The Northshore’s Not-So-Secret Culinary Scene

With exceptional restaurants popping up all the time, the Northshore’s increasingly visible status as a foodie mecca keeps growing. Covington gets a lot of the attention (and for good reason), but every town in St. Tammany Parish has some edible or drinkable destination worth driving for.

Local Emmy-winning media personality Tom Gregory has contributed greatly to spreading the word through a series of short videos called the Tammany Taste. Featuring the culinary gems of the region, Gregory said the hardest part of producing these videos was fitting everything in; the culinary scene in St. Tammany is larger than he realized. Gregory and his team would visit a restaurant to film some background footage, make conversation, wind up talking to the chef, and then, just like that, he’d have to make a whole new episode about what he’d just discovered.

Gregory pointed out that St. Tammany lies between the Gulf of Mexico’s fisheries and the productive farmland of the Delta. There’s almost no better location for access to good food, and St. Tammany’s chefs were cooking farm-to-table before it was cool. It’s not just food that’s flourishing, either; St. Tammany is home to a growing number of breweries, including long-time favorite Abita and the impressive new Chafunkta Brewing Company, as well as two wineries in Bush that offer tastings. You’d have to try pretty hard to go home hungry.

The videos that Gregory and his team produced are all available on the official Northshore YouTube channel, but the best way to get the full effect is to come hungry to St. Tammany. He’s also produced a series of videos to keep you busy between meals. Details on restaurants and businesses featured in the videos are available at louisiananorthshore.com/tammany-taste.