Pontabla Apartments, New Orleans (photo by Mike Rash, courtesy of morguefile.com)

You might say that New Orleans’ food, music and culture is a gumbo made from “Dis Dat or D'Udda,” which happens to be the name of an album by a Big Easy native son, Dr. John. Creole cooking developed over centuries from many influences and it continues to evolve as succeeding generations make their contributions.

The city’s food scene boasts “a diverse group that now includes a Caribbean tapas bar, a Jewish deli…and a fine-cheese purveyor,” according an excellent Newsweek article by author Julia Reed. The Jewish deli is Stein’s, whose motto is "Looking for a po' boy, go somewhere else."

It seems the pride and spirit of New Orleans’ food community remains as strong as ever, despite the terrible toll taken on the city by Hurricane Kartrina in 2005. What explains all the culinary vitality? The arrival of some newcomers has helped, but there have been some gutsy efforts made by locals to overcome the city’s great tragedy. The Newsweek article provides a good example in John Besh, who opened Restaurant August about a month after the storm, “serving dinner only, which left his days free to feed an enormous oilfield cleanup crew, a contract he'd secured in order to keep his business afloat—days before the storm, he'd closed on the building that housed his restaurant.”

The article says Mr. Besh clocked 20-hour days to keep his business alive. His efforts paid off. Ms. Reed writes, “The first spring after the storm, Besh won the James Beard award for best chef in the Southeast.”

If you’d like to read the Newsweek article cited above go to: Viva the New Big Easy