appetites

Tales of the Cocktail 2011 is under way. I’ve attended a couple of seminars and events so far, though I missed Making Love to His Tonic and Gin yesterday afternoon, as I was in Lafayette. Tales is one of my favorite events in New Orleans, and it keeps getting better every year.

The Hotel Monteleone serves as base-camp for the event, and the Carousel Bar is the locus. Here’s a picture I took there recently, though if you go today, you’ll see a lot more people.

The Beasts & Brass benefit for Nathanial Zimet that took place on July 10 was pretty successful from my perspective, though I will admit that I was only there until about 9:30. The food was excellent, the music was great, and it was well attended. The best part was seeing Nathanial for the first time in months. He spoke briefly, and he looked good.

Here are a few images from the event

This Sunday, July 10, there will be a benefit for Nathanial Zimet at the Howlin’ Wolf. Nathanial is the chef-owner of Boucherie and Cue Crawl, (better known as the big purple truck,) and he was shot on May 22 during an attempted robbery. He faces a difficult recovery made even more trying by his lack of health insurance. Nathanial is a talented chef, but more significantly he’s a great guy. He has regularly participated in fundraisers and is a staunch supporter of New Orleans. I think it’s extremely important that we show guys like Nathanial our support in return.

Although my participation has been pretty minimal, I’m a part of the auction committee for the benefit. I’ll be there volunteering, and I hope to see you at either the Patron Party (5-9) or the Night Owl Benefit (9-?). The Patron Party features live and silent auctions, an open bar, and food from participating restaurants, including La Petite Grocery, Three Muses, Iris, Patois, Crescent Pie & Sausage Co., Martinique Bistro, Lilette, Dante’s Kitchen, St. James Cheese Co., Satsuma, Le Foret, Cafe Rani, Brightsen’s, Charlie’s Seafood, Link Restaurant Group, Joel’s Catering, Cure, Dante’s Kitchen, The Green Goddess, Melissa’s Fine Pastries, Zea, August, Luke, Domenica, Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, River Shack Tavern, Oak Crest Mansion, Kajun Kettle Foods, Tracey’s, and Pal’s Lounge. The later event will have some fantastic live music, a cash bar, and more food.

Whether you know Nathanial or not, this is going to be a hell of a good time, people. If you can’t make it to the event, please consider a donation. Hopefully I’ve copied the code necessary to put the paypal button up correctly here:

In the event that doesn’t work, you can go to The benefit website to donate or purchase tickets.

Finally, if you have the means, please publicize the event. The more folks we have there, the more we can do for Nathanial.