RESTAURANT INSIDER

The beat goes on: May is hoppin’! This month, the prestigious James Beard Awards will be presented in New York (as of press time, chef nominees from New Orleans included Donald Link of Herbsaint and John Besh of Restaurant August for “Best Chef of the Southeast”). Closer to home, Jazz Fest and The New Orleans Wine and Food Experience (NOWFE) celebrate our city’s culinary significance.
On the move: Greg and Mary Sonnier, beloved owners and chefs of Gabrielle, have shuttered their Bayou St. John restaurant and are diligently toiling in the new Uptown location on Henry Clay Avenue, in what was once The Uptowner. Stay tuned!
Booking: Tom Fitzmorris’ new tome, New Orleans Food, is a collection of 225 of the “city’s best recipes to cook at home.” If you cook one recipe every day starting this month, this book can take you straight into the holidays.
Foodie alert: This year, one of NOWFE’s special guests is young and talented Food Network star and author Dave Lieberman. He will host a seminar on the great sandwiches of New Orleans.
What a turn-on: Chef John Folse is taping a new public-television series based on his cookbook The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. The series will air this fall in 26 half-hour episodes dedicated to the seven cultures that influenced Cajun and Creole cooking. Segments include a visit to a tamale maker in Natchitoches and a Covington brewer.
May be: We all sit on tenterhooks waiting for the reopening of Brennan’s. No other foods could fill the voids left by bananas Foster and that impossibly delicious filet Stanley – a filet mignon surrounded by sautéed bananas, marchand de vin and horseradish-cream sauce. As of press time, my source tells me the restaurant will open early this month.
Fork it over: I insist you try Cuvee’s new menu, which includes chef Bob Iacovone’s “foie gras Twinkie” – a slightly sweet cake baked in the shape of a Twinkie and piped full of foie gras mousse and goat cheese. Someone’s having fun with their food, thank you.