Harris Creek

Is a family owned, funded and operated oyster farm located between St. Michaels and Tilghman Island, Maryland. They’re building on nearly 13 generations of family history farming and fishing on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Sapidus Farms

Sapidus Farms, owned and operated by husband/wife team Mike and Angelina is a boutique oyster farm specializing in bay oysters for the half-shell market. They are located on the pristine waters of the Great Wicomico River in the Northern Neck of Virginia. We’re excited to use their Happy Roasters for our Oysters Dauphine.

Warshore

Warshore started out as a hobby oyster farm on the Chesapeake Bay and quickly grew into a growing shellfish sourcing and distribution company. We work directly with them to source their War Shore and Battle Creek oysters.

McIntosh Premium Oysters

The Georgia's oysters (Crassostrea virginicus) raised by the McIntosh family is famous for its sweet taste. McIntosh County, roughly an hour south of Savannah, is where oysterman Earnest McIntosh Sr and his son, Earnest Jr. care for their oysters stored in wire mesh cages cached along the maze of creeks that snake through the Lowcountry’s spartina expanses, in the marshes of Harris Creek.

Pelican Oyster Co

Pelican Oyster Co is a farm in Oyster Bay, located in Florida’s big bend. 3 types of oysters come form Pelican Oyster Co….the “Salty Birds” and “Otter’s Choice” are both from Oyster Bay. This bay is spring fed by 13 submarine springs straight from the Florida aquifer. Salty Birds salinity is typically 24ppt as they are grown on the south end of the bay; Otters Choice salinity is typically 19 - 20 ppt because it is closer to the springs in the north. The “Big Gulps” are from Alligator Harbor and their salinity is typically 31 - 34 ppt. Alligator Harbor has no tributaries and is pretty much just pure shark infested ocean water.

Earth N Eats

Earth N Eats is a fresh produce farm co-op serving the DMV area based in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania and run by Josiah. This CSA program was a joint effort by Via Sophia and Earth N Eats due to severe disruptions in the food and restaurant industries from Covid-19. Most of the farmers in the Earth N Eats co-op are Amish family farms. These farmers own neither phones nor tractors; they pick your potatoes and carrots, radishes and parsnips by hand, then ride their horses to the closest gas stations twice a week to use their phones to listen to voicemail messages Josiah leaves on mailboxes he set up for them with his orders for the week.

Karma Farms

Karma Farms combines resilient outdoor farming, the use of hoop houses and hydroponic LED growing methods to produce locally grown product year-round. Started by Jon and Gay Shaw, the farm is located in Monkton, Maryland. His son, Nathanial, began researching vertical hydroponic vegetable growth. Karma Farm is 100% free of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. We use locally produced, all-natural compost (The neighbors horse manure), and alternative pest control methods such as row covers, wood ash, crop rotation, companion planting, and OMRI approved pesticides.

Moon Valley

Moon Valley Farm delivers local Maryland produce year-round. They started as a communitybased farm and remain that way. They offer their own veggies and herbs from their 25 acres in Woodsboro, Maryland, as well as produce from their partner farms: gourmet mushrooms from King Mushrooms in Barclay, MD, fruit & storage veg from 78 Acres in Smithburg, MD, organic storage veggies Sassafras Creek Farm's in Southern MD, and organic grains & dry beans from Next Step Produce in Southern MD. Moon Valley Farm got its name from stories that Emma's (Moon Valley’s founding farmer) dad wrote when Emma and her 3 siblings were very young, called Moon Valley Stories. Moon Valley was a land in which every inhabitant possessed a "gift." Emma's gift was the ability to communicate with plants and animals, and she was referred to as "The Plant and Animal Girl".

Arcadia Venture

Arcadia Venture is a purveyor of wild and cultivated mushrooms, wild plants and flowers, and locally farmed specialty products. The name "Arcadia" comes from a mountainous region in Ancient Greece known for its vast harmonious wilderness, much like the Appalachian Mountains. Founded by chef-forager Iulian Fortu, Arcadia Venture provides some of the best harvest this area has to offer.

Three Parts Harmony

Farmer Gail Taylor started Three Part Harmony Farm out of a community-led visioning process that began in 2011. It is a small-scale agroecological farm, located on a 2-acre parcel in northeast Washington, DC. They grow mostly vegetables as well as herbs and cut-flowers. They are using sustainable practices, without chemical pesticides or herbicides. Per their website….”Three Part Harmony Farm exists to grow food for people, but it also exists in part to challenge our assumptions on how urban farms should look. It intentionally seeks to create a viable and just local food economy while at the same time dismantling racism and the ever present, entrenched forms of oppression in that same food system. How sustainable is sustainable agriculture when it comes to the litmus test of economic and community needs, not just in terms of the environment?”.

Autumn Olive Farm

Autumn Olive Farms is an award winning small family farm located north of Waynesboro in the central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Started in 2008 by the Trainum family, they raise and sell several heritage breeds of animals from farrow to finish. These breeds are chosen for their long-established history of unmatched qualities in taste, marbling, fat, nutrition, and yields that have been lost due to conformity to commodity farming. These breeds and their ample fats allow for the old-world utilization of culinary practices and charcuterie that aren't possible with modern breeds and commodity farming.

Spring House Farm

The mission of Spring House Farm is to operate a financially solvent, regenerative, ecologically friendly farm dedicated to providing the finest foods that our earth can naturally produce. Andrew and Liz Crush established Spring House Farm during the spring of 2004. Their farm consists of several owned and leased properties throughout Loudoun County, Virginia.

Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP)

ORP is the nation’s largest shell recycling network, annually collecting 36,000 bushels of shell from approximately 340 restaurants and 70 public drop sites in the mid-Atlantic region. Since the Alliance’s launch, ORP has reclaimed 213,000 bushels of shell, which equates to 7,400 tons kept out of area landfills, approximately $350,000 saved by local businesses in waste collection fees, and enough substrate to support the planting of 1 billion oysters in local waters.

