Posts Tagged ‘New Orleans’
Celebrate Mardi Gras, NoVA Style
Posted by Lorin Drinkard / Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Shutterstock/Mike Flippo
Can’t make it to Nawlins on Feb. 21? No worries. We’ve put together the most festive places in NoVA to celebrate like you’re on Bourbon Street.
Parade
Take the party to the streets. One of NoVA’s more well-known Mardi Gras traditions is the annual parade in Clarendon. Starting at 8 p.m. along Wilson Boulevard, it will feature colorful floats, festive dancing and, of course, beads.
Have your (king) cake. For a sweet Mardi Gras treat, order a king cake from Bayou Bakery (1515 N. Courthouse Road, Arlington), where renowned Chef David Guas bakes up the sweet tradition. Find a trinket inside, rule the day.
Wear the right colors. It’s time to break out your purple, green and gold, representing justice, faith and power. For a festive good time, costumes encouraged, check out Okra’s (9110 Center St., Manassas).
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Posted by Lindsey Leake / Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Virginia’s ‘King’s Dominion law’ may be repealed
Prince William County’s Battlefield High marching band earns solo performance at BCS National Championship game in New Orleans
Distribution of Virginia primary absentee ballots temporarily suspended due to Perry lawsuit
Woman stabbed in parking lot of Sterling shopping center
Metro riders take part in annual ‘No Pants Metro Ride’
(Compiled by Lindsey Leake)
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
Bayou Bakery in Arlington
Bayou Bakery in Virginia Celebrates its One-Year Anniversary
The Eatery Kicks into its Second Year this Tuesday by Celebrating with $2 Specials
Just one year ago, on November 22, chef David Guas, a native of Louisiana reared in New Orleans, began cooking and preaching the gospel of Louisiana cuisine. The tri-state area of Washington, DC was introduced to authentic New Orleans, Cajun and Creole dishes at Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery in Arlington, VA. Only those die-hard transplants and Louisiana enthusiasts had heard of Andouille, Boudin, Beignets, or Steen’s Cane Syrup, but that is no longer the case. This chef personality delighted our palates with Gumbo, Crawfish Etouffee, Muffuletta’s and much more!
Today, November 22, Bayou Bakery is Celebrating! Today it’s TWO for TUESDAY on the TWENTY- SECOND as Bayou Bakery moves into its second year!
11 am till Close:
$2 Drafts – Abita Beer
$2 Cup of Shrimp Monica
$2 Beignets (3 per plate)
Celebrate good times, people! Come on!
Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar & Eatery, 1515 N Courthouse Road Arlington; (703)243.2410
– Jennie Whistler
Giving Up the Goods: DamGoodSweet
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, November 13th, 2009
(Image: Taunton Press)
Introduce some Cajun to this year’s holiday table by preparing just about any of the Bayou-inspired confections N’awlins native turned local pastry chef David Guas shares in his new cookbook, DamGoodSweet.
The pseudo-autobiographical tome features 50 tantalizing recipes culled from Guas’ youth and professional experience, including: fried rice fritters, lemon doberge cake and banana pudding with crumbled vanilla wafers.
Need more proof?
Watch Guas test Al Roker’s commitment to gastric bypass by parading deep-fried apple pies, sweet potato tart tatin and red velvet cake in front of the one-time Today show weatherman:
(Video: Hulu)
Guas will also wax philosophic about all things honey and the plight of the bees on the “Disappearing Act” episode of Chefs A’Field (airing locally November 21 at 4 p.m. on WHUT).
To claim your copy of DamGoodSweet, just tell us about any local bakeries that regularly leave you swooning–be it from the homey smell of just baked breads, colorful arrays of gourmet cupcakes, rows and rows of old guard pastries or any other oven-fresh temptation–in the comments below.
We’ll select one winner at random from all the comments submitted before 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov 19.
–Warren
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, March 19th, 2009
By Warren Rojas
“Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.” Edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker. Chronicle Books, 400 pgs., $24.95
Hurricane Katrina didn’t just upend buildings and flood streets across the Crescent City. It swept away generations of culinary tradition by permanently displacing scores of lifelong residents, shuttered historic restaurants (Commander’s Palace, Galatoire’s; both have since reopened) and destabilized the fragile economy by scaring tourists away for months after.
The food desk of The Times-Picayune reached out to evacuees who returned to their ravaged homeland, working to rebuild a society short on basic necessities and starved for a taste of normalcy.
“Cooking Up a Storm” was born of this shared frustration, chronicling a battered people’s attempt to fill in the gaps of their communal cooking memory one misplaced recipe at a time (“In New Orleans, food is culture. Food is family. Food is life”).
Rather than focus on any one style of cooking or specific ingredients, the commemorative cookbook tracks the dishes T-P readers hungrily sought out. Noteworthy contributions include: homemade cheddar and Creole mayonnaise spread, a pre-Civil War specialty known as calas (rice fritters), crawfish braid, Natchitoches meat pies, muffaletta pasta and, of course, all manner of gumbo creations.
View from the Bayou
Most Louisiana natives seem to cherish memories of meals past. We asked some now-locals to share a few of theirs.
David Guas
Pastry chef/N’awlins native
• What single dish most reminds you of home? Beignets.
• Do you still celebrate Mardi Gras? If so, what are some of the festive plates you can’t live without? King cake (of course), doberge cake (half chocolate, half lemon). The day before Mardi Gras, I always make red beans and rice with smoked sausage.
• What local restaurants do you visit to get your fill of Cajun and/or Creole cooking? If I had to go outside of my own kitchen, I would go to Acadiana (which I helped open in Sept. 2005) and order the gumbo, a po’boy, the duck, a muffaletta and a frosty frozen mug of Abita root beer!
Heather Kenney
A Louisiana transplant so enamored with the Big Easy, she named her daughter Nola
• What single dish most reminds you of home? A roast beef po’boy on good French bread with lots of gravy—which is next to impossible to find outside of the Pelican State.
• Do you still celebrate Mardi Gras? If so, what are some of the festive plates you can’t live without? Cream cheese-filled king cake and Abita beer.
• What local restaurants do you visit to get your fill of Cajun and/or Creole cooking? RT’s in Del Ray is my favorite and most like my mom’s home cooking. I’d rather go there or to Popeye’s than go to Acadiana in D.C.
(March 2009)