Navy Week Bringing Sailors, Cocktails and a Cookoff

Stop everything, right now. Navy Week starts today. That's right, Navy Week! With tall ships! And regular-sized ships! And Blue Angels! And apparently 3,000 seamen and seawomen. It's going to be awesome. There's also a pair of food events, one tomorrow night and the other Friday, associated with the naval hoopla.

Navy Week is part of a three year-long commemoration of the War of 1812. The tall ships start coming in today, and they're available for free tours pretty much all day every day this week starting tomorrow. Because of the weather, the opening fireworks display has been pushed back to tomorrow night. The Westin at Canal Place is hosting a cocktail party to view the fireworks. Insert obligatory drunken sailor joke here.

Then, on Friday, Woldenburg Park will be home to the only food event actually ties to Navy Week, the Great Louisiana Seafood Cookoff. 11 chefs, like VInny Russo from the Ritz, Diana Chauvin from La Thai and Gus Martin from Muriel's are each paired with the chef from one of the ships, competing against each other in a cookoff emceed by John Besh and John Folse and judged by radio personality Poppy Tooker and the Head Chef from Rouses Supermarkets, Jack Trueting. That's Friday at Woldernburg Park, kicking off with pomp and circumstance at 1:30 PM.

· NOLA Navy Week [Official Site]
· Navy Week Kick-Off Cocktail Party [Facebook]
· Navy Week to Bring Tall Ships, Military Vessels & 3,000 Sailors to Town This Week [WWL]