Many traditional food festivals revolve around a particular dish, ingredient or seasonal harvest. Food Fight is different. It’s based on bragging rights to championship titles, and so the restaurants taking part bring their most flavorful contenders. It essentially presents a highly varied smorgasbord of food and drink in one place, with a mix of restaurants that would seem unlikely at any other event.
Food Fight returns Thursday (May 25) from 6 to 10 p.m. with a new location along the riverfront. After debuting in 2022 at Crescent Park, the event will now take place at Spanish Plaza, between the Riverwalk Outlets and the Four Seasons Hotel.
Food Fight is produced by Yeah You Right Events and is the creation of Shane Finkelstein, who also produces Top Taco. It follows a similar template as Top Taco, with an all-inclusive ticket.
Attendees can eat their fill of specialty dishes from many different New Orleans restaurants and sample cocktails from various spirits brands.
The “fight” part of Food Fight is the vying for awards from a panel of judges and the crowd. In the offing are top classic dish, top creative dish, top vegetarian dish, top classic cocktail and top creative cocktail.
The roster of competing restaurants ranges broadly, with the po-boy shop Mahony’s, the taqueria Los Jefes and the dim sum specialist Wishing Town going head to head with the The Chloe, Apolline and Saint John. French Creole classic Galatoire’s and Desi Vega’s Steakhouse are on the same bill as chef Michael Gulotta’s modern fusion restaurant Maypop and Emeril Lagasse’s globetrotting Meril.
Messina's, Soule Cafe, Union Ramen, Dovetail Bar, Elysian Bar, Odd Birds, Parish Diner, Peewee's Crab Cakes, Jack Rose, Observatory 11, Pardo's, The Fillmore, Iacovone Kitchen, Rizzuto's, Chop House, and Laurel Street Bakery are other contenders.
Expect various bar areas and DJ lounges, spirit sampling stations local bands and burlesque performance by Trixie Minx.
Like Top Taco, the new event doubles as a benefit for the PLEASE Foundation, a nonprofit that serves young people with mentoring and scholarships to attain a college education. Last year, these events brought in $50,000 for the group and this year’s goal is to double that total.
Tickets are $85 for general admission at 7 p.m. and $105 for early entry tickets and $135 for VIP tickets, which both give access starting at 6 p.m. All food and drinks are included in the ticket prices.
Food Fight
May 25, 7 p.m. (6 p.m. early entry)
Spanish Plaza, 1 Canal St.
Tickets and info at foodfightnola.com
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