Compost Crew

Compost Crew is a locally-owned food scrap recycling business that offers clean and convenient composting services to thousands of businesses, organizations and residential customers throughout Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. Composting is the recycling of organic matter through a natural process that produces a high-quality soil amendment full of life. It turns would-be waste into a valuable commodity. Finished compost looks, feels, and smells like healthy black soil. It is teeming with microbial activity and provides organic matter, nutrients, and moisture to plants. This has earned compost the name “black gold” from farmers the world over.

Paul Prudhomme (Chef)-

(July 13, 1940 – October 8, 2015), Chef Prudhomme was an American chef whose specialties were Creole and Cajun cuisines, which he was also credited with popularizing. He was the chef proprietor of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, and had formerly owned and run several other restaurants. He developed several culinary products, including hot sauce and seasoning mixes, and wrote 11 cookbooks. We proudly use Chef Paul’s red remoulade recipe for our Shrimp Remoulade Salad. 

Leah Chase (Chef)-

(née Lange; January 6, 1923 – June 1, 2019) Chef Chase was an American chef based in New Orleans, Louisiana. An author and television personality, she was known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine, advocating both African-American art and Creole cooking. Her restaurant, Dooky Chase, was known as a gathering place during the 1960’s among many who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, and was known as a gallery due to its extensive African-American art collection. In 2018 it was named one of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years by Food & Wine. 

Linda Green (Chef)-

For the past 20 years+, Chef Linda has sold her delectable soul food and Ya-Ka-Mein along second line routes, food events and festivals. Cooking has always been a part of Chef Linda’s life – as a child learning from her mother, Shirley Green, helping her mother with cooking and selling Ya-Ka-Mein, working for the Orleans Parish School Board in Food Service. Then Hurricane Katrina hit, and she wasn’t called back to work.  However, since Ms. Linda already had a following from selling her food part time at festivals and local events, she made a decision to become a full-time culinary entrepreneur. Ms. Linda specializes in Catering and Soul Food cuisines for all events. Find her at soul food events such as: New Orleans jazz and Heritage Festival, Essence Festival, Crescent City’s Farmers Market, Louisiana Seafood Festival, Treme Jumbo Fest, Street Food Fest, Zulu Lundi Gras, BBQ Blues Fest, and the Ogden Museum, to name a few.

Ashley Hansen (Business Owner)

Ashley Hansen, runs Hansen's Sno-Bliz, a family business started by her grandparents, Ernest and Mary's. Ashley has helped her grandparents run the shop since she was 12. Every day she  continues the  tradition of her grandparents by serving snoballs to generations of New Orleans families. One of our favorite things about Ashley & Hansen’s, the business motto…”there are no shortcuts to quality”. 

Melissa Martin (Chef)-

Chef Martin grew up on the Louisiana coast and has lived in New Orleans for over twenty years. She was the opening chef of local favorite, Satsuma Café, a casual farm to table restaurant and also worked at Café Hope, a nonprofit restaurant, teaching at risk youth to cook. In 2014 she opened Mosquito Supper Club, where she serves a family style Cajun dinner with a glimpse into life on the Bayou. Melissa released her first (phenomenal!!) cookbook in April of 2020. 

Jessica Harris (Author)-

Educator and culinary historian Jessica Harris is the author of twelve cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora. She has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, lectured widely, and made numerous television appearances.

Jessica holds a Ph.D. from NYU and is an English professor at Queens College, CUNY. She consults at Dillard University in New Orleans, where she founded the Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. Harris is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and a member of the IACP and Les Dames d’Escoffier. Harris’s longtime focus on cuisines, ingredients, and techniques that, in one way or another, trace their lineage to the African continent is largely rooted in a desire to “make sure that that record is kept and is acknowledged and is understood.” In 2020, Harris was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the James Beard Foundation. Harris is a chronicler not only of flavor, but its ability to transport one through time and space. 

Lolis Eric Elie (Author)-

Lolis Eric Elie is a New Orleans born, Los Angeles based writer and filmmaker. His television credits include work on “Bosch,” “The Chi,” "The Man in the High Castle," "Greenleaf" and the HBO series "Treme." Working with the award-winning director Dawn Logsdon, he co- produced and wrote the PBS documentary, Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. He is the co-author or “Rodney Scott’s World of Barbecue: Every Day’s a Good Day,” from Clarkson-Potter. His essay, “America’s Greatest Hits,” is included in Best African American Essays: 2009.  A former columnist for The Times-Picayune, he is the author of Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country and co-producer and writer of Smokestack Lightning: A Day in the Life of Barbecue, the documentary based on that book. He is editor of Cornbread Nation 2: The Best of Southern Food Writing. A contributing writer to The Oxford American, his work has appeared in Gourmet, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Downbeat and The San Francisco Chronicle.

Frank Brigtsen (Chef)

Chef Frank began his culinary career in 1973 as an apprentice at Commander's Palace under the guidance of Chef Paul Prudhomme. He followed Prudhomme to K-Paul's before opening his eponymous eatery. Brigtsen’s, opened in 1986, is located Uptown on Dante Street in a Victorian cottage in the Riverbend. Since that time, he has been named one of the Top 10 New Chefs in America by Food and Wine and Best Chef, Southeast Region by the James Beard Foundation. He has been featured in Food and Wine, Gourmet and Chef magazines. He and his wife, Marna, run Brigtsen’s together.

Anne Kearney (Chef)

Chef Kearney graduated from the Greater Cincinnati Culinary Art Academy. After finishing her studies in 1988, Kearney went to New Orleans to work under the late chef John Neal at the acclaimed Bistro at the Maison de Ville Hotel. When Neal left to open Peristyle in late 1991, he took Kearney along as his Sous chef. In 1992, Kearney took leave of Peristyle for a three-year tenure with superstar chef Emeril Lagasse. Kearney purchased Peristyle shortly after the April 1995 death of Chef John Neal. Though she made the menu her own immediately upon taking over the helm, she was ever mindful to incorporate Chef Neal’s legacies whenever possible

In June, 2004, Anne sold Peristyle, and returned to her home town of Dayton, Ohio to be near family and take a break from day-to-day operations. Her next restaurant was Rue Dumaine in 2007, located in the South Dayton suburb of Washington Township, Ohio. 

