking will never match individualized attention to each plate (same reason wedding food falls flat without fail). However, the restaurant space in the fairgrounds should allow a different restaurant(s) each day to come and offer an abbreviated menu. This would allow people to get out of the sun or rain, sit down, enjoy a meal, and then go on their merry way. The food would more accurately, and more deliciously, represent true Louisiana and New Orleans cuisine and you could still have all the food vendors outside.

With all that said, this last weekend at Jazz Fest again reaffirmed a lot of New Orleanians belief that this city matters and they made the right choice to come home to momma. With the sun on my back, a beer that slowly creeped towards lukewarm, Poulet Fricasse, and the last notes of Rebirth, everything I tasted, smelled, saw, heard, and touched during Jazz Fest I was thankful for and convinced was world-class.

Who knows? I love ham now and I would still rather fish than go shopping.

For Lunch Today...

If you can swing it, go to Jazz Fest and gorge on Cochon De Lait Po-Boys, Crawfish Bread and Beer for a delicious low carb lunch. Randy Newman takes the stage in the early afternoon and if you get close enough to him he may write a song about you: "Pretty lady eating an apple, right foot, left foot, right foot..."

However, that scenario will not likely occur. In response I would recommend that you go to Singha Thai on Carondelet (Towards Canal Street from Poydras). Snake past the kitchen to your left and find a table in the backroom. If the line seems long, do not worry you will probably be seated, served, and sent on your way in about 35 minutes. Start with a few appetizers for the table. Chicken Sate, Spring Rolls, etc... you know the drill. Lady loves the yellow curry [EDIT: Lady is now a Red Curry Aficionado]; the other selections deliver a load of heat if you ask for it. Ask for it. Go there and return to the office in a hurry so you can sneak out at 3 and catch a few bands.