Where Now?
I have the distinction of having passed the two-week period following my second shot that means I am officially vaccinated. I do not feel any different, unless you count the slight easing of tension that knowing I am unlikely…
Author: Robert Peyton
Sake
I received an email recently from Wetlands Sake, reminding me that there is a sake brewery in New Orleans. Moreover, they’re using a short grain rice developed by the LSU Agriculture Center that is being grown just for them. The…
This Is Not An April Fool’s Joke
Nor am I playing at Magritte. I simply have too much respect for you to pretend that I could “fool” you. Also, I forgot it was going to be April 1 when I wrote this piece. If you are…
Secret Thai and Plume
We were looking for take out the other night and I wanted Thai. My wife, whom I love dearly, said she’d heard about a place called Secret Thai and her friends recommended it. I know at least one of…
Silk Road, Torshi and New Tastes
The first thing I tasted when I dined recently at Silk Road was a stuffed grape leaf made by Chef Rafik “Rafiky” Abohattab, who is doing a “popup” as Torshi at Silk Road until March 28. It has been…
Cooking with Offspring
Not long ago I bought my son a chef’s knife. He’s 19 and attending college virtually, but he’s going to be there in-person before long and he’s expressed an interest in cooking. Recently he asked whether we could get…
My Annual Birthday Joke, Houston Food Bank and Felix’s at the Lakefront
I would first of all like to thank those of you who’ve already sent me birthday wishes. This year the celebration of my entry into the world falls on a Sunday, and I am told that because of the…
Meals at Restaurants and Takeout, Too.
My wife and I have, for the most part, been ordering takeout rather than dining in restaurants because there is a pandemic and we have family at a higher risk of bad outcomes from exposure to the virus than…
Cast Iron
I read a lot of things on the internet and visit a lot of different websites. One I visit from time to time is called Vice. Like most other websites, I typically visit it because I see a link…
Bring Out Your Dead
Carnival is upon us, despite the restrictions. We are all, I hope, looking for ways to celebrate the season without undue risk. Let us not forget that we’re celebrating, ostensibly, the last day we can before we start 40…
Things Happening Now
Before you know it, it will be Carnival. My wife and daughters recently visited the King Cake Hub and I am told it was delightful. They came home with a cake from Haydel’s, and I was well pleased. “It’s…
Some Words About Rouses
It does not feel like Carnival. It is Wednesday as I write this. I know that because I have a phone, but over the last few months I’ve had trouble keeping up with the day of the week. I’m…
Resolutions
I now weigh 157 pounds. That is not, statistically, a lot for a man of my age and height. The problem is that whereas some people can wear weight well, at 157 pounds I look something like a pincushion.…
Camellia Beans
I’m going to be honest: I dreaded Mondays when I was a kid. Mondays meant red beans and I did not like red beans. I ate the sausage, but the beans were not my thing. It wasn’t until I…
Boy Howdy!
Last week I apologized for the light tone of the piece I was writing in the context of ever-rising numbers of COVID infections and the prospect of a mutated strain that would be even more infectious. I was naïve,…
A New Year
2020 was the sort of year that makes a dumpster fire look pretty good. As a person who writes about food and restaurants, it’s been a grim time. There have been some notable openings but a lot of closings,…
Status Quo? and a Meal at Marjie’s
I like Donald Link and have since I first met him. He wrote a letter to the editor that was published in The Advocate the other day, and I think he pretty effectively expressed the issue a lot of…
These Days? I dunno.
"Haute Plates" has been a column in which I’ve related news about restaurants, written recipes and made comments on food culture generally. That has become problematic – particularly the part where I write about restaurants. There’s news, but it’s…
Frying a Turkey
Variables are a problem with most recipes. Unless you are following instructions that include weights for every ingredient – which is typical only for baking – your ingredients are going to vary from time to time and that’s particularly…
Thanksgiving in the Time of COVID
These are not days for traveling over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house. These are days for hunkering down and trying not to get our elders sick. If you are among the people who feel that…
Dinner and a Movie at NOCHI
The New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute, or NOCHI as they are more commonly known, has a program coming up that sounds pretty nifty. Here is the release I received recently: This December, New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute…
Gris Gris and Product Warnings
I received word today that Gris Gris, grisgrisnola.com, Chef Eric Cook’s inventive Creole restaurant on Magazine Street, has reopened as of yesterday, Nov. 4. Here’s an excerpt from the PR: After seven long months, Gris-Gris is excited to reopen…
What Comes After Epsilon?
Last week I would not have been able to answer the question, “In the Greek alphabet, what comes after epsilon?” I do not feel any wiser now that I know the answer. Zeta was the sort of storm that…
COOLinary, Outdoor Seating and Patois
Did you know that COOLinary New Orleans is back for the fall? You might if this is your only source of dining information, and if that’s the case, you can learn about it here. There are 58 restaurants participating in…
News and Surprises
Herbsaint is one of the best restaurants in New Orleans and I haven’t been there in far too long. It is one of the restaurants, along with another I’m going to mention shortly, that I have 100% confidence in…
Cooking Through the Pandemic
I have gone through several phases during the pandemic where cooking is concerned. First was the panic cooking. Are people hoarding yeast and beans? Really? How can I make room in my freezer for the 71 lbs. of pork…
We Are Good! All Is Well!
We have dodged a couple of storms so far and I am happy about that, but I wonder whether some of my friends who’ve moved here recently understand how lucky we were. We geared up for disaster and it…
A Local Market and a Reopening
My friend Anne owns Nolavore, and she sent an email recently alerting people to the outdoor market they’re holding soon. Here’s the story: We are all feeling like we'd like to get out of the house a bit more…
Restaurants and You.
My wife had a birthday this week and we celebrated as well as we could under the circumstances. The potential hurricane meant even the limited, socially-distanced celebration we’d hoped to have was nixed. Instead my wife made a salad,…
More Restaurant News and The Mass Feeding Program
I have received several press releases that may be of interest to you, including these: Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski have introduced a new tapas menu at Cochon Butcher. The small plate dishes bring Spanish influences to the Old-World…
Haute Plates
A 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 in New Orleans 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 has practiced law since 1994, and began writing about food on his website, www.appetites.us, in 1999. He mainly wrote about partying that year, obviously.
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.
He began writing the Restaurant Insider column for New Orleans Magazine in 2007 and has been published in St. Charles Avenue, Louisiana Life and New Orleans Homes and Lifestyles magazines. He is the only person he knows personally who has been interviewed in GQ magazine, albeit for calling Alan Richman a nasty name. 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. 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, and some of which have not been defaced.
Robert lives in Mid-City with his wife Eve and their three children, and is fond of receiving comments and emails. Please humor him.