In 2018 Anne came together with John & Trudy Cooper, Chris Arreola, and Andy Ganger to bring a new concept, Oak & Ola, to Tampa, FL. The restaurant is built around “Classics Revisiting”, and ultimately, the cuisine which reflects her motto wherever she is cooking: “Food of Love”.

Neal Bodenheimer (Business Owner)

Mr. Bodenheimer began his bartending career in New York, working first at Atlantic Grill and then with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality, he’s best known for his contributions to cocktail culture in his home city, New Orleans. Bodenheimer, whose family has lived in the city since the late 1800s, first felt compelled to return in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Partnering with longtime friend Matt Kohnke and fellow bartender (and Violet Hour alum) Kirk Estopinal, he opened the James Beard Award-winning Cure in 2009, which is largely credited with sparking the city’s craft cocktail renaissance. Two new bars would follow: Bellocq, which closed its doors in 2016, and Cane & Table, in the French Quarter. Bodenheimer is also a co-owner of the New Orleans institution, the annual cocktail conference, Tales of the Cocktail as well as a partner at Dauphine’s.

Susan Spicer (Chef)

Susan Spicer began her cooking career in New Orleans as an apprentice to Chef Daniel Bonnot at the Louis XVI Restaurant in 1979.  Her resume includes staging with Chef Roland Durand in Paris, extensive travel in Europe and California, as well as stints at chef at Savoire Faire and the Bistro at Maison de Ville in New Orleans. She and Regina Keever partnered together to open Bayona in the spring of 1990. With solid support from local diners and critics, Bayona soon earned national attention, countless awards and has been featured in numerous publications.  Susan received the 1993 James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Southeast.

Susan’s first book, entitled Crescent City Cooking: Unforgettable Recipes from Susan Spicer’s New Orleans, was released in 2007.  Chef Spicer is also the chef and owner of Rosedale. 

Willie Mae Seaton (Chef)

Willie Mae Seaton, (1914-2015) a chef recognized for her classic American food and whose neighborhood restaurant helped put fried chicken on the culinary map, has died. Chef Seaton managed Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans for decades before her health declined and her great-granddaughter, Kerry Seaton-Stewart, took over. Seaton's cooking earned her the James Beard America's Classic Award in May 2005. 

Austin Leslie (Chef)

Chef Leslie (July 2, 1934 – September 29, 2005) was an internationally famous New Orleans, Louisiana, chef whose work defined 'Creole Soul'. With his trademark captain's cap, lambchop sideburns, and broad smile, he was known as the Godfather of Fried Chicken. His distinctive style was the inspiration for the restaurant imagery of the 1987 television show Frank's Place. In 1964, his Aunt Helen opened Chez Helene and Leslie went to work full-time as the chef.  The restaurant served haute creole dishes like Oysters Rockefeller as well as down-home items like stuffed bell pepper, smothered cabbage with pig tails, fried chicken livers, and mustard greens. His aunt retired in 1975 and sold the restaurant to Leslie. Which he ran till 1995. Soon after, Chef Leslie met Jacques Leonardi and joined on as the fry-cook of the newly opened Jacques-Imo's restaurant in the Carrollton neighborhood of New Orleans. 

In October 2004, he left Jacques-Imo's and joined Stan "Pampy" Barre at Pampy's Creole Kitchen in the Seventh Ward. At Pampy's he worked as both a mentor to the kitchen staff, sharing his formidable knowledge of Creole cooking, and as a good-will ambassador in the front of the house, greeting and chatting with guests.

Vance Vaucresson (Business Owner)

Vance Vaucresson, owner of Vaucresson Sausage Co., can trace the roots of his family business back to Levinsky Vaucresson, who emigrated to New Orleans from France in 1899. Trained as a butcher, he had a stall at the St. Bernard Market, then part of a network of public food markets. That market later developed into Circle Food Store, a one-of-a-kind grocery and community hub just two blocks from where Vaucresson’s is located today. The butcher shop business was passed from one generation to the next and evolved through the years. By 1967 Vance's father, Robert "Sonny" Vaucresson Sr. had also opened a restaurant called Vaucresson's Creole Cafe on Bourbon Street, in what later became part of Pat O'Brien's. In the years that followed, he focused on festivals while trying to find ways to rebuild the property. Now, with a partnership in place and work underway, he’s eager to return Vaucresson Sausage Co. to its old neighborhood with more ways to serve that neighborhood. The Vaucresson Sausage Co. hopes to have construction completed on their new meat market and restaurant. 

Lafcadio Hearn (Author)-

Mr. Hearn (June 27, 1850 – September 26, 1904) was born on the Greek island of Lefkada to a Greek mother and an Irish father, after which a complex series of conflicts and events led to him being moved to Dublin, where he was abandoned first by his mother, then his father, and finally by his father's aunt. At the age of 19, he was put on a boat to the United States, where he found work as a newspaper reporter, first in Cincinnati and later in New Orleans. From there, he was sent as a correspondent to the French West Indies, where he stayed for two years, and then to Japan, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Hearn's writings for national publications, such as Harper's Weekly and Scribner's Magazine, helped create the popular reputation of New Orleans as a place with a distinct culture more akin to that of Europe and the Caribbean than to the rest of North America. Hearn's best-known Louisiana works include: 

-Gombo z’hèbes: Little dictionary of Creole proverbs (1885)

-La Cuisine Créole (1885), a collection of culinary recipes from leading chefs and noted Creole housewives who helped make New Orleans famous for its cuisine

-Chita: A Memory of Last Island (1889), a novella based on the hurricane of 1856 first published in Harper's Monthly in 1888

Madame Elizabeth Begue (Chef/Business Owner)

Elizabeth, who would become New Orleans’ first “celebrity” chef, came to New Orleans in 1853 to visit her brother Philip, a butcher at the French Market. As it happened, Philip introduced his sister to his butcher pal Louis Dutrey. The two married and together opened Dutrey’s, a former coffee house at the corner of Decatur and Madison streets. By all accounts Dutrey's did very well serving German food to a hungry crowd who worked at the French Market. In 1875, Dutrey died, leaving Elizabeth to manage the business alone. Five years later, she married, for a second time,  Hypolite Begue, a former butcher. Legend has it that Begue loved the cooking at Dutrey's so much he quit to tend bar there. Dutrey's became Begue's, and Hypolite is credited with convincing his new wife to add French recipes to the menu.  Madame Begue served only one meal a day – a "second breakfast" – at 11:00 a.m. This was to accommodate the hungry men who had been working in the Quarter and on the docks since dawn. Today, Madame Begue is credited with inventing “brunch.”

