Bring on the Weekend! For those new here: this is The Skinny, a free weekly newsletter designed to entertain and save you time—everyone’s most valued resource—by serving up our signature, curated lifestyle news.

Today’s The Skinny should take 3 minutes to breeze through, and is crafted to help enhance the week’s end with ideas and inspiration.

What we’re covering: 

• Big Easy, stretchy waistbands: The Skinny guide into the soul of New Orleans food (plus, a tribute to the unique flair of the Jazz Fest Dads) 

• A hot deal on some magical, 100% fresh mixers to cool you down

• Pantry raid, starring the best jarred tomatoes you’ll ever eat 

• Tipping our hat to Derby Day nips, noshes & fits

• Plus: Cheese (and coffee) raves, 6 tips for your summer slim down, the secret code of Costco price tags & Birkenstock x Staud

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Big Easy Eatin’

A definitive guide to New Orleans eateries

The Skinny: They say you don’t eat in New Orleans, you surrender! Jill has done this for exactly one week today (obviously for research purposes), and can confirm this place serves feelings along with the finest food.

Rooted in centuries of Creole, Cajun, French, Spanish and West African influences, New Orleans offers a history you can taste. More than just gumbo, muffalettas, beignets, oysters and the insane bread pudding at Arnaud’s, it’s a port city built on spice, soul and letting the good times (along with the delicious bread and butter) roll. We ate our way through the legends and have a little commentary to bookmark for your next visit:

🍸 Arnaud’s — tuxedos, soufflé potatoes, and jazz drifting through your martini. Skinny tip: sit in the bar- a cool, dark sanctuary. 

🦀 GW Fins — Unassuming  seafood joint that would be easy to pass by. Don’t!! Some of the freshest seafood in the city. Pro tip: order the Scallibut. Yep, scallop + halibut!

🥪 Guy’s — the po’boy that might ruin you for all other sandwiches.

🍾 Galatoire’s — for when lunch turns into dinner and everyone celebrates. Skinny tip: go for brunch and order the pork belly sweet roll: a warm caramel soaked miracle of flaky pastry layered with melt in your mouth pork belly. 

🍷 Lillette — 5 hour lunch, 9  wines, the entire menu ordered one by one, zero regrets.

🌺 Alma — vibrant Honduran flavors, served southern style with the best cocktails you’ve ever had. Pro cocktail tip: We ordered the Paid Vacation, blanco tequila, coco lopez, pineapple juice, homemade bitters, and a mint sprig. 

🍳 Atchafalaya — the brunch standard to beat, tucked in a little Creole cottage with live jazz. Self serve bloody mary bar and their own spin on NOLA faves  - fried green tomatoes with butter-poached shrimp and homemade remoulade are a must order! 

🦪 Felix’s — slurp-your-oysters casual, just how we like it. Sit in front of Paul Dinet, the 7-finger shucker who’s been at it since 8 years old. Legend has it that Paul came with the building in [insert year]. Nicole’s pick: chargrilled at the bar. 

🍺 Chart Room — freezing cold beer, dark in the middle of the day, no fuss, and the best people-watching in the Quarter.

🍗 Clancy’s — old-school, off-the-beaten-path Uptown magic. Sit at the bar so you can get in! 

🍝 Venezia — red sauce,  rumored “associates” the most unexpected sizzling steaks, and a side of nostalgia.

But also…we need to talk about Jazz Fest Dads, the main event.  

While we are here to see Morris Day and the Time along with Pearl Jam, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the real headliners: Jazz Fest Dad, the gift that keeps on jorting! We stumbled into this account in 2019, and have barely missed a cargo short sighting since. 

The IG account is a loving, hilarious tribute to the dudes who hold it down with 50 SPF, folding chairs, “crazy hats” and the “spirit of the fest” in one high-functioning fanny pack. They dance like nobody is watching (we sure are), and they can oft be spotted in the Crawfish Monica line. Sunburned, lightly buzzed and always vibing, cheers to the Jazz Fest Dads.

Hot deal: ‘mixer magic’

Cinco de Mayo style sips  

The Skinny: We can’t stop professing our love for Fresh Victor mixers, which are especially juicy and tempting as the hot weather drifts in. Load up now for margaritas all day, and if you like a little fresh ‘n’ spicy zing, the Jalapeno & Lime is our ALL-TIME favorite. Shop now with a special deal for The Skinny readers: use code FRESHVICTOR20 for 20% off*.

