Dickie Brennan, Preservation Hall, Saints Camp & New Orleans Dining Scene

In Episode 20 of The Mark Romig Show, we celebrate the food, music, sports, traditions, and people that make New Orleans unlike anywhere else.

This week’s featured guest is Dickie Brennan, one of the most respected names in New Orleans hospitality. Dickie joins Mark to share stories from growing up in the Brennan restaurant family, working in the kitchen at Commander’s Palace, learning from culinary legends like Paul Prudhomme, and watching Commander’s evolve into one of America’s great dining institutions.

Dickie reflects on the creation of Commander’s Palace Jazz Brunch, the difference between changing a restaurant and evolving it, the stories behind dishes like crabmeat cheesecake and trout pecan, the importance of Gulf seafood and local ingredients, life on the batture overlooking the Mississippi River, coastal restoration, oyster shell recycling, and why New Orleans continues to inspire everything he does.

In the Official New Orleans Questionnaire, Dickie shares his ideal oyster po-boy, his love of Leidenheimer bread, his Saints Mount Rushmore, his favorite New Orleans song, his earliest memories of the French Quarter, and why he loves New Orleans in five unforgettable words: “Because it ain’t vanilla.”

In 5 Minutes With, presented by New Orleans & Company, Mark welcomes Wendell Brunious and Caroline Brunious of Preservation Hall for a conversation about traditional jazz, mentorship, musical legacy, and the spirit of New Orleans music. Wendell and Caroline also deliver a special live performance, the first concert moment on The Mark Romig Show.

On On The Table, sponsored by Blue Runner Foods, Ian McNulty joins Mark to discuss the New Orleans dining scene, North America’s 50 Best Restaurants, Restaurant Week, the city’s culinary diversity, neighborhood restaurants, and why New Orleans is not just a city with great restaurants, but a city with its own cuisine and food culture.

On Move The Chains, Fox 8’s Madeline Adams joins Mark to talk Saints, Pelicans, LSU baseball, Tulane, high school sports, Alvin Kamara, Tyler Shough, and the stories shaping the local sports landscape.

April Dupre returns with This Week in New Orleans, sharing where to eat, drink, and play around the city. And in Positively New Orleans, Mark reflects on the importance of the cruise industry, the Port of New Orleans, and the role tourism and hospitality continue to play in connecting New Orleans to the world.

Segments in this episode include:
Featured Guest: Dickie Brennan
Official New Orleans Questionnaire with Dickie Brennan
5 Minutes With: Wendell Brunious and Caroline Brunious of Preservation Hall
On The Table: Ian McNulty
Move The Chains: Madeline Adams
This Week in New Orleans with April Dupre
Positively New Orleans: The Cruise Industry and the Port of New Orleans

The Mark Romig Show is a weekly vodcast and podcast celebrating the people, culture, food, music, sports, history, business, and civic life of New Orleans and the Gulf South.

Special thanks to Blue Runner Foods, sponsor of On The Table, New Orleans & Company, presenting sponsor of 5 Minutes With, Visit The Northshore, and All The Waves.

The Mark Romig Show is produced by LOVE NOLA TV, the official tourism and visitor information channel of New Orleans, seen in thousands of downtown hotel rooms and locally across all major digital platforms.

🎧 Subscribe to The Mark Romig Show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube
 📺 Watch full episodes and clips on the LOVE NOLA TV YouTube channel
 📍 Filmed in New Orleans, Louisiana

New episodes weekly.
 For the love of New Orleans.

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:00

The waves. And I'm going. Timeout. No more waves. Get the maps out. Let's educate them on our list.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

It's gonna be the greatest reality show in sports next year. I don't know what's gonna happen. I keep telling people it's either gonna be really great or really bad.

SPEAKER_09 0:17

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, our next guest comes from one of the most iconic restaurant families in New Orleans. Dickie Brennan grew up in the kitchen at Commander's Palace, and then he went on to help shape some of the city's most beloved dining experiences. We're talking Palace Cafe and Dickie Brennan Steakhouse to Bourbon House, Tableau, Pascal's Manelli, Acorn, the Commissary Market, Audubon Clubhouse, and so much more. Today we're gonna talk about him growing up in New Orleans and in the hospitality world that he finds himself in. A lot of stories behind the local classic dishes. Life on the Batcher. We're gonna get into Dickey waking up every morning to the Mississippi River, and the importance of preserving the traditions that really make this city unlike anywhere else in the world. Dickey, welcome to New Orleans. Thank you. So good to be here. I say that and I should have said welcome to the Mark Roman show. But it's sort of like welcome to New Orleans, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about um growing up at Commander's Palace, the most iconic, one of the most iconic restaurants in the city. Um what did those early years working in the kitchen teach you about food, hospitality, and really the meaning of um the rhythm of a restaurant, the importance of that rhythm?

SPEAKER_08 1:33

Oh well. Um, you know, I I I feel very fortunate that I had that opportunity, lived two blocks away from my dad's Ann Ellis restaurant, and was hanging out there as a young kid. And as probably around 13, you know, I was doing things, bus boys, stuff like that. But around 13 that summer they let me cook, get in the kitchen, do the hot. And uh Paul Proudhon was our chef, and uh a guy named Stanley Jackson who went on to be the chef at the Hilton, did the brunch there for you. Stanley was our saucier. So, I mean, what Stanley did was make turtle soup, the stocks, gumbos, any of the stuff that would go into sauces, uh, which entailed a lot of prep work. So they wanted me to learn how to use a knife. So instead of anything, any piece of equipment, or there was opportunities to buy diced vegetables, stuff like that, it came in a sack of onions, and I had to peel the onions, then I had to do a certain size dice on them for the gumbo, then for the turtle soup was different. Dicing up bell peppers, so and uh And this was while you were in school? No, this is the summer. I mean, I two blocks away. I mean, I always went to the I mean, when I was a senior in high school, I'd had finished playing sports, and my dad's like, let's go. And I'd go back at nighttime for dinner and go in the kitchen. And it's it was when we were had just started doing bread pudding souffle. Yeah. So I'd show up and they'd just look at me and they'd go get on it, and had a little kitchen aid mixer, and would sit there and just crank out bread pudding souffles all night long, which they love me doing that. Now I look at the setup and they're three p and I'm like, man, life has evolved.

SPEAKER_09 3:25

Yeah. Was there a moment as a kid or growing up in at Commander's Palace when you realize this isn't just a restaurant, it's it's much bigger than just a restaurant.

SPEAKER_08 3:34

Yeah, I mean, you know, the exciting thing was when we bought the restaurant, it was it was really run down. And uh, so they wanted to evolve it. In fact, you know, my dad had walked over to the house when Mr. Moran passed away to pay his respects to Miss Moran, and she's like, I don't want to, I'm 80, I don't want to run a restaurant, kids aren't involved. And he's he says, Well, we're we live in the neighborhood, we we run restaurants. If you want, you know, to talk, let's talk. And 30 days later, we own commanders.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_08 4:05

Everyone, our accountants, our any business advisor all said, stay away from it.

SPEAKER_10 4:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_08 4:11

Which was crazy.

SPEAKER_10 4:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 4:12

And then, so, you know, we bought the restaurant in the 60s, and then the 70s, our family split up. So dad, Aunt Ella, Uncle John, Aunt Adelaide, Aunt Dottie moved from Brennan's downtown to Commanders. So that's the mid-70s. I'm a teenager, you know, so I'm sitting there watching everything. And they just, each one of them just looked at it and they they didn't want to change an old restaurant's sake of change, but they wanted to evolve it. And that's what I learned the the difference between changing because someone painted that blue. Well, now I got to paint blue. No, but you have to evolve. And Uncle John's sitting there one day, and they had the room upstairs over the patio, courtyard, and he's like, if we put a windows in here, it'd be one hell of a view. Prior to putting the windows in the garden room, I mean, we'd put parties up there, but nobody wanted to go up there. It was just a box. But his vision to put in windows, my God, the garden room. No restaurant had an upstairs dining room that became the popular dining room.

SPEAKER_09 5:18

The most popular garden room.

SPEAKER_08 5:20

Everybody wanted to sit down in the main dining room.

SPEAKER_09 5:21

And they gaze onto that beautiful oak tree and the patio.

SPEAKER_08 5:25

So that room changed was inevitable. Then we we moved the kitchen, I mean the bar into the kitchen because they were trying to renovate the kitchen. And uh, you know, and that was the first because they did it twice, but it's but they always wanted people to stand at the bar and see what's going on in the kitchen. Yeah. You know, instead of nobody knowing what's what's happening again. And you had to walk through the kitchen, just you know, and that's why I'm sitting there as a little kid doing all that prepping, and Paul Proudhon walks up behind me, kind of, you know, gives me a little goose or whatever, and I'm like, I'm like, Yes, chef, what what? And he's like, you know everybody's looking at you because we had the bar and all these people in there having drinks at lunchtime, waiting for the table, or they would drink lunch. And I'm like, What are you talking about? He says, Well, you're the owner's son, everybody's gonna watch you. I was like, Thanks. I really need the pressure there. No pressure there. And he said, and he just said, I want you to always realize whatever you're doing, do it the best you can do it. And he was the most sincere. I mean, I loved him being my mentor because he just would do stuff like that and wasn't gonna let me stray or whatever. So I mean, Commander's those years and and for my parents to have to start over, leave Brennan's and start over. Uh my God, talk about a person in the right place at the right time to learn and just see it instead of hear about it years later. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 6:56

Talk about Commander's Palace's story jazz brunch.

SPEAKER_08 7:00

Yeah. Well, that, you know, that was we left Brennan's in 74, 73, 74. And so dad and Ann Ella, they had a schedule for years where my dad would work Sunday breakfast at Brennan's and dinner. You know, he worked Sunday. So he would work Friday lunch, and then um Uncle John would go cover Saturday, Friday dinner at Brennan's, then Aunt Ella worked Saturday, and dad worked Sundays. Little brother had to go work the Sunday breakfast because that was a thousand people, it was a monster. And so Aunt Ella liked to do Saturday night and would entertain people on Saturday night. This is all at Brennan's. Well, all of a sudden they moved to Commander's. If 20 people came to Commander's after church for for lunch, brunch, that was a good day. So my dad's gone from a thousand people to twenty. And because they kept their schedules. And so he's sitting there, he's going, we gotta do something, we gotta do something, you know, and I'm not doing breakfast, that's Brennan's. And um, we had taken a trip to Europe, they just come up with a URL pass. And so, I mean, literally, mom and dad, Laura and I went to 13 countries on a train one summer. Yeah, and we're sitting there, it's in London, we're eating breakfast in a hotel, and there was music out in the hallway. And dad literally gets up, calls Ann Ella overseas and says, I got a good idea. I want to do a jazz brunch. And Ann Ella said, Look, enjoy your trip with your family. When you get home, get it going. And so we're home, and never forget it was a Saturday, and someone had printed, had drawn like the facade of Commanders with the sign. And on it it said, take the streetcar to the historic garden district, Jazz Brunch, Commander's Palace. And me, Lauren T, a bunch of us got on the streetcar that Saturday, went and passed about all around uh Jackson Square. And um, so the next morning my dad wakes me up. I'm gonna go help him get the restaurant open. And we're walking the two blocks of the restaurant. He's like, How many people you think we're gonna do? And I'm like, I don't, I mean, dad, I don't know. I mean, I'm 13. And then the next block he asked me again, and I'm like, I think he's a little nervous. I said, Dad, all I know is that anybody that would literally stop and say, What are you passing out? And we'd tell him, they'd all look at each other and they'd say, We gotta go. I said, I don't know, a hundred people. And he said, Man, that'd be great. And we walked in the door and we spent a couple of hours just for some reason, you know, the helium balloons. Yeah, from day one, I did the whole board. Was blowing up flipping helium balloons, and then and then I released them all at the end of brunch, and my dad made me go get them out of all the trees because everybody in the neighborhood was pissed. But uh, so we're sitting there, and I mean, it's time to, it's almost showtime, and we're looking outside, and they're just people all on the sidewalk. We opened the door. After a hundred people came in, we had to close the door because we didn't have the staff. Wow. So I mean, jazz brunch, just and it was Alvin Acorn, dad got out and said, Alvin, I want you to move around. I want you to do a small band to where you could play by the tables and ask them what they want to hear and go through each dining room. And but uh so to just and to sit there and see where it's gone, and to have been third again, I'm gonna keep telling you, you talk about a lucky kid that was in the right place at the right time to see these things. Uh we had Alvin Acorn, Plasis was playing the bait. I mean, you talk about an all-star.