Joann Clevenger (Chef)-

Owner is the owner of the Upperline, which she opened in January of 1983.  It is here that Ms. Clevenger invented the dish that has become a staple of her New Orleans menu, Fried Green Tomatoes with Shrimp Remoulade.  Before opening the Upperline she owned a flower cart, was sued by the Louisiana Horticulture Commission for not carrying a florist license, lobbied to change the law, and won. She opened a vintage clothing store of which musical legend Paul McCartney was a customer, and found herself designing costumes. In 1969, she opened a folk music bar on Bourbon Street where Joni Mitchell once sang. She bought a lease on Decatur Street bar from a Filipino yo-yo champion and opened the Abbey. Upperline has become a standard bearer all its own, filled with a massive amount of art and a classic menu still in place to this day. 

Justin Wilson (Chef)

(April 24, 1914 – September 5, 2001) was a Southern, Louisiana chef and humorist known for his brand of Cajun-inspired cuisine, humor and storytelling. Born in Tangipahoa Parish, he was the second youngest son of 7 children. Wilson began his career as a safety engineer while he traveled throughout Acadiana. The safety lectures that he made to refinery workers prompted him to become a Cajun storyteller. In 1997, he published the cookbook "Looking Back", which combined his first two cookbooks in a hardcover format, with additional photos, and notes on how his cooking techniques had changed (e. g., using olive oil instead of oleo) since those early cookbooks were published. A companion series was produced, also titled "Looking Back" and broadcast nationwide on PBS, which was a repackaging of Justin's very first Television Cooking show from 1971, with new intros by Justin himself.

Nathaniel Burton (Chef)

Chef Nathaniel Burton (1914-2009), co-author of Creole Feast (alongside Rudy Lombard), was born in McComb, Miss. in 1914. Starting as a busboy at the Hotel New Orleans, he worked his way up to be one of the most respected Creole chefs in the city. He is best known for heading the kitchen of the famous Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Avenue as well as Broussard’s in the French Quarter. In addition to teaching many young chefs the art of Creole cooking in his kitchen, he shared his experiences with students at the Culinary Institute of America and Cornell University. His now classic cookbook tells the stories of 15 master chefs with deep roots in New Orleans who revealed their secrets through more than 200 recipes about Creole cooking. 

Henry Carr

Chef Henry Carr (September 30, 1923 - December 14, 2011), was a native to Plaquemine, La and a lifelong resident of New Orleans. Chef Carr worked as a Chef at locally renowned New Orleans restaurants. He started his career at La Louisiane on Iberville Street, then moved to the The Court of Two Sisters, then to Brennan's and later to Pascal Manale's where he retired after 18 years of service. His reputation and his expertise with food has benefited many famous restaurants in New Orleans.  

Old Absinthe House/Belle Epoque

The iconic white building on the corner of Bienville and Bourbon Streets was initially erected by Pedro Front and Francisco Juncadelia of Barcelona to house their importing firm. For the next forty years, the store was home to the bartering of food, tobacco and Spanish liquor and functioned as a corner grocery. In 1815, the ground floor was converted into a saloon known as "Aleix's Coffee House" and was run by the nephews of Senora Juncadelia. This coffee house was later rechristened "The Absinthe Room" when mixologist Cayetano Ferrer created the famous Absinthe House Frappe here in 1874. The original Old Absinthe House bar was to cease serving liquor at the start of Prohibition—a powerful message delivered to one of New Orleans’ most significant watering holes. After a few years of below-the-table liquor sales, the bar and all of its fixtures were removed from the Old Absinthe House and moved under cover of darkness to a 400 Bourbon Street in order to preserve it. This speakeasy operation was known as "The Absinthe House Bar” and served bootleg booze to those who were in-the-know on where to party or at least knew who to ask. Many decades after Repeal Day, the original bar from the Old Absinthe House was returned to its 240 Bourbon Street home in early 2004 and currently resides in the adjacent, speakeasy-style cocktail bar, Belle Époque. The Old Absinthe House is an exercise in endurance and the convergence of past and present. The decorative marble fountains that were used to drip cool water into glasses of Absinthe in the 1800s have also found a new life in Belle Époque. History endures against the backdrop of a bustling, neon Bourbon Street.

Leidenheimer Bakery

George Leidenheimer came to New Orleans from Deidesheim, Germany, and founded the bakery that bears his name in 1896. The bakery was located on Dryades Street, and in 1904 it moved to the handsome brick building on Simon Bolivar Avenue where the fourth and fifth generations of Leidenheimer's family still own and operate the business. 

We proudly use Leidenheimer bread for our po-boys and turn all of our trim and day old loaves into bread crumbs that we use for our stuffed artichokes as well as the crust for our fried hog’s head cheese.

Clancy's

Located in uptown New Orleans, on the corners of Webster and Annunciation streets is Clancy’s. The building itself has been occupied by bars and restaurants since early in the twentieth century but Clancy's itself was founded in the late 1940’s by Ed and Betty Clancy. Its original incarnation was that of a po' boy restaurant and bar.  In 1983 the Clancy couple, themselves having borne no heir, sold the restaurant to a group of New Orleans businessmen. The restaurant was transformed into a fine dining, "white tablecloth"-style restaurant, eclipsing its humble beginnings. It was one of the original Louisiana Creole cuisine bistros that sprung up in the 1980’s. In 1987, Clancy's was acquired by longtime employee Brad Holingsworth, who has retained the restaurant's status, and has added an extensive wine cellar. The current chef is Brian Larson who continues to offer house specialties like Veal Annunciation, Fried Oysters with Brie, and Shrimp Remoulade presented in hand written font. We’re so incredibly fond of their Lemon Ice Box pie that we used it as an inspiration for our dessert of the same name.

