| BY ANNETTE SISCO Staff writer |
Welcome back, New Orleans food fans! This week, Ian McNulty visits Tartine Uptown to get the backstory on a king cake that has transformed the small family bakery. See the latest on new restaurants opening in New Orleans in 2025. With live music and burgers from next door, Mid-City's Banks Street bar is reborn. "Rhythm Kitchen" explores the exhilarating partnership between New Orleans food and music. Check out Ian's top king cakes from 2024. Finally, Jan Risher shares a recipe for meatballs and red gravy from a Sicilian-French "Nana" who, at 97, is "sharp as a tack." 1. King cake, baby. A hit king cake has brought big changes to Tartine, a small family bakery that started off one year making seven king cakes — and last year turned out 7,000. 2. New and notable? It’s time for a look ahead to a harvest of new restaurants taking shape around town, including the transformation of longtime restaurants, new projects from big names, neighborhood spots, expansions and debuts. Ian runs down what's coming. 3. Wait, there's more! Banks Street Bar is reopening with new owners and a food program that relies on its neighbors. With New Orleans' food and music renowned the world over, "Rhythm Kitchen" explores how the two enhance each other. And Ian McNulty looks back on the king cakes he loved best in 2024. 4. It's all gravy. DeEtte Montalbano wrote last week to share her 97-year-old mother's meatball recipe. "We put them in our gravy. It's a red sauce, but in Sicily, we call that gravy," said her husband, Mike Montalbano. "It's a labor of love." Jan Risher tried, and loved, the Montalbanos' recipes for meatballs and gravy. That's it for the newsletter, but in New Orleans, the food news never stops. Get the inside info every day at Where NOLA Eats. P.S.: Want to support local journalism that matters? Subscribe here. It's our best deal! | 