We're Something, But We're Starving

Let's celebrate the humble pig, the eater of scraps, another of our fellow mammals that has the audacity to sweat. Pigs are the reason that I was never able to be a true vegetarian and pork products remain the only meat that I savor. This is why my trip to Cochon, back in late fall, remains one of my favorite restaurant experiences in New Orleans. And now the New York Times has recognized it as one of the top ten new restaurants outside New York (snobs).

Cochon won a James Beard award in 2007 for Best Chef: South. In New Orleans, if you claim to know your food and celebrate it like so many of us do, you best know that the James Beard awards are the Oscars of the food world, and you also better know that it's Donald Link that's the chef at Cochon, and that he's also the chef at Herbsaint. These are just things that you need to know to proclaim your foodiness in NOLA.

We're proud in this city, rightly so, of the amazing food that can be found almost anywhere, at almost any price. It makes it hard to eat anywhere else. For instance, during Mardi Gras I stumbled upon a homemade sign pointing me to Jazzy Po'boys, at a new location. I turned the car and ended up with the best roast beef po'boy of my life, all the while chatting with the chef and owner. I can have absolutely delicious red beans and rice, or mac and cheese, for about $2 in the cafeteria of Tulane Hospital--a cafeteria! In a hospital! It makes it difficult to visit other places and be faced with the choice between a McDonalds and a Taco Bell for lunch.

So thanks, NYT, for acknowledging this. Cochon is one of the most delicious places in a city with too many places to try. We may disappoint vegetarians but we're people who maintain lists of "restaurants to try", who keep the reservation numbers in our cellphones, who find it hard to narrow down the list of restaurants to take visitors. Food is part of the history here, food is part of our rebuilding effort, and food is our way of life.

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