SPEAKER_09 10:55

Yeah, you know, it's you saw that evolution. Um, like you said earlier, uh, you wanted to evolve Commander's Palace and as y'all have done. How do you know when a restaurant concept feels right for New Orleans? And and I say that because you you've you've opened so many, uh, and how are they all related? And and how do you know that that that restaurant was going to be right for the city? Whether it's Palace or Acorn or Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 11:22

You know, I think timing has a lot to do with it as what's going on because you had Commander's Palace and then a whole different generation years later, Open Palace Cafe. We wanted to do the same quality, we wanted great service, but we wanted a more relaxed and a better value, you know, for what was going on at the time. So, and you know, I think location can drive it to an extent. I mean, the steakhouse is in a basement in New Orleans, which is unheard of. There are no windows or whatever, but that creates a great atmosphere for a steakhouse. So it just that location and the parking for locals to be able to park. And uh so I think, you know, it's a combination of things. And um, but you know, everything I've tried to do is to focus on what the food, the products, you know, that we can feature that are our local everything we've always done, starting at Commanders, was farm to table way before it was fashionable.

SPEAKER_09 12:25

Let's talk about some of those dishes, some of the uh iconic dishes that have been created, you know, dishes that are like legendary now, as people talk about did you have that, did you have that dish, and so forth. Like crab meat cheesecake.

SPEAKER_08 12:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 12:38

How did that come about?

SPEAKER_08 12:39

Oh, that was me and T having a fight. So T had gone to visit her c her brother, Alex, in Houston. And they were doing this. Who operates Brennan's in Houston. Brennan's, and there was a restaurant there doing a salmon cheesecake. So she brings it home. It's in flipping aluminum foil. And I'm like, she's like, You gotta try this, you gotta try this. I said, Well, what is it? She said, salmon cheesecake. It's great, it's great. And I'm like, how old is this thing? How's it been? She's like, As soon as she opened up the chin foil, huh? But she was like, it's the only problem is, you know, because it was a high cheesecake and it was like graham cracker crust, uh salmon cheese. She says they they have a hard time getting it hot, you know, because it's too big or whatever. So, and I was like, one, I mean, Tom, I wasn't, I was cooking, I was a chef at Palace, and I'm like, if it doesn't swim in the Gulf of Mexico, I'm not putting it on the menu. I mean, I'm committed to local seafood. So it's like, I hadn't seen any salmon yet in the Gulf, so I'm like, I'm not doing salmon. She's like, it's great. It's great. I said, so we kind of parted ways, and and so I go in the kitchen and I was doing this Lindsay Tort at a time, which is a small little tart. So I had the perfect pan. And so Barbara Dietz was my dessert chef, baker. I said, Barbara, I want pecan crust. I don't want graham crust, I want pecan crust. Let's take our creole cream cheese, let's do a custard with uh with some crab meat, let's bake it off. And then uh and then and so we did that. Took a slice and I took some creole miniere sauce and I put some more crab meat mushrooms on top of it. And so tea was somewhere or whatever, and and I sent it to her, and and she's like, it's good, but it's not the salmon cheesecake. So she and I tip would just we do that to each other. I mean, we're a month apart, grew up a block away from each other. So so I was just like, well, phone Google you, let's run it. And because of she and I come from totally different directions, I think what we ended up creating was something that people have enjoyed for some time.

SPEAKER_09 14:58

It's gonna be taste even more delicious when I have my next uh my next dish. Oh shoot. All right. Pecans show up a lot.

SPEAKER_08 15:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 15:07

Uh tell us about how that became part of your lore and legacy as opposed to almondine, for instance, almonds. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 15:15

So that was my dad and Paul Prudhomme back in the 70s at Commanders. And so dad walked to work, it was two blocks. And so he walks in one day and he says, Paul, I I've never seen an almond tree, but I'm stepping on pecans. He's like, Why in the hell don't we do trout pecan instead of trout almondine? And it was wasn't much of a conversation. It was like, okay, and it's became the classic at Commanders. And I think, you know, we've implemented it in a lot of things, you know. Uh but it's it's our local nut, you know, why not use it instead of another evolution?

SPEAKER_09 15:54

Evolution from almonds to pecans.

SPEAKER_08 15:56

Yeah, it it right. That's the difference between just being whatever or being committed to evolving something. And you know, that's always been with my chefs and stuff. I'm like, going, look, here are the boundaries. I want you to push them a little bit, but we got a lot to work in, a lot more than most people. I mean, Mouth Mississippi River's the most fertile fish grounds in the world. We can grow year-round. There's always something in season. If a soft shell crab's not running, crawfish are coming in. So it's like I don't want to bring salmon into to the restaurant, you know.

SPEAKER_09 16:34

There you go. You brought up Mississippi River. You wake up every morning looking out of the Mississippi River. Life on the Batcher, right? Yeah. Talk to us about your your home and uh what that uh what that's like.

SPEAKER_08 16:47

Yeah, no, I guess I've been there about five years. Um there what 12 camps. You know, when they built the the levees, put the levees in, the the river sand that builds up between uh the river and the levees called the Batcher. So years ago, what eighty years ago when they put started putting in levees, uh there were all these settlements on the Batchers, and basically it was squatters, shanty shacks and stuff like that. And at some point the Corps of Engineers like, we gotta protect these levees. So they cleared everybody off of the Batchers, except for these 12 houses right on Oak Street that survived. And uh so I used to ride my bike by them every day uh for years for exercise in the morning. So I knew they were there, and I was trying to find a house. And my my nephew's uh wife realtor calls me and says, Dickie, that there's a house that's there's a broker's day, and if you want um, they said you can come with me, you know, and she started describing it. I said, Oh, I know exactly where you are. I said, Let's go. So I went, walked in, and the couple that owned it, I knew them. And um, so it's Mar Marcy Shram. And so I walked through the house, I walk out, and I just said, I really want to buy it. And they said, We want you to buy it. I mean, 20 days later, I bought it. And then my phone didn't stop because everybody's like going, How in the hell'd you get one? I've been trying to get one for years. All right, we're going back to this lucky guy theme. I don't know why. I mean, I was in the right place at the right time. And it is such a good thing I pinch myself every day because I get to see the sunset in the morning, it's so peaceful. It's like you drove two hours down to a fishing camp in the middle of the marsh, and you're right here in the city. So it's that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_09 18:42

I love it. Um, you talked um in the past about coastal restoration and recycling, and you're very much involved in that. I particularly want to uh commend you. Bourbon House was the first restaurant to join the CRCL's oyster shell recycling program. Um and I think Pascal's Manale as well is uh is doing that. Um you've recycled like more than almost like two million pounds.

SPEAKER_08 19:06

Yeah, it's crazy. Uh and that's one of the things.

SPEAKER_09 19:09

How is it important for you to be involved?

SPEAKER_08 19:11

I mean, Mark, I I grew up with a family that we we it was never about staying inside your four wallship business. It was about what's going on with your neighbors, your community, your industry. You know, I mean, geez, I mean in the 60s, my dad was on National Restaurant Association. We've all been on Louisiana Restaurants. I mean, we just grow up in a family where you it's about being involved and being given back. And but as much as we work with the fishermen and we know that community, our coastal erosion is, you know, it's it's we've got to resolve it. You know, I was going down to um to a fishing camp down Shell Beach, and there was this mound of limestone rock, and they had a front end loader putting it on oyster uh luggers, and they were taking it out to go build oysters, you know, because of the fresh war, they having to move where they're putting the beds. And I'm like, why in the hell are we using there's no limestone? It's like almond trees. There's no limestone around here. How much is this costing us? I said, and every day my damn oyster shells are going to a landfill. So a woman that worked for me, uh, her husband was with Shell Oil Company, and she was great. So the problem with recycling was the restaurants couldn't afford to pay for it to be picked up, whatever. So Shell did a for five years where they underwrote a company to come pick up the shells. Then the shells would go downriver, put them in an area because the protein you have to let them bleach in the sun for like eight months or whatever before you can put them back in the water. So once we got them down there, that process took care of. Then it's volunteers that show up, put them in the bags, go out, and you know, and you you're watching the marsh disappear. If you put put them ten feet in front of the coastline, you go back a year later, the marsh has gone in the opposite direction and has built a marsh. So I mean, it's just a simple thing to do. It's just people making it happen.

SPEAKER_09 21:22

And you know, visitors coming into your restaurants, you want them to understand how they are supporting the culture by uh by you participating in that program.

SPEAKER_08 21:32

Yeah, I uh we, you know, my family's always been big about education. So I mean, we take all our oyster sharkers out on the oyster luggers with these guys, and we have maps so that when the customers are sitting there and they're asking about the oysters, and so we're this is their coming from Area Three, that's St. Bernard, and all this different thing. And which is my preference that they kind of do that. I walk in the bourbon house one one afternoon and they've got everybody. Sitting around the oyster bar doing the what's it the w in the stadium when everybody each section stands in? The wave. The wave. Yes. And I'm going, time out. No more wave. Get the maps out. Let's educate them on our oysters. Flipping wave.

SPEAKER_09 22:19

Before we get to the official New Orleans questionnaire, I want to ask you about two of your um restaurants. What was the um the reason to open the commissary and also uh commend you on the Josephine and what you've been able to do with that beautiful um speaking of preservation? Uh talk about those two restaurants or two two locations.

