Serving up Mardi Gras
It's tough for local cook TJ Vesely to be away from his hometown for the biggest party of the year, but he ladled out some of that New Orleans feeling in Athens this Mardi Gras.
"Since the storm, I've felt like it was my mission - well, not my mission, but very important - to try and spread New Orleans culture," Vesely said, as a line started to form for a bowl of his gumbo. "Since I can't be at Mardi Gras this year, I'm trying to bring some of that feeling here."
Vesely, who moved to Athens in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, hasn't been home to New Orleans for Mardi Gras since the storm, but he remembers watching the parades on St. Charles Avenue with his family and, when he was older, partying in the locals-only section of the city.
Monday evening, he cooked up four of the biggest pots of chicken and sausage gumbo he's ever made, and Tuesday evening, started handing it out at Magnolias, a New Orleans-inspired bar on the corner of West Broad and North Jackson streets.
Along with a hot bowl of soup, he shared some stories about Mardi Gras parties of the past.
It's a tradition he started last year when he handed out free jambalaya to anyone who wished him a happy Mardi Gras during his shift at Pauley's Original Crepe Bar.
Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, has its roots in Medieval Europe. The carnival atmosphere was meant to give people one last day to eat, drink and be merry before Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of self-sacrifice that accompanies Lent.
Plenty of bars tout Mardi Gras as a time t
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Serving up Mardi Gras
It's tough for local cook TJ Vesely to be away from his hometown for the biggest party of the year, but he ladled out some of that New Orleans feeling in Athens this Mardi Gras.
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