Nov 1, 201209:44 AM
Haute Plates

Our weekly blog on the New Orleans fine dining scene

Boudin, Beer and Baru

Robert Peyton

The Causa at Baru.

Emeril Lagasse has had a tremendous impact on this city and our food culture. Most people know him as a celebrity chef, but he's also a philanthropist. This is the second year that he's hosting Boudin and Beer as a component of his annual fundraiser Carnivale du Vin. Here's an excerpted version of the press release describing the events that will take place on Friday, Nov. 2, and Saturday, Nov. 3:

 

Emeril Lagasse and the country’s food, wine and entertainment elite come to New Orleans for the Emeril Lagasse Foundation’s 8th Annual Carnivale du Vin, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012. Named one of the Top Ten U.S. Charity Wine Auctions by Wine Spectator the Foundation’s signature annual fundraiser benefits children’s causes. The Emeril Lagasse Foundation is now celebrating its 10th anniversary, and since its inception, the Foundation has invested more than $5 million in non-profits that support children’s causes focusing on culinary arts, school food and nutrition, and arts and education programs. Last year’s Carnivale du Vin raised nearly $2 million.

The weekend celebration kicks off on Nov. 2 at The Foundry with Abita Beer Presents Emeril’s Boudin and Beer sponsored by Buffalo Trace, an indoor/outdoor food and music festival celebrating all-things Louisiana. The charity bash is hosted by chef Lagasse and honorary co-chairs Mario Batali and New Orleans’ own Donald Link. Fifty of the country’s hottest chefs from San Francisco to New York, with several of New Orleans’ top chefs represented, will be cooking up their take on boudin, with plenty of craft brews from Abita Beer. Guests will also enjoy live musical entertainment by popular Cajun, New Orleans, and alternative country acts, including Drake White, Feufollet and Red Stick Ramblers.

 

It's a great party, and a pretty good cause as well. Go to the website to learn more or to purchase tickets.

On another note, I had a chance to stop in for lunch at Baru recently, and I was very happy with the meal. I started with the Causa – chilled seafood over a purple potato puree and garnished with crab claws, quail eggs and a black olive aioli. It was a beautiful dish on the plate, and pretty tasty as well. I think it could have used a bit more olive slices, but that's a minor quibble.

Next I had an arepa – a thick corn tortilla stuffed with your choice of fillings, then heated on the griddle. My arepa was a bit dry, but the filling of black beans and pork belly was excellent.

If you haven't been to Baru lately, give it a shot. They've even got their liquor license these days. The restaurant is located at 3700 Magazine St., and is open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for dinner from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. and for Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 895-2225 to learn more or to make a reservation.

This article appears in the November 2012 issue of Haute Plates

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Haute Plates

Our weekly blog on the New Orleans fine dining scene

about


Robert D. Peyton was born at Ochsner Hospital and, apart from four years in Tennessee for college and three years in Baton Rouge for law school, has lived here his entire life. He is a strong believer in the importance of food to our local culture and in the importance of our local food culture, generally. He is a partner at the law firm Christovich & Kearney LLP and began writing about food on his website, www.appetites.us, in 1997. That is approximately 72 Internet years, for anyone counting.

In 2006, New Orleans Magazine named Appetites the best food blog in New Orleans. The choice was made relatively easy due to the fact that Appetites was, at the time, the only food blog in New Orleans.

Robert has gills, but they are nonfunctional.

He began writing the Restaurant Insider column for New Orleans Magazine in 2007 and has been published in St. Charles Avenue magazine and on the website www.slashfood.com. He is the only person he knows who has been interviewed in GQ magazine, albeit for calling Alan Richman a penis. He is not proud of that, incidentally. (Yes, he is.)

Robert’s maternal grandmother is responsible for his love of good food, and he has never since had fried chicken or homemade biscuits as good as hers.

Robert once ate an entire goat, but it was very small, and he didn’t feel too good about it afterward. He did, however, feel better than the goat.

He developed his curiosity about restaurant cooking in part from the venerable PBS cooking show Great Chefs and has an extensive collection of cookbooks, many of which do not require coloring. 

Certain parts of the above are exaggerations, but one thing is true: Robert appreciates your comments and e-mails, so keep them coming.

If you find that you need a more constant source of Robert in your life, you can follow him on Twitter.

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