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You know what food critics are like. You've seen "Ratatouille." We're always sharpening our pens, ready to pounce on some poor restaurant that failed to meet our lofty standards. Actually, we're just the opposite. We hunger to find great food and celebrate it. In recent weeks, Ann Maloney and I travel around the greater New Orleans area searching for the best take-out fried chicken. (At the same time, Brett Anderson was on the prowl for the best fried chicken at table-service restaurants.) Every time I walked into a corner store or a gas station with a kitchen in the back, I wanted to discover an off-the-radar gem with a great story. I wanted to be the champion of an amazing place that almost no one knows about. Sure, we ate some bad chicken, but also Ann and I found 11 that were excellent. And, yet, I haven't given up hope that the greatest fried chicken in New Orleans has yet to be discovered. If I find it, I'll be sure to tell everyone.
-- Todd A. Price

http://www.nola.com/dining/index.ssf/2018/04/leonardos_trattoria_and_pizzer.html

A Sicilian in Mandeville

Imagine you're a chef from a tiny town on the island of Sicily and you decide to move to Mandeville to be near your wife's home and family. Soon, you discover you're far from home, but not far from your compaesano. Leonardo Giarraputo, owner of Leonardo's Trattoria & Pizzeria, is delighted to have landed in a hot-bed of Sicilian immigrants and their descendants in South Louisiana, as he dishes out authentic Italian food.no,

Other good reads:

If you've been missing Lakeview Harbor's big burgers, take heart. The restaurant will re-open at 8550 Pontchartrain Blvd., just a couple of blocks from its original site.
April 12 is National Grilled Cheese Day. You'd think nutrition columnist Molly Kimball would warn us off, but instead she offers tweaks for a healthier hot sandwich.
The Caribbean Room may be gone again, but the space has a new face and a new attitude in Jack Rose, a new bar and restaurant that aims to make fun a priority.
Serigne Mbaye, a line cook at Commander's Palace, shares his recipe for sombi, a rice pudding he made as a child growing up in Senegal in a piece on SouthernFoodways.org.

"The Where NOLA Eats Facebook group says..."

Shell out a little more for Kerrygold butter. The Irish butter is worth it. ExtraCrispy.com tasted more than a dozen "fancy" butters and rated them, noting: "If none of the other butters on this list are in your price range or in your supermarket, know that you can pick up Kerrygold and still have some of the tastiest butter ever made." The Where NOLA Eats Facebook group agreed. Other butters got nods, but these folks love Kerrygold. Do you agree? One member noted: "I went to a butter tasting and the director of the Cork Butter Museum was there. He explained Kerrygold tastes a little differently through the year, because of what the cows eat."

What to cook now

The French Quarter Festival runs Thursday (April 12) through Sunday, featuring New Orleans music as well as delicious food options, many from restaurants in the city's oldest neighborhood. Here are three dishes you can make at home or taste at the fest.

Our favorite food pics

We took it

Fried chicken at the Come Back Inn in Metairie made dining critic Brett Anderson's list of New Orleans best chicken. -- Chris Granger

You took it

@jordanexplores.eats won this week's #nolafoodgramOTW contest with mudbugs at Urban South Brewery. Tag your pics to enter.

We took it

Red homey soup at Taqueria Chilango in Kenner. -- Chris Granger

You took it

Cauliflower hummus from Lebanon's Cafe on Carrollton Avenue -- @sydsinspiration

If you love food and want to keep the conversation going, join us and your fellow readers in the Where NOLA Eats Facebook group. We're always chatting.

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See what's happening around New Orleans this weekend on our event calendar.