Planet’s best food court – Distinct food at Jazz Fest

Music—insane, riveting, often big-name music—is the magnet for the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but as any fest veteran can attest, the event’s distinct food is what gets lodged in the memory. Founders saw fit to outlaw burgers and dogs four decades back, inviting local caterers and restaurants to flash Louisiana’s distinct regional fare to a growing number of patrons. But as the crowd keeps exploding (this past weekend’s numbers were nuts), it takes some planning and insight to ensure you get your fill of the fest’s culinary gems.

I say this because mobility can be seriously compromised these days, especially if you like to listen and eat. More festival-goers are bringing chairs and blankets than ever, which slows movement for those who like to move around. Moreover, this year’s new primo section in front of the Acura stage means the regular crowd starts, and ends, further back. Some days, moving around is easy, but on Saturdays and Sundays it’s much harder.

The Jazz and Heritage Fest app for iPhone or Android helps tremendously. It lists eats by Food Area I, Food Area II, Congo Square, Heritage Square, Around the Grounds, Folk Area, Kids and Grandstand. For example, Food Area I is where you find Panorama Foods’ famed crawfish bread and Patton’s Caterers’ inimitable crawfish sack-oyster patty-crawfish beignet trio. This is also where you can nab a stuffed artichoke and a mango freeze. Meanwhile, the emblematic crawfish Monica and grilled chicken livers with pepper jelly lurk in Food Area II, and Vietnamese eats like spring and egg rolls are hiding along with beignets at Heritage Square between the jazz and gospel tents. You get the idea. It’s fast to peruse and even denotes vegetarian items.

It’s tough for die-hard festers to leave the expansive, sweaty fairgrounds track for the tame indoor Grandstand, but there really is something to gain from the incredible collection of knowledge (and samples!) at the Food Heritage Stage. From Thursday, May 3 through Sunday, May 6 about 16 different local food experts will provide cooking demos, including Mia Calamia from La Divinia Gelateria and Café who will make mushroom arancini (remember last week’s blog on round things that go pop in your mouth?) and my good pal Poppy Tooker who will show how to make the endangered Creole rice cakes known as callas.

After the fest, don’t be afraid to chance it with under-the-radar New Orleans eateries. Tourists will have a lock on the city’s trendiest restaurants, but there are still tables to be had around the city, especially Uptown. Last Friday, we made same-day reservations for four at Appoline, open just six months on Magazine Street in the space formerly occupied by Dominique’s. The food is French contemporary with local and Creole influences. The service was great and the craft cocktails, outstanding.