*code valid for online store, 20% off entire order. No minimum purchase requirement, no usage limits. For General Consumers EXCLUDING Wholesalers. Can’t combine with other discounts, active until Mar 31, 2025

Pantry raid

Tomatoes and EVOO for the win

The Skinny: And if there is one thing Nicole learned from living in Italy, aside from how to jumpstart a 1968 Cinquecento, it’s that ingredients make the meal. Since you know we love to raid our pantries, imagine the excitement when we were invited to attend a Masterclass in Pantry Cooking with chef Christian Reynoso. 

Ingredient-wise, the stars of the show were from the Corto x Stanislaus Chef’s Essentials Kit (which you can buy for $85 at corto-olive.com and Amazon). What you get: Four jars of chef-approved baby plum tomatoes, and TRULY® Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Corto (which is legit one of the freshest olive oils you can find—and you can read all the details about why in our previous edition). 

Back to the cooking. Our favorite recipe that Reynoso made was a chopped salad using the tomatoes straight out of the far (yes, they’re THAT good), little gem lettuce (the best grocery store version being from Trader Joe’s, in our opinion), crispy chickpeas in olive oil, fresh mozzarella, cut up salami/charcuterie and a homemade red wine vinaigrette.  

Oh, and he also made a martini using a bit of the juice from the Stanislaus tomatoes. And we made our own improv red sauce with the tomatoes, and it was so simple yet so insanely good (Corto EVOO, caramelized onions, the Stanislaus baby plum tomatoes, seasonings, basta!). 

Off to the races

Nips & noshes for sports’ most exciting 2 minutes

The Skinny: Grab your fascinator, bow-tie and mint julep—it’s Derby Day, y’all! And while the horses are the main attraction (a bettor’s guide, here), everyone also has their eye on the Derby Day fits and hats. Where else to look for inspiration than Town & Country, with all the looks for the ladies, and the gentlemen (top tip for women: if you’re letting your hat be your outfit’s star, opt for a single-tone dress and conversely, if you’re going floral for the fit, choose a more subtle hat or fascinator).  

To drink: Obviously, a Mint Julep (120,000 of them are consumed at the Derby each year). Woodford Reserve, the official Bourbon of the Derby, offers this recipe for the perfect Julep:

• 2 ounces Woodford Reserve

• 1/2 ounce simple syrup

• 3 fresh mint leaves

• Crushed ice

Express the essential oils in the mint and rub them inside the glass. To the same glass, add simple syrup, bourbon and crushed ice.  Stir. Garnish with ice and mint.

To eat: The famous Hot Brown Sandwich (open faced turkey, bacon, tomatoes and bechamel on Texas toast). And here, the former Kentucky Derby Executive Chef shares his Pimento Cheese recipe. 

For dessert: Derby Pie! Whatever you do, don’t call it pecan pie — this is basically a dressed-up Tollhouse cookie, worthy of Derby Day finery. Brought to the world by the Kern family in 1954 and taking center stage today, their patented secret recipe stars walnuts and chocolate in a delicate crust. For those bakers out there (not us) we sourced a great DIY recipe for you to try. 

Extra Credit: What makes bourbon “Bourbon”? It turns out that a handful of specific distinctions differentiate regular whiskey and bourbon. Until just now, we thought bourbon could not legally be called such unless it comes from Kentucky. While locals may disagree, the only true requirements are listed above. That said, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, KY is the official birthplace of Bourbon and crafts 95% of the world’s supply.

Cheers to that, and further “proof” is that they say “only the Bluegrass State has the perfect natural mix of climate, conditions and pure limestone water necessary for producing the world’s greatest Bourbon.” Which you can experience first-hand by planning a trip to the famous Kentucky Bourbon trail.

Last Licks

This week’s newsfeed

• Grocery store secrets: What chefs buy at Trader Joe’s, and a guide to understanding the secret codes of Costco price tags. 

• Hot new Birkenstock x Staud collab means a very cool new embossed version of the Arizona is available for your summer styling.

• Somewhat old news, but we had not heard of Barilla’s Spotify playlists, which are timed exactly to how long to cook specific types of pasta.

• Get those tucks and rolls in check people, there’s 50 days left until summer! Here, six small changes to make now. 

• We saw some kind of event with a DJ set in Katz’s deli recently (served up with a little FOMO), and along those same lines, we present the Cheese Rave—described as “gooey and pulsating”—and hailing from Russia, the [global phenomenon??] Coffee Rave.

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