Arnaud's

Arnaud's was founded in 1918 by Arnaud Cazenave, a French wine salesman. In 1978, sixty years after the restaurant opened, it was bought by Archie and Jane Casbarian. Arnaud's is currently run by the 4th generation of the Casbarian family, Katy and Archie Casbarian and their mother Jane. The present head chef at Arnaud's is Tommy DiGiovanni, who was born and raised in New Orleans. The family is committed to preserving the original roots of the restaurant that were put in place by founder. The chef’s of Arnaud’s are well known for many signature dishes, especially Pommes Soufflé. While not created at Arnauds, and also prepared at Galatoire’s and Antoine’s, the potatoes are a not to be missed dish of the restaurants repertoire. At Arnaud’s, Norris Sam Jr. has been making the soufflé potatoes for 18 years. “Sam”, who grew up in Mid-City and still lives there, came to Arnaud’s in 1997. He learned how to make the soufflé potatoes from Norman Henry who had been making the soufflé potatoes for the previous 16 years. It is Mr. Henry’s & Mr. Sam’s pommes souffles which we wish to honor. 

Antoine's

Antoine's is a Louisiana Creole cuisine restaurant located at 713 rue St. Louis Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is one of the oldest family-run restaurants in the United States, having been established in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore.  A New Orleans institution, it is notable for being the birthplace of several famous dishes, such as Oysters Rockefeller, Eggs Sardou and Pigeonneaux Paradis. Antoine’s continues to be run by the family. While they are rightfully celebrated for many of their dishes, the way in which they ends a meal is a true testament to their status as a Grande Dame restaurant. Café Brulot was invented here and often paired with their Baked Alaska. Their Baked Alaska rests on a buttery pound cake base, topped with vanilla ice cream and then encased with a delicate meringue. There are 3 women who are responsible for producing the Baked Alaskas every day, they are….. We’ve honored these women, and the Café Brulot with our Brulot Baked Alaska. 

Terranova's

A corner grocery store, located in the Bayou Saint John neighborhood and located at 3308 Esplanade Avenue on the corner of Mystery Stree, has been run by the same family for over 90 years.  The store was founded by Benjamin and Lena Terranova, in 1925 and is well known for their fresh sausages, stuffed pork chops, hog’s head cheese and chicken stuffed with artichoke dressing. Their stuffed artichoke/dressing has been the standard to which we measure our own stuffed artichoke against. 

Drago's

Founded in 1969 by Drago and Klara Cvitanovic, Drago’s opened their doors at North Arnoult Road and 18th Street in Metairie's Fat City district. Both Mr. & Mrs. Cvitanovic immigrated from Croatia in 1964 and even though they both grew up in Croatia, they met at Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1958. Their first restaurant soon grew to include 3 restaurants and employee over 450 people. Their son, Tommy, now runs the day to day business. Widely known for their char- grilled oysters…gulf oysters grilled in the shell with butter, garlic and cheese, they sell over 4 million of them a year. Mr. Cvitanovic passed in 2017 but his restaurants carry on the love of team and community. They’ve inspired us to create an homage to their oysters all our own. 

Dong Phuong

Dong Phuong Oriental Bakery, opened by De & Huong Tran in 1982 (Vietnamese: Đông Phương, literally "East") is a Vietnamese retail and wholesale bakery, restaurant, and catering business in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is known for supplying the baguette style bread for many of the city's restaurants that offer banh mi or other sandwiches, and has its own popular banh mi counter. The bakery, along with the nearby Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church, were fixtures of the Vietnamese community in New Orleans even before surviving the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. It is located at 14207 Chef Menteur Highway in the "Little Vietnam" section of Eastern New Orleans. It is attached to a sit-down restaurant of the same name that serves a variety of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes, including phở, bún thịt nướng, bún riêu, and bánh hỏi. We are embracing the flavors of banh mi in our chicken liver mousse preparation as well as hoping that our king cakes will taste half as delicious as those from the bakery. 

Brigtsen's

Frank & Marna Brigtsen opened their restaurant, Brigtsen’s in 1986. Located in the New Orleans Riverbend, at 723 Dante Street, Brigtsen’s has come to be one of the most highly regarded restaurants in New Orleans. Chef Frank began his culinary career in 1973 while attending Louisiana State University. In 1979, he apprenticed at Commander's Palace Restaurant under the guidance of Chef Paul Prudhomme. During his seven-year tenure with Chef Prudhomme at K-Paul's, Frank attained the position of Executive Chef. Chef Paul and his wife K Prudhomme were instrumental in helping Frank and Marna open Brigtsen's. There are so many of his dishes that we consider to be classics unto themselves, “Backyard Crawfish Boil” Soup, The Shell Beach Diet, pecan pie and strawberry shortcake to name just a few. One of chef Kristen’s favorite dishes is his Panned Rabbit, which inspired her version on the Dauphine’s menu. A favorite quote from Chef Frank…”Brown is the color of flavor!”.

Peristyle

Peristyle, while no longer open, is a special restaurant to many New Orleanians, but especially to Chef Kristen. Peristyle (1041 Dumaine Street) was opened on the corners of Dumaine and N. Rampart streets by chef John Neal in 1992. Three years later, Neal died at the age of 38. His 27-year-old sous chef, Anne Kearney, borrowed money from her mentor, Emeril Lagasse, and bought the restaurant in a historic corner space. Chef Kearney owned and operated the restaurant from 1995 to 2004. In 1999, Chef Kristen joined Anne’s team as a very young, very green cook. It was Anne that taught her how to make Trout Amandine (and so much more) and it has been on every menu, of every kitchen she has had the privilege to run or own over the past 20 years. 

Brennan's

Located on Royal Street, in the heart of the French Quarter, Brennan’s is housed in a bright pink building that can’t be missed. Constructed in 1795 by the great grandfather of Edgar Degas, the famous pink building once housed the Louisiana State Bank and was purchased by the Brennan family in 1984, and in 2013 was bought by partners Ralph Brennan and Terry White, who completed a major restoration. Most famously known as the birthplace of Bananas Foster, we’ll be emulating them with a flambeed banana dish of our own.  Brennan’s will also be a huge inspiration for our much-anticipated brunch service. 

