Local chef and caterer Anne Churchill will sell a variety of prepared foods as the guest chef at the downtown Saturday edition of the Crescent City Farmers Market (www.crescentcityfamersmarket.com) on June 23 and 30. Through her catering business, Karma Kitchen (www.karma-kitchen.com), Churchill has had guest stints providing food at the Bridge Lounge (www.bridgelounge.com), Bacchanal (www.bacchanalfinewines.com) and she also helped Savvy Gourmet (www.savvygourmet.com) ramp up its food service in the months following Hurricane Katrina. At the market, she will have a selection of vegetarian dishes served to go by the pint. This Saturday, look for mushroom patŽ made with local shiitakes, Creole tomato marinara sauce, fresh fettuccini made with farmers market eggs, new potatoes in a massaman curry sauce, corn relish with jalapenos and peach preserves with local honey.
Crescent City Connections
Two chefs who made their names in New Orleans but now live elsewhere are involved in new restaurants with Crescent City connections. Anne Kearney, the chef and owner of Peristyle Restaurant (1041 Dumaine St., 593-9535; www.peristylerestaurant.com) for nine years, and her husband Tom Sand plan to open a bistro in Dayton, Ohio, called Rue Dumaine, a nod to PeristyleÕs French Quarter address. Kearney is a Dayton-area native and she sold her restaurant to chef Tom Wolfe in 2004. Kearney and Sand plan to open their new 90-seat Rue Dumaine in October and while they build it are using as many New Orleans-area businesses as possible, from construction consultants to designers, to maintain their local ties. Meanwhile, Alex Patout is now chef at a newly opened French Quarter-themed eatery in MiamiÕs Coconut Grove area called ChristabelleÕs Quarter (www.christabellesquarter.com). Patout, a native of New Iberia, operated restaurants in the French Quarter and in Mandeville for years and left after Hurricane Katrina. The Miami restaurant serves Cajun- and Creole-style dishes in a three-story, $20 million building that falls somewhere between a Storyville drawing room and DisneyÕs Haunted Mansion.
Grilling a Bit Later
The new owners of the Camellia Grill (626 S. Carrollton Ave., 866-9573) did their best to keep the landmark diner just as its many fans remembered it before a 20-month Katrina-imposed hiatus, but one thing most people noticed right away was the early closing time imposed by limited staffing. After all, late-night indulgences of chili omelets, cheese fries and chocolate freezes were part of the Camellia GrillÕs appeal. CamelliaÕs hours are pushing back a little later. The diner now stays open until 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until midnight Friday-Sunday. ÑMcNulty
