Cooking Culture with Chef Traci Vincent

By now you're probably familiar with the Cooking Culture series we made with tommysTV featuring Visit Baton Rouge and four successful Louisiana Culinary Institute graduates.

Chef Traci Vincent was the first LCI student we interviewed. Her openness, her warm personality, and her great sense of humor proved her the perfect Cooking Culture candidate.

Chef Traci Vincent displaying her culinary chops for the cameras at Louisiana Culinary Institute 

The Baton Rouge native discovered her passion for cooking Louisiana cuisine when she was working in Washington, D.C. She missed home, and she missed the food she grew up with, so she started cooking for herself and for her friends.

She moved back home, enrolled at LCI, and the rest you can watch here:

Cooking Culture with Chef Nathan Gresham

If you didn't know, a few months ago, Team Bite and Booze collaborated with Visit Baton Rouge, TommysTV, and four Louisiana Culinary Institute graduates to showcase what Baton Rouge's food scene has to offer.

Behind the scenes in the kitchen at Beausoleil 

One of the chefs we got to interview was Chef Nathan Gresham at Beausoleil Restaurant & Bar. Chef Nathan journeyed across the country taking on a number of cooking jobs before winding up as a chef-owner at Beausoleil. His story is definitely unique, but not unheard of around here.

People have a tendency to fall in love with Baton Rouge.

Chefs Ryan Andre' and Nathan Gresham prepare an outdoor dinner for the Cooking Culture video series

Without further adieu, here's Chef Nathan Gresham in his own words.

Be sure to check out all four of the Cooking Culture videos!

Frankie's Dawg House 4th of July Hot Dog Contest

Dawgs, Dawgs, and more Dawgs

There is a time in every man's life when he wonders just how many hot dogs he can eat.  The cylindrical tubes of mystery meat are fed to us in our youth, used as fish bait at ponds with our fathers, and glamorized on the most American of holidays. There are terribly crappy hot dogs that will stain fingers with an eerie pink hue.  There are also gourmet dogs that claim to made from quality ingredients and are craftily cased for consumption.  No matter the dog, and no matter how much of a foodie I have become, I've never stopped my appreciation for the wiener.  Throw it between an elongated bun and top it with cheese, chili, mustard... I'm down.

So when Frankie's Dawg House in Baton Rouge announced a Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, I knew I couldn't pass it up.  Frankie's definitely has some high quality dawgs and buns, so I figured the taste wouldn't be the issue.  Still, despite knowing that ultimately the challenge requires being a glutton for gastronomic punishment, I also knew my abilities to consume the Frankie's frankfurters could reign supreme.  Fresh on the heels of watching Baton Rouge's own Adrian Morgan down 31 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the Nathan's contest in New York, let along seeing champion Joey Chestnut take down 62 dogs and buns, there certainly seemed to be an air of excitement at Frankie's.  Eight competitors braved the July South Louisiana Heat and gave it their best effort.  However, after an hour of downing dawgs, only one man could emerge victorious.  I'll let the video do the rest of the talking.  Big thanks to TommysTV for the film!  Feel free to watch full screen and bump it up to HD!  Oh, and caution to any week stomachs out there.  This might get messy!

South Louisiana Lemonade Day

May 7th will be here before you know it, and that means South Louisiana (and other regions/cities around the country) will participate in Lemonade Day!  Bite and Booze has teamed up with Tommy's TV to get on board as an official "Media Partner" with South Louisiana's Lemonade Day!  I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to support such a great cause.  So excited, in fact, that I thought I'd share it with you!  I'd love to see some of you get involved too, especially those of you with kids out there that are ready to learn a little entrepreneurial spirit!

I recently met up with Todd Graves (Founder, CEO, and Fry Cook at Raising Cane's) and East Baton Rouge Parish's Mayor-President Kip Holden to get a little more information on South Louisiana's Lemonade Day!

Here are the main points that they wanted for me to help get out to my readers:

• Lemonade Day is open to kids of all ages
• Each child needs a Caring Adult that will help guide them through the process
• The Caring Adult can register the child at LemonadeDay.org
• Once you’ve registered online, backpacks will be available beginning this week at all  Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Greater New Orleans Raising Cane’s restaurants, MAPP Construction in Baton Rouge, Junior Achievement in NOLA, the Louisiana Children's Museum in NOLA, and Veteran's Ford in Metarie
• The backpacks include an Entrepreneur Workbook that guides the “Lemonaders” through Setting Goals, Finding Investors, Site Selection, Building a Stand, and Running a Business
• The Lemonaders are encouraged to Save a third, Spend a third, and donate a third to their favorite charity.
• Teacher’s guide and worksheets are available at LemonadeDay.org

If you're interested in learning more, here is a little bit about Lemonade Day:

What is Lemonade Day?

