Holding a good thought for New Orleans at Bite Your Tongue

If there was a day to eat Creole, it was Wednesday: Katrina anniversary and Hurricane Isaac Day. I have a lot of friends and a lot of good memories in New Orleans.

But really, Bite Your Tongue? What kind of business plan is "Let's move from a place that's difficult to find to a place that's impossible to find?" Apparently it's a good business plan, because it's working.

If you don't know the story of Lucius and Martine Johnson, here's the short version: New Orleans folk who cook really good Creole food. Evacuated during Hurricane Katrina, came to North Carolina. Opened Bite Your Tongue, a tiny food business in the oddest location ever, in the lobby of a medical office building on Randolph Road, using what used to be a snack bar to serve up etoufee and jambalaya and the like.

That's where I joined them. I loved meeting friends over there for lunch: "In the lobby. No, seriously, there's a restaurant there. No, I'm not kidding."

It must have worked, because about a month ago, they opened a lovely new restaurant, with tables and everything. I had the address, 222 Bland St. No problem, I know Bland Street. I go to Greek Isles all the time.

Except . . . well, Lucius and Martine, you've topped yourselves in difficult to find. I drove around, I parked and walked around. I finally called and begged: Where are you?

OK, here is where it is: Not on a street. It's actually right in front of the Bland Street stop on the LYNX line. If you can find the Bland Street LYNX parking lot from South Tryon, that sort of helps. Or if you go to Greek Isles and keep walking on the broad sidewalk until you see umbrella tables, that helps too. Or skip all that, get on Lynx uptown and take it to Bland. That's really the easiest.

Still, once you find it, it's sweet. Good, not-too-spicy jambalaya, great warm cheese biscuits, terrific Strango, a very sweet strawberry/mango tea/lemonade they make themselves. They serve brunch, they serve breakfast. If you commute on LYNX, you can pick up sides and the terrific white chocolate bread pudding to go.

If you find it, say hello to Lucius and Martine. If you find it . . .

I'll Bite - Will You?

Welcome to my new food blog. Why are we calling it I'll Bite?

If you're familiar with my writing in The Observer, you know that I have a sense of humor. So yes, I do sometimes say things with a little bite.

But really, it's because this blog is about all things surrounding food, cooking and eating. I'm a food writer, not a restaurant reviewer (my colleague Helen Schwab has that job), so I lean toward cooking and food shopping. But I eat in restaurants, too, so sometimes I'll share observerations about that as well.

There isn't much I'm not willing to try, either in the kitchen or on a menu. (Although I reserve the right to refuse chicken livers, livermush, lemon meringue pie and Peeps. I've tried 'em, and I still don't like 'em.)

There also isn't much about the subject of food that doesn't interest me. Almost 20 years, after a decade in journalism that had taken me all around the newsroom and through a half-dozen news beats, I turned to food writing because I realized it was the most interesting beat of all.

Food is history, it's sociology, it's economics, it's health. Everybody eats, whether they pay much attention to it or not. And everybody can relate to food.

If you're looking for articles we printed in the Observer food section, you'll find those at www.charlotteobserver.com/food.

Look here for recent news, events in Charlotte, and interesting developments in the food world.

For the next few days, I'll be in New Orleans attending the annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists. I'll try to at least post a few things on Twitter; search for #obsfood. (And I promise to put down the Blackberry if I pick up a Sazerac.)