Louisiana restaurateurs honored in DC for community service

Restaurateurs are widely-recognized as charitable individuals and Greg Reggio, of the Taste Buds Restaurant Group, is an example of one that has taken his philanthropy to the masses. Specifically, he and his business partners in Semolina and Zea Rotisserie & Grill restaurants, Gary Darling and Hans Limburg created “Three Chefs, One Mission,” an effort they coordinated to bring hope and reprieve to those affected by natural disasters.

Reggio and his “buds” as he likes to he calls Darling and Limburg, we’re honored by the National Restaurant Association April 17 with the Restaurant Neighbor Award. The award recognizes restaurateurs who have gone above and beyond in giving back to their communities.

“Restaurateurs are some of the most philanthropic business owners on earth.” said Stan Harris, Louisiana Restaurant Association President & CEO. “Greg and his partners, Hans and Gary, are an excellent example of how ‘paying it forward’ can change lives, one plate of food at a time. We are thrilled that Taste Buds Management has been recognized for its community service efforts.”

In 2008, Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston, Texas and inundated Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish coastal town of Lafitte with water. Reggio and fellow members of the Louisiana Restaurant Association Greater New Orleans Chapter served hot meals to more than 1,200 residents at the Lafitte Town Hall only three days after the community was re-opened to its citizens.

Since then, he’s found a calling, specifically named, “Three Chefs, One Mission,” along with Darling and Limburg.

“Although Katrina was six or so years prior, it was still very much in our minds and memories,” said Reggio. “We said, ‘We know what they are going through and we are going to bring them some Louisiana love’.”

Louisiana Kitchen magazine premiere issue out now

Louisiana Kitchen Inaugural Edition
May/June 2012.Photo by David Gallent

Gracing the first cover of the new magazine, Louisiana Kitchen, is world renowned Chef John Folse and Chicago’s Chef Rick Tramonto, a James Beard Award winner, holding a gorgeous plate of grilled shrimp with chorizo hominy stew. In the inaugural issue, more than 90 recipes from chefs spanning Louisiana are featured, but we noticed Louisiana crawfish ruled.

“Last fall when I had to choose between moving back to the West Coast or launching a magazine here, Our Kitchen and Culture, LLC was born,” said Publisher Susan Ford. “Louisiana Kitchen will give you a cultural experience through intelligent, informed commentary, lush photography, cutting-edge design, and provide you recipes for meals you can produce to share in that experience.”

The theme that carries through the 96-page Louisiana Kitchen is deeper than just the food we eat. It’s the bond we share over the restaurant table, at the dining room buffet during a holiday or standing around the table at a crawfish boil. The authentic and evolutionary marriage of the seven nations that create a wonderful, imaginative Louisiana smorgasbord is only what it is because of the cultural influences of the people that created it and continue the traditions.

“Louisiana’s kitchens are crowded places,” said Jyl Benson, Editor in Chief. “We keep our ancestors, generations and generations of them, at our sides as we perform those culinary rituals that are ours alone. We share with others, very often strangers, because we are generous people.”

The issue is full of beautiful photography that captures the brilliant color and succulence of Louisiana’s world-renowned cuisine. Prepare to mark recipes that you’ll no doubt want to share with your family and friends.

The Louisiana Restaurant Association is pleased to have a publication as unique as Louisiana Kitchen available to individuals near and far to further the Bayou State's brand. This publication will take you on a journey across the state while bringing you stories of people that, in their own way, have made an indelible mark on those around them and help weave the fabric of our beautiful state.

Fruit trees find a home in Louisiana's ProStart program

While on Facebook one evening, an LRA staff member saw a post from the Southern Food and Beverage Museum announcing that in partnership with the New Orleans Food and Farm Network it will distribute 1,000 fruit trees to residents, organizations and programs to those interested. A quick response resulted in the LRA Education Foundation landing 50 lime, key lime, pink grapefruit, lemon and blood orange trees.

ProStart Students at East St. John High School plant five
fruit trees on campus, made possible by the LRAEF
and the New Orleans Food and Farm Network.

“We had an overwhelming response to our tree offer,” said Sanjay Kharod, NOFF Executive Director. “We look forward to working with the LRAEF to bring more edible programs to ProStart schools.”
Just days prior, ProStart Coordinator James Blanchard and VP of Communications Wendy Waren were discussing the edible garden concept and how the LRAEF could help get them going in ProStart programs.”

The two jumped on the opportunity. Blanchard contacted the teachers and Waren handled logistics. She has a history of coordinating tree and edible garden plantings with Home Depot, Hands On New Orleans, Parkway Partners, Hike for KaTreena for New Orleans two schools, parks and neutral grounds.

Tourism industry rallies to defend budget from pass throughs

It’s that time again, when the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee hears testimony from numerous industries and groups in danger of cuts to programs and initiatives. In the crosshairs again this year is the Louisiana tourism budget which is now overrun with “pass throughs” which in previous years were covered through the state’s general fund.

“We are asking to reduce the pass throughs by half at a minimum,” said Marion Fox, President, Louisiana Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus. “During the past three sessions, these pass throughs have greatly increased by 67 perecent. In Fiscal Year 2010-2011, pass throughs totaled $3.5 million and this year, more than $10.5 million is proposed.”

