Sooey! Pig!

I felt like a cartoon character floating through air, nose led by aromatic vapors. Pork-at-the-stake called out way before I reached Cochon on Tchoupitoulas in the New Orleans Warehouse District. Chef Donald Link, acclaimed for his modern, but honest interpretation of Cajun and Southern cuisine, was recently awarded a 2007 James Beard Award. Amen to that. His marvelous roasted oysters with red chili oil were briny and tender, and the fried alligator with slivers of cabbage and chili garlic aioli was positively lip-smacking. A texture party was going on in the fried chicken livers, where the crunchy surface played against pepper jelly drizzles, rips of fresh mint, and velvety insides. The buckboard ham on focaccia was toothy and mildly smoky, but the bread was a distraction. Vibe wise, the good looking blue-jean-chic crowd noshed against a backdrop of blonde wood, locally designed chairs and loud, haunting singer-songwriter background tunes that made me want to cry in my Pittspitter and sample all the hog the place had to offer.