It started with sauce and seasoning mix reviving the Crazy Johnnie’s Steak House name. That lit a fire for countless people who remember this low-key legend of Metairie’s dining past. Soon it will also light the grills on a new restaurant. Late last year, Mike Landry cooked up a plan to bring back the sauces and seasonings from Crazy Johnnie’s, which closed a decade earlier. A filet mignon po-boy, once a standard at Crazy Johnnie’s Steak House, is back in circulation at markets in Metairie and Kenner.  (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) The response went through…

New Orleans restaurant Bennachin’s namesake is one of the West Africa region’s most popular dishes — a plate of fluffy jollof rice, winkingly described on the menu as “African jambalaya.” Accompanied by a buttered roll and jama-jama, a side dish of spinach sauteed to a deep green hue, the plate arrives to the table steaming. The rice bursts with the heat of ginger and red bell pepper, the allium zing of onion and garlic. Bennachin at 1212 Royal Street has made an indelible mark on New Orleans cuisine by specializing in West African cooking — the culinary ancestor of three…

Who doesn’t love a dive bar in New Orleans? With hundreds in the greater metro area, there is no shortage of haunts.Whether we pick a spot because it’s closest to home, it has the right drinks for the right price, or the vibes are just right, we all have a favorite, and we all know a good dive bar when we’re there.In the past, the contenders for these brackets have been selected by food writers Ian McNulty and Chelsea Shannon ahead of voting. But now we’re turning to you, our dive-bar-loving readers, to determine the top bars to begin this…

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Residents in New Orleans East voiced frustrations and warned of a growing “food desert” as plans were announced to shutter the four remaining Dollar General stores in the area.The discount retailer did not give a reason for the closures, but one former employee and various community activists said frequent shoplifting and theft was a factor in the decision.Dollar General said it plans to close five New Orleans locations by mid-August.“Employees will have the opportunity to transfer to nearby stores,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We have a longstanding history in the Crescent City, having opened…

Visitors to Louisiana spent some $16.2 billion last year, up nearly 4% from 2022. New Orleans cuisine is a big draw, including oysters.That’s a lot of shells. But Louisiana restaurants are doing more than just feeding tourists and locals — they’re helping in an effort to stem land-loss on the coast.Oysters are a bedrock delicacy in Louisiana. That famous oysters Rockefeller dish? It was invented in 1889 at Antoine’s in New Orleans.Now, those shellfish — and their shells — are benefiting the area in another way.”Louisiana is experiencing a land-loss crisis. Over the last 100 years or so we’ve lost over…

El-Waylly mans the pass in Strange Delight’s slip of a kitchen. A chef and recipe developer, he has lately become a serious culinary social-media star alongside his wife, Sohla (who is not connected to the restaurant), and his charisma turns out to be considerable in real life, too. (The first time I met him, he was wearing Birkenstock clogs in a striking Yves Klein blue; I immediately bought an identical pair.) Pillarisetti, a veteran of Momofuku and Shake Shack, can often be spotted keeping an eye on the dining room; the two are partners with Michael Tuiach, of the vegan…

Yay Beignet is a fusion of owner George Drake’s Ethiopian heritage and his culinary experience studying with chefs in New Orleans. MACON, Ga. — You can experience the flavors of Louisiana and Ethiopia at a new restaurant in downtown Macon. “Of course, Yay Beignet, we have beignets,” Owner George Drake said. “Our beignets are light, fluffy. We come in every day and start making our dough at 5 in the morning. Everything’s made in-house.” Drake is from Metehara, Ethiopia. He says Yay Beignet is a fusion of his Ethiopian heritage and his culinary experience studying with chefs in New Orleans.…

Dining together can foster friendship and more.Hasan Ayyad, whose close friend Amir Wagner owns Wagner’s Market in Bywater, is close with Omar Jamhour, whose family owns I & M Autoplex on N. Claiborne Avenue. The two share experiences in the city of Ramallah, a Palestinian city on the West Bank, about an hour north of Jerusalem. Ayyad was born in the U.S., but went to school in Ramallah, where he met his friend.A frequent guest at the Jamhour dinner table, Ayyad couldn’t get enough of the family’s food. Their dinners were prepared by Omar’s father, Ayoub, who’d become famous in…

Static Media / Shutterstock / Getty There’s no better American cuisine to show off the country’s melting pot status than Louisiana’s. The Cajun people, originally from Eastern Canada and known as Acadians, immigrated to the Southeastern United States in the 1700s. Modern-day Creole people are descendants of colonial French, African American, and Native American ancestors. These two prominent cultures have established a rich culinary heritage across Louisiana, with food that incorporates elements of French Canadian, Native American, Caribbean, African, and Spanish cooking styles and ingredients. It’s some of the most distinct cuisine in the world. Cajun and Creole cuisines are defined by their use…

Over a decade ago, when Dr. Drew Ramsey was writing a book on a diet that could make people happier, he found himself on the streets of New Orleans looking for a bite after late-night revelry at a wedding. Despite it being morning, he ordered a plate of oysters. “New Orleans was the first place I ever had oysters for breakfast,” he recalled. The mollusks became an oft-recommended part of his clinical practice as a nutritional psychiatrist when patients came to him with problems like anxiety and depression. Oysters are rich in vitamin B12, shown to protect against brain shrinkage. They…