Lemonade Day is a nation-wide event that teaches kids the skills they need to be successful in life. Kids learn to set goals, develop a business plan, establish a budget, seek investors, provide customer service, save for the future, and give back to the community. Lemonade Day is the perfect opportunity for a community to show kids they care and train the next generation of entrepreneurs through a free, fun, engaging, and empowering activity. Last year Lemonade Day impacted more than 50,000 children nationwide. This will be South Louisiana's inaugural year, and we hope to reach as many as 5,000 children in the Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette areas.

How did it start?

Michael Holthouse, a Houston entrepreneur and philanthropist, founded Prepared 4 Life (P4L), a nonprofit that provides fun, proactive, and experiential programs infused with life skill, character education, and entrepreneurship. Inspired by the lessons he was able to teach his young daughter and her friend when they set up a lemonade stand, Holthouse launched Lemonade Day in Houston, Texas in 2007 as a community-wide, educational initiative, which has now become P4L’s number one outreach and educational priority.

When is it?

Lemonade Day will take place on Saturday, May 7th, 2011.

Who can participate?

Youth of all ages, can register to set up an official Lemonade Day stand. Kids must register with a caring adult so there are lots of opportunities for mentors and volunteers. In addition, community support from schools, youth organizations, and local businesses is essential to the success of Lemonade Day.

How does it work?

Once a child is registered they will receive a backpack with an informational workbook that outlines the steps needed to start a business: from setting a goal, creating a business plan, forming a budget, finding an investor, to saving money, and donating a portion back to the community (The children get to choose which charity to which they would like to donate a portion of their proceeds).

How can I get involved?

Everyone is welcome to be involved with Lemonade Day. We need mentors, investors, employees, and custom­ers to support participants! Sponsors and volunteers are also needed to make Lemonade Day a success! All money raised through local donations and sponsorships is used directly to support Lemonade Day in South Louisiana.

@BiteandBooze and @VisitBatonRouge Present #KingCakeBR: Bite Club Round 1

Round 1: #KingCakeBR

For more information about KingCakeBR check out this article from Visit Baton Rouge's Red Stick Blog! 
Also, Check out Erin's review in Deep South Magazine!

Also, here is another video from Scott Rogers and the Around Town Show!

PurpleGold (The Tiger in Me)

While this video isn't directly food or drink related (other than the scene where I eat grass), I still felt like I should share this with all my Bite and Booze friends.  I made this video with Tommy Talley and Freddy Mince from TommysTV as well as Geno and Ian Von with the music.  It also stars John Worrel and MIKE THE TIGER!!  Check it out!!!

Also, just this morning WAFB in Baton Rouge picked it up and aired some of the video on the local news. Thanks to Graham Ulkins for bringing it to the masses! You can see that clip HERE!

Please help us spread the word about this video. A lot of work went into the production of it, and we want all LSU fans to see it!  Oh, and if you want one of those awesome PurpleGold shirts, we got them from Tiger District!

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Grand Opening - Store #94

Last Thursday, on Veteran's Day, I had the privilege of attending the grand opening ceremonies for the 94th Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers restaurant.  The event occurred at 8899 Florida Blvd., marking the 18th Raising Cane's in the Greater Baton Rouge area.  The kickoff event for the restaurant included a Veteran's Day tribute complete with the LSU Pershing Rifles, multiple Cane's crew member Veterans, and country music recording artist David St. Romain, a Veteran himself, singing the National Anthem.

Also in attendance were Raising Cane's Founder, CEO, Fry Cook, and Cashier Todd Graves, Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden, the Broadmoor High School cheerleaders, and the best fast-food mascot around, Raising Cane II!  Raising Cane's also presented a $1,000 check to the American Cancer Society and donated 15% of all proceeds from the day to the American Legion.  I teamed up with TOMMYStv to capture the ribbon cutting and grand opening on video.  Enjoy, and eat some chicken fingers!

Oh, and one more thing.  My friends at Raising Cane's left me with this gift basket to give away to a lucky reader of Bite and Booze!  Just post a comment below telling me how you order at Cane's.  For example, I go for the #1 Box Combo no slaw extra toast, as seen in the above video.  Also, make sure I know how to get in touch with you.  One winner will be chosen at random.  You have until the end of November to enter so I can get this puppy to somebody's home for the Holidays.  What is your One Love?

Interview with DeathValleyVoice.com

While on campus during the LSU vs McNeese State tailgating festivities, I had the pleasure of walking around campus with Van Lathan of DeathValleyVoice.com.  Van and I happened to be doing a little pre-game interview as the Tigers came walking down the hill.  Check it out!  Also, will somebody please teach me how to Dougie?  And thanks to Tommy and Gino for their help with the filming and production.

The Third Row Flagpole on 10.2.10