Peter Menge is hoping that the third (or is it the 4th?) time’s the charm. A NOLA native who had moved to New York just in time to be a part of the dot com bust, Peter’s apartment got wiped out in the terrorist attack on 9/11.  Moving back to NOLA, Peter became a restaurant pioneer when he and Aaron Wolfson opened Savvy Gourmet on Magazine Street, the very first of what was to become much later a wave of nouveaux NOLA foodie experiences far from poboys and cheese fries.

Hurricane Katrina took a shot at wiping out the business but it didn’t succeed. Savvy Gourmet became an unofficial community center that helped to bring back the community. It was to be the economic depression of 2008 that finally wiped out the Magazine Street establishment. But now Peter’s back with a whole new energy and new idea: THRIVE. Thrive doesn’t make health food it makes healthier food, from its home at the Laurel Street Bakery.

In a quest for Food Justice (aka Anti-Hunger, as opposed of course to pro hunger) Jeanne Firth escaped from the Kansas prairie to London, India, and finally New Orleans where she has been a part of founding Grow Dat, a farm in City Park that turns out 40,000 pounds of fresh organic produce a year! If you’ve eaten at a New Orleans restaurant in the past year there’s a chance you’ve unwittingly already eaten the fruits of Jeanne’s labors. Now the farm is growing and opening a market we can all go to and buy City Park greens.

Karine Leguinio wanted to move from France to experience American culture, and ended up in New Orleans! Is that ironic? Or is this a misuse of the word irony? Apparently even Alanis Morrissette doesn’t know the difference. As a part of Karine’s Americanization she not only teaches at a French-speaking-only school in New Orleans, now she’s formed a band to sing French pop songs from the 60’s! Les Autres played their first ever gig at a party, and their second is their appearance on Happy Hour! Along with seasoned musicians Mike Kaufman and Vince Avila you’d never know they’re just starting out. Remember vous heard it here first.

Andrew Duhon is back from his troubadour travels with his customary witticisms and wry observations and a song about the brighter side of disaster from his first record.