I was born and raised in the New Orleans area (ok, so I was born in Metairie
and grew up in Kenner) and except for a few years, have spent my life in this great city. Those few short years were
spent in Lafayette, attending and graduating from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL), now known as The University
of Louisiana - Lafayette (ULL).
After returning from Lafayette, I moved Uptown (hence the name - more on
that later) in a house (the legendary 1300 Milan St.) with a lifelong friend of mine. Why UptownKevin? Well,
one of my best friends shares the name Kevin, and it is hard to talk to two people at once; so our friends named us.
He was originally from the westbank, so he got stuck with Westbank Kevin (thank gawd I got "Uptown").
After graduating with a degree in Finance, I spent over five years
in two different areas of the financial field; one was working in financial planning and the other was in retail
banking. A couple of years ago I decided that one thing I wanted was to be a bartender. So while I worked
at the bank during the day, I bartended a couple of shifts each week, starting at Sugar Magnolia, then at Allegro for
the New Orleans Saints games and finally at Vaqueros on Metairie Rd, all now defunct as a result of Katrina.
The banking career wasn't fulfilling, and after a lot of soul searching and advice gathering, I made
a career change and accepted the job as the bar manager at The Columns Hotel on St. Charles Avenue. In one of the best times of my life, I was thrilled and proud to be the manager of
one of the most well known bars in New Orleans.
Which brings me to the next chapter of my life. A nasty little storm named Katrina struck New
Orleans on August 29th of 2005. I had worked at The Columns on that Saturday night and closed up shop early, as many
had evacuated. I evacuated on Sunday and didn't return to New Orleans for almost six weeks. During my travel,
I went to Chicago, Hammond, LA and finally Tampa, FL, where I landed a job in sales with a massive computer distributor.
I've settled in Tampa with a fresh start and a new perspective. The food isn't too good, but
the people are great, the weather is fantastic, and the ability to play volleyball on the beach every weekend is priceless
(sorry for the cliche). I think I'll be here for a while...
I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert in the areas of food and drinks,
but I aspire to be. In the few short years since I began cooking (not heating things up), I have progressed and increased
my knowledge exponentially.
Armed with a little knowledge, a great culinary city and a few dining companions,
I am ready to conquer and document on my conquest for the perfect meal.
