Musicians Reveal Their Favorite Jazz Fest Eats: Part II

Robin Barnes [Photo: Pop Media]

We're in the thick of Jazz Fest 2013, Part Deux, which means your ears are probably ringing a little bit and your stomach is filled almost to bursting, "almost" being the operative word here. You still have plenty of room for more delicious festival food, but don't let us try to convince you. After all, who are we but strangers on the Internet? We could be highly intelligent cats or marmosets, and you'd never know. It'd be much better if you listened to the sage, time-honored advice of Jazz Fest vets like Ivan Neville and Tom Drummond from Better Than Ezra, since they know where to find all the good eats and they're not going to trick you into eating out of a garbage can like a mischievous Internet-writing marmoset would.

• Terrence Blanchard, jazz trumpeter, band leader, composer, and Jazz Fest food aficionado, describes the maze of deliciousness he wanders through during the festival:

  If I get to the Fest early I've gotta take a trip over to Ms. Linda's and get some Ya-Ka-Mein for breakfast. Then a bit later I usually find myself with a nice piece of crawfish bread or a cochon de lait in hand and I've gotta wash it down with one of those big strawberry lemonades. I'll usually grab a Crawfish Monica to dig into on my way out. Usually have to hit the gym a bit harder once Jazz Fest has past, ha!

  Hear that, festival-goers? The gym is waiting to mete out your comeuppance.

• The members of Better Than Ezra, who last weekend re-released their 1998 album How Does Your Garden Grow, are no strangers to the festival's many delicacies, and bassist Tom Drummond was quick to share his favorite post-show snack: "Hands down it would have to be the Cochon de lait. After we finished our set at Jazz Fest, that is the first place I went to. The Crawfish Beignets are also a favorite."
• Robin Barnes is a featured singer at the Polo Lounge and Carousel Lounge, has a new EP coming out later this year, and performed last Saturday at Congo Square. In other words, she's busy, but not so busy that she couldn't enjoy her Jazz Fest staples: a mango freeze, a crawfish sack, oyster patties, and a crawfish beignet.
• Ivan Neville "absolutely" must have crawfish, both sacked and beigneted. Of course, his "go-to" sandwich is the cochon de lait, which, in his humble opinion, is "way good," especially when it's washed down with a few refreshing gulps of lemonade. That usually tides him over until one of the many crawfish boils he attends during festival time.
  

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