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At Tales of the Cocktail, A-List Chefs Gave Food the Spotlight

From Kasama and Tacos 1986 to Emeril’s, Acamaya and Saffron, New Orleans turned the bar industry’s biggest week into a chef-driven feast.

This year’s Tales of the Cocktail conference in New Orleans was a boozy wonderland that also felt like a world-class food festival.

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At Absolut Tabasco’s Château Turkey and the Wolf, Tim Flores and Genie Kwon’s Kasama showcased its distinctly Chicago-Filipino point of view by serving Italian beef lumpia with sweet chili giardiniera. Kasama (which became the world’s first Michelin-starred Filipino restaurant in 2022) was part of a lively indoor-outdoor bash that also featured Stockholm’s Tjoget pouring cocktails like the Spicy Peaches, with olive oil-washed Absolut Tabasco, sherry, peach liqueur, apple and lime juice, last Monday. A couple of days later, Mei Lin was in the Château Turkey and the Wolf trailer, wearing a Chain/Arby’s 13 Hr Drip Fit as she built tom yum fried soft-shell crab baos. Turkey and the Wolf chef-proprietor Mason Hereford made sure there was an ample amount of his famous fried bologna sandwiches and chicken pot pie empanadas at this three-day pop-up.

Château Turkey and the Wolf, which also featured drinks from New York’s Bar Snack (named Best U.S. Cocktail Bar at Thursday’s Spirited Awards) and food from New York’s Dame and chef Nini Nguyen, was one of many New Orleans gatherings that amped up the idea of drinking food last week.

With changing consumer habits and health consciousness contributing to a decline in alcohol sales, many liquor brands hope to grow their business by working closely with prominent chefs and restaurants. And New Orleans, which hosted the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants announcement in May and for the Bocuse d’Or cooking competition this past Sunday, is an ideal destination for these collaborations. 

So last Wednesday at two-Michelin-starred Emeril’s, chef E.J. Lagasse cooked alongside Pujol chef Enrique Olvera and Californios chef Val Cantú at a Tales of the Cocktail dinner that featured José Cuervo Reserva de la Familia cocktail pairings from Handshake Speakeasy. Last month, Californios........

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