Epicurean Adventures: Taste of the Town

A very excitable person, it's not hard to get me stoked, especially about food. But every so often, a festival (especially in spring -- New Orleans goes food-fest crazy during this brief respite between cold and humidity) comes along that gets me giddy, and tomorrow night is one of them.

What's that now?, you say? TASTE OF THE TOWN!

Every year, Tommy Cvitanovich, the mastermind behind the Drago's famous and oft-imitated (and as my daily dose of cliched phrases, "never duplicated") charbroiled oysters, puts together a festival not to be missed, with the participation of other high-profile members of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. For $90, you can get a Maitre d'Patron ticket, which allows you access to some of the hottest restaurants in town and facetime with some of the most renowned chefs New Orleans has to offer. Held in Lafreniere Park in Metairie, just outside of the city, this event is considered one of the highlights of eatin' season.

Here's a sneak peak of some of the restaurants I'm most worked up about:

• Drago's
• Court of Two Sisters
• 5 Fifty 5 at the Marriott
• Arnaud's Restaurant
  
• Besh Steak
• Commander's Palace
• Bourbon House
• La Petite Grocery
• Pascal's Manale
• Ruth's Chris
• Ralph's on the Park
• Sucre

I would skip Crescent City Brewhouse, though, since they're not that good, and take advantage of the fine dining selections. A year ago, I would have added Galatoire's to that list, but that restaurant's on a different list of mine, and that list starts with "Shit" due to the the lack of respect the management treats its own employees and affiliates and the nasty attitude management gives their customers. But that's all fodder for a different story that I'll go into at a later time, because right now, I want to talk about things that are happy. So hooray for Taste of the Town!