NEW ORLEANS – Step inside the courtyard at the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans and you’ll find an elegant setting perfect for wedding party photos. There’s a fountain, a gazebo, orchids and a streetcar statue.
If you arrive on Saturday May 11, you’ll see a different scene: It will be the final event for this year’s “Mudbugs and Bubbles,” a series of crawfish boils where the little red critters are served with top-shelf champagne. On that Saturday, it will be Krug.
According to crawfish concierge and Ritz-Carlton Chef De Cuisine Jason “Rosie” Flato, it all started with a brainstorming session to create something unique: “Let’s pair crawfish with with something you wouldn’t normally see in the city.”
The native New Orleanian says he grew up eating crawfish, but not with champagne. Now he’s in charge of choosing which bubbly bottle to feature, as well as creating the perfect boil ingredients to match the flavor of the mudbugs.
“You have a lot of citrus notes with champagne, and it goes really well with the citrus I use in the crawfish boil as well. Then the spice actually goes really well with the floral notes in the champagne,” explains Jason.
He says the events attract locals as well as guests from around the world, some of whom have never been to a crawfish boil. The dress code is “come as you are.”
With the final event happening just one day before Mother’s Day, this could be the perfect gift for anyone who wants to splurge. It’s not cheap, but you get all the champagne and crawfish you can consume!