Pascals Manale’s

In 1913, Frank Manale bought a corner grocery store at Napoleon Avenue and Dryades (1838 Napoleon Avenue) to open Manale’s Restaurant.  Not many people will argue that Pascal’s classic BBQ Shrimp and Raw Oyster Bar served next to a traditional Veal Marsala or Parmigiana is the perfect collection of New Orleans Creole and Italian cuisine. In 2019, the restaurant changed hands and is now owned by Jessica Brandt. Carmen Provenzano, the Brandts’ nephew, manages the restaurant, after contributing to Pascals for 12 years previously.

Morning Call

Morning Call was opened by Joseph Jurisch in 1870, at the lower end of the New Orleans French Market, eight years after its main competitor, Café du Monde, opened a few blocks upriver in the French Quarter. For over a century it was a French Quarter landmark. Locals long had personal opinions regarding whether they preferred Morning Call, or the original Café du Monde two blocks away. In 1974, confronting rent increases and the redevelopment of the French Market district, the owners of the Morning Call closed the original location and moved to Fat City, a commercial district in Metairie, Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish. In 2012, Morning Call returned to New Orleans when they opened a second location in New Orleans' City Park Casino Building. In 2018, the Fat City location closed and the location inside of City Park, joined a bid process to award the lease to a local beignet parlor which would ensure the park was getting the highest value for the concession. Morning Call lost the lease to Café du Monde. Morning Call closed its last fixed location in January of 2019, and is in the process of building their newest location at 5101 Canal Blvd. While we claim no allegiance (at least publicly) to Morning Call or Café Du Monde, we do love that they serve their powdered sugar on the side in a shaker which has inspired us to do the same.  

Café du Monde

The Original Cafe Du Monde Coffee Stand was established in 1862 in the New Orleans French Market. Cafe Du Monde is owned by the Fernandez family. Hubert Fernandez bought the Coffee Stand in May 1942 from Fred Koeniger. At that time Mr. Fernandez owned the Fernandez Wine Cellar located in the ground floor of the Pontalba Apartment building across from the Cafe Du Monde. In 1972, The Fernandez family closed the Wine Cellar in order to devote their energies to the Cafe Du Monde. CDM is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It closes only on Christmas Day and on the day an occasional Hurricane passes too close to New Orleans. Again, we’ll do our best to honor the beignet tradition in New Orleans, but we’ll never tell you which we prefer more…

The French Market

The location of the French Market and of New Orleans dates back to the Choctaw Indians, whom started the trading post predating European colonization, the market is the oldest of its kind in the United States and is included on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.

The French Market spans 6 blocks, anchored on one end by Café Du Monde and the Farmers & Flea Market sheds on the other. The first French Market building was put up by the Spanish in 1771. This building was destroyed by a hurricane in 1812. The following year it was replaced by the building which now houses Cafe Du Monde. Back then it was known as The Butcher’s Hall. In the 1930’s the Works Progress Administration renovated and added to the French Market buildings. 

Tchoupitoulas St.

The street starts at upriver side of Canal Street (the opposite side from the French Quarter) and goes through New Orleans Central Business District(CBD) and uptown, following the curve of the river's crescent bend before coming to its terminus, hitting East Road at Audubon Park. 

The name of the street comes from the name of a Native American tribe that means "those who live at the river" in Choctaw (hạcha-pit-itula). The tribal village – called the côte (or quartier) des Chapitoulas in the 18th and early 19th centuries – was the headwaters of a bayou also named after the Chapitoulas.   Tchoupitoulas street is home to many well known businneses in New Orleans, Tipitina’s (best music club in the world?!), Hansen’s Sno Bliz (run by the amazing Ashley Hansen), Emeril’s (Emeril Lagasse’s flagship restaurant), and Mother’s Restaurant to name a few. 

Thalia St.

A boundary street to the Central City Neighborhood of New Orleans, it runs from Gert Town at the intersection of Audubon Ct. and runs thru Central City, the Lower Garden District thru to the Mississippi River. Thalia St is one of 9 streets in New Orleans named after the Muses, daughters of Zeus & Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory). The 9 muses, Calliope (the goddess of epic poetry), Clio (the muse of history), Erato ( the muse of love poetry), Euterpe (the muse of lyric poetry), Melpomene (the muse of tragic poetry), Terpsichore ( the muse of sacred music), Terpsichore (the muse of dance), Thalia (the muse of comedy), and Urania (the muse of astronomy). The “muse” streets were given their names by city planner Barthélemy Lafon around 1810. 

Euterpe St.

See Thalia street for information on the name. Euterpe will forever hold a special place for Chef Kristen, it was the last street she called Home, in New Orleans. 

St. Phillip. St.

Named after the patron saint, St. Phillip. St. Phillip street was one of the many streets in the French quarter named after saints. These “saint” streets served as buffers for the streets named for French royalty. (see Dumaine Street). St. Phillip street runs from the Mississippi river, thru the French Quarter, is a border of Louis Armstrong Park, thru the Treme, and ends at Moss Street, in & on Bayou St. John. St. Phillip street is home of Café Sbisa, McDonough 15 Elementary School, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Bar, Matassa’s Market, Crescent City Steak House and Pal’s Lounge.

Dumaine St.

Dumaine Street was named for an illegitimate son of Louis XIV. It is boxed in on one side by St. Philip Street and on the other, by St. Ann. “Saint” streets served as an buffers for the streets named for French royalty, which at the time of naming many of the various sectors of French royalty were highly suspicious of each other, keeping these streets insulated in a way from political power plays. Dumaine was the street on which the restaurant Perisyle sat, on the corner of North Rampart Street. It also corner street home of Toups Meatery & Ralph’s on the Park.

Cure

Cure opened in 2009 on Freret St. and is largely credited with pioneering the craft cocktail movement in New Orleans and revitalizing the now bustling Freret neighborhood. A decade later, Cure is a New Orleans mainstay that continues to champion classic cocktails and thoughtful innovative riffs on tried and true standbys. Cure has been named one of “America’s Best Bars” by Esquire, listed as one of the “Best Cocktail Bars in the U.S.” by Food & Wine, and hailed among New Orleans’ best cocktail bars. In 2018, Cure received the coveted award for “Outstanding Bar Program,” from the James Beard Foundation.

