Guest Author: Lisa

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a foodie. So basically, I?ve only heard of a chef if he or she is famous, or if Jeremy has raved about them to me. As for famous chefs in New Orleans, I am sure there are other lesser-known but also fabulous chefs, but the two I had heard of are Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme. I know of these chefs because (1) Emeril has a television show in which he say ?Bam!? all the time, and (2) Paul Prudhomme is a large guy. Thus, I made reservations to eat at each of their restaurants when I visited New Orleans.

Because, like Jeremy, I am a lawyer, I have decided to turn this into a case of sorts? which chef provides the better New Orleans dining experience? My dining party will serve as the jury, and I will serve as the final arbiter of the law as the judge. While I realize that venue would most properly lie in Louisiana, as a New York licensed lawyer I am unfamiliar with the Napoleonic Code. Thus, I?ll be honest with you ? I am going to decide this case under some home-cooked Lisa law.

Also, the record is incomplete. Not being a pseudo-professional food blogger, I failed to write down the names of the dishes I ate at the various restaurants, and I was also embarrassed to take pictures of food. (Food bloggers, I must inform you that it is really not normal to take pictures of food. Most people take pictures of people, or interesting landmarks, like the cool picture of a cornstalk fence I posted above. I find it embarrassing when Jeremy and I are in a fancy restaurant and the owner comes over and asks Jeremy why he is taking pictures of the food and jotting down things in a notebook.) However, for the sake of this blog and my boyfriend?s good will, I swallowed my pride and took some food pictures anyway, so you food experts out there will be able to tell what we ate, even if I don?t remember its precise name and preparation.

Anyway, we will start with the plaintiff?s case. I have decided that Emeril will serve as plaintiff because he strikes me as the more litigious of the two chefs ? probably due to the whole aggressive ?Bam!? thing. At any rate, we dined the Emeril?s in the Warehouse District, his original restaurant. (He has two other restaurants in New Orleans -- Emeril?s Delmonico and NOLA -- as well as restaurants in other cities.) My jury was particularly bowled over by the service at Emeril?s. Our waiter was superb, and he was pretty funny too. For instance, the member of the wait staff who brought over a basket containing a variety of breads told us that Emeril's cornbread was the best in Louisiana. However, our primary waiter confidentially informed us, in his charming Southern drawl, that it was his momma who made the best cornbread. No doubt! He was also helpful in helping Jessica open her papillote (which contained a fish of some sort which she described as ?mild? and very good):

My brother and I both had "A Study of Duck," a special which contained duck prepared three ways, topped by foie gras and sitting atop of bread pudding of sorts:

My brother enjoyed the dish, but I thought it was OK. I did not like one of the preparations, where the duck was kind of ground-up, and I didn?t feel that the bread pudding went well with the duck. Frankly, I?ve had better duck. Nonetheless, the other two preparations of duck were very tasty.

In the next post, I will present defendant?s case and the verdict.