Louisiana Eats

Whether it's the most elegant wedding reception or a simple family birthday party, no celebration is complete without a cake. On this week's show, we explore this delicious dessert in all its glory.

On March 17th, 2023, the Dickie Brennan restaurant group purchased the 110-year-old Uptown landmark, Pascal's Manale Restaurant. This new chapter of Manale's guarantees that generations of beloved, delicious authentic traditions will continue to be honored there on Napoleon Avenue. On this week's show, we explore the generational ties that have long existed between Pascal's family – the Defelices – and the Brennan family.

Whether you’re observing Easter, Passover, or any of the springtime traditions from across the world, there's a good chance that sugar will play a part of your celebrations. On this week's show, we pay tribute to that beloved sweetener in many ways.

Historically, when people consider the roots of classic Creole food, the French are given most of the credit. But lately there has been increasing focus on the African hand that stirred those pots. New Orleans has been blessed in recent years with an influx of young African chefs and restaurateurs who have been busy shedding new light on where our food really came from. On this week's show, we honor those ancestors with the help of New Orleans’ new African culinary guard.

March 19th might be just another day in other parts of the United States, but here in New Orleans it's a day when revelers take to the streets in honor of the Feast of St. Joseph. The tradition of food altars dedicated to Jesus' foster father came to the Crescent City in the late 1800s with immigrants from Sicily, where Joseph is the patron saint. What was called Mi-Carême (or Mid-Lent by the Creoles) was a day when fasting was suspended and festivities abounded. On this week's show, we explore the holiday and join in on the celebration.

On this week's show, we explore the ways culture and identity can collide at the table. We begin the hour with a conversation with Andrea Wang, author of the award-winning picture book, Watercress. With illustrations by Jason Chin, Andrea's book is an autobiographical tale of a child of Chinese immigrants discovering and connecting with her heritage.

From Twelfth Night though Mardi Gras Day, king cake becomes somewhat of a local obsession here in Louisiana. And over the last few years, it seems like the Carnival treat is simply on steroids! Across the state, bakers have expanded the design from the original brioche dough ring decorated with purple, green, and gold sugar to create cakes featuring every kind of filling – both sweet and savory. No one knows more about king cake than Matt Haines, author of "The Big Book of King Cake." Matt uncovered amazing historical facts and chronicled the lives and cakes of 75 bakers while writing his coffee table tome.

On this week's show, we’re trekking across the Causeway once again to explore the culinary scene in St. Tammany Parish. We begin at Backwater Farmstead in the rural town of Bush, Louisiana. There, Ross McKnight and his family make foie gras, a luxury food they hope to make more accessible in our state.After we tour the farm, we head over Olde Town Slidell to meet Jeremy and Alyssa Reilly of Restaurant Cote and the Maple Room. These high school sweethearts have carved out a very special place in the hearts and stomachs of the Slidell community for nearly 10 years.We then speak with Nick Asprodites, the proprietor of two dockside restaurants and bars: the original Blue Crab on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and a second iteration at the Pointe Marina in Slidell.Finally, we meet Chef Jeff Mattia. Jeff opened his first restaurant, Pyre Provisions, in Covington just months before the Covid-19 pandemic began. Though Pyre Provisions closed its doors this year, Jeff has found continued success in his newest restaurant concept, Pyre BBQ on the Mandeville Trace.For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

This year, Americans are expected to spend upwards of 3.4 billion dollars to decorate their homes for Halloween. But here in New Orleans, we don’t have to decorate – we're just plain old spooky already!On this year's Halloween edition of Louisiana Eats, we go Garden District ghost hunting with Kristen Dugas before we welcome nationally renowned psychic Cari Roy – along with ghost-busting, equipment-toting Misti Gaither – into Poppy's Canal Boulevard home. The house was built for Angelina Prima in 1956 by her famous musician son, Louis, and she apparently still likes to hang around there. Finally, we stop off at two of New Orleans' Cities of the Dead with cemetery authority, Sally Asher, owner and operator of Red Sash Tours.For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

When it comes to sharing our authentic food culture, there is no family as influential over time as the Brennans of New Orleans. Almost 80 years ago, Owen Brennan got the party started at the Old Absinthe House. Since that time, the family has grown and prospered, giving us all a wonderful time along the way.On this week's show, we sit down for the first time with the fourth generation of one of America's premiere food families. We hear from Ralph Brennan's kids Kathryn Brennan McLeod and her brother Patrick, Dickie Brennan's daughter Sarah and his nephew (Lauren Brennan's son) Geordie Brower, and the cousin who is guaranteed to spice things up, president of Baumer Foods, Inc., Pepper Baumer.