SPEAKER_08 22:39

You know, been wanting to do a commissary for years. Um just like I said, we we like working with farmers, and it's hard for a restaurant to bring in a beautiful uh pig that's been raised by a local farmer. Because you got to break down the whole thing. One, you need space to break it down. Two, it's uh in a restaurant, maybe three items off the pig are gonna be on the menu. Then you have a lot of byproduct and it's you know a lot of waste and stuff. And so um, so I was always wanting to find uh put us in a facility where we could bring it in and do that, but that in addition to what's gonna go to the restaurant to go on the menu, the other parts, the byproduct, would be turned into home meal replacement, you know, where you come by and you can get the lasagna that has the uh the different cuts of the meat. And so wanted but always wanted to do that take home where people can come get food. Then I can eat in our restaurant, they can come get our food, take it home and eat it that night. And then Josephine. Josephine, um you know, we've been doing all this um catering uh with uh when we uh aligned with Audubon Institute. And someone came to Jordy, my nephew, and said, We're gonna do this church. Would y'all would you be interested in doing the catering? And it was a nice because we have everything there, everything in place. And then we just got real my team got so involved. I mean, so we now we're the majority owner and developed it, and it's a beautiful space.

SPEAKER_09 24:21

So yeah, I've been to a few events there. It it it's a gorgeous location.

SPEAKER_08 24:25

It's been empty for 40 years.

SPEAKER_09 24:26

Right there at Napoleon off of uh Florida.

SPEAKER_08 24:28

So I'm glad we've brought it back to life. Proud of it.

SPEAKER_09 24:31

All right, you ready for the official New Orleans questionnaire?

SPEAKER_08 24:34

This one I'm uh upset my friends. We'll see.

SPEAKER_09 24:46

All right, here's your first question. What is the best poor boy?

SPEAKER_08 24:50

See, now I'm gonna upset some friends. All right. My best poor boy is as long as it has Leidenheimer bread. All right, all right. Sandy won't got his kudos. I'm gonna give him a and his son. William, thank God for William. I love Sandy. So Leidenheimer bread. Um then I'm an oyster guy. So I want perfectly fried oysters. All right. Gotta have it's gotta be dressed. So I want beautiful chiffonade of some uh romaine lettuce, uh, I want beautiful tomatoes, some pickles. I'm a mayo guy. And then I'm gonna put a little bit of some hot sauce on it. I'm not gonna say which one. Damn, my nephew's kill, he's gonna kill me. Uh who's your nephew? Pepper Balmer. We know the Balmer one. We know Pepper, yes. And there are Christy's. Pepper sat in that same chair.

SPEAKER_09 25:50

Christie's gonna good man Christy Brown.

SPEAKER_08 25:53

Uh maybe I'll put a little bit of both of them on there. Um I I just I crave an oyster poor boy.

SPEAKER_09 26:02

And I I would like to follow up with where would you find that poor boy?

SPEAKER_08 26:05

And that's where you You know, I think every neighborhood in this way has a place that I would go to. Every neighborhood. You know, from a Domalises to a um, I mean, Parkway, my God, everywhere.

SPEAKER_09 26:18

I mean, kill it everywhere. But you know, being a chef, you you're gonna make sure that it's done the way you want it to be done.

SPEAKER_08 26:24

Yeah, and it starts with the right bread.

SPEAKER_09 26:26

All right. All right, here's one. You have an opportunity to see one New Orleans musical artist, dead or alive, in concert. Who would it be and where would that be?

SPEAKER_08 26:36

I mean, Louis Armstrong.

SPEAKER_09 26:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_08 26:39

You know.

SPEAKER_09 26:40

And where would you want to find Louis playing?

SPEAKER_08 26:43

I'd like to see him at back at the old Absent House in the 40s when my family that's where we started. I mean, before we got the restaurant business, we own the old Abson House. Okay. Sweet Emma and uh Fats Pijon were our piano players, so I'd love to see both of them there playing that piano. Fantastic. Listening to Louie.

SPEAKER_09 27:04

All right. What is your what is your favorite New Orleans smell?

SPEAKER_08 27:08

Kind of describes, I mean, Mardi Gras kind of has a thing.

SPEAKER_09 27:15

We could go the least favorite smell if you like.

SPEAKER_08 27:18

And Mardi Gras kind of has both things. All right. You go with that. Mardi Gras is so unique for all. I mean, just it and it could be, you know, a tractor going by with or the cotton candy or whatever, or the crew cleaning up after. I mean, boy, you got all kind of stuff going on with that. Special Mardi Grass.

SPEAKER_09 27:42

I can't believe I didn't pick a food like gumbo. Well, come back to that. All right. Jazz fest or Mardi Gras, your favorite.

SPEAKER_08 27:50

Well, I'm glad they're different times of the year and I don't have to choose. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 27:55

All right, here we go. Saints, Mount Rushmore. You know, Mount Rushmore has the presidents. If you were going to do a Saints Mount Rushmore, can you choose four players you'd like to see on that?

SPEAKER_08 28:09

Um I went actually, I missed the first game because I had brought home a bad grade in school. My dad's gonna be able to get around. Oh, so you didn't go.

SPEAKER_09 28:18

You didn't go to the LA Los Angeles Rams Saints game.

SPEAKER_08 28:21

When the guy ran it back. John Gilliam.

SPEAKER_09 28:23

John Gilliam. Right, 1967.

SPEAKER_08 28:25

I met John Gilliam years ago in Charleston. He was started, was getting married when the same, and there were that happy hour time, and someone says John Gilliam. I went uh, hey Mr. Gilliam, uh, my name's I'm a New Orleanian. I said, actually, I'm I heard on the radio with the babysitter, but uh I missed your uh run back. And he was like, Vicki, how many people does Tulane Stadium hold? I said, like 80,000. He said, he said, I've you're the he said, I've had a hundred thousand people tell me they saw me. He said, you're the first person to ever say you didn't see me. Out of 80,000. That's beautiful. Cute guy. All right, um Tom Dempsey. Tom Dempsey. We're all they had cups, like signature cups, like me and all my cousins are picking up, we hadn't left the game. Everybody thought it was over. We're picking up cups in the stadium, and all of a sudden he kicks. I've never heard a stadium so loud in my life to this day, and I'm talking LSU Stadium. That was one of the most fun. You can claim that you were there. I was, I didn't I didn't miss a game after the first one. And he said, I'm glad I got your grades back up. So I was like sorry, you got Tom Dempsey. So Tom Dempsey. You know, I'm I'm thinking because we were so my dad family was so connected with wanting to help that. So I mean, like a Danny O'Bromowitz was always around. He was a wild man. I loved him. Good man. He's good, man. I'd I'd love Danny up there. I mean, we got to put Archie up there.

SPEAKER_09 29:59

Archie Manning.

SPEAKER_08 30:00

So is that that's three? Three?

unknown 30:03

Jesus.

SPEAKER_08 30:06

Drew Brees, I was thinking of uh uh Drew's been so good to this city.

SPEAKER_09 30:10

Drew Brees, there you go. Absolutely. But you know, there's probably so many honorable mentions on your I was thinking like a Sam Mills. Sure. All right. Chicken or seafood gumbo? Seafood gumbo. Seafood gumbo.

SPEAKER_08 30:23

With a crab stock.

SPEAKER_09 30:24

With a crab stock, all right. What is your favorite New Orleans movie or TV series?

SPEAKER_08 30:31

Cat on a hot ten roof.

SPEAKER_09 30:33

Cat on a hot ten roof, all right. Neutral ground or sidewalk side? Sidewalk. Sidewalk, all right. What's your earliest memory of visiting the French Quarter?

SPEAKER_08 30:45

So when uh you know, seven, eight, my my dad would bring me on occasion down when he'd work Sunday breakfast at Brennan's. And I'd he'd put me at a little two-top table in the corner, and we'd order something, and then he'd go walk doing his thing, and then when the food came, he'd come sit down and eat with me, and then then I'd go get the little cocktail swistle, because we had that pond with the water that ran all the way down through the carriage, and I'd have those things floating because it would disappear in the c and he'd get all mad because all I was doing was clogging up his train or whatever. But spent a lot of time, I mean Sister Lauren with you?

SPEAKER_09 31:30

It would be him and me. Okay, just like the two guys. Just I don't know. He'd take me down there.

SPEAKER_08 31:35

I guess two I was in.

SPEAKER_09 31:36

All right. Dead or alive, who's the one person you'd like to take to lunch and where would you take them?

SPEAKER_08 31:43

I'd love to do both my grandfathers because I didn't know they're both pi deceased when I was um you know, and um my mom's dad was a doctor down in St. Bernard, so I'd have to start down Saint Bernard. All right. Um just somewhere get somewhere, and then my grandfather was Irish Channel, so we'd have to drop him off, and the Irish Channel would probably have to go buy parasols or a couple of colwans before we ended our day.

SPEAKER_09 32:14

Nice, very nice. And let's remember their names.

SPEAKER_08 32:18

So Nicholas Philip Trish was my grand uh my mom's, and then Owen either Edward or Patrick Brennan was my grandfather. Very good. Uh my dad's dad.

SPEAKER_09 32:31

Right. All right, your favorite New Orleans song, either a song by a New Orleans artist or a song about New Orleans.

SPEAKER_08 32:39

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? And um and I gotta say that was my dad's favorite song. Whenever he was all the brunches for all those years when the band would get going or whatever, and he'd walk into one of the rooms when they were in, they'd hit into it. That's great.

SPEAKER_09 32:58

Some of a theme song.

SPEAKER_08 33:00

It was everybody knew it was his beautiful.

SPEAKER_09 33:03

What's the one New Orleans food item you can't live without?

SPEAKER_08 33:08

Damn.

SPEAKER_09 33:10

So many. So many. You know, you think about it, and you we had talked about this earlier, about the seasonal approach to food.

SPEAKER_08 33:21

I mean, you could even go by the seasons. So, I mean, I don't want to eat a frozen saushow crab. When they're running better. Um you know, um Creole tomatoes when they're coming off the vine ripe in the summer. Just eat it like that. That's no better thing. I eat it like an apple or I make a tomato sandwich with a little mayo. White bread. White bread. Oh, yeah, yeah, um you know, and I love trout. I love red fat. Oh, I don't know. It's smart. Be like trying to pick my favorite child.

SPEAKER_09 34:02

Yeah. Well, this will be an easier one then. You've been out of town for a while, you're flying in, you gotta have a drink, you wanna have a drink, something, and uh you're gonna take an Uber and get to that place. Where would you go and what's that drink you would take?

SPEAKER_08 34:18

Um probably an old-fashioned at Yo College in.

SPEAKER_09 34:23

Very good. All right, here's your final one. In five words or less, why does Dickie Brennan love New Orleans? Why do I love New Orleans? Because it ain't vanilla. Very good. Dickie, you ain't vanilla either. I hope not. Um thank you so much for being with us and and for everything that you're doing to extend the traditions and hospitality of of New Orleans with your great concepts and your great team, you and Steve Pettis and the entire Brennan family. We deeply appreciate all that you've done and all that you're doing and all that you will do. So come back often, if you would.

SPEAKER_08 35:05

Well, can I say this? Thank you, because I can't think of anybody that does it more than what you just said. Oh, well, you kind. That's you. We're you know, we've got a great team. Thanks for what you do for this city and everybody.