Cane Sugar

Cane vinegar is made from syrup from sugar cane. The cane is harvested, crushed to extract the juice, simmered down into a syrup, and the syrup fermented into vinegar. It has a mellow flavor like malt vinegar, with an added freshness in the mouth. It is not sweet, but it is less harsh than distilled vinegars.

Cane Sugar/Cane Syrup

any sweetener derived, directly or indirectly, from sugarcane. It refers not only to dry sweeteners – granulated, cube, and tablet – but also liquids, such as syrups and molasses. 

Poiriers Cane Syrup-

Old style, traditionally made, cane syrup made by Charles Poirier in Lafayette, Louisiana is one of the most special ingredients we will use at Dauphine’s. Charles’ production is so small that it’s only slightly bigger than what would be called homemade. He’s doing the entire thing on his farm: growing the cane, crushing it, cooking it down, and bottling it. In addition to doing all of this work by hand all of the equipment was built by his family and is still utilized for production to this day. Fun fact, it takes approximately 15 gallons of sugar cane juice to produce 1 gallon of syrup with a cooking time of 6 ½ to 7 hours. 

https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/traditional-cane-syrup/

https://gardenandgun.com/articles/a-smaller-batch-answer-to-steens-cane-syrup/

Creole Mustard

Traditionally made with brown mustard seeds which have been marinated in vinegar, often white wine vinegar, before being ground. It owes its grainy appearance to the use of whole mustard seeds instead of ground mustard seeds. The condiment is similar to the French Dijon mustard but it is made with vinegar instead of white wine, and is spicier and coarser due to its method of preparation.

Tabasco Hot Sauce-

McIlhenny grew his first commercial pepper crop in 1868. The next year, he sent out 658 bottles of sauce at one dollar apiece wholesale to grocers around the Gulf Coast, particularly in New Orleans. He labeled it “Tabasco,” a word of Mexican Indian origin believed to mean “place where the soil is humid” or “place of the coral or oyster shell.” McIlhenny secured a patent in 1870, and TABASCO® Sauce began its journey. Sales grew, and by the late 1870s, he sold his sauce throughout the U.S. and even in Europe. Over time the aging process for the mash has become longer – up to three years in white oak barrels – and the vinegar is high-quality distilled vinegar. All of their products are made on Avery Island, Louisiana. 

Crystal Hot Sauce

Crystal Hot Sauce is a Louisiana hot sauce made by family-owned Baumer Foods. Baumer Foods was, started by Alvin Baumer, in 1923. The origin story of their hot sauce is quite unique. Alvin’s future father-in-law gave him a personal loan to buy a sno-ball syrup production company on Tchoupitoulas Street called Mill’s Fruit Products. Inside a drawer at Mill’s, Alvin stumbled upon a hot sauce recipe labeled Crystal Pure. The rest is history. Baumer Foods, processes more than 12 million gallons of cayenne pepper mash annually just outside New Orleans, resulting in 3 million gallons of Crystal hot sauce, shipped to more than 75 countries each year.

Louisiana Shrimp

“Friends don’t let friends eat imported shrimp.”-

There are only two main shrimp species found and caught in Louisiana, white and brown shrimp. Seabob and pink shrimp are caught, but in much lower quantities. The brown shrimp are characterized by their brownish appearance and prominent grooves on either side of their head and tail while the white shrimp lack those prominent grooves and are gray in color with very long antennae. These two species are dominant in the waters at different times. Brown shrimp are found in inshore waters in spring and summer while the white shrimp are predominantly found later in the year, summer through fall.

Herbsaint

Herbsaint is an anise-flavored liqueur originally created as an absinthe-substitute in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1934, and currently produced by the Sazerac Company. It was developed by J. Marion Legendre and Reginald Parker of the city, who had learned how to make absinthe while in France during World War I.  It was originally produced under the name "Legendre Absinthe", although it never contained absinthe's essential ingredient, Grande Wormwood. It first went on sale following the repeal of Prohibition, and was unique in its category as an absinthe substitute, as opposed to a pastis. The Federal Alcohol Control Administration soon objected to Legendre's use of the word "absinthe", so the name was changed to "Legendre Herbsaint", French/Creole for "Herbe Sainte" (Sacred Herb), the Artemisia absinthium. As it happens, "Herbsaint" is a near-anagram of "absinthe".

Trinity

The holy trinity is the Cajun and Louisiana Creole variant of mirepoix; traditional mirepoix is two parts onions, one part carrots, and one part celery, whereas the “holy trinity” is typically equal measures of the three ingredients or one part onions, one part green bell pepper, and one part celery. The addition of garlic to the holy trinity is sometimes referred to as adding "the pope."

The term was probably popularized by Chef Paul Prudhomme, around 1981.  

Peychaud’s Bitters-

A bitter distributed by the American Sazerac Company. It was originally created around 1830 by Antoine Amédée Peychaud, a Creole apothecary from the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) who settled in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1795. It is a gentian-based bitters, comparable to Angostura bitters, but with a predominant anise aroma combined with a background of mint. Peychaud's Bitters is the definitive component of the Sazerac cocktail.  It is currently produced at the Buffalo Trace distillery in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Filé

Hand ground Filé, which is also known as Filé Powder, is a powder made from the leaves of the Sassafras Tree. The Choctaw Indians of Louisiana are believed to be the first users of sassafras, a type of laurel tree native to North America. The tender leaves of the Sassafras were dried and pounded into a fine powder, which was used as a flavoring and thickening agent. When ingested, the powder causes the body to perspire, and so it was used medicinally to break fevers. The Choctaw originally sold this powerful herb to the Creoles of New Orleans in the earliest days of the French Market. Handmade Filé powder is extremely rare and currently only a few producers still follow the time-honored fashion of hand harvesting, drying and curing the sassafras leaves before pounding them with a pestle in a traditional cypress mortar. Filé produced in this manner is fresher, evident in it’s bright green color and has a more vibrant flavor. 

