Sometimes, we here at Haute Plates Industries struggle to come up with a topic worthy of you, Dear Readers. A weekly column focused on our local restaurant and dining scene would seem an easy task, but from time to…
There is no restaurant in the world like Galatoire’s. There are other Creole restaurants of arguably equal merit, and each of those restaurants are unique as well. That we have restaurants like Galatoire’s, Arnaud’s, Brennan’s, Tujague’s and Broussard’s is something…
Bellegarde Bakery came on the scene recently as these things are measured in New Orleans. Graison Gill started it in 2013, making uncompromising loaves of bread from freshly milled flour and grains. Gill comes off to some as a…
Em Trai Sandwich Co. Em Trai Sandwich Co. had a very short trip from its initial location inside the St. Roch Market to its new home in the New Orleans Healing Center. The menu includes pho, bao, salads and both…
When I was a much younger man I had what the kids used to call “hops,” and though half-blind I could shoot once in a while too. I was never very good, but I played basketball every day in college…
I have been cooking dumplings today in the hope that I can share them with a friend who has had a health setback. The dumplings in question are of the Chinese variety, and because I am not sure how…
I was enamored of Luvi, the restaurant Chef Hao Gong opened on Tchoupitoulas Street a few years ago, but I wasn’t entirely sure it would survive. The place is not exactly on the beaten path and I had my…
I was, for a time, as regular a customer of Boucherie as anyone. I think I ate there at least twice a month for a few years. I loved the place and I love the folks behind it. I…
New Orleans should have more Spanish restaurants. New Orleans was a Spanish town before the French arrived to change the street names and – to their credit – give us the civilian legal system. France obviously had an impact…
Quitutes Brazil is a huge country and accordingly has a diverse cuisine. Until recently, I was unfamiliar with “quitutes,” which translates to “canapés” in Portuguese. Quitutes is also the name of a restaurant that opened in August in Arabi…
Some years ago I would have said that authenticity in reproducing national or regional cuisines was very important. Now I think it’s overrated. This is akin to other changes in my life over the last decade or so that…
Bon Appétit magazine has released its annual list of the 10 best new restaurants in the country, and there is a New Orleans restaurant on the list. It is the Elysian Bar, and I want to make very certain that…
I am biased in favor of Café Degas for several reasons, none of which include the fact that – disclosure – I wrote the introduction to their cookbook a number of years ago. The truth is that I love…
Bellegarde Bakery Bellegarde Bakery started offering bread to restaurants and retail outlets in 2013, and in July opened a storefront near the intersection of Claiborne and Carrollton. The term “artisan” is overused, but it perfectly describes Graison Gill and his…
Levee Baking Co. Levee Baking Co. started as a pop-up before opening on Magazine Street late last month. Baker Christina Balzebre is originally from Miami, and learned her craft working with local operations such as Satsuma Café, the Link Restaurant…
Discussing food, cooking and restaurants is a part-time sport for New Orleanians. From breakfast to brunch, lunch to cocktail bites, dinner to late night eats and desserts, we’ve got a lot to talk about. Enjoy our selection of the best…
Bordeaux Chef Dominque Macquet is one of the best chefs in town, and he’s returned to the dining scene with a new restaurant, Bordeaux, where he and Sous Chef Martin Fennelly are cooking an ambitious French menu paired with wines…
Gianna Gianna, an Italian restaurant from the Link Restaurant Group, opened in late April in the CBD. Executive chef Rebecca Wilcomb, most recently of Herbsaint, heads the kitchen. Wilcomb’s menu will feature daily antipasti, house-cured meats, locally farmed produce, Gulf seafood…
Costera Restaurant and Bar Costera Restaurant and Bar has opened in the space that for many years was occupied by La Thai. Chef Brian Burns’ menu is “coastal Spanish,” and it’s extensive. Both Burns and Reno De Ranieri, who oversees…
NOCHI Café by Gracious The New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI) has finally opened, and there’s a café on the ground floor operated by the folks at Gracious Bakery. Full disclosure: they’re friends and Jay Forman writes for this…
The weather recently has been beautiful for everything but respiration, which functions best in a low-pollen environment. According to an area tv meteorologist, this weekend will be a bit warmer and also more humid. Ordinarily I would not vote…
Two new restaurants open in the Big Easy
I have a soft spot for New Orleans neighborhood restaurants. When I was a kid, my parents took us to Liuzza’s for dinner now and then, and we patronized multiple restaurants in Bucktown. When I was a little older and…
Sometimes I think that I should make clear I write these pieces in advance. I don’t know why I think that. None of you are under the impression that I am now writing the words you are reading. That…
Zasu Chef Sue Zemanick had been out of the kitchen for a while, but in January that changed when she opened Zasu, the first restaurant at which she is both owner and chef. Diners familiar with Zemanick’s direct, precise…
It is Carnival in New Orleans and many of us are feeling very well, thank you for asking! So far it’s been a hit or miss affair where the weather is concerned, but we’ve seen worse. We’ll put on…
I’m not particularly “into” Valentine’s Day, but I’m aware that I’m in the minority on this issue and I don’t begrudge people who want to take a night to celebrate love. Because love, with a little help from inertia,…
I did not watch the State of the Union address the other night because I have been avoiding politics with some success for the last 20 or so years. I don’t care which side of the aisle a politician…
I will be 50 this year. This news will shock some of you who think I can’t be a day over 48, but it’s true. I am aging, and I wonder the extent to which my senescence is coloring…
There are places where on New Year’s Eve they drop a ball, and there are places where a symbolic baby is hoisted aloft wearing a sash that bears the number of the new year, while commensurately an ancient man whose…
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.
