If you like to eat – really love it and don’t care who knows – there’s no place on earth like New Orleans. A trio of coming festivals underscores the fact.
The first one up is the 19th annual New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. Prepare to swirl, savor and sip your way to culinary Nirvana this May as NOWFE readies to welcome the world. The self-described “five-day bacchanalia” takes place May 24 through 28.
Next comes the fourth annual Louisiana Food Festival June 11 through 12, followed by the ninth iteration of Tales of the Cocktail July 20 through 24.
Cheapflights will explore the latter events in future stories. But right now it’s almost time for wine, as folks gather from all over to revel in NOWFE. Dozens of local chefs, many of them nationally known, will showcase indigenous ingredients. Thousands of wines and champagnes from some 175 wineries will wash down the south Louisiana’s subtly spicy fare.
This is no regional regale. Wine Enthusiast perennially pegs NOWFE as a Top Ten wine and food festival.
The event kicks off Tuesday May 24 with the Ella Brennan Award Dinner & Live Auction. That’s followed up Wednesday by wine dinners at some of the Crescent City’s best restaurants. Thursday ushers in the traditional Royal Street Stroll and Vinola Tasting. NOWFE wraps up Friday May 28 and Saturday May 29 with a series of Grand Tastings.
Throughout this year’s New Orleans Wine and Food Experience seminars whet the appetite of the faithful. Among them:
- Effervescence Everyday: Revel in world-class sparkling wines rendered in the Champagne method. See how they measure up against one another.
- Kindred Ingredients: Louisiana crawfish and rice make nice with one another in this seminar presented by Chef Donald Link, the genius behind acclaimed Cochon Herbsaint on St. Charles Avenue.
- Bubbly Personalities: More champagne, anyone?
- Honing your Craft: Prefer beer to wine? There’s a place for you at NOWFE. Presented by local brewmasters, this seminar just might alter the way you serve and enjoy craft beer forever.
- Eat, Stay, Love: Join local chefs and they construct culinary concoctions from their restaurants. Those restaurants just happen to be in local hotels. Thus, the lovin’ is up to you.
This should help with the eating, staying and loving part. Local hotels have rolled out NOWFE packages designed so you can have a drink and then take the elevator home – to your room that is. The New Orleans Marriott at the Convention Center (which also happens to be NOWFE’s headquarters hotel) is offering one of the more reasonable deals. $199 per night, plus tax, gets you a room, a pair of VIP passes to the Grand Tasting on Friday or Saturday, two tickets to the National World war II Museum, two tickets to Beyond All Boundaries – the 4-D film at the WWII Museum – and a couple of glasses of house wine when you purchase an entrée at John Besh’s American Sector restaurant. Discounted overnight parking is also part of the package
As for getting to the Big Easy, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is resurgent in the wake of a post-Katrina slowdown. Discount airline Southwest is the dominant player at MSY. JetBlue and AirTran fly here too.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: rdpeyton)
