NEW ORLEANS — The food and music of New Orleans were Eric Paulsen's favorite stories to bring to you.
And from those stories came friendships, lots of good times, and laughs.
Some of Eric's favorites in the food industry, share some behind-the-scene memories.
Very often Eric Paulsen, who passed away following courageous battle with cancer, would have just one encounter with some of the great entrepreneurs in the New Orleans food industry, and what followed was a decades-long true friendship.
“Whenever he did these events, Eric would always find his way into the kitchen,” said Greg Reggio, owner and chef of Zia restaurants.
And those encounters led to this.
“I have a very special relationship with Eric. I mean, he married my wife and I. He got ordained to do that,” said Reggio.
A long friendship happened with Al Copeland Jr. – and his father.
“Eric loved food. So, any place that was serving good food that Eric liked, he enjoyed,” said All Copeland, junior, CEO and Chairman of Al Copeland Investments.
“When I first met Eric, he pulled up on a sailboat and my father had his race boat in the slip.”
That chance meeting led to Eric doing a story on the opening of the first Popeye's in Puerto Rico.
“He was just so jazzed about that trip that they were on the plane for all those hours and they built this relationship on a private jet,” said Copeland.
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Tommy Cvitanovich had what could have been an uncomfortable chance meeting with Eric. Eric was dining at Drago’s and Tommy's father dented Eric's prized Corvette in the parking lot of the restaurant.
“So, I had to go in the restaurant and find Eric and say, ‘Mr. Eric, I am Tommy Cvitanovich, the owner of Drago’s. My dad just backed into your car.’ And he was so genuinely nice about it, way nicer than I probably would have been,” said Tommy Cvitanovich, owner of Drago’s.
That led to Tommy and Eric doing a weight loss competition on the air, with fitness expert Mackie Shilstone.
“Eric cheated. I'm going to tell you he cheated. And he sat there. We had fun with it. He had a picture of me with my shoe with the pedometer on it in the dryer, so it was kind of rolling around,” said Cvitanovich.
Chef Duke LoCicero was also in that weight loss competition. Their bond started in 1991 during an interview on the morning news.
“Because he was so genuine, right? With the Chef Duke Foundation with kids, anytime I picked up the phone, when I said, ‘Look, I need you.’ He was there. Never turned me down. Ever,” said Chef Duke LoCicero, who does catering and will soon begin private group cooking classes.
“Eric always said ‘Yes’ anytime we'd call upon him, and say, ‘Hey Eric, can you come, can you come do an auction? Can you come be an emcee,’” remembers Reggio.
But as you know by now, Eric was fluent in sarcasm. Ribbing came along with the bonds, like at a Bacchus extravaganza.
“When we went by, I bombed him. Bombed him, and I know I hit him, hit him hard. I happen to look at my phone and he says, ‘Dude, next time let your mom ride instead of you, because she's going to have a better arm than you have,’” said Cvitanovich.
“People would come to us afterward and say, ‘I can't believe he talked to you like that.’ And I'd say, ‘What do you mean? That means he loves me, and I love him,” explained Reggio.
“Eric to this day believes that my dad stole his recipe, and it's Big Al's Cosmos in all the Copeland's restaurants,” said Copeland.
Al proved him wrong with a private home tasting of the two different Cosmopolitans.
And that friendship, like all the others, never, ever wavered.
“If you met him, he became your lifelong friend,” said LoCicero.
And some of those chefs will be on our morning news Tuesday to elaborate on some of their favorite Eric stories.
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