Sort of a punkier British alternative to Anthony Bourdain, Oliver set out to understand America through our regional cuisine. Obviously, it would have been a crime to skip New Orleans. Oliver could not ask for a better guide than Kermit Ruffins, the Louis Armstrong-influenced trumpeter and vocalist, whose band is not called the Barbeque Swingers for nothing. Well known for grilling outside his gigs, the Treme co-star takes a quickly sobered Oliver on a tour of the still deserted Lower Ninth Ward. It is a timely reminder work remains to be done. Yet disappointingly, Road Trip never features any of Ruffins’ music. Come on, help an artist sell some CDs.
Thoroughly hung-over, Oliver trenchantly observes on his way up to David Allemond’s hurricane ravaged restaurant, McGee’s Landing, the surrounding Bayou region was ravaged far worse by Gustav than New Orleans was hit by Katrina, but scrupulously avoids the loaded implications. Before cooking for Allemond’s symbolic reopening, Oliver hunts gators with grandmother and former State Representative Sydney Mae Durand, a Democrat appointed by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal to the State Pharmacy Board, who sadly recently passed away. Much to the consternation of PETA, but to the credit of Oliver, he kills them and grills them.
(Photos: Freemantle)