SPEAKER_09 35:17

Well, let's do it together and uh leave it better than we found it. That's always, always. We come from good stock, as they say. All right, thank you very much, Dickie. Thanks for being with us. Uh I would like to introduce a new member of our crew this morning uh that we have with us, uh Malachi Williams. Uh hello, Malachi. Thank you for having me. Malachi comes to us from St. Augustine High School. He just graduated. He's going to Southern University. He was student body president uh for every year that he attended St. Augustine High School. Quite an accomplishment, and we look forward to seeing a lot more of you in the future.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 35:50

Still ahead on the Mark Romics Show. Wendell and Caroline Brunius stop by for five minutes with. And on the table, brought to you by Blue Runner Foods, Ian McNulty joins us to talk about the New Orleans dining scene. And Fox 8's Madeline Adams is here for Move the Chains. Stay with us. More of the Mark Romics Show is coming up. Okay, y'all. Time now for five minutes with brought to you by New Orleans and Company. You know, few things define New Orleans more than its music. And a few places are more iconic than Preservation Hall, right in the heart of the French Quarter. Joining us today are Wendell Brunius and Caroline Brunius. How are y'all doing? Good morning. Love to talk with you about jazz tradition and preserving the musical soul of New Orleans. How about that?

SPEAKER_05 36:41

That is the soul of New Orleans.

SPEAKER_09 36:43

Well, thank you, Wendell. Let's start with that. You know, for few people around the country who have not been to New Orleans, we say that because we think a lot of people have been here. You know, New Orleans music may not fully uh hit their minds about why it's so important to us and and what does Preservation Hall mean to New Orleans music? Talk to us about the the legacy and lore of Preservation Hall.

SPEAKER_05 37:07

Well, I mean, the the music is such an important part of the culture of New Orleans. You know, our whole total mixed culture became one culture, and then the music, influenced by all the different cultures, became one music. And not necessarily uh one music in a small box, a very diverse music, but you know it when you hear it, you know. And that's an important part of like what I call New Orleans music, because whether you're doing like New Orleans traditional jazz or rhythm and blues, rock and roll, rap music is part of it, the brass band music, Mardi Gran music, where are you gonna get that?

SPEAKER_09 37:50

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 37:51

You better be in New Orleans.

SPEAKER_09 37:53

Tell me, um, you've been doing this for a long time. A long time. Yes. How did you get started? And I want you to bring in Caroline, your beautiful uh partner here on how do y'all work together?

SPEAKER_05 38:06

All right. So um my dad was a great trumpet player and went to Jew Yard, and he wrote a lot of the music for like Cab Callaway and people like that, J. McShane and Leon Kellner and all these guys that were at the Blue Room, and my dad wrote a lot of the music for them. So I grew up hearing a lot of music. When I graduated from high school, I thought I was gonna be a baseball player. And I got a little tryout with a great team. That's when I found out I wasn't a great baseball player. But I tried, you know, and then I got more serious about the trumpet. And um by the time I came from baseball camp, uh, I had been offered a couple of little scholarships, those were gone. So I enrolled at Delgado and studied business. Actually, my dad thought I'd get a real job one day, you know. And uh fat chance of that, I didn't, you know, I'm I've never had a job just playing the trumpet. That's my job, that's my passion, that's my whole life.

SPEAKER_09 39:14

We love that job.

SPEAKER_05 39:15

Yes, indeed. And, you know, delivering the message of New Orleans music and New Orleans culture to the rest of the world, because they think they like things that's been publicized a lot. But, you know, after 15 minutes, because, you know, attention span ain't what it used to be, you know that. After 15 minutes, they're wondering, um, yeah, well uh, you know, hey, I wonder if what's for dinner, you know, at the Jones' house, you know, stuff like that. Whereas in a New Orleans music concert, you're part of the band almost.

SPEAKER_10 39:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:49

You know, because we want you to participate, and it it's a thrill every minute.

SPEAKER_09 39:54

Yeah. How did you and Caroline first start working together? Oh, right.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

I uh I moved to New Orleans uh when I received a full four-year scholarship from the University of New Orleans to study jazz, and that was year 2000. And uh I started at the university and I went out to hear Wendell play again and contacted him and asked if I could have private lessons in jazz improvisation. And said I told him how I came to New Orleans for jazz music and didn't want a boyfriend and blah blah blah. And we were just teacher and students for for quite a while, and I learned so extremely much about improvisation and no one is jazz and phrasing from Wendell. So grateful. But one day I just knew and um I called him up and I said, I love you with all of my heart, forever will. And we're celebrating 25 years, almost 26 together.

SPEAKER_09 40:47

Happy anniversary. Well, thank you. Thank you. And I know you all traveled all over the world. Yes. Um I had the fortune of being with you in Washington, D.C. That was so much for the the Thai friendship festival.

SPEAKER_05 40:59

That was unbelievable. That was you know, because it was like two different cultures sharing moments. Yes, you know, and that was uh wonderful. And we played a lot of the king's music.

SPEAKER_09 41:10

That was so fun. That's right. The former king of Thailand wrote jazz music. Yes, he did. And you played a number of selections. He played trumpet.

SPEAKER_05 41:18

Yeah, and was a wonderful man.

SPEAKER_09 41:20

Now you have a huge responsibility at Preservation Hall as musical director. Um what responsibilities do you feel like you have to preserve the traditional jazz, but also incorporate it into what's coming into the streets now?

SPEAKER_05 41:33

Of course. Um it's very important to incorporate younger people to the music because they're the future. You know, I'm 71 now, you know, we don't know. So even though I'm still at pretty high quality, it's important to get younger people, at least just at least witnessing what I do and what Freddie Alonzo does, Richard Moten, Lars, and you know, a lot of the older musicians, it's very important for them to come and witness that to see how that is, because I did that with Percy Humphrey with Kit Thomas. You know, I was working at Maison Bourbon, and I was parked across the street from uh Preservation Hall. Oh, it's 1978. And uh I was 22 years old, 23 maybe, and I was walking to my car and I was wondering, I wonder what those old guys are doing at Preservation Hall. So I went in, Janie let me in, and I went in there, and they didn't have a trumpet player. And I knew all of these guys because I grew up in a musical family. I said, Y'all, y'all need a trumpet player? Oh no, man, we don't we don't we don't let people sit in here. I'm not sitting in, I'm coming to play. So me with my bousy self got up there, went to, you know, sat in, and on the second song, come to find out Kid Thomas, the real trumpet player, was in the back having a sandwich. And he came in and he opened those two doors by Preservation Hall, and I was like, oh shut.

SPEAKER_09 43:09

I've been found.

SPEAKER_05 43:10

And and and then he said one thing which was great. He said, get him a chair. He stuttered, you know, get a get him a chair. Sit him next to me. So I sat there for the next four years next to Kid Thomas. And like before that, I had a couple of years before that, uh, Papa French in the original tuxedo jazz band. He called my daddy for a gig. And my daddy, oh man, Papa, I can't um come home sick. I'll send my son. And he thought he was gonna send my brother John, who was already a great established trumpet player.

SPEAKER_07 43:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:47

And here I show up with my big, you know, hair and, you know, my best Walmart suit, and you know, stuff like that. And Papa says, Man, who are you? I said, Well, I'm I'm Pick's son, man. He said, Oh. Oh man, we thought he was gonna send John. Well, that you could imagine what that does for your self-esteem. But then he said, I tell you what, you're my band leader tonight. Whatever you play, that's what we're gonna play. And I'll call a tune every now and then, but you lead the band tonight. He didn't say you got the most limited repertoire here. He just said, you know, because a chain is as strong as his weakest link. And that gave me confidence. And you know, I I called my cousin the next morning, Harold Deja.

SPEAKER_09 44:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 44:36

And I said, hey Duke, I say, you got you got some books I can learn some tunes out of? And he said, Yeah, darling, I'll come. So he came there with two books, two volumes of books and a pot of squirrel gumbo. You see, you got some work to do, man. So I ate that squirrel gumbo and transcribed both those books by hand. We didn't have the app back then, you know. You had to do it by hand. And anyway, and because of that today, I probably know more songs and words than most anybody. And not by accident, but by paying my own dues.

SPEAKER_09 45:12

That's amazing. You know, you mentioned your brother, you mentioned your dad. Yeah. What does it mean to you to carry on the legacy of it?

SPEAKER_05 45:19

It's everything. It's everything. Because we eat, breathe, and just live for New Orleans music and New Orleans culture. Red beans and rice. And I like butter beans. You know, they're just gumbo, crabfish, ain't too fade, you don't shrimp, all of this stuff. That's what we live for. And I've gotten hurt them, you know, to get that same value system now.

SPEAKER_09 45:43

Dynamic duo is that we're dynamic duo. Celebrities are popping in and out of preservation hall all the time. What's it like? What was it like this past Jazz Fest?

SPEAKER_05 45:52

I mean, it's scene over the years. It was amazing. I mean, we because we have this preserves, uh, you know, after the preservation hall closes. So, I mean, in the past, we've had like Robert Plant and all of these kind of people that come there and they want to play a little bit with us, we want to play a little bit with them, so we find a happy medium and just coexist that way. And it it works. It just works because music is the international language. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 46:25

Teddy Swim's apparently played um this past preservation of home. Oh man, as fast.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

And when I'm not playing, you know, because uh you gotta schedule everybody, try and get everybody playing so everybody gets seen and gets heard. I'm still there, just like wow, you know, hanging out, just making sure things are going okay. I can grab my horn and jump in if I want to. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_09 46:49

Caroline, what was your first impression and first visit to Preservation Hall? What was that like the first time you walked in?

SPEAKER_03 46:56

Oh, it was so cool. It had been my dream to come to Preservation Hall for so many years. So let me back up to way back in in Sweden when I was a kid. When I was six years old, I started to play clarinet for the most amazing clarinet pair in Sweden. He's got the best clarinet sound I ever heard on or off record. His name is Sigj Olson. And he took me under the wing and started playing when my mom took me to the local music school and just taught me so much. Yeah, a couple of months ago he joined The Angels Above 96 years old, and I just was so grateful for him. And when I was 10, my mom started a traditional jazz band together with my stepdad, and they were not musicians, so I played the clarinet, my brother the trumpet, my best friend the trombone, and then the parents formed the rhythm section. My mom started to play the bass and my dad the drums and so on. And and we're the Dick Slang kids, and we started touring. First, we read New Orleans' jazz arrangement, and and started touring different countries in Europe, and soon I started taking out solos from different records and and started dipping feet into improvisation and so on. But pretty soon my walls were covered with pictures of New Orleans, Preservation Hall, Louis Armstrong, and I thought one day I get to come to New Orleans and play. So when I was 14 years old, my amazing grandparents, Matthew and Margaret Bergstrom, they were just angels on earth now in heaven. And they fixed this concert at a little jazz club in Stockholm, in old city Stockholm, called Stampen. And this date had been moved lots of times, and I think it was August 1st eventually. This very night there was a couple from New Orleans named Carol and Cyfrome, who were not musicians, came there and told the taxi driver, look, we just miss our music. Is there anywhere we could go? So this taxi driver took them to where we were playing. And long story short, they uh they invited me to come to New Orleans after hearing me play, and my grandparents brought me here on their invitation. So here I was 15 years old, like just living the dream. And I was gonna get to play one time with one of my idols, the great Jack Mayo on clarinet. And then we're gonna do all the fun tourist stuff. But then Freddie Lonsor heard me play and invite me to the next place, and he turned out like 23, 24 times. So somewhere there's a picture with me playing with Wendell's band at Preservation Hall, 15 years old. So I was just walking on clouds and and dreaming to come back, and came back when I was 17. So that was my first time at Preservation Hall.

