Baton Rouge chefs to cook at Sundance

When elites of the film world gather in Park City, Utah, this week for the Sundance Film Festival, among the events they’ll want to put on their schedule is a Louisiana feast prepared by local chef Chris Wadsworth of Restaurant IPO, on Third Street downtown, and 225 food blogger Jay Ducote. The event—which will be held at Cicero’s restaurant next to the Egyptian Theater, where many of the Sundance films are screened—is designed to help promote the inaugural Louisiana International Film Festival, which will take place in Baton Rouge and New Orleans in April. Ducote is culinary ambassador for the Louisiana festival and is helping organizers create a buzz about the event—hence the party at Sundance. “We thought it would be a good way to get the Hollywood crowd excited about our festival,” says Ducote, who volunteered to cook at Sundance and enlisted the help of his friend, Wadsworth. At a Jan. 21 party, Wadsworth and Ducote will be showcasing homegrown foods with a menu that includes some of Wadsworth’s specialties—including crawfish- and andouille-stuffed deviled eggs topped with a fried oyster—as well as one of Ducote’s signature dishes: braised Louisiana pork belly with a Steen’s Cane Syrup glaze. —Stephanie Riegel