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An annual favorite for its diverse local food marketplace as much as its music lineup, the free French Quarter Fest is gradually rolling out culinary options for 2023. Among the first-time vendors for the weekend of April 13 through April 16 are top local names: 9 Roses, Acropolis, Bao Mi, Baroness, Heard Dat Kitchen, Larry Morrow’s restaurant and bar Monday, NOLA Crawfish King, and Pacos Tacos. Stay tuned for a full lineup and Eater NOLA’s guide to grubbing at French Quarter Fest.
Back That Azz Up with Juvenile and Urban South’s new hard iced tea lemonade
Hometown hero and beloved late ’90s rapper Juvenile, also known as Terius Gray, has teamed up with prolific New Orleans brewery Urban South on a hard half-lemonade and half-iced tea beverage, just in time for spring. Called Juvie Juice, it’s inspired by Gray’s favorite drink, an Arnold Palmer, and marks the popular brewery’s first foray into hard iced tea. Juvie Juice is 5 percent ABV, offered in 12-ounce and 19.2-ounce cans, and is available now to order online or to pick up at Urban South’s Tchoupitoulas Street taproom.
Longtime Mediterranean favorite returns to the French Quarter
The French Quarter location of late-night favorite Cleo’s Mediterranean Cuisine, which first debuted in 2019, has reopened after nearly three years of a pandemic-related shutter, reports the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. The elegant, sit-down version of the Canal Street grab-and-go store is located at 117 Decatur Street in the former location of Cafe Giovanni, which closed in 2017 after 26 years at the address. A revamped Halal menu geared towards a French Quarter crowd is currently available Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; it will be open Tuesdays as well beginning next week.
Particularly hard vegetables banned at this year’s St. Patrick’s Parade
Every New Orleanian knows what it’s like to get pegged in the face with a bag of beads during Mardi Gras parades when over-zealous — or simply over it — float riders opt for the overhand vs. underhand throw. Apparently, that’s also been a problem at the annual Metairie Road St. Patrick’s Day parade, with far more dangerous throws including potatoes, lemons, and limes. No need to worry about your noggin at the March 26 parade this year, as leadership has decided to ban those especially hard vegetables as throws in 2023 for the first time in its 51-year history, reports WWL.
Louisiana overrides New Orleans to grant Folger's millions in tax breaks
Despite six tax exemption requests denied by the New Orleans City Council, the Orleans Parish School Board, and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, a state regulatory board this week approved a number of tax breaks for Folger’s Coffee Co., preventing the city from receiving more than $5 million in property taxes on its New Orleans roasteries. The company first applied for up to $25 million in tax breaks in 2020 through the Industrial Tax Exemption Program, or ITEP, a Louisiana initiative that exempts businesses from paying “as much as 80 percent of the property taxes they’d pay on developments or other investments.” While the most costly exemptions denied by the City Council were upheld by the Board, it remains to be seen exactly how much money Folgers will pocket in tax write-offs and how much the city will end up collecting in property taxes. The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate has the full story here.
