New Orleans restaurant podcast

Midnight Menu +1

Hosted ByRay Cannata & Margo Moss

Ray Cannata has eaten at over 750 New Orleans restaurants, so he knows a thing or two about hanging out. Margo Moss has turned Ted's Frostop from a greasy spoon into a considerably less greasy but not quite silver spoon. When the sun goes down on The NOLA Brewing Tap Room in the Irish Channel, Ray and Margo entertain members of New Orleans restaurant community. Their guests bring along a friend, a +1. Anything can happen.

Handful of Sand – Midnight Menu +1 – It’s New Orleans

November 18, 2014 Midnight Menu +1 Comments Off on Handful of Sand – Midnight Menu +1 – It’s New Orleans

Mike Yusko came to New Orleans the same way many have before him: “I met a girl from Hammond.” Yanked out of the cosmopolitan world of tending Bohemian bar in downtown Los Angeles, Mike found himself pioneering the cosmopolitan world of Bohemian Freret Street at newly opened Cure.

mike yusko

Creating drinks named after movies and Czech novels, like The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Mike didn’t start writing moody novels in his off hours, but he did start making movies. Like the festival favorite, I’m Gonna Punch Sam Mackey In The Face.

One of the stars of Mike’s movies is the urbane import from the hinter farmlands, John Cleese lookalike, Wayne Corbett.

mike yusko, wayne corbett

Wayne showed up in town with nothing to do a few years ago and with no real kitchen experience landed a job at the newly opening Bouligny Tavern, making dishes like gnocchi which he had never heard of and couldn’t pronounce. 

mike yusko, wayne corbett, margo moss, ray cannata

Everything went great for a few years till Wayne realized that people’s appetites were never satisfied and there would be no end to cooking. Not being able to stand the thought of lifelong job security, Wayne teamed up with his pal and movie director, Mike. Mike at this stage had the lease on an ex-brothel and was opening what is becoming New Orleans’ hippest bar, The Cellar Door.

mike yusko,wayne corbett, margo moss, ray cannata

If you’re wondering, given this rambling tale of what could be a classic Southern buddy movie, why this story would be called “Handful of Sand,” well, that would be a total spoiler. All you need to know going in is all the best martial arts advice comes from your grandma, and three socks in a rock is a mistake. Keep those two facts in mind as you listen to what might be the absolute best episode of Midnight Menu +1 in the show’s history.