Brunch at Dat Dog; Whole-Animal Butchering Returns

FRERET STREET—Bagels and hot dogs will be forming an innovative (and terrifying) food alliance next Saturday, Dec. 14, when Laura Sugerman of the eponymous Sugerman's Bagels in the Bywater will be serving a special pop-up brunch from 10 am to 1 pm at the Freret St. Dat Dog. The menu (which currently includes ZOMG Meyer lemon ricotta pancakes) is limited and subject to change, and tickets, though purchasable online, are $17 at the door. [Eaterwire]

FRERET STREET—The Freret Street market has become nocturnal. According to the Uptown Messenger, the first-ever Freret "Night Market" will run today from 5 to 9 pm in Publiq House parking lot. Expect the usual array of craft and food vendors to have a holiday season twist. [Uptown Messenger]

BYWATER—The Joint, everyone's favorite Bywater barbecue restaurant, will be raffling off a Big Green Egg smoker until Dec. 24. Tickets are $20 (no more than 250 will be sold), and the proceeds from the raffle will help offset the medical expenses of longtime Joint employee Brian Rollins, who was recently diagnosed with cancer on his 40th birthday. The good news? After two surgeries (and with a third upcoming), Rollins's prognosis for recovery is, according to Joint co-owner Jenny Breen, "excellent." [NOLA.com]

UPTOWN—Gambit's Scott Gold recently had a tripartite conversation with Cleaver & Co. butcher/purveyor Seth Hamstead about the role he's played in bringing back whole-animal butchering to New Orleans, including educating the public, as he makes sure to explain to timid meat shoppers about the various cuts they can purchase: "A lot of it's been about customer education, because people walk in and expect to see pre-cut steaks, but then they see this huge list on the wall and they haven't heard of three-quarters of it. So we have to take them through all of the different cuts and the characteristics of each, since there's so much more to a cow than rib-eyes, strip steaks and ground beef. It's been nice to steer people to new cuts of meat, too, and there's been a really nice response to the quality of the meat itself." [Gambit]

Outside Dat Dog. [Photo: Nikki Mayeux]