NEW ORLEANS — Before the parade rolls and the bands start marching, everyone on the Endymion Parade route is looking for the smoke of a hot grill.
Cooks on the parade route are the unsung heroes of Mardi Gras and during Endymion, their talents are on full display.
“This is my spot! All the people come to see me,” Corey Blake said.
With three grills burning, Blake says he’ll cook as much as 500 lbs of meat today. Burgers, chicken, ribs, pork chops, he’s got dozens of hungry people lining up all day for his cooking.
It’s all part of “Girardi Gras.” Set up at the corner of Norman C. Francis and Canal Street, it might be the biggest cookout on the Endymion route.
It all started with “The Three Coreys.” Three men that met back in the 90’s marching with the St. Aug Marching 100.
“As you can see, we’ve tripled in size in the past 10 years,” Corey Girad, the party’s namesake said gesturing to the crowd of family friends around him. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
And at the smoking, sizzling heart of it all is Blake’s grill.
“I love the parades and I love this too,” Blake said. “I love feeding people. Making people happy that’s what I love doing.”
Because while Mardi Gras brings us all together, it’s New Orleans cooking – made with love – that keeps us together.
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