Page 20 - March & April

18 MYROUSESEVERYDAY MAY | JUNE 2013
S outh Beach has SOBEWFF, Aspen
has the Food &Wine Classic, but if
you ask me, the best wine and food
festival is in New Orleans. At the
New Orleans Wine & Food Experience
(NOWFE), you can eat, drink and mix
with some of the best chefs in the world,
and the fact that they live and work right
here just makes the experience that much
better. And, come on, if anyone knows how
to throw a festival, it’s New Orleans!
Last year was NOWFE’s 20th anniversary
and the festival has grown larger and more
popular every year. NOWFE draws foodies
from all over the country (many come
every year), dozens of international wine
and food experts including several Master
Sommeliers, Food Network stars like Paula
Deen, contestants from Bravo’s Top Chef
and, last year, my niece Jamie and her
fiancé (now husband). They flew in from
Michigan for wedding preparations, which,
not-so-coincidentally, included three days
of eating and drinking at NOWFE.
Rouses has sponsored NOWFE’s Royal
Street Stroll, which has expanded to go
from the Monteleone Hotel past our Royal
Street store since 2008. We also participate
in the Grand Tastings. Every year I run into
friends, neighbors, customers, and people in
the industry. It’s particularly great to catch
up with chef friends away from our stores
and their restaurants. Rouses really is where
the chefs shop, and I’m lucky to get to work
with so many great people. Our local chefs
may be rockstars in the culinary world, but
they’re completely down-to-earth. Brian
Landry of Borgne and Aaron Burgau of
Patois are still Jesuit High School boys at
heart (they went to school with the Mackels
from WDSU). John Besh knows everything
his mom buys at Rouses in Slidell. And if
Tory McPhail from Commander’s Palace
seems like a guy you’d want to grab a drink
with, it’s because he is. Make it a shot of te-
quila.
The chefs typically go all-out for NOWFE.
Last year’s savory Best of Show
was a crispy pork belly with
watermelon from Chef Gregg
Zeringue at The Green Bar
at Westin Canal Place. Chef
Phillip Lopez from Root took
home the sweet prize for his
chocolate-peppermint dessert
made with Cocoa Puffs. Root
is downtown near our Rouses
Market on Baronne Street, and
I see him in the store all of the
time.
Along with the 75 chefs who
participate in NOWFE, there
are over 175 wineries that pres-
ent more than 1000 wines. I
enjoy good wine. My wife and
I are planning to visit some
wineries in the Burgundy and Champagne
regions this summer, and we’ve spent a bit
of time in Napa and Sonoma. I really enjoy
meeting the people that make the wine we
sell. NOWFE is a great way to get to know
new wines and their makers.
Last year, my niece chose the wine for her
reception at NOWFE, and she picked
up all sorts of ideas for the food (Rouses
catered). The chefs were all quick to share
suggestions about what she should serve
– one thing about being local, we love to
share our food. And speaking of sharing
our food, our local chefs John Besh and
Tory McPhail were
featured at Mi-
ami’s SOBEWFF
in February. If you
buy a plane ticket,
you can also catch
Besh at the Aspen
Food&Wine Classic
in June. Or you can
stay local and catch
him at one of his
eight restaurants in
Louisiana (he has
another one in Tex-
as), or at this year’s
NOWFE.
by Tim Acosta, Rouses Marketing Director
New Orleans
Wine & Food Experience
Tory McPhail, Commander’s Palace