FOOD & DINING

The latest reviews and listings from New Orleans and South Louisiana

"Hungry? Full, but...Never Satisfied!" by the Women's Ministry at Christian Life Center, Kenner. Cost is $20 plus $5 shipping by check or money order (made out to Christian Life Center) to: Christian Life Center, Attn: Lorraine Brown, 1000 Roosevelt Blvd., Kenner, LA 70062.

This fundraising effort of the Women's Ministry will be used for community needs, Christmas giving, missionary work, etc., says spokesperson Elaine Weixel of the Women's Ministry. The group "thought this would be a good fund-raiser since so many of us lost cherished recipes and cookbooks to Katrina," she writes.

These are some of my favorite recipes from this year's Tales of the Cocktail..

Tony Abou-Ganim said batidas are wonderful made with any fresh, seasonal fruit. Although the classic cocktail movement has gotten away from blender drinks, this is one that needs to be buzzed with ice.

To make your own batida: cachaca, fresh fruit, a dairy ingredient and ice.

So many seminars, so little time. So many sips, so little capacity.

Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.comCocktails are poured Thursday, July 17, 2008 during "Cocktail Hour," Tales of the Cocktail's grand tasting event. | More photos

Those were the problems covering Tales of the Cocktail, where more than 75 events meant tough choices had to be made. In the end, I changed my strategy from last year, and got more out of the seminars by staying put instead of flitting from one to the other. I also visited tasting rooms and went to parties, where locals turned out in force. I kept up with other events by reading www.talesblog.com, where more than 30 cocktail bloggers compiled their impressions.

The most hilarious seminar I saw was Saturday morning's "Potions of the Caribbean: Lost Cocktails from the Post-War Playground." Marleigh Riggins, who writes the blog SLOSHED, wrote that the seminar had "the single best PowerPoint presentation I've ever seen and we learned about the rather dubious ways that sailors acquired rum on the high seas (it involves pickled dead monkeys); the very storied role that Cuba played not only in classic but in tiki cocktails; the flavor profiles native to various Caribbean Islands; and tasted four great drinks."

KENNER, LA. - Executive Chef Christopher Cody of Pellicano Ristorante, the new fine dining establishment specializing in contemporary American cuisine located in Kenner, is pleased to present his new summer menu. Pellicano, which specializes in contemporary global fusion cuisine, is open for dinner Tuesday thru Sunday from 5 until 10 p.m.

My girls and I put flowers in our hair and headed to Fulton Street to the Tiki Block Party Saturday night. We arrived a little bit after the six p.m. start time and stood around with a long line of other party-goers, many of them locals, at the entrance of a big white tent. The tent flaps folded back around 6:15 or 6:20.

The Tiki Tones played mellow music and a local entertainer did her Polynesian-esque fire dance. Food stations from La Thai and Besh Steakhouse, to name just two local restaurants, served up goodies.

Kathy Anderson / The Times-PicayuneThe Museum of the American Cocktail will open Monday, July 21, with the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.

The Museum of the American Cocktail, reopening Monday for the first time since the storm, got its start as an aggressive housecleaning experiment.

"My wife thought this would be a great way to get all my junk out of the house. No lie," said Dale DeGroff, president of the museum and one of the most influential bartenders of our time. When DeGroff introduced the cocktail menu at New York's Rainbow Room in the late 1980s, the man basically jump-started modern mixology.

DeGroff's housecleaning is our gain. The Museum of the American Cocktail officially reopens Monday at 10:30 a.m. in a clubby gallery inside the new Southern Food and Beverage Museum at Riverwalk Marketplace, just inside the Julia Street entrance.

"We really are excited, and I think it's a very rich, deep exhibit," said SoFAB president Liz Williams. "People will very much enjoy it."

Friday night at the House of Blues Parish Room, members of the United States Bartender's Guild competed to make the best Bloody Mary by vote of the crowd.

Winning the most attention was the Chicago contingent. One of the bartenders told me, "We tried to think of something that really was Chicago."

So they infused vodka with real Chicago red hots -- as in hot dogs.(Could I make this up?)

A spoonful of that flourescent green hot dog relish went into the bottom of the cup, and the drink was garnished with a small pig-in-a-blanket on a skewer. (The pile of little pigs dwindled as people snitched them to snack on.)l

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Keith I. Marszalek / NOLA.comTimes-Picayune Food Editor Judy Walker blogs live from "Cocktail Hour" Thursday, July 17, 2008 at the Monteleon Hotel in New Orleans.

For more galleries from Tales of the Cocktail, check out NOLA.com's entertainment galleries.

Some of the hardest-working people at Tales of the Cocktail are 18 young people who were chosen to participate as bartender apprentices during the festival. Founder Ann Tunnerman said each was selected based on their cocktail and culinary background and knowledge.

The first time I stepped into an elevator on the first day of the event at the Hotel Monteleon, three bartenders from Brooklyn's Jack the Horse Tavern were on there, too. One was Maxwell Britten, wearing the long apron the apprentices worked in.

At an event later that day, I saw Britten in action. He was giving the vigorous shake to two different cocktails at the same time.