Podcast #45: Whole Hog at The Pit with Ed Mitchell

The Pit Authentic Barbecue
328 W. Davie Street, Raleigh NC
(919) 890-4500

Web Site: http://thepit-raleigh.com

Click Here to Listen to the Ed Mitchell Whole Hog Podcast

Click Here to see a short video clip of the Whole Hog BBQ Smoking Process

Related Post: VarmintBites — The Pit Is Great, and They’re Open for Lunch!

Related Multimedia: Ed Mitchell A/V Presentation at Raleigh News and Observer

Click Here for a Hi-Res Slide Show of The Pit Restaurant in Raleigh, NC

New Orleans Dining: Cochon

Click Here for Hi-Res Slideshow!

Cochon
930 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA
(504) 588-2123

Web Site: http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/

One of the restaurants in New Orleans I most wanted to dine at was COCHON, a new, Post-Katrina casual fine dining restaurant that was opened by Donald Link, of Herbsaint fame and 2007 James Beard Award Winner for Best Chef, South (click for previous OTB podcast) who I interviewed during my previous New Orleans trip back in April of 2006. At the time, the finishing touches of COCHON had just been done, and the restaurant was preparing to open only days after I returned home. Now, over a year later, COCHON has become one of New Orleans’ top restaurants, and was nominated as “Best New Restaurant” in the 2007 James Beard Awards.

Best described as “Modern Cajun” COCHON incorporates many elements of traditional Cajun cuisine combined with twists from Europe and Asia. Although the food and the restaurant would easily find itself in New York’s hip SoHo and Greenwich Village or among the top fine dining establishments in Midtown Manhattan, it is most definitely a New Orleans restaurant and one of the city’s finest examples at that.

Exterior, Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans

Entrance View

Dining Room

Table Closeup

Is COCHON Hillbilly or Haute? I think it’s a bit of both. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.