How do the locals celebrate Mardi Gras? With red beans and rice, jambalaya

Hungry visitors to New Orleans usually associate the city with storied Creole restaurants like Arnaud's, Galatoire's, and Commander's Palace, white-tablecloth shrines to such age-old dishes as trout meunière, filet gumbo, and frog legs Provencale.

But come Carnival season, fancy fare is shelved in favor of rib-sticking, crowd-pleasing dishes that fuel long hours of parade-watching along St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street.

Locals set up barbecue grills along the route, hosting street parties with pots of gumbo and trays of jambalaya, with plenty of libations on the side. That kind of joyous celebration - with traditional food and drink, high school marching bands, and a sense of neighborhood and city pride - is at the heart of what makes Mardi Gras season so magical.

When Alon Shaya moved from Philadelphia to New Orleans to work with chef John Besh in 2003, he didn't know a thing about Mardi Gras. For the first few years, Shaya, last year's James Beard winner for best chef in the South, was too busy cooking to enjoy the party. "I popped out on Canal Street a few times and was just overwhelmed," said the Harriton High grad. "A few years later, when I could take time off, I really fell in love with the traditions."

From king cake, the sweet, filled Danishlike pastry served only during Carnival season, to pop-up parades and costuming, Shaya and his wife, Emily, a Georgia girl who fell in love with New Orleans while attending Tulane, embraced it all.

"One of my favorite things about Mardi Gras is buying a hot sausage po'boy along the parade route around Basin Street in the Treme," he said. "People are just grilling and selling sandwiches as you head to catch Zulu - that's some of the best smoked meat you're going to eat."

Shaya, who has dressed as a mariachi and an oversize chicken in years past - quite the sight as he and Emily tooled around town on their Vespa - plans the day around what he wants to eat. "The tricky thing about Mardi Gras is you don't know exactly how things are going to go. We've learned that trying to make too many plans is a bad idea. You end up being stuck in traffic and missing the fun."

Besh, who partners with Shaya in the Domenica restaurants and the Israeli eatery Shaya, is a native New Orleanian with a dozen restaurants in his portfolio. "For those of us from here, Mardi Gras is very much a family-oriented holiday," he said. "You can find plenty of debauchery on Bourbon Street, but for locals, Carnival is a season of getting together and sharing casual food. You gather with friends on St. Charles Avenue, and everybody brings a dish. I can still taste the red beans and rice, jambalaya, and fried chicken from my childhood."

In his new cookbook, Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $25), Besh offers down-home recipes, including chicken and sausage gumbo, red beans and rice, and Mardi Gras morning pork shoulder grillades, served with plenty of gravy over grits. "Mardi Gras is all about getting up early, going to St. Charles Avenue with groups of friends. We set up tables, have ice chests full of drinks, and cook over propane, making hot pots of food that we share with friends and folks passing by. It's the world's best party."

Shaya, who lives in the Bayou St. John neighborhood of Mid-City, plans to keep one of their restaurants, Pizza Domenica, open through Lundi Gras, the Monday before Fat Tuesday. "Some of the parades pass right by us," he said, "so we'll keep our pizza rolling."

One of the most popular pies at the restaurant is the muffuletta pizza, which is topped with the olive and jardiniere salad that makes the famed sandwich so popular - think a meaty Italian hoagie with the addition of pickled vegetables and olives.

If you aren't in New Orleans but want to celebrate Mardi Gras, who better to give you advice than chef Emeril Lagasse, a culinary force of nature with 12 restaurants in New Orleans and beyond. "Make a big batch of something that just screams Mardi Gras - like gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice, or fried chicken - and then just pretend that you're hosting on the parade route," said the celebrity chef. "Invite friends and family over to come and go as they please, and don't forget to put on your favorite New Orleans' music to set the mood. Break out any Mardi Gras beads and doubloons, and scatter them around the house."

And, of course, keep the cocktails flowing. "Some favorites are Bloody Marys, Hurricanes, Milk Punch, or Gin Fizzes - but it could be anything that reminds you of why you love Mardi Gras," he said. "Abita amber or Dixie beer, anyone?"