Pastis

Pastis, is an anise-flavoured spirit and apéritif, traditionally from France that was first commercialized by Paul Ricard in 1932 and enjoys substantial popularity in France, especially in the southeastern regions of the country, mostly Marseille, and the Var department. The popularity of pastis may be attributable to a penchant for anise drinks that was cultivated by absinthe decades earlier, but is also part of an old tradition of Mediterranean anise liquors that includes sambuca, ouzo, arak, rakı, and mastika. The name "pastis" comes from Occitan pastís which means "mash-up".

Hog’s Head Cheese

It’s not cheese! Hog’s Head Cheese is a cold cut terrine or meat jelly, often made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig, typically set in aspic, that originated in Europe. Usually eaten cold or at room temperature.

Mirliton

A squash like fruit, Mirlitons are roughly pear-shaped, somewhat flattened and with coarse wrinkles, ranging from 10 to 20 cm in length. It looks like a green pear, and it has a thin, green skin fused with the green to white flesh, and a single, large, flattened pit. Some varieties have spiny fruits. The flesh has a fairly bland taste, and a texture is described as a cross between a potato and a cucumber. Also known as chayote, alligator pear, choko, and tayota.

Sazerac Rye

Rye Whiskey dates back to the 1800s, around the time when saloons, veiled as Coffee Houses, began lining the streets of New Orleans. It was at the Sazerac Coffee House on Royal Street where local patrons were served toddies made with Rye Whiskey and Peychaud’s Bitters. The libation became known as the “Sazerac” and America’s first branded cocktail was born.

Chicory

Common chicory (Cichorium intybus) is a somewhat woody plant of the dandelion family, usually with bright blue flowers. Many varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, Chicon, or roots, which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and food additive. The root has been cultivated since ancient Egypt and chicory has been roasted, ground and mixed with coffee in France since the 19th century. During the American Civil War, Louisianans looked to adding chicory root to their coffee when Union naval blockades cut off the port of New Orleans. With shipments coming to a halt, desperate New Orleanians looking for their coffee fix began mixing things with coffee to stretch out the supply. It’s continued to be the coffee blend used for the café au lait at Café Du Monde.

Absinthe

Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic beverage (45–74% ABV / 90–148 U.S. proof). It is an anise-flavored spirit derived from plants, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Absinthe traditionally has a natural green color but may also be colorless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as la fée verte ("the green fairy"). It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a liqueur, but is not traditionally bottled with added sugar and is, therefore, classified as a spirit.[6] Absinthe is traditionally bottled at a high level of alcohol by volume, but it is normally diluted with water before being consumed. http://www.bestabsinthe.com/no.htm

Sweet Potatoes 

Sweet potatoes are large, starchy, sweet-tasting root vegetables. The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens. The sweet potato is distantly related to the common potato. The sweet potato, especially the orange variety, is often called a "yam" in parts of North America, but it is entirely unrelated to true yams.

French Bread

This thin-crusted variety of French Bread—more commonly known as the Baguette, Po’ Boy Loaf or Sunday Cap Bread—is fundamental to the New Orleans gastronomy. Each version of the French bread is slightly different. The baguette is a traditional 18-inch loaf that is served in many New Orleans restaurants. The Po’ Boy, which is double the size of the baguette and is customarily stuffed with fried oysters, roast beef, or shrimp, was developed as a meal-in-asandwich for drivers during the New Orleans street car strike of 1927. All three styles of the fresh bread have soft, chewy and doughy centers encapsulates by a hard, crunchy crust. While the fresh bread is an ideal balance between its crusty and supple textures, within one day the bread becomes stale and unbreakable. German and Italian immigrants originally created this vital part of New Orleans’ cuisine and still own and operate bakeries that daily deliver bread to groceries, fine restaurants and neighborhood poor boy shops.

Prairie Ronde Long Grain Rice

A family farm owned by Beth James and Dave Malone, singer and guitarist for The Radiators, and managed by Rolando Sanchez, for over 30 years, located in Ville Platte, Louisiana. The farm plants and mills a non-GMO single variety rice. The brand was named after the area in which the rice is grown and milled. On 1,100 acres in St. Landry Parish, Prairie Ronde has long sold crawfish commercially and once grew their rice as feed for its mudbugs and to sell to other farmers. In January 2017 the farm decided to start commercially processing and bagging their rice for sale.

Creole Cream Cheese

Creole cream cheese is a form of farmer cheese that is traditional in the New Orleans area. It is made from skim milk, buttermilk and rennet, has a mild, slightly tart, slightly sweet taste, and is frequently mixed with cream, sugar and fruit and served as a dessert. It is often used to make Creole cream cheese ice cream. In homes it is traditionally eaten for breakfast and served with cream, fruit, or sugar; it can also be served on toast with butter, salt and pepper.

Collard Greens

Collard greens are a staple vegetable in Southern U.S. cuisine. Typically used in combination with collard greens are smoked and salted meats (ham hocks, smoked turkey drumsticks, smoked turkey necks, pork neckbones, fatback or other fatty meat), diced onions, vinegar, salt, and black pepper, white pepper, or crushed red pepper, and some cooks add a small amount of sugar. Traditionally, collards are eaten on New Year's Day, along with black-eyed peas or field peas and cornbread, to ensure wealth in the coming year. Cornbread is used to soak up the "pot liquor", a nutrient-rich collard broth.

Red Beans & Rice

Red beans and rice is an emblematic dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine traditionally made on Mondays with red beans, vegetables (bell pepper, onion, and celery), spices (thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf) and pork bones as left over from Sunday dinner, cooked together slowly in a pot and served over rice. Meats such as ham, sausage (most commonly andouille), and tasso ham are also frequently used in the dish. The dish is customary – ham was traditionally a Sunday meal and Monday was washday. A pot of beans could sit on the stove and simmer clothes were washed.

Cracklin

Cracklin is basically just a by-product of rendering pork fat for lard. Over time, what started as a tasty afterthought of the Boucherie turned into an intentional dish that would eventually take on many forms and be prepared in a variety of methods. Called grattons in French, or by the more popular name of crackling or cracklin’, South Louisiana residents drop the pig skin with fat and sometimes meat attached into vats of hog lard and fry till crispy.