It has been quite a while since I have felt comfortable writing about restaurants without using modifiers like “doom” and “woe.” But despite the ongoing pandemic and the news yesterday that the City is returning to the 25 percent…
The city issued a press release on June 30 announcing the COVID-19 Mass Feeding program and I am happy to report that Chef’s Brigade is involved. You may ask yourself, “Chef’s Brigade? Isn’t that the thing that Robert was…
Our neighbors and friends returned from a brief trip out of town today, and the first thing my friend Joe said to me was – paraphrasing – that the hot sauce I’d given him was quite nice. I have…
This is the time of year when I both regret having a garden and marvel at the bounty my garden produces. It is the time of year in which the things I planted in the winter are dying off…
I apologize if the headline misleads you, because I am not going to talk in any detail about what “Phase 2” will mean to restaurants. That is because in many cases it will not mean a great deal to…
My wife and I are both fond of cooking, but prior to the current situation, we also would dine out now and again or order food from restaurants to pick up or to be delivered. Then this whole COVID-19…
Welcome to Cooking in Quarantine! We’re happy to have you here. How is your sourdough starter? Do you need sourdough starter? Because I have sourdough starter if you need it. I also have chili peppers and several different herbs…
We are going to be entering an interesting time in the history of New Orleans restaurants in the coming weeks. We’ve already started to see some restaurants open with reduced capacity and alternative seating arrangements. As I’ve driven around…
Here are the things I know if you are reading this: 1) You have a device capable of accessing the internet. 2) You are a human of discerning taste. The latter makes me think you will appreciate a recipe…
As I write, Chef’s Brigade has idled. I understand Red Bean Krewe shut down this past Sunday. Chef’s Brigade will be back in the near future and I hope the same for Red Bean Krewe, but for the moment…
It has been an interesting quarantine chez Peyton. There’s Chef’s Brigade, which has taken up a good bit of time and then my father-in-law was hospitalized with double pneumonia. He was released a couple of weeks ago and for…
Now and then my mother will come across some documents from my grandparents’ house in Amite and share them with me. They’re always fascinating, but this weekend she gave me a bunch of recipes, most of which were handwritten by…
New Orleans is a service industry town. A very large percentage of our economy is based on restaurants, bars and music venues. I believe New Orleans is the best food city in the country because the people who live…
Nola Caye Newly-opened Nola Caye adds a Caribbean-influenced restaurant to the dining options near Lee Circle. While the menu reads a bit more Mexican/Central American than Caribbean – there are a half dozen tacos on offer as well as guacamole…
I remember after Katrina, when I had a food blog called “appetites” that focused primarily on fine-dining restaurants, thinking that the gig was up. I’d been happily writing about meals I had in those early days when there was so…
I reached out the other day on Facebook to ask that restaurants serving take-out and delivery to let me know so that I could pass that information on to you. I got a lot of responses on Facebook and…
I have been working remotely for several years. By “working remotely,” I mean “working from home and often in casual clothing/dainty unmentionables.” I am used to being alone and dealing with other humans via cell phone, Skype and my…
As most of you know, I have a birthday coming up in the next few days. As we measure these things in temporal terms I will be 51. That is a full third of the way through my expected…
Laurel Oak The Magnolia Hotel, on Gravier Street, is now home to Laurel Oak, a Southern Brasserie. The restaurant results from a partnership between hotelier Stout Street Hospitality and TAG Restaurant Group, both out of Denver. Local chef Wesley Rabalais…
Another year and another list of New Orleans chefs, restaurants and industry folks nominated for James Beard awards. I thought this year I’d give you the list and a few thoughts about each of our local contenders. Gianna…
This is one of the times of the year that can make or break a restaurant. Between Carnival and the two weekends of Jazz Fest, a lot of places make more in a weekend than they make in three…
I have traveled around Louisiana for around 30 of my 50 years in one professional capacity or another, and I am very interested in food. Some might call me obsessed, but I prefer to think I’m focused. Wherever I…
I had a chance to sample the new menu at Brennan’s recently. The occasion was the restaurant’s announcement of Ryan Hacker as the new executive chef, replacing Chef Slade Rushing. I loved what Slade did at Brennan’s when he…
Dab’s Bistro Chef Duke LoCicero, best known for his now-closed French Quarter Italian restaurant, Café Giovanni, has opened Dab’s Bistro, in Metairie. It’s a “New Orleans bistro,” but long-time fans of LoCicero’s cooking will recognize many of the dishes on…
I was alerted recently to a website that was asking restaurants to pay for a spot on their list of “Top 100” restaurants for Mardi Gras. This website, Eating Nola, was not really on my radar, but when I saw a…
My friend Ian McNulty wrote the other day about the recent Yelp “Top 100 Places to Eat in 2020.” He pointed out that there are no Louisiana restaurants on the list yet there is a restaurant in Coeur d’Alene,…
I first got to try the food that the kids at Blue Giant were cooking at an event put on by New Orleans Magazine at the end of 2018. I went back to their…
I am a graduate of the Paul M. Hebert School of Law at Louisiana State University, but…
And I don’t feel any different. I have been writing about food for more than 20 years now between this gig and my prior website. In that time we’ve had a lot of changes in our restaurant scene. I…
The Independent Caveau NOLA The Independent Caveau NOLA is a fairly new wine bar and retail operation that also serves cheese and charcuterie plates, as well as high-end tinned seafood. Operated by Joanne Close and husband Jim Yonkus, it’s a…
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.
