Margo was on a hot streak at the dog track and couldn’t make it this week, so Ray is flying solo. But don’t worry, Chef Ryan Haigler of Grand Isle restuarant is never short on conversation.    Ryan is now the head Chef at Grand Isle, but this isn’t his first high profile gig. Ryan has cooked…

Kirk Coco’s inspiration for opening NOLA Brewing is inextricably entwined with the US Navy, Hurricane Katrina, Dixie Beer, and the clap. In a city of colorful characters, Kirk Coco is a colorful character. A wonderful combination of impetuousness, frank honesty, and business acumen, Kirk’s venture into brewing is from his telling something akin to a…

Nina Camacho and Marc Quiroz have known each other before they were born. Their fathers were college room mates and had kids within a month of each other. Those kids, Nina and Marc, have stayed friends ever since. Today, after a circuitous route that has taken them individually across the country, they are both back…

Roy Nelson was the Willy Wonka of New Orleans, growing up in a chocolate factory. His family owns Elmer’s, the country’s last remaining family-owned and operated chocolate factory. What do you after chocolate when you want to go out on your own and start up your own business? In Roy’s case he went straight for the…

Like many New Orleans kids, Colin Provensal was hanging out in bars way too young. In Colin’s case, 7. And he was playing piano. By 13 he had a regular Saturday night piano gig in a restaurant on the Orleans-Jefferson parish line at the beginning of Veterans Boulevard. At 14 he was working in his…