TV Chef Icon Emeril Lagasse Is Cooking a Mardi Gras Dinner at Cafe Boulud

A Mardi Gras dinner with Emeril Lagasse and Daniel Boulud

Big name chefs Emeril Lagasse and Daniel Boulud, along with executive chef Aaron Bludorn, will cook up a Mardi Gras dinner at Cafe Boulud on March 5, featuring a menu of mostly Southern food, like crawfish boudin and a seafood gumbo by Lagasse. There are also three desserts on deck for the decadent meal. Tickets are $150 and can be purchased here. Lagasse made his name in New Orleans and still has restaurants there. He recently also took on his first NYC project, consulting for a restaurant called Rodos.

Promising Prospect Heights newcomer adds alcohol

Oxalis, the new neighborhood restaurant in Prospect Heights, introduced its beverage program this week, helmed by Piper Kristensen, who previously worked at Booker and Dax and the nearby cocktail bar the Bearded Lady. Seasonal cocktails feature produce, and there are also takes on classic cocktails, including an old fashioned made with beeswax, lanolin, and fat-washed Irish whiskey. There’s also a rotating selection of beers, ciders, and wines on hand, as well as non-alcoholic cocktails that utilize produce by-products from the kitchen.

Dollar slice specialists open a fancier slice shop in Midtown

Turns out that brothers Eli and Oren Halali, who own the dollar-slice chain 2 Bros, are behind a recently opened pizza spot called Upside Pizza near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown, where the slices go for a heftier price of $3 for plain cheese or $5 for a Sicilian-style rectangular slice with pepperoni. Here, they’re aiming to make a great slice instead of just the cheapest, and they’ve been aided by freelance pizza consultant star Anthony Falco. Upside has an anti-garlic powder shaker policy, the brothers explaining to the Times that they’re trying to do something different here, focusing on ingredients, dough, and precision in a way that departs from their tried and true dollar slice model.

Reviews for L’Avenue and Madame Vo Barbecue

New York’s Adam Platt checked in on the meaty Vietnamese fare at Madame Vo BBQ, highlighting in particular the “beef seven ways,” a $59 per person meal of prime cuts of beef, lettuce, vermicelli noodles, apples, and rice-paper pancakes. He writes that the offerings are “decently priced, and generally delicious.”

Meanwhile, the Post’s Steve Cuozzo went luxe, writing about the new NYC iteration of L’Avenue inside of Saks Fifth Avenue, which he claims is “a fun and appealing eatery with surprisingly good food that’s welcoming to everyone” despite its seemingly exclusive setting. He praises the steamed sea bass with coconut milk sauce and curry and notes that main dishes fall in the $18-to-mid-$30 range.

Coming attractions

All-you-can-eat sushi spot Kikoo Sushi is eventually moving from its home at 141 First Ave. to 210 First Ave., in the home of the former Papa John’s outpost that shuttered in the fall after eight years. In early March, Staten Island icon Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices will open a Manhattan outpost in Gramercy Park. The brand has been around since 1928. Chinatown dessert shop Bonsai Kakigori is plotting a new location for 100 Stanton St. on the Lower East Side. It will serve shaved ice, Japanese snacks, matcha, beer, and sake. And a 99-cent pizza slice joint recently debuted at 177 East Houston St. on the Lower East Side.

Cocktail hitmakers will run a cocktail lounge in JFK lounge

Cocktail bar operator Gerber Group will run the lounge, called the Sunken Lounge, in the landmarked T.W.A. terminal at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. Classic cocktails will be served there including, fittingly, “the aviation,” made with gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette, and lemon juice. The under-construction T.W.A. Hotel, set to finally open on May 15, will have dining options overseen by Jean-Georges Vongerichten.