On this week’s Louisiana Eats!, we set out to discover hot spots both literally and figuratively in our backyard.

We begin at Pêche Seafood Grill, where Chef Ryan Prewitt has been replicating live fire techniques he learned on a trip to Uruguay. Ryan explains how this new process has changed his entire perspective on cooking, and we get close to the flames as he shows us his kitchen’s open hearth.

If this is beyond your reach as a home cook, you’ll want to stick around for Brian Landry’s advice about cold smoking fish in your oven. Or if you’d prefer to go out, Chris Jay gives us the scoop on Marilynn’s Place, a popular casual dining restaurant in Shreveport, where you never know when a party will spontaneously break out.

Then, Poppy joins the authors of the French Quarter Drinking Companion for a rain-soaked tour of classy drinking establishments and debauched holes-in-the-wall in the Vieux Carré.

We’re lighting the fire and cooling off, on this week’s Louisiana Eats!