Good afternoon, my hungry friends, and Happy Mardi Gras!! Are those pots of red beans and gumbo already simmering on the home stove? We are such a long, cold way off from the festivities in New Orleans (and that 21-degree bike ride to work this morning didn’t help!), but I only need to spend a few minutes of screen time watching the ParadeCam at Nola.com (the Times-Picayune’s website) and I am instantly back in the mood. I do wish there were more restaurant flavors in Philly to summon that genuine Big Easy feeling. Every year, I do try to find a new Cajun contender with a Nola-themed review, and some years it works (Ted’s on Main, Melange Café, Les Bons Temps, Cajun Kate’s), and some years it doesn’t (see this past Sunday).

It’s a good thing Philadelphia has its own repertoire of great flavors to keep us so well fed. We’re about to launch into our own notable  festivities with a mega sophomore edition of  Philly Beer Week – the topic of next week’s chat, when I’ll a host a panel of some of the city’s hoppiest beer authorities. For this week, though, we’re freestyling as usual. And we’ll start with some of my favorite plates in this week’s Crumb Tracker Quiz. Guess in order which three places I ate these dishes and win a prize: 1) Trahana soup and Cypriot goat stew; 2) Yankee pot roast and chicken croquette recession busters at a genuine S. Jersey diner; 3) Smashed onion burger….Ready, set…start crumbing!