Restaurants celebrate customer birthdays in many different ways.

Some restaurants offer free desserts. Some offer complimentary gift certificates. Others make customers wear funny hats and still others sing the ever-popular off-key all-waiter chorus of “Happy Birthday to You”. Some restaurants go the understated route by placing lighted sparklers in a piece of cheesecake, parading through the dining room while clapping and shouting your name all the way to the table. I hate it when they do that. more...

Fall and cooler weather are on the way.

Here are a few of the Purple Parrot Café and Crescent City Grill’s most popular made-from-scratch soup recipes. more...

Everything is getting smaller.

As technological advancements progress, consumer goods shrink. TVs have grown smaller, stereo systems, too. My mother used to own a hi-fi system that covered the entire wall of her dining room. It doubled as a sideboard. As she listened to Englebert Humperdink croon through the furniture; she sported a hairdo that was so tall she had to duck when walking through doorways. Hairdos are definitely smaller nowadays. more...

A Japanese pharmaceutical company has discovered that eating raspberries burns fat.

A fat-burning fruit … holy Moses, hallelujah and can I get a witness! I’m liking these pharmaceutical companies more and more. more...

I have written several columns about my wife’s dubious cooking skills.

Before I begin this one, readers should know that I love my wife more than life itself. She is an exceptional person and my best friend. She is an excellent mother. She is smart, she is fun and she is beautiful. She makes me laugh. She challenges my intellect (so she’s got it easy in that department) and she is completely devoted to our family. She is my rock. more...

Emeril Lagasse is all the rage on television. But before Emeril bellowed a “Bam!” before Mario layered a lasagna and before Wolfgang spoiled a syllable, there was Julia.

Julia Child is the Grande Dame of cooking. more...

The evolution of flatware has been slow.

For thousands of years man was content to eat with his fingers. In the 1500s the fork came into common table use. Spoons appeared in the mid-1700s. Every utensil since then has been a variation on the same theme more...

Before I opened my first restaurant, I spent seven years as a waiter in other people’s restaurants.

I enjoyed waiting tables. The money was good, schedules were flexible and the hours were favorable. Many individuals make restaurant service a career. In this part of the country the ultimate status position for the table-waiting profession is Galatoire’s in New Orleans. more...

Rare is the occasion when one can say he has eaten the best of a particular food product.

Last summer I remember tasting the best peach I had ever eaten. The most impressive fish dish I ever ordered was at Montrachet in New York. My best steak experience was in one of my restaurants three months ago. more...

What’s the story behind Vienna sausages? more...

For years, my wife has tried to take me to “tea” at the Windsor Court Hotel.

The Windsor Court in New Orleans is one of the finest hotels around. We stay there occasionally. Given the chance, my wife would live there. more...

Most of the time it is the little things in life that give us the most joy.

Eight years ago I was given a small plastic letter opener. I would be devastated if I ever lost it. My wife once bought me an inexpensive sunglass holder that attaches to the visor in my car. It made my week. more...

Some parents stop dining out after their children are born.

For most of my life that baffled me. I used to naïvely proclaim, “The only way children are going to learn how to act in restaurants is to take them to eat in restaurants.” And I meant it. more...

Here’s a Blue-Light Special: Martha Stewart is under investigation by the New York Stock Exchange

Stewart, the celebrity caterer, cookbook author and Kmart hawker, also is receiving document requests and trading-pattern inquiries from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Could the Securities and Exchange Commission be far behind? more...

Julia Child once told me that most people underestimate the importance of being able to properly cook a scrambled egg.

Over a memorable breakfast, Child and I discussed egg-scrambling methods and techniques. My wife was sitting at the table, but she obviously wasn’t paying attention to Mrs. Child. more...

In the restaurant business, Father’s Day comes and goes without fanfare.

Mother’s Day is the busiest lunch shift of the year, but the third Sunday in June is like any other restaurant day. more...

I have lost 30 pounds since January. But according to the new and (supposedly) improved Body Mass Index system, I am still officially obese. more...

Give me nougat or give me death!

We need tort reform and we need it now. Not because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is boycotting Mississippi. Not because proctologists are losing their insurance and threatening to leave the state in droves and not because someone else wants a chance to advertise on the back of the phone book. more...

The Blessing of the Fleet signals the beginning of shrimp season.

Biloxi’s Blessing of the Fleet was held May 5.

Fleet blessings originated in Sicily centuries ago. However, they are held worldwide in various coastal fishing communities. more...

Mother’s Day is the busiest lunch shift in the restaurant business.

The reason restaurants are so busy on Mothers Day is because moms aren’t supposed to be cooking. And instead of the family having to eat dad’s cooking it is easier for the whole group to go to a restaurant. Sounds good to me. more...

Earlier this year I wrote a New Year’s resolution column in which I vowed to lose weight.

To date, I have lost 25 pounds.

Initially I used the Sugar Busters diet but that only lasted two weeks because I had to give up cereal. On the Sugar Busters diet one is supposed to stay away from refined sugars and enriched flours. Nowhere are those two ingredients more prevalent than in breakfast cereals, and especially the breakfast cereals I like to eat. more...

Soft-shell crab season has arrived. Halleluiah, amen and pass the remoulade sauce!

Every spring, soft-shell crabs take over our restaurants. A soft-shell crab is the same species as other blue crabs found in the Gulf of Mexico, except a soft-shell has been harvested as it begins to molt. more...

On Easter Sunday the Purple Parrot Café will be filled with dozens of hungry families.

Easter is the second-busiest lunch shift in the restaurant industry. more...

ASPEN, Colo. – Greetings from my first vacation in three years.

I have been looking forward to this trip since last fall. However, it’s not turning out like I imagined five months ago when I made the reservations. more...