00:00I also want to thank Ms. D. She cut it into three sections. I love when people cut my food up like
00:04I'm in kindergarten because I won't choke and I can share it with my friends.
00:18What's going on, SDS? It's your girl, Cherie Nicole, brand new content video producer here
00:22at Essence and also a host when I feel like doing so. When I feel like it right now, I'm
00:26hanging out here at the Essence Festival of Culture and it's all about the food. I'm
00:31gonna be hanging out at Essence Eats. I'm having dishes from some amazing black
00:34owned businesses so without further ado it's time to eat. We'll probably drink a
00:38little too. Dish number one. I'm very excited about this one. It's coming from
00:43two girls in the cook shop aka two girls Jamaican tacos. They hail straight out of
00:