More than 70 restaurants at French Quarter Festival this weekend

This weekend marks the 31st annual French Quarter Festival in New Orleans. The once under-the-radar event is now the largest free music festival in the country, attracting more than 560,000 attendees to the Quarter every spring. It’s also a food lover’s paradise because coveted vendor spots largely go to popular New Orleans restaurants, old and new.

Most vendors will prepare three dishes each, setting up an impossible task among tasters. Look for brisket with horseradish from Tujague’s, debris poboys from Chef John Folse’s R’evolution, hot, boiled crawfish from Rouses and chicken livers with pepper jelly from The Praline Connection. Three Muses will serve its popular bulgolgi poboy with Korean marinated ribeye and house made kimchi, and iconic Plum Street Snoballs will offer a truncated list of its timeless shaved ice treats.

Original festival vendor Vaucresson Sausage Company returns once again this year with a Creole crawfish sausage poboy, among other items. New festival vendors include Broussard’s Restaurant, Café Reconcile, Loretta’s Authentic Pralines, Rib Room, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Ninja Restaurant and Sushi Bar and the Mid-City neighborhood pizza joint, Theo’s.

Food booths will be set up around Jackson Square, the Old U.S. Mint and along the riverfront. The festival runs through Sunday. —Maggie Heyn Richardson