SPEAKER_09 49:22

Uh and uh great memory you had.

SPEAKER_03 49:25

It was just amazing.

SPEAKER_09 49:26

You know, you mentioned that you're visiting New Orleans for the first time, you see uh live music at Preservation Hall. What wh wh why is that such an important part of uh of anyone's visit to the city of New Orleans?

SPEAKER_03 49:37

It's just magical. When you come in there, it's it truly, and every time I did a podcast with the Swedish embassy recently, and uh and they said, Man, you feel like you give the impression like it just started like today. But it's this magic feeling. You come in there and it's just music, and it gets this magic between the band and and the audience. And since four and a half years ago, I've been so blessed to play with uh Wendell's and the Preservation Hall All-Stars at Thursday night. It is it is uh such a pride for me and just so much fun, and it's just magic in there.

SPEAKER_05 50:10

You know what's another thing is that we're there's still the spirit of the older guys, good Thomas, Willie Humphrey, Saeed Frazier, and all of these old guys that were there when I first went there. And it was it's just like whoa man. It and and the building hasn't changed, you know, it was remodeled in uh I think 1718 or something like that, way back then, and it hasn't changed yet.

SPEAKER_09 50:37

Well, you know, it's important to uh look at those younger musicians coming up to New Orleans, coming up through New Orleans right now. Um, and I I see some excitement in your eyes about what you're seeing with this next generation to talk to us about what's coming up.

SPEAKER_05 50:51

Well, you know, they've got the energy to chops, the stuff like that. And that's um when I was younger and started playing, I had more chops and kid Thomas and Percy Humphrey, of course. But I listened to those guys. Man, I sat there like, you know, they were my idols and my, you know. So I don't see that so much. People observing the older guys and imitating them. You know, they'll copy one solo from me, one solo from say Leroy Jones, or something, and they think they're ready. And because they go to publicists and stuff like that, I'm like, man, you gotta get some tunes together, bro, and learn form and you know, learn to entertain rather than hey, bro, look at me, look at me. You know, and this is the only little thing that I I see that I'm like, hey, man.

SPEAKER_09 51:47

But your mentoring, your mentoring is is important now for them to hear that from you so that they, you know, they they all think they can rule the world now, but they uh they need to pay their due, so to speak.

SPEAKER_05 51:58

And and if they don't, you're talking about a three-year career, you know what I mean? Because when you're young and cute, that's great. But then when you get old and ugly like me, that's something different. That's great. And you know, I've been mentoring people way back, like Nicholas Payton, my nephew is Mark Brough, who plays with Harry Connegy's band. Yeah. Oh, Jeremy Davenport, all of these guys walked in my footsteps, and man, I'm so proud of these guys. And I'm thinking, that's what I want for these younger people to get to their level. Because, you know, I mean, those guys are operating at a pretty high level. Kevin Lewis and all these kind of guys, man.

SPEAKER_09 52:40

Because I think they they listened and they they looked at their and respected generation.

SPEAKER_05 52:45

That's an important thing. They respected what we were doing. And they would watch me, they watch Leroy. And, you know, there was a couple of older guys still around then, and they would pay attention to those guys. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 52:58

When y'all sit in your living room and you've got your clarinet and you've got your trumpet, do y'all kind of riff every now and then just pick up? Oh, they love every day. What is that? What does that sound like?

SPEAKER_10 53:07

Oh.

SPEAKER_09 53:10

We can give you a little example.

SPEAKER_05 53:13

Love to hear this. All right, we'll just do it like a little simple hymn. What do you want, baby? Let's do by and by. Because then then I can play a little bass line for you. All right. So this is uh an old hymn because so much of the New Orleans music is an extension of hymns and the blues. And this is one thing I explained to young people, or try to anyway, what is the blues? It's not just three chords. If you wake up with a flat tire tomorrow morning, that's a blues, brother. That's right. You wake up with a toothache, you got a blues. That's right. So it's just a whole thing that you witness, you know. So anyway, all right. Here you go.

SPEAKER_09 55:46

Thank you so very much. Careful. Brilliant. Preservation hall, thank you all so very much for the honest y'all are fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 55:55

You want to hear a cool detail?

SPEAKER_09 55:56

What's that?

SPEAKER_03 55:57

The preservation hall when the legendary Sweet Emma when my parents were on honeymoon a year before I was born.

SPEAKER_09 56:05

Sweet Emma, the piano player.

SPEAKER_03 56:06

They came to Preservation Hall and heard Sweet Emma play. But little did they know they would have a daughter who wouldn't dream play the one day and being.

SPEAKER_09 56:15

Charlie Gabriel, uh, Ben, Mike, everybody. And thank you all so much. We love you so much. And may I add that this was our first concert on the Mark Roming show.

SPEAKER_05 56:28

We'll make it the last.

SPEAKER_09 56:29

Ladies and gentlemen, Wendell, Caroline, thank you so very much. Thank you, bro. All right, ladies and gentlemen, our next guest is one of the most trusted voices covering the New Orleans dining scene. Ian McNulty has spent years telling the stories of our restaurants, our chefs, the neighborhoods they're in, the traditions, and the people who make this one of the great food cities in the world. With the recent 50 best bringing global attention to New Orleans, local restaurants and chefs receiving well-deserved recognition, and restaurant week happening this week, and then culinary coming up just around the corner. There's no better time to talk about all the great things happening and where the dining scene stands right now. Welcome back, Ian. Great to be here, Mr. Have you back for the second time. Yeah, thanks for having me back. You're joining Fletcher Mackle. I see we passed the audition, so we get to come back again. Let's start with the 50 Best recently hosted the events here in New Orleans.

SPEAKER_06 57:29

Well, you hit the nail on the head on the intro with saying uh world-class dining, New Orleans global attention. I mean, those are the ideas behind 50 best. And for those who maybe are just hearing about it, 50 Best is um it's a list that was created many years ago by a media group in the UK uh to rank restaurants around the world. So world's 50 best restaurants, world's 50 best bars. They've been expanding that um that with uh regional lists. And so North America's 50 best debuted last year. This is the second year they've done it, and they brought uh the whole show to New Orleans for the big reveal of the 50 best restaurants in North America. And yes, to your point, New Orleans did very well. Three of the restaurants in that top 50 spot were uh New Orleans restaurants, De Carnola, Emeralds, and Akamaya, newcomer on the list. Uh and that is a fantastic achievement for the chefs, the restaurants, the teams behind those three places. But the bigger picture is what it means for New Orleans. Um, having those restaurants on that list to send a message that it's it's not just um, oh, I've heard of New Orleans, you've heard the reputation that it's a great food town. Uh, I heard something about Gumbo and Jambalaya, right? But uh but that it is a dining destination uh on a par with any any of the other culinary capitals of the world, or North America in this case. But um one of the things I loved about it was that they had the ceremony here in New Orleans, and that meant uh that chefs and restaurant people and people um kind of in that orbit, you know, people who are courting their business, uh, people who do their marketing uh were here in New Orleans. They came here um for a week, some of them. The city was filled with private events and dinners and collaborations and pop-ups of all sorts as all of these top chefs from around the continent uh got together. And uh some magic happened. You know, these are people who often work on different coasts, different cities, but they got to be together in New Orleans and they got to experience New Orleans, our hospitality spaces. They were taking over uh restaurants and whole hotels in some cases. Jack Rose, just across the street here from your studio on St. Charles Avenue uh for one night, was uh hosted seven different chefs for one dinner, all of them cooking together. It was really magnificent. Um, Brian and Emery over there at Jack Rose just did an amazing job hosting. And I kept on hearing from these visiting chefs, you know, I haven't been to New Orleans in so long, or gosh, it's been since Katrina, or for some of the younger ones, I've never been to New Orleans before, and this is really opening my eyes. Uh, because again, for that reputation that New Orleans has worldwide as a food town, um, that can mean different things in different people's imaginations. And uh, what the reality is in New Orleans, as we're enjoying it as locals and as frequent visitors get, uh, is just how incredibly diverse and innovative the quiz culinary scene has become here. And that's what 50 Best was showing. By having it here in New Orleans, that was the statement beyond the three individual restaurants that did well on the list.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:29

Right, because it it's it's bringing attention to New Orleans. They they may hear about these restaurants, but they'll come here and they'll experience all these other restaurants and all these other great classics. Trevor Burrus, Jr. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:39

So I loved it for for people to think of New Orleans in that way, to learn of New Orleans in that way. Um, but also to uh to position New Orleans as a place where culinary leaders, leading voices in American cuisine, gather, as they do, and as they will continue to do for future events.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:54

With those three restaurants on the 50 best, I mean you've got Sengle's, you've got Mexican, and of course typical new what we'll call New Orleans Fair, which is Emeralds, but uh it covers more than that. But you know, he's based here and he's been here for a long time. What does that do to reflect the diversity of the offerings in New Orleans and what yeah, what does it say about what's here, particularly since after Katrina?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:18

Oh Mark, I think there was a time when when New Orleans uh was wonderfully itself, but really not going anywhere. And it was it was uh beautiful but stagnant. It really was. You know, it was the the the traditions were set and that was it. Uh and what we've seen happen over the last two decades is really um new generations, uh new uh experiences, uh, new influences making their mark and becoming part of New Orleans food. Great example of that uh beyond the three you listed is Vietnamese food in general. That's become comfort food in New Orleans because the Vietnamese community here um has is so well established and so passionate about food. Same thing about Thai food, right? Exactly. That's a great point.

SPEAKER_09 1:02:01

We had uh the the uh chef from Goodcatch on, and and you know how many people are just now Thai has become one of their go-to you know cuisines.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:10

Of course. And that's because New Orleans people are foodies, they have a food culture here, being raised on gumbo and po-boys and red beans and rice and these food traditions, and and putting food having an important role in family life and social life and civic life, frankly, uh the way that New Orleans does with food, uh that means you have people, you have a population here, an audience with a developed palate who care about food, who are passionate about it, and who pursue flavor and traditions and great stories like that beyond uh the Creole standards, beyond the Cajun and Creole standards of this region. Uh, and so that makes New Orleans a great place for um to explore food beyond that, because there's there's an audience here that pursues it, they're interested in it, they give it time, uh, and um and hence you've got, yeah, great Vietnamese food scene. Uh, we have a robust sushi scene here because people in New Orleans and Louisiana love seafood. Well, that translates over to the sushi bar as well as it does from the oyster bar. Uh, and so that's one of the real pleasures of dining around New Orleans is how rich and diverse the food offerings really are, because we have that base. We have that base of our own culture. Uh, and so that makes it uh that's the groundwork for a great food town is that palate and that interest and that passion for it. Yeah, and it really underscores the fact that we are international.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:28

Uh you know, we rank up with those other world capital cities that offer similar diversity in their dining system.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:34

Always has been. And uh, you know, that was one of the big takeaways from the 50 Best experience in New Orleans was showing people from around the world and around the continent really um what New Orleans is now.

