Serena Williams Held Her Rehearsal Dinner at Emeril Lagasse’s Meril Restaurant

POP CULTURE — Mega-watt tennis star Serena Williams and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian held their rehearsal dinner at Emeril Lagasse’s Meril on Wednesday night. Lagasse himself was on hand and a beignet truck delivered the fried dough fritters to the guests earlier in the night. Guests included Eva Longoria, Venus Williams, Beyonce and Jay-Z, and Meghan Markle. The wedding was held on Thursday at the Contemporary Arts Center. [VANITY FAIR]

FOOD TV -- Cody and Samantha Carroll, chefs and owners of Sac-A-Lait restaurant in New Orleans and Hot Tails in New Roads, are about to show the world their Cajun cooking skills in their new TV show, Cajun Aces. In it, they turn typical Louisiana ingredients like mirliton and crawfish into dishes for their restaurants while exploring Louisiana culture. [NOLA.COM]

EATER IDK — Paris now has its first nudist restaurant. Napkins are available for those who feel shy. [EATER]

AWARDS SEASON — Garden & Gun awarded homegrown Cocktail & Sons’ fassionola syrup the 2017 Made in the South Award in the drink category. Cocktail wunderkind Max J. Messier and Lauren Myerscough revived the lost tiki syrup after fruitlessly searching for recipes and finally re-engineering the syrup. Notably, the tropical tiki syrup was part of the original hurricane. [GARDEN & GUN]

EVENTWIRE — Press Street Gardens and Maypop Community Herb Shop are partnering for a fire cider brewing this Saturday and harvesting on December 16. (Fire cider is an age-old remedy for winter health.) In the first part of this class this Saturday from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, the group will talk about each of the ingredients and their uses as they chop. Attendees are invited to bring any fresh herbs or spices they have in your garden- such as rosemary, thyme, turmeric, ginger, onion, horseradish, and any citrus. In the second part on December 16 at 1:00 pm, they will squeeze the brew and talk about its uses. More information here. [press release]

LAKEVIEW — District Donuts in Lakeview won’t be adding the two beer taps it requested. Councilperson Susan Guidry, who initially supported the request, ended up siding with the neighbors (concerned about noise and parking) and deferring the request, effectively allowing it to expire. [NOLA.COM]

NEWS — Google will soon roll out restaurant wait times. The feature will be available when users search for a restaurant. Eventually, it will be added to maps as well. [E]

NEWS — The father of ballpark nachos, a standardized version of nachos he started serving in 1976, has died in Texas. The liquid nacho cheese will likely live forever. [E]