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Our weekly blog on the New Orleans fine dining scene
Haute Plates

September 2009

Bayona

09/24/09

Bayona

Last weekend I had an all-around excellent meal at Bayona and upon leaving had to ask myself why I don’t go there more often. I was surprised to be reminded that it has been around for 18 years as even today it gets mentioned in the same breath as restaurants on the cutting edge.

The restaurant seems both old and new at the same time, partly because of the menu. The left side features the signature dishes, such as Susan Spicer’s Garlic Soup, and the right side gets changed out frequently with such new dishes as an andouille-stuffed rabbit roulade.

In addition, the patio’s charm is timeless, and going into fall, the appeal grows as the weather cools. The dining rooms have undergone renovations, including a cushion-like cladding on some walls...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

New Orleans Seafood Festival

09/17/09

New Orleans Seafood Festival

Food- and music-lovers get ready –– the Third Annual New Orleans Seafood Festival kicks off next Friday, Sept. 25. The three-day event features artists such as Amanda Shaw and Dumpstaphunk, along with cooking demos from great local chefs including Susan Spicer, Frank Brigtsen and John Besh. The event takes place at Harrah’s Fulton Square, and admission is free. Enjoy signature cuisine with a focus on seafood from restaurants such as Galatoire’s, Red Fish Grill, Drago’s and more. Young ones and those with a sweet tooth can grab a treat from New Orleans Sno-ball. As a plus, festival-goers can enjoy both the LSU and Saints games on plasma TVs, so sports-lovers will not be left out in the cold. For more...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

Dauphin Island

09/10/09

Dauphin Island

This Labor Day I spent the weekend with friends at their beach house on Dauphin Island in Alabama. On the menu were smoked ribs, seafood gumbo, boiled crabs and some excellent pimento cheese spread courtesy of our hostess Amanda. Their house is flanked by a bird sanctuary and fronts the beach, a location that easily captures a laid-back vibe. The scene was completed by views from the deck, from where we could see the white gallon jugs tethered to our crab traps bobbing in the surf.

It was a totally food-centric weekend, reinforced by rainy weather that redirected our energies into the kitchen. The rain didn’t keep us from setting our crab traps, but it did keep us from fishing, as my friend Teddy pointed out it would not be a good idea to be waving an 8-foot surf...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1

The Joint

09/02/09

The Joint

Looking for some distinctive barbecue in a setting with enough local character to stand up to the dry rub on its ribs? If so, check out The Joint, a shaggy dog ‘cue shack nestled deep in the Bywater where Poland Avenue snugs up against Dauphine Street.

If the Saturn Bar opened up a barbecue destination, I imagine that it would look like this: a kitschy indoor/outdoor locale seemingly furnished with found furniture and a soundtrack courtesy of a great jukebox, all pulled together by the heady scent of wood smoke in the air. As a plus, the clientele is diverse enough to match the offbeat décor. On a recent Friday at high noon, the line was composed of neighborhood folk, service industry types, professionals and an Army...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

About This Blog


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 Web site, 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 Web site 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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