Executive chef at the Caribbean Room, as well as chef at the popular Kabby's restaurant, the late Chef Louis Evans established a reputation as one of the most creative and skilled Creole chefs in the nation. The first black chef in history to be admitted to the exclusive Order of the Golden Toque, Evans utilized his unique talent and distinct blending of flavors to create some of New Orleans' finest Creole dishes. In his new forward, Chef Rhinehart, silver medalist of the 2000 Baton Rouge Culinary Classic and outstanding contributor to the 2001 Acadiana Culinary Classic, enthusiastically praises Evans' ability to teach kitchen secrets to both trained chefs and home cooks.

Strung together like a handful of Mardi Gras beads thrown from a passing float, Labordeis tales reveal the bright and beautiful as well as the dim and gaudy sides of the city. Southern Living.Offering innovative insights into such New Orleans mainstays as Carnival, Sports, and The Quarter, Laborde provides a look at aspects of Crescent City living usually reserved for residents. These essays include an Orleanian ode entitled, In Praise of the Potato Poor Boy and several explorations and explanations of Mr. Bingle, the only symbol of Christmas that is unique to New Orleans. These eighty-one vignettes originally appeared in Labordeis Streetcar column, which currently runs in New Orleans Magazine, a publication that the author also edits.