Appetites

2006 Independent Food Festival Awards

This is the second year I've been privileged to participate in the Independent Food Festival Award process. I think my participation is largely due to my great physical beauty, but it might also have something to do with the fact that I've had a foodblog for going on six years now. Longevity means someting on these here internets don't you know.

I'm very pleased this year to award the Spirit of Cooking Award to Janis and Pete Vazquez, late of Marisol fame.

I imagine that most people are tired of hearing stories about New Orleans and aftermath of Katrina. If you're in that number, then by all means skip this post. Because this award is about the spirit of cooking, and the kind of people who didn't let a little thing like a hurricane affect their desire to serve people.

When the hurricane hit, I was in Memphis. It's where I went to college, and a place where I have a lot of friends. In the day or two after the storm, when I was still trying to find out what had happened to my friends and co-workers, I got an email from Janis Vazquez. The email was an attempt by Janis and her husband Pete to try and get some help in feeding the rescue workers and local residents who'd stayed through the storm.

Now maybe I'm just soft. Maybe I cry too easily, but when I read that email, given what was going on in my City at the time, I cried like a baby. Like a baby with colic. You get the drift.

In the weeks and months after the storm, Pete and Janis were unable to reopen their outstanding restaurant, Marisol, for a variety of reasons. They did not let this stop them from cooking. For the last few months, Pete has been cooking at wherever he could find a venue, and his menus have been as eclectic and ambitious as those of us who've eaten at Marisol have come to expect.

Pete Vazquez is the kind of chef that makes me very happy. He has a curiousity about food that mirrors mine, the difference being that he can cook professionally. The menu at Marisol tended to change on a regular basis, and when I say "change," I mean change. One week Chef Pete might be interested in Tapas; the next, he might be serving Thai. And whatever he did, he did with skill, and love, and craft.

Recently Pete and Janis announced that they would not be reopening Marisol, which is a great loss to folks who love to eat in New Orleans. I'm not sure what their future holds, but I certainly hope it involves this City, because we can always use people like Janis and Pete - people who love to cook and love to serve, and who love the people of my town.

For all of those reasons, I hereby award the "Spirit of Cooking" award to Janis and Pete Vazquez.

Posted by Robert at March 8, 2006 09:39 PM