After almost six years, I have finally created a proper home for NOLA Eats, a New Orleans-based food & dining discussion forum and community that originated on Tribe.net. I’m Leslie J. Almeida, founder of NOLA Eats and hostess of its social gatherings. How did NOLA Eats get started? A handful of like-minded individuals were chatting in the New Orleans Tribe and thought we should get together for dinner, because, well, that’s what we do in New Orleans. In order to coordinate the meet-ups, I created NOLA Eats, and we went crazy from there. In addition to our regular dinners, we’ve had crawfish boils, potlucks, brunches and a king cake tasting party. Through the years, many of the people from that inaugural dinner continue to attend the events and we’ve all become great friends.
In order to spread the word about our social and dining group, I utilized the popularity of LiveJournal, MySpace and eventually Twitter, but never really felt at home. Thanks to my friend R.J., NOLA Eats now has that home! I will still be utilizing Twitter for quips, random chatter and cross-promotions, but most original content will be showcased here. I will keep the Tribe.net forum live to use as an archive since so much valuable information has been shared there, but it has been largely inactive since 2005 and much of the info is outdated.
There’s so much in store for the future of NOLA Eats! I don’t want to spill all the beans just yet, but bookmark the site and visit often for original and unique content pertaining to New Orleans food, restaurants and special culinary events. I want to thank all of the NOLA Eats members, old and new, who have made this group what it ultimately is; a fun-loving community of friends that just happens to eat great food. ¡Salud!
