A new weekly farmers' market is coming to Mid-City, taking over the same space where one of the Crescent City Farmers' Markets operated before Katrina. The new Mid-City Green Market is set to debut on Thursday, April 17, in the parking lot of the American Can Apartments (3700 Orleans Ave.). It will be held each Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Jon Smith , proprietor of the wine shop Cork & Bottle Fine Wines , formed the new market with the assistance of managers at the Crescent City Farmers Market. The initial lineup of participating vendors includes some mainstays of the Crescent City Farmers Market and veterans of its previous Mid-City incarnation. Smith has formed a nonprofit organization for the Mid-City Green Market and is recruiting volunteers interested in helping run the event. For more information, visit www.cbwines.com/market.
Party for the Produce
In other market news, a fundraiser is coming up for the Crescent City Farmers' Market . The International Association of Culinary Professionals will hold its annual conference in New Orleans this month, and on April 19 the group will throw a party called Gumbo Giveback, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit that produces the weekly Uptown and downtown markets and mentors other market producers. There will be live music, drinks and food prepared by local chefs, including Paul Prudhomme of K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen , Darin Nesbit of Palace Café , and Donald Link of Herbsaint and Cochon . The event is from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the downtown location of the farmers market, 700 Magazine St., and the cost is $95 per person. For tickets, go to www.iacp.com and click the link for Gumbo Giveback, or call (800) 928-4227.
Gautreau's Chef Named to National Top 10
It's common for first-time visitors to Gautreau's Restaurant (1728 Soniat St., 899-7397; www.gautreausrestaurant.com) to feel as though they've discovered a hidden gem of the local fine-dining scene, sequestered as it is along a quiet, leafy Uptown side street. Gautreau's and the work of its chef Sue Zemanick , however, is evidently well known to the editors of Food & Wine magazine, which selected her as one of its 10 best new chefs in the nation. Zemanick's predecessor at Gautreau's, Mat Wolf , was named to the same high-profile top 10 list in 2004. Chef Ian Schnoebelen of Iris received the honor in 2007.
