NELLCO Meet and Greet in New Orleans

At the Ambassador Hotel, about 4 blocks from the Convention Center or the Hilton Riverside Hotel, NELLCO members gathered for the now annual Meet and Greet. Tracy Thompson saw Chef Emile Stieffel winner of the Throwdown with Bobby Flay Jambalaya Jam as featured on Food Network. Tracy saw this event, and had the good sense and gumption to find Chef Stieffel’s website link ) and call him up. She says they spoke for an hour! Chef Emile is quite a character, as well as a great cook. He and his staff cooked up a wonderful taste of New Orleans: the award-winning Jambalaya (of course!), alligator sausage, 3 kinds of shrimp, fruit and veggies, and for the vegetarians (who have been starving in New Orleans), a pasta primavera. In handsome New Orleans style, he threw in some langniappe, or a little something extra: Crawfish Etouffe, and bread pudding. We also had a choice of sodas, or locally brewed Abita beer, or Hurricanes (a fruit and rum drink). Some great party, Tracy!