A viral Italian TikTok foodie known for his often delighted and sometimes horrified reactions to American food and culture recently visited New Orleans to celebrate the anniversary of meeting his wife and sample all the delicious culinary staples the South has to offer.  With his American wife and Tulane grad, Jessi Higgins, as his tour guide, Ales...

Creole Italian food has a particular slant in New Orleans, informed by a wealth of Gulf seafood and the local creed that more — sauce, cheese, cheese on seafood — is better. The city’s influx of mostly Sicilian immigrants in the late 19th century (an estimated 290,000 settled here) expanded the New Orleans table to embrace that island’s particular...

Cabrini High School on Esplanade Avenue offers the most tangible reminders of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini’s legacy in the city, but Mother Cabrini’s first stop in New Orleans was the French Quarter. It’s where she and her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus cared for the poor, especially Italian immigrants just as in New York, as depicte...

You may remember this command. It is considered to be one of the best movie lines of all time: “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” Those words from “The Godfather” are spoken in a tragic scene that nevertheless generates laughter for its irony. Pauli, Don Vito Carleone’s bodyguard, had mysteriously called in sick on the day of a botched assassinatio...

Join co-host John M. Viola, as he broadcasts directly from the vibrant heart of New Orleans, where the Italian American St. Joseph’s Society’s parade and feast ignite the city with cultural pride. Listen in as he sits down with dear friends and prominent figures in the Italian American community—Brendan Young, Tony Mangia, and Chef David Greco of M...

Let’s go back to the 1900s. It was a new era of innovation and immigration. New Orleans’ Italian population was at such an all-time high, pockets of the city were called “Little Italy.” Around this time, Salvatore Lupo and his Sicilian family ran Central Grocery, serving hundreds of Italian immigrants food from their home country. Their most popula...

The Historic BK House & Gardens is set to honor the Patron Saint of Sicily with its annual St. Joseph’s Altar on March 18th and 19th. Located at 1113 Chartres Street, BK House continues the sacred Sicilian tradition, once embraced by the Corrado Giacona Family from the 1890s to 1925. The celebration begins with a private blessing of the altar by Fa...

The “World’s Largest Bowl of Pasta Con Le Sarde” is making a return ahead of St. Joseph’s Day. Happening at 12 p.m. on Friday, March 15 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, the Italian American St. Joseph Society will host its annual St. Joseph’s Pasta Party. The public is invited to join fellow Italian-Americans in a celebration of Italian Heritag...

Angelo Brocato is an ice cream shop in New Orleans, Louisiana that first opened over 100 years ago. The shop's namesake, Angelo Brocato, reportedly learned to make Italian-style flavored ice in the late 1800s when he began an apprenticeship at a Palermo ice cream shop at age 12. While there, he also learned many other culinary techniques that the s...

Former LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri will be inducted into the Louisiana American Italian Hall of Fame on Saturday, February 24. Mainieri and his fellow award recipients will be honored at the 38th annual gala that will be held at the Hilton Riverside in downtown New Orleans at 6 p.m. CT. Visit here for tickets and information. The Board of Dire...