On Sunday, February 9th, over 100,000 people are expected to pack into New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. This will mark the 11th Super Bowl in the city, tying Miami for most in NFL history. And there's a good reason the big game keeps coming back to the Big Easy: our food and hospitality are second to none. On this week's show, we celebrate iconic Louisiana foods that those swarms of sports fans will be seeking out during their stay. We kick off with Louisiana Fish Fry. Remember the chicken sandwich wars that pitted fast-food chains against each other? Last year, the Louisiana Fried Chicken Sandwich Challenge set out to show that the best chicken sandwich in America was actually made in a home cook's kitchen. We learn about the national contest and meet champion Mindea Pituk, who won a trip to the Superdome on Super Bowl Sunday. Then, we've got a game of two halves – of bread! Burke Bischoff's paperback Po'Boy, tells the story of the classic New Orleans poor boy sandwich – its delicious and endless varieties, the real secret of the dish, and what it has to do with a 1929 streetcar strike. Next, we pass the ball to Samantha Stein and Dan Trahant of Reily Foods, the company behind Blue Plate Mayonnaise. We learn how they set out to create a new twist on two southern sauces – tartar and cocktail. Finally, we sit down with a big game player in the world of flavor. Pepper Baumer is the third-generation producer of local and national favorite, Crystal Hot Sauce. In 2023, the Baumer family celebrated a century of business here in Louisiana. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Folks are familiar with New Orleans' home-grown Creole and Cajun cuisines. But the Crescent City is also the place to taste delicious flavors from many cultures. This week, we pay tribute to a trio of chefs bringing Latin American fare to local tables. First, we talk to Ana Castro. Down in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood, this much-lauded young chef is drawing crowds to her modern Mexican restaurant Acamaya. Also in Bywater, Chef Melissa Araujo's Alma Café offers a menu of Honduran specialties and, now, a second location in Mid-City. Finally, we hear from Carlos Sanchez, owner of Tournesol Café and Bakery, who spends his days in downtown Covington creating the delicious breads and pastries of his native El Salvador. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Many of us toy with the idea of committing our life stories to pen and paper. If you're a regular listener to Louisiana Eats, or simply another food obsessed Louisianan, odds are your biography may well take the form of food memoir. This week, we hear from a trio of writers who have been there and done that. First, we catch up with Sara Roahen. Her award-winning memoir, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table, chronicles her adjustment to life in the Big Easy. But Sarah is also a teacher of memoir writing and has penned a guide for aspiring authors. She shares some tips from her book, How to Begin Writing Your Life Stories: Putting Memories on the Page. Next, author Karen Katz gives us backstage access to the wild world of food TV. She writes about her adventures as Emeril Lagasse's cooking show producer in her memoir, Getting Sauced: How I Learned Everything I Know About Food From Working in TV. Finally, we speak with stand-up comic and actor Dan Ahdoot. In his debut memoir, Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live, Dan examines his emotional relationship with food starting from childhood, and provides both an honest and comedic look at where that has gotten him. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

The life of a chef is often regarded as glamorous and exciting, but in reality, it's a hard life – exemplified by long hours and frequent financial challenges. For many, it's the only life imaginable. Nathanial Zimet, the ambitious chef behind Boucherie and Bourrée in New Orleans, falls directly into that category. Drawn to the restaurant business at the age of 15, the North Carolina native soon learned it was the only career for him. On this week's show, we sit down with Nathanial to explore what led him from London's Le Cordon Bleu to his purple food truck in New Orleans, where his culinary life here began. From Hurricane Katrina to a near-fatal shooting in 2011 – the indomitable Nathaniel has risen to the top, again and again. So has Drew Ramsey, whose family has run Hubig's, makers of New Orleans’ favorite hand pies, for three generations. After a fire destroyed their factory in 2012, a return seemed improbable. But like a fried Phoenix rising from the ashes, Hubig's is back in business after a 10-year hiatus. Drew tells us his tale of tragedy to triumph. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Twelfth Night marks the birth of the late New Orleans icon, Leah Chase. The culinary legend, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 96, was the undisputed Queen of Creole Cooking and a civil rights activist who changed lives over a bowl of gumbo. On this week's show, we spend the hour honoring Leah's talent, achievements, and lasting legacy. We begin with one of our favorite Louisiana Eats moments: a special day we spent with Leah in 2012, when then-Mayor Mitch Landrieu kicked off the official start of Carnival season at Gallier Hall with king cake and a surprise for Leah on her 89th birthday. From there, we look back on Leah's early life in Madisonville, Louisiana. Leah describes growing up on a strawberry farm, and the lessons she learned that shaped the legend she would become. We continue with an oral history from NOLA Life Stories, in which Leah recounts her first experiences working in a café in the French Quarter, as told to Mark Cave of the Historic New Orleans Collection. Next, we arrive at a turning point in Leah's life — the moment she met big band leader Edgar "Dooky" Chase, Jr. Following their marriage, Leah went to work at Dooky's, her in-laws' simple sandwich shop in the Treme. As she began to serve Creole classics like gumbo and Chicken Clemenceau on fine linen, Leah elevated the dining culture for everyone. Leah tells us about her famous Gumbo z'Herbes, a dish she served at her restaurant every Holy Thursday for over 60 years. We also chronicle how Leah rebuilt Dooky Chase's after Hurricane Katrina. Eleven years after the storm, Leah experienced two other monumental life events — the first was her 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the James Beard Foundation. Months later, Leah's husband and partner Edgar "Dooky" Chase — the man who played a key role in her success — passed away at the age of 88. In this final segment, Leah reflects on their relationship and shares her thoughts on death and living a fulfilling life. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.

Another year has come and gone. As we look forward to a new one, Louisiana Eats is taking a moment to reflect on the year that was 2024. First, we remember educator, activist, and former First Lady of New Orleans – Sybil Haydel Morial – with an extended version of our 2016 conversation with her. She shares stories of growing up in the Jim Crow South and her husband's successful campaign to become first Black mayor of New Orleans. We also discuss the key roles Leah Chase and Dooky Chase's Restaurant played in Sybil's life. We also celebrate two restaurateurs who took on the task of feeding food insecure kids over the summer – Amanda and Isaac Toups of Toups' Meatery. We revisit our conversation with Amanda and give you an update on what their new nonprofit, Toups' Family Meal, accomplished in 2024. For more of all things Louisiana Eats, be sure to visit us at PoppyTooker.com.