SPEAKER_09 1:03:43

Yeah, that's terrific. 50 Best, James Beard, the Michelin guide, and of course we have got Bocustior coming later this summer. What is this saying about New Orleans now as being um uh the the city that has got all of this recognition coming?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:57

Yeah, well, New Orleans one of the great things about New Orleans is that it does have its own dining culture. It has its own cuisine, and that's distinct from really anywhere else in America you can think of. I mean, I I've I've been banging the drum on this. Like, New Orleans is not just a city with a lot of good restaurants, it's a city that has its own cuisine, that has its own culture, that has its own traditions around food in a way that you really only see in other sort of regional cuisines around the world. You compare it to the regional cuisines of Europe, uh, Sicily versus Tuscany. You know, this is what New Orleans is and Louisiana around it. Uh, and that is a draw for culinary talent. And the restaurant scene here, supported by all the visitors that we have, uh, we have so many restaurants that can be so diverse across the ranges, um, because we have an audience for it, because people love coming to New Orleans and they'll come here to eat and drink and experience hospitality. Uh, and so that makes New Orleans uh this incredible incubator of culinary talent. And whether they go off around the world to start their own thing or stay here and further enrich the scene, um, New Orleans is the is the cauldron from which it's all coming out. It's the mother sauce.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:59

Yeah. Um there's so much going on here about raising the talent level, right? You've got a number of programs underway. This has got to have uh help the awareness of why I want to get into the culinary space to begin with as a student, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:13

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, having Michelin here, for instance, uh now that Michelin Guide is raiding New Orleans restaurants, one of the major upsides of that for the culinary scene writ large uh is that uh you know, restaurants are up for Michelin stars. And that is a that is a career goal for very a lot of people in the in the industry. And to to not just simply to to um, you know, it's not just the the head chef, it's anybody involved in organizations like that, people who who now have experienced working in a Michelin star kitchen or a restaurant that's that has those ambitions that's pushing towards that. Um, that's a big deal. That's a big deal for recruiting. I mean, that's the majors, right? That's a big deal for recruiting talent from around the country that want to come here and that just um it it keeps the ball rolling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:05:54

Let's talk about how you go about your work. I mean, I can only imagine what your schedule was like doing fifty best. Well, if you could share it the you know how often can you eat sample. Sure. But typically, you know, uh you're covering the restaurant um uh industry and all the things that are happening. What does Ian do on a regular basis?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:14

I try to keep in mind my audience uh the and the way that New Orleans people and and frequent visitors to New Orleans and people who keep up with New Orleans um what they want, what they're after. And that's a mix of um of the high and the low, which is the wonderful thing we love about New Orleans food because it's not just um these uh top-end restaurants, it's also it's all across the board. It's the everyday neighborhood joint that's so charismatic. It's the uh the the takeout counter where you're getting something you can't get anywhere else in New Orleans. And so um, yeah, in a typical week, Mark, I mean, gosh, in a typical day, you know, it might start out at a po'boy shop or uh a soul food joint and then jump over to a star-studded culinary event just because that's the interest of people who are following New Orleans cuisine. They want to see the the richness and the texture of it and pursue it like that. And so that's that's how I try to do it. I mean, you know, I've uh I've changed in the car one or two or two times. As a tuxedo in the trunk.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:11

Right, right.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:12

Yeah, I don't need to wear this to the crawfish boil, but I will need this uh two stops later on down the line. But no, no, it's a joy, really. You know, um the the thing about my work is that it is work, and I have to meet a deadline, and I have to meet certain editorial standards, and I have a team that I work with, and uh, you know, it's part of a larger news organization, which is what I love. I love being part of something that's bigger than just what I'm doing, um, but a news organization that's keeping everybody informed and advocating for things. And uh, you know, to be able to bring the food voice into that is a is a real joy because it gives people joy. I hear from people all the time that they love, they love seeing the good news. They love seeing the wins for New Orleans, they love seeing um uh learning about things uh that maybe had been here for decades that they just didn't know about. It wasn't part of their realm until you know someone that they trusted brought them in there. It's almost like I'm taking them by the hand and saying, like, hey or yeah, sit here, order this. This place is great, you're gonna love it too.

SPEAKER_09 1:08:05

Yeah. Um you talked about neighborhoods and how our restaurants um are really brings our neighborhood alive in many ways. Uh like Commanders in the Garden District or Parkway uh right there at the uh head of Bayou St. John. Right. Um talk about how that has developed over the years because I I see Dakar is now moving into a new neighborhood.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:27

Oh, sure. Yeah, I mean New Orleans, you know, talk to New Orleans people as you know, Mark, and often they'll give directions on a restaurant that used to be there or or is still there, right? You know, you take a left at Commanders and keep going past the cemetery. Um But yeah, when I was first getting to know New Orleans, I mean I moved here in 1999, so a couple eras ago, um you know, I got to know the city primarily through exploring restaurants and bars and nightclubs, to be honest. Uh and um, you know, it was like, oh, I heard there was a great place, you know, I lived in the Lower Garden district at the time. Oh, I heard there's a great place in Mid-City. Oh, I'll go over to Mid-City. Well, now I live in Mid-City, so it's funny to think about it that way. But really, that was the way that I explored and got to know New Orleans. And uh and I think that's the wonderful thing about a New Orleans neighborhood restaurant. No matter what part of town you live in, if you live in Medrury or Kenner or the West Bank, uptown, or you're visiting from down the coast or across the country, a good neighborhood restaurant in New Orleans can make it feel like it's your neighborhood now. You know, it's that sense of welcome, that feeling, that connectedness because it's such a charismatic place in many ways, right? Right. When I walk into Mandina's restaurant, for instance, like Canal Street of Mid-City, uh, I know that there are people there from all over uh the metro area and all over the country, frankly. If you can tell the visitors, uh and um it just this is what New Orleans feels like. And it makes me happy because they're getting a taste of what we love as locals, and um, yeah, it that that's the feeling of it.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:50

But yeah, and they become anchors of those neighborhoods like Frank Brightson's uh restaurant or like the steak knife over on in Lakeview.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:58

Um they just they they help define that neighborhood. Absolutely, and and they can help change them too, um, and bring things along. I mean, Ferret Street uh is the great example of that uptown. This it uh was really on hard times uh before Katrina, after Katrina, some visionaries came in just on their own private people who decided uh they saw the potential there, and they turned it into what is today a restaurant row. You know, you go down, it sits one after the other of restaurants and bars and cafes, and uh there's some turnover. There's always a little churn, a little bit new things coming and going. Um, but some of them have really uh grown into neighborhood anchors over the past you know decade and a half, and um and it's vibrant. And then you you can see that in different parts of town. Carrollton Avenue and Mid City is another great. I think of Bayou Road as well. Of course, that's right. Yeah, they're having a real upswing there, with coach with Addis Nola being the big one there. Um and uh yeah, it it's uh exploring New Orleans through its restaurants means you're exploring different neighborhoods too. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Back to Dakar. Are they expanding their menu in their move? They are expanding the concept. So it's actually uh it's an interesting move. Uh this is, of course, the modern Senegalese tasting menu restaurant. It got started as a pop-up. You know, that's incredible to remember for all the acclaim that it that it has uh drawn here to itself and to New Orleans. It started as a pop-up. A guy working on the side, um working in the kitchen at Commander's Palace and deciding to do something that was a little closer to his own culinary heritage from back in Senegal. And um, you know, convening people for these communal dinners. That's what the first pop-ups were like. And so that's what the restaurant turned into. The first iteration of Dakar was a very elevated, high-end uh tasting menu restaurant, but in a more communal fashion where there was a seating and the whole dining room is seated at once at 7 o'clock, say, at 8:30, whatever the seating times were. So everyone in the room is having the same courses, more or less at the same time and hearing the same stories from the chefs. Um they have uh moved from their first location into another one that they're bringing back to life. It's the old Matt and Naddies restaurant for people with long New Orleans food memories, because I know they're out there. Uh uh it's on uh it's on Leonidas, but it's really on whatever what New Orleans people will call River Road. It's right by the levee. Um and uh they're using this similar format, but actually condensing it. Smaller number of tables in the dining room, in fact. Uh open kitchen, really making it more of an experience around the same idea, of course. It's uh it's the roots cuisine of Senegal with Chef Serene's uh culinary journey through through American cuisine reflected in the in the styles and the cooking. Uh but the big change um in addition to the address and slightly smaller dining room is they've added a patio outside, and for the first time, Descari Nola will have a la carte service. So, meaning um if you've always wanted to try it, but have never been able to get into the reservations book or the the ticket price may be a little out of range, uh, you can drop in and have a dish or two, have a cocktail, be part of the Dakar experience and experience it that way. And I think that's a great move. I think a lot of there's that follows in the line of a number of other restaurants that have done that, like Emeralds has Emerald's Wine Bar, for instance. It's a good parallel, uh, but on its own course. That is set to debut um in July. Uh that that second part of it, the Patty.

SPEAKER_09 1:13:06

Excited to get there. Sure. Um this week is restaurant week. Yes, we all have our favorite restaurants, uh, favorite children, as they say. But how would somebody use restaurant week to maybe step outside of their uh comfort zone?

SPEAKER_06 1:13:21

Uh Mark, I I come in praise of summertime dining in New Orleans. I think summer, um, you know, it's it's long, it's hot, it gets a little slow, but and you can't underestimate that it is a it is a challenge for restaurants and businesses of all stripes to manage when the tourism uh slowdown happens. Uh but the one of the ways that people have have and industries and restaurants have under manage it is with things like Restaurant Week, which sets up these set price deals that are like, I I can't afford to stay in. I need to go out and dine out this week as a local or as somebody who you know drives in from a close market. Uh and and to me, summertime dining is is peak New Orleans dining for the locals because we have the city to ourselves a little more. It's easier to get into restaurants that were hard to get into. And our own social calendars tend to loosen up a little bit. I find that. Uh people that I was trying to get in touch with and connect with through the holidays, well, we missed. Uh then it was Marty Grum. We saw each other at the parade, but we we need more. We need more of a connection. We need to go out to dinner. This is when I throw reservations on the books. I call other people up, I call up another couple, we'll put together a six-top. We we took an eight-top to Mosca's over the weekend, or is it Moscas? Lisa can sort that out for us. Uh, and it's it's a joy to do this. And you do get the people, the restaurants are uh more than accommodating. They're they're happy to have you. And often, to your point, with restaurant week, uh, they have deals on the table. So what I do is I always look at the restaurant week menus a little bit ahead of time and kind of run a little scouting report on what looks great. Uh and, you know, honestly, not all restaurant week deals are created equal, but some really rise to the top. And what I look for are either signature dishes that are kind of real anchors for what this restaurant does, uh, or really particularly good value deals, or something you just haven't had in a while, and you can organize a trip and your cravings around that. Pick a part of town. You want to go to the French quarter, go revisit one of the great Creole Grand Dames and build in a stop at a cocktail bar beforehand. You can do that under one roof at uh at Arno's, for instance, or Antoine's. Uh, you can um uh are you on the hunt for uh steak, you know, steak on a on a value menu. It's all over the place. Dickie Brennan Steakhouse anchors their restaurant week menu with a great steak freets when the fruits are cooked in tallow, which is the beef fat, which makes them so crispy and good. There's Latin American steaks at Brassa. So you can kind of like pick a theme and then dive into the menus that way. Because otherwise, it's about a hundred restaurants doing restaurant week. So that's a lot. You know, nobody can hit all the things. Let me see. Seven days, hundred restaurants.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:44

Could could you could do it.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:45

Uh yeah, you know, lunch, dinner, a couple brunch specials on there, you know, start counting on your fingers. What did you have at Mosca's? Oh, of course. We had uh the oysters mosca, the shrimp mosca, the chicken a la grande. So you as I list these dishes, just picture the garlic clubs tumbling onto the platters. Yeah. Uh the crab salad to start. This is just a standing order, right? The spaghetti bordelaise, which is Bordelais only the way they do it in New Orleans. No, nothing close to Bordeaux happening with this Bordelais, just garlic, parsley, olive oil. And I learned a new trick. And people are have been laughing at me because they're like, that's not new, McNulty, but it was new to me. There's always something new under the sun. You can combine some of these dishes. Uh, and I've long known about you take the oyster borderlays and you swirl some of the um the oysters masca. So oysters masca is sort of a casserole of oysters and just gratin goodness, and you mix that with the pasta, mmm, perfection. But the new one was you take some of that garlicky oyster uh garlicky spaghetti and you swirl it in the shrimp juice, the sauce around the shrimp. That's just a perfect bite when it comes back down your fork. I know, I didn't invent this, but it was a new revelation for it.

SPEAKER_09 1:16:48

When you come next time, would you bring that dish with you, please? The crew will eat it with me and we'll enjoy that. Fantastic. Um where's the restaurant scene heading in New Orleans?

SPEAKER_06 1:16:59

Oh, it's it's doing a beautiful dance right now, Mark, because we talk so much about the innovation um elevating things, raising the bar of things. And Emeralds is a great example of that because it is that is a New Orleans restaurant. That is like the epitome of the New Orleans restaurant just raised to that global standard. Um, and you have other uh chefs who are pursuing a similar standard um or in their own expressions based on their own heritage. Uh I mean, Akamaya is a Mexican restaurant, and we now have a you know continentally ranked Mexican restaurant in New Orleans that would have been impossible to think of a couple years ago. But on the other hand, the other side of that dance is the tradition, is the groundedness of it all. You know, I could say I in a in the in a day going from a crawfish boil to a high-end restaurant, uh, later today I'm gonna go to a po'boy shop and I'll probably eat that in my car on the hood of my car. You know, it's that it we have the roots of New Orleans uh food scene is kind of the everyday uh everyman food that is only here, right? It's everyday everyman food if you're in New Orleans. It's uh highly exotic, almost inaccessible if you're somewhere else. So you come here for that, and uh when you re-engage with that, whether it's a pow boy, a cup of gumbo, some Yakiman takeout from a counter, um, that's a taste in New Orleans, and that's that's taking part in New Orleans culture.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:16

Oh, that's exciting. Um we'll talk more about that when you get when you get back here and see where where we're going and how the summer has been. Absolutely. Works for you? Yes, certainly. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that's on the table, sponsored by Blue Runner Foods. We're so happy that Ian was back with us and making us all hungry once again. I did my job. Move the chains. All right, ladies and gentlemen, here we are with our next guest, Madeline Adams with Fox 8. She's a sports reporter, she's covering everything from the Saints to the Pelicans, high school sports, you name it, college sports, of course, coming right up uh in the in the season as well. So uh Madeline, thank you for being with us.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:57

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_09 1:18:58

It's great to have you here. It's great to have the relationship that we have with uh with Fox 8 as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_09 1:19:03

And I got to start with Alvin Kamara. What was that like last week?

SPEAKER_01 1:19:07

What a surprise. Yeah. Um, you know, it's it was a surprise for a couple reasons because number one, Alvin doesn't normally go to these OTA workouts, he normally chooses just to kind of train on his own. They're voluntary OTA workouts. So just to even see Alvin Kamara there in general was a little bit of a surprise. Um but then I I think Kellen Moore was a little surprised too. Um, you know, just amid all of the I guess, you know, lack of clarity with his future with the Saints. You know, Mickey Loomis told us a couple weeks ago at the Saints Hall of Fame golf tournament that um, you know, they're trying to see where Alvin Kamara fits on the Saints roster. Um and so it's just you know, just a little bit a little bit of lack of clarity, which was not expected this offseason. So to see Alvin show up, you know, him say, hey, there's no bad blood, there's no, you know, beef or anything from his side, he's excited. He talked about how excited he is to play with Travis H. And just this loaded Saints offense. So it was very surprising for a couple reasons to see number 41 out on the practice field last year.

SPEAKER_09 1:20:05

Yeah, I mean, I think uh those of us that saw the story uh saw the enthusiasm he had in his and his expression and he was glad to be back in. And um and you brought up Travis H. N. Tell us about that backfield. I mean, it's that could be pretty dynamic.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:19

Absolutely. And well, Alvin has talked about too, you know, when he's had somebody to kind of share the load with, whether it's you know, Mark Ingram or Latavius Murray, that's when Alvin kind of is at his best too, you know. And so I mean, Travis H. N obviously um you know spent a lot of time in in Jacksonville with that offense. Um and so yeah, it's it's you know, for the first time in a while, you have two really good lead backs uh for the Saints offense. And you know, you've got depth there with Devin Neal, who showed a lot of promise last year too. Kendra Miller, if he can stay healthy, I think is is a really good um addition back there, a really good you know, depth back there. Um so it it's it's just one one small part of an offense that just is loaded heading into 2026, and and we saw that like that was the focus for free agency. Obviously, Travis A. Chan was probably you know one of the first signings, one of the most notable signings uh on the very first day of free agency. So you could tell, you know, David Edwards, um, you know, the guard, and so you could just tell there was a very much a focus of all right, we've got our we've got our franchise quarterback and Tyler Shuck, let's build around him and make this offense as good as we can. So um, yeah, that that running back room is just a a a part of a really loaded offense.

SPEAKER_09 1:21:29

Yeah, what what have you heard? Speaking of Tyler Shuck, what have you heard or seen uh that makes people believe that it's time to make that that next uh year leap?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:38

Yeah, well I think it's what we saw last year, you know, down the stretch of the season, just the way that you know there's a lot of injuries on that offense last year, uh the last few weeks, and what Tyler Shuck was able to do was elevate whoever was around him, you know, playing around him. And so um the success that they had down the stretch of last season, I think, gave the front office, gave the fan base a lot of promise with Tyler Shuck. Um, you know, and so entering year two, obviously, like he is the guy. There's no quarterback competition. He knows that he's the guy moving forward. Um, and you know, we've kind of seen him over these last few weeks of OTAs and you know, just really this entire off, you know, off season from on the field and off. He's the leader. Like he is the leader of this team. There's there's been a couple leaders that have left, and Demario Davis and Cam Jordan, who's still a free agent. Um, you know, Tyler Shuck is the guy, he's the leader uh of this team, and he's kind of really embraced that. He, you know, I've heard from so many people he's just a natural leader. Like he it's it's not like he's putting on a front. Yeah, he's very just so much a natural leader. Um, and we've seen that too in the community. With everything that he's done this offseason, I feel like we're seeing him doing something different every single day, whether it's a you know, a Mardi Gras parade, um, you know, whether it's out in the community and and you know, just the Savannah Bananas. So he's been everywhere. Um, he he's done and said everything right um, you know, as the leader of this team.

SPEAKER_09 1:23:01

Great. Well, let's talk about coach, Coach Moore. This is his second year. How do you see that being defined now?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:07

Right. Well, I think him knowing who his quarterback is is gonna, I mean, be huge for him, right? There's he knows, all right, Tyler Shuck's your starter, and you can kind of start building around Tyler Shuck and his skill set, and you can kind of open up the playbook, which we saw starting to happen toward the end of last year, knowing that, all right, this is our this is our guy, this is our franchise quarterback. Um, and so uh, you know, I think that's gotta feel a little bit more comfortable for Kellen Moore, you know, knowing that there's no competition. Um, you know, he he can work really closely. I know he uh and Tyler have been, you know, working, you know, just watching film together. Tyler's kind of mentioned that um throughout the offseason, just kind of watching film with Kellen Moore. And um, so even from that standpoint, because obviously Kellen's an offensive guy, he's the offensive play caller, he, you know, former quarterback in the NFL. Um, to just have that confidence, that consistency at the quarterback spot's got to be huge for Kellen Moore. And I think he's starting to get a little a little bit more comfortable. Obviously, he was a first-year head coach last year. You can kind of see him getting used to that, you know, the spotlight being on him so much more so than when he was an offensive coordinator. Um, so he's getting a little more comfortable in you know, press conferences, and and like I said, I think you know, now that they have the trust and the belief in their starter, you know, it makes it so much easier for Kellen Moore as a head coach and a play caller.

SPEAKER_09 1:24:22

Yeah, let's focus a little bit on the defense now. Uh what do you see? Uh you've got uh Coach Staley. Tell us what you're uh what you're anticipating there.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:30

I'm so excited because I think you know Brandon Staley had a really good year one with the Saints. And I know we talked about it. It's like you know, if the Saints' overall record maybe would have been a little bit better, like would Brandon Staley have gotten more attention for some of these head coaching openings? You know, that's a possibility. Um so really excited to see you know his second year with the Saints, and I think he's got you know a good mix of um veterans and young guys who showed a lot of potential last year. You know, obviously I think the leader of the defense is Justin Reed. Um he's a guy that's from here. He gets it, he understands. He's a Super Bowl winner. He is, yeah. Super Bowl winner with the Kansas City Chiefs, he understands what it takes you know to have success in this league, and he's had a lot of it um in his career. So I think the unquestioned leader of the defense is is Justin Reed. But you also bring in a guy like Caden Ellis, who you know was was with the team that shall not be uh named the last couple years, but he comes back to the team that drafted him uh to the Saints, and you know, it's just it's it's it's good to have a guy like that because you know, while he is mentioned several times, like he's not going to replace DeMario Davis, it's hard to do that. Demario meant so much to this team and this fan base and this community. He's like, you know, it's it's it's not like I'm gonna replace DeMario or try to come in and be Demario. Caden is very clear about I'm just coming in to be Caden Ellis. Um so I think he'll be really good from a leadership standpoint, you know, in the linebacker core. And then, you know, you've got young guys like Quincy Riley and Jonas Senker, um, you know, who's getting reps at that star position. And, you know, that's a big void to fill after Elante Taylor's uh departure. But you know, Jonas Senker showed a lot of promise last year. And then along the defensive line, you know, with a guy like Chase Young, who had a really good year last year, hopefully he can build off of that. Um but yeah, I th I understandably a lot of eyes are on the offense just because of, you know, it's uh so many new pieces, and obviously, you know, the with the emergence of Tyler Shuck, but I'm really excited to see what this defense could do. I don't, you know, I don't know if they're getting enough credit nationally for what they did last year and what they could be this year.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:29

So like they say in the NBA, defense wins. I mean, very much so the same story could be played and keep the other team from the end zone.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:39

Right. Well, I mean, you look at the teams that have won over the last couple of years, they've been known for their defense. You know, they can put up points. You know, you look at the Seahawks, they've had such a great defense um, you know, this last year. So it's true in every sport, you know, whether it's you know, Saints, Pelicans, whatever, like, you know, you can put up points, but you you you're gonna win, you know, with your defense, and defense wins championships. You've got to have a good defense.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:00

All right, so Pelican season, uh, we've got a new coach. What's your uh what are your thoughts right now going into this offseason and uh into the into the new one?