Michael Boudreaux, owner
of Juban's Restaurant and
LRA member testifies in
the House Appropriations
Committee defending the
tourism budget from
pass throughs.

Given Louisiana’s budget deficit, events like Essence Festival, the All State Sugar Bowl and the 2013 Women’s Final Four and the 2013 Super Bowl and others have been moved to the tourism budget to the tune of a proposed $10.5 million in Fiscal Year 2012-13. The tourism budget is currently funded exclusively through a statutorily dedicated $.003 percent of the state’s sales tax which was passed in 1990 and led by a coalition of tourism industry officials. The statutorily dedicated funds total roughly $23 million annually.


"Tourism funding is extremely important to the success of the restaurant industry in Louisiana,” said Michael Boudreaux, owner of Juban’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge and Louisiana Restaurant Association Board Member. “The more visitors we attract, the more jobs our industry can add. Pass throughs are detrimental to the purpose of the dedicated funding for tourism.”

Two in Louisiana affected by yellowfin tuna Salmonella Bareilly

Moon Marine USA Corporation voluntarily recalls frozen raw yellowfin tuna product

“Nakaochi Scrape” associated with a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly infections

Moon Marine USA Corporation (also known as MMI) of Cupertino, Calif. is voluntarily recalling 58,828 lbs of a frozen raw yellowfin tuna product, labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA. Nakaochi Scrape is tuna backmeat, which is specifically scraped off from the bones, and looks like a ground product.

The Nakaochi Scrape is associated with an outbreak of 116 cases of Salmonella Bareilly in multiple states: Alabama (2), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (5), District of Columbia (2), Florida (1), Georgia (5), Illinois (10), Louisiana (2), Maryland (11), Massachusetts (8), Mississippi (1), Missouri (2), New Jersey (7), New York (24), North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (5), Rhode Island (5), South Carolina (3), Texas (3), Virginia (5), and Wisconsin (12).

Restaurateurs, food entrepreneurs seek shelf space

Take a walk through any grocery store these days and you may notice that the shelves are lined with products created by a restaurant chef or food entrepreneur. Particularly in the salad dressing and seasoning aisles, familiar faces like Zea Rotisserie & Grill, Slap Ya Mama, Ms. Sally’s Praline Sauce and others are becoming more commonplace.

Sal & Judy’s Restaurant in Lacombe has been turning out their salad dressings for nearly 15 years.

“I started with tomato sauce, then dressings and moved on to BBQ sauce,” said owner Sal Impastato. “Our products are available in the Gulf Coast Region through Rouses Supermarkets and Wal-Mart primarily. Demand has increased so much we bought a new and bigger location to ramp up production.”

How does one go about taking their recipe, producing, packaging and distributing it? A Louisiana Restaurant Association member—EdibleEnterprises—is designed to do just that. If you are an aspiring food entrepreneur looking to make your homemade specialty for the masses, this Norco-based facility can meet your needs.

“Currently we have 23 tenants and operate seven days a week,” said Gaye Morrison Sandoz, Marketing Director of Edible Enterprises. “We are the only incubator in the state and every month we bring on more tenants.”

Can I see the menu?

As you can imagine, the Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA) staff sees their fair share of menus as they go about their work and social lives. Since 2004, the LRA has been collecting menus for the Southern Food andBeverage Museum’s (SoFab) Menu Project for use in research and archiving Louisiana’s and fellow Southern state's food culture, traditions and innovations.

“The LRA has contributed hundreds menus to the archive,” said Wendy Waren, VP of Communications. “At every restaurant I ask for a menu for the archive and the restaurateurs are more than happy to have their menu live at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.”

To jump start the Menu Project, the LRA EXPO featured the Magnificant Menu Contest in 2009 and asked members to submit their menus in three categories—quick service, casual dining and fine dining. The menus were judged on imagination, design and merchandising power, by members of the SoFab board in advance of the EXPO and they were displayed in a special area for attendees to view.

Menus are also collected from special dinners and LRA functions with the end goal being that this collection will be used by food historians, journalists and culinary students. Several menus are soon-to-be shared with SoFab from the Irish House, Superior Seafood and the Hudson Whiskey Dinner at the Bourbon House.
 “Menus are by their nature ephemeral, as restaurants change them daily or seasonally, printing them on material not meant to last,” said Liz Williams, President and Founder of SoFab. “People rarely save menus, unless they are marking a particularly important, celebratory meal.”

This is unfortunate as menus are often the only physical remains of a restaurant’s past. Some menus serve to remind us of dishes we will never eat again at restaurants whose doors have long been shuttered. Others serve to mark a change in a restaurant’s life, particularly those who have reopened after Hurricane Katrina.

“Their limited, but still tasty fare, mirrors the dogged determination of the citizens of New Orleans to face loss of support and lack of supplies with grace, tenacity and an unwavering appetite for good food,” said Elizabeth Pearce, Senior Curator, commenting on the menus in the exhibit, Missing New Orleans, at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. “That exhibit contained menus from the SoFAB Collection from before and after Hurricane Katrina.”