Party At Tujague's

Last week Tujague’s restaurant hosted a preview of The French Quarter Festival. I never pass up an opportunity to visit the beautiful restaurant, and I was intrigued to see what was in store for visitors to The French Quarter Festival.

I remember the first festival I attended with Tom when Jude was in a stroller. It was in Jackson Square, and we were still newlyweds. At that time, it was just in the square, an intimate celebration of the delicious food for which we have been celebrated for as long as I can remember.

Everyone who was anyone in the restaurant business was at the Fest at that time, including Vance Vaucresson, who is an original vendor still at the Fest. Vance had no restaurant (at that time) but was a well-known and respected sausage maker. I remember Paul Prudhomme acting as a carnival barker outside his booth, encouraging patrons to try his “butta beans,” as he called them. A classic dish from his world of spice, salt, and fat, all the things that make our cuisine the envy of America. This ain’t healthy, but it is delicious!

Muriel’s was at their booth in the corner close to the restaurant, serving their goat cheese crepes, which became a signature of the festival. The Wong brothers of Trey Yuen came from across the lake to participate. There was Galatoire’s, Tujague’s, Jacques-Imo’s, and Mrs. Wheat’s wonderful little handhelds, as they are now called. Happily, Mrs. Wheat’s still calls them meat pies.

When I went to this preview event recently, I wasn’t expecting to see the original gang there. It has been nearly forty years since that day in Jackson Square. I had seen the festival evolve over many years as Tom broadcast in a booth in the corner of the Square. The festival grew and grew and overshot the Square, growing and growing to include the entire Riverfront.

As with most festivals, catering companies replaced restaurants, especially the Grand Dames. But Tujague’s remains so involved that they hosted the preview party. But Vance Vaucresson, as well as Broussard’s, Redfish Grill, Dickie Brennan’s, R’evolution, Jacques-Imo’s, Crabby Jacks, New Orleans School of Cooking, Jack Dempsey’s, Cafe Maspero’s, The Rib Room, Voleo’s, Mrs. Wheat’s, and Lasyone’s Meat Pies will be there representing the Old Guard. Miss Linda the Yakamein Lady, Patton’s Caterers, and Walker’s BBQ are semi-Old Guard. Willie Mae’s is Old Guard but newer to the festival. Loretta’s Pralines and Love at First Bite have been around so long I don’t know when they came in.

New hotspots like Baroness on Baronne, Chicken’s Kitchen, Southern’s, Ma Momma’s House of Cornbread, Chicken and Waffles, Nori Guys, Addis Nola, Jamaican places like 14 Parishes and Fritai will be there, as well as the delicious Israeli/Greek Smoke & Honey. And all the restaurants in the empire known as Morrow’s will be there. Louisiana Fish Fry will have two booths: one for crawfish and the other for fish.

Drinks from The Original New Orleans Daiquiris and Pat O’Brien’s will be there to cool things down, as they have been for a long time.

The sheer volume of vendors now is dizzying. At the sneak peek, I was surprised at the lack of the kind of food I was expecting. The kind I remember. The Patton’s Caterers trio of Oyster Patty, Crawfish Sack and Shrimp Beignets was there, 

and both Mrs. Wheat’s and Lasyone’s Meat Pies were there, 

as was Willie Mae’s, but I mostly saw jerk turkey necks, 

sushi tacos, 

and other unrecognizable more modern items. Fortunately there was also crawfish bread, crab patties, gumbos, and jambalaya, even though the jambalaya was drizzled with a sauce. Hmmm.

There were a lot of vendors there, but only a fraction of the larger festival. I had some wonderful fried chicken wings from Willie Mae’s. They were light and crispy with a spice ring around the meat under the batter, which was not like I remember. The Willie Mae’s batter I remember used to form a shell that separated from the chicken, but this was much improved. I’m still thinking of these wings, and I will certainly get more of them at the festival. 

The Morrow family was at this event with their four restaurants, and the newest one, Monday, was serving a whole fish. I don’t believe I’ve seen that before. 

I left feeling that the French Quarter Fest was moving into the same food realm as the wider culture here is, i,e., away from the traditional food that people have come here to love, and more into the ethnic-centric food scene that has gripped the nation, fueled by the more adventuresome tastes of the younger generations.

And then I went to the website for the festival, FQF.org, and realized there seems to be an endless number of vendors offering plenty food of all varieties, with still an enormous amount of traditional local dishes, so that the folks from the Midwest can have a taste of real New Orleans food. And the locals privileged enough to have it every day can enjoy it too.