… I love it more. There’s just no place like that place.

Worked on the restoration of Willie Mae’s Scotch House — the landmark restaurant in Mid-City — not far from Dookie Chase’s. It’s really coming together, thanks to the diligence of John Currence from Oxfords’ City Grocery, and a whole bunch of volunteers coordinated by the Southern Foodways Alliance, and many New Orleaneans who read about it in the Times-Pic and just showed up.

I painted, caulked, mopped, swept and retailed, buying supplies for Miss Willie Mae’s home, which is on one side of this shotgun duplex. The coolest thing that happened this weekend: we went to a furniture store (Doerr’s on Elysian Fields) to buy a mattress and told the owner about the project. He donated the mattress, along with bedding and pillows. Incredibly generous!

My biggest regret this weekend: I forgot my camera, so no food pics. And there was certainly some gorgeous food on my plate, especially at Restaurant August where a bunch of us passed plates around, so got a taste of a lot of spectacular dishes: housemade gnocchi with truffles, a ravioli with wrapped around an egg yolk and finished with a wild mushroom sauce, a beautiful salad with crab and black-eyed pea “croutons”, redfish topped with caviar and sitting in the richest cream sauce, a filet served with this potato preparation that looked with a bone with marrow, oysters fried three ways, a spread of desserts that strained the waist of my skirt! Mercy!!

Also ate the best oysters on the half shell at Pascal’s Manale and shrimp po-boys and gumbo on the work site. (Thanks again to August, and chef John Besh…) Not to mention the killer brownies from La Spiga and fabulous pig at Couchon!

The city is filling up with visitors… please get down there soon and eat! The next time I go, I’m looking forward to some of that famous fried chicken at Willie Mae’s.