SPEAKER_01 1:27:09

Yeah, I think there's a lot of optimism. You know, with Jamal Mosley, um I think he he gives Pelicans fans a lot of reasons to be optimistic because he's he's done this before. He's turned around a franchise in the Orlando Magic. Uh they had 21 wins before he went to Orlando. And he took over that team and and you know, within a matter of you know, his third year, they were back in the playoffs, and then they were in the playoffs, you know, three consecutive seasons and went toe-to-toe with the number one overall seed, the Detroit Pistons, um, you know, this past season. So I think there's just a lot of you know, he he understands what it's gonna take to come in and kind of turn around a franchise. And um, you know, in his introductory press conference, he mentioned like, hey, we're gonna build this and it's gonna be step by step and we're not gonna skip any steps. Um and so I you know it's it's It's going to be interesting to watch because I think, you know, if if this team can stay healthy, I'm really interested to see what they can do with a guy like Jamal Mosley. We talk about defense. He was very clear in his introductory press conference. He's like, hey, you can ask me about offense, but we're going to win with our defense. And that's what he did in Orlando. They had a top three defensive rating two of the last three seasons. They were always known to just be physical and aggressive and just intense on defense. And, you know, for a guy like Joe Dumas, who played with, you know, the bad boys era of the Detroit Pistons, he's got to like to hear that from his new head coach. So, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how Jamal Mosley can kind of really ingrain that in this team, that defensive identity. And I think this signals too, like, you know, the Pelicans aren't interested in a lengthy rebuild. I think hiring a guy who has previous head coaching experience who's shown, hey, just a couple seasons and he was able to turn around the magic, they're not interested in a lengthy rebuild. They kind of want to be competitive now. Now, does that mean a top six seed in the Western Conference next season? I don't know, because the West is just getting stronger and stronger every year. You know, we we saw that with that epic seven-game series between the Thunder and the Spurs. Um, but I think I think they want to be competitive now. I don't think they want to wait that long to have success again.

SPEAKER_09 1:29:22

Good. Uh final thoughts on college football. Uh what's your sense about uh the Kiffen era?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:28

I've I've said this, I'm like, I don't know. I don't know if it's either gonna be it's either gonna be great or it's or it's gonna be, you know, there's no in between with this upcoming season. Um just because there's so much writing on on this season, there's been so much money invested into that roster. Um, Lane Kiffin, all lies, and I don't say that lightly, all lies in the college football world are on Lane Kiffen. Just because of how, you know, the departure with Ole Miss, um, you know, and just the, like I said, the resources that have been pumped in, you know, the money that's been pumped into this roster, um, playing in the SEC, you know, the college game day already showing up, week one for that home matchup against Clemson and you know, rumors of it of college game day gonna show up again for that game in Oxford. Um it's gonna be the greatest reality show in sports next year. I don't know what's gonna happen. I keep telling people it's either gonna be really great or really bad, but you know they're gonna have fun. You know, it it's it's gonna be an interesting and entertaining season. Um, and just you know, if if if if I had to guess, I I think you know they're gonna have a good season just because of all the talent on that roster. Now it's gotta come together. You know, it's on paper, it's a really good roster and it's a really good team, but it's gotta all come together. But it's gonna be interesting to see how that all unfolds. It's gonna be interesting. Absolutely. I mean, uh yeah, that that you know, if there was any worries that it wasn't going to be entertaining before adding Coach O to a staff. Coach. Yes, it makes it incredible. Uh and and you know, he's he's another guy that just gets it. Like he understands what LSU football means to to you know Louisiana and and you know, won a national championship. Last coach to lead him to a national championship.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:10

And you saw LSU New Orleans has just hired Coach Mike Giolando as the athletic director. That was great news for uh campus. And then um we've got Tulane football, of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:19

Yeah, Will Hall, the Will Hall era. Yeah, I'm excited to see. You know, I think the biggest question right you know with with the Green Wave is quarterback spot. If they can figure that out, I know there's a lot of guys competing there. Um and and it's you know, the Tulane has had a lot of success at the quarterback spot when you think of Michael Pratt to Darien Minsa, um, and then obviously with Jake Retzloff, you know, they able to lead them to the college football playoffs. So they've had a lot of success there recently. Hopefully that continues. But I think I think a lot of their success hinges on on you know the success of the starting quarterback, which can be said for a lot of teams. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 1:31:50

We really appreciate you coming by. We'd love to have you back after um you know the training camp um uh starts up and we can see what uh what the action looks like. Let's do it. Thanks for all the work that you're doing with Fox 8. Thank you, Mark. Um really get get people understand what's happening in sports today. You do a great job with it. Thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:08

It's so much fun. So can't wait for this season.

SPEAKER_09 1:32:11

Thanks a lot. And now for this week in New Orleans, we're gonna go to April Dupree. She's gonna tell us all about it. April, take it away.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:23

Thanks so much, Mark. Here's where it's eat, drink, and play this week in New Orleans. It's officially New Orleans Restaurant Week, hosted by the Louisiana Restaurant Association, Greater New Orleans chapter in partnership with New Orleans and Company. This means over 60 restaurants citywide are offering special menus, set prices, and a very good excuse to finally try that place you've been talking about for months. If you're in the mood for something classic, Brightson's restaurant is always a strong move. For Creole Fair in the French Quarter Bourbon House is a must. Over in the Warehouse District, Maria's Oyster and Wine Bar bring that easy, coastal, one more glass kind of energy. If you're looking for something a little more playful, greedy green, and the Irish channel is always a great pick. Meanwhile, Suede Generis is keeping things creative in that wonderful Bywater wave. And if you're looking for extra flavor, Boswell's Jamaican Rill is bringing it to the table. The Orleans wine and food experience returns this Wednesday through Sunday with wine dinners, labs, tastings, brunches, and other events all over the city. On Friday, tournament of the rose days, take over the great haul at the New Orleans Ernest and Moriel Convention Center with roses and sparklers from around the world, light lights, a DJ, bubbles, and a cocktail card. On Saturday, the grand tasting also happens at the convention center featuring global wines and food from some of the city's best chefs. You can also check out Nofi Labs at the New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District Hotel with sessions on wine blending, summerads, prateco, chardonnay, and more. And for a classic French Quarter wine moment, Antoine's hosts an opus to one wine tasting on Thursday. Outside of Nofi, Tales of the Macab is still running at the mortuary through the end of June, bringing cocktails, moptails, storytelling, and haunted New Orleans folklore together in one very unusual night out. New Orleans Pride runs this Friday through Sunday with events across the city. One of our favorite events, the Pride Parade, rolls through the French Quarter on Saturday. The parade starts and ends at Armstrong Park, making its way through the French Quarter in a free, family-friendly celebration for all ages. Expect music, color, community, and a whole lot of joy. And because June weather likes to keep us humble, have a rain plan ready. If the skies open up, seek the most fun shelter inside the Ottoman Aquarium, Jamnola, Nomad and City Park, or one of the city's other indoor spots where you can cool off, dry off, and still make a day of it. For more info on where to eat, drink, and play this week, visit New Orleans.com. Back to you, Mark.

SPEAKER_09 1:35:02

Thank you very much, April. A lot going on in the city of New Orleans as usual. Alright, before we head to Positively New Orleans, we want to have a little talk with our crew about what y'all learned today.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:12

One thing I learned today is when it comes to journalism, accuracy matters more than speed and how fast you're going, you know, to build a trust with your audience as a reporter.

SPEAKER_09 1:35:20

Excellent. Very good. Cal, what you got?

SPEAKER_04 1:35:24

So I learned that this is actually a really good space for a performance, as we saw with Wendell and Caroline there.

SPEAKER_09 1:35:31

Very good. You know, I think um having both of them here, uh, and they're they're just great ambassadors. I saw them perform in Washington, DC, at the Thai uh U.S. Friendship Festival a couple years back, and they captivated the National Mall. It was amazing. I was captivated too just now. Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:51

So good luck with that one. And Glenn? Um, Ian, mixing shrimp at Mosca and the pasta over at Mosgas. Seems pretty obvious, but you know.

SPEAKER_09 1:36:04

And I'm heading there tonight, by the way. There you go. Yeah, on a Mosca's tonight.

SPEAKER_07 1:36:09

Yes, get it right.

SPEAKER_09 1:36:10

Um and I learned uh about Life on the Batcher from Dickie Brennan. Uh you know, he lives where he wakes up in the morning and he's got the Mississippi River out at the back door, so to speak, or his deck. Uh it's gotta be fascinating. Just really terrific. So, really great lessons today. Thank you guys for uh participating in this. And now we're gonna go to something positively New Orleans. The cruise industry has become one of the great success stories of the modern maritime economy in New Orleans, and for generations this city has been America's gateway to the world through the mighty Mississippi River. Today that legacy continues as thousands of cruise passengers begin and end their journeys right here at the Port of New Orleans, bringing tremendous economic benefits to our city, our region, and the entire state of Louisiana. Every cruise passenger who sails from New Orleans is more than a traveler. They are also a hotel guest, a restaurant customer, a shopper, a visitor to our museums and attractions, and often someone who extends their stay to experience the unique culture that only New Orleans can offer. The result is hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity that supports local businesses, creates jobs, and generates tax revenue that strengthens our community. The success we are seeing today is no accident. It is the product of strong partnerships and visionary leadership. We are fortunate to have outstanding leadership at the Port of New Orleans, which continues to invest in facilities and infrastructure that makes cruising from New Orleans convenient and attractive. We are equally grateful for the work of New Orleans and Company. Their efforts to market New Orleans around the world help ensure that travelers choose our city not only as a destination, but as their preferred cruise home port. They understand that when tourism grows, opportunities grow for everyone, from hospitality workers and musicians to small business owners and transportation providers. And perhaps the most exciting is the opportunity that still lies ahead. With our strategic location on the Mississippi River, our world-class airport, our unmatched culture, and our reputation for hospitality, New Orleans is uniquely positioned for continued growth in the cruise sector. Additional ships, expanded itineraries, and new partnerships can bring even more visitors and economic impact to our region. As we look to the future, let us celebrate the remarkable progress that has been made while remaining committed to growing this vital industry responsibly and sustainably. The cruise industry is helping write the next chapter in New Orleans maritime story, one that continues to connect us to the world while strengthening our economy here at home. And that's Positively New Orleans. That's our show for this week. Thanks to our incredible guests and to all of you for watching and listening. And a special thanks to our sponsors, Blue Runner Foods, New Orleans and Company, our friends at Visit the North Shore, and their podcast, All the Waves. Go check it out. And don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification bell for all of our new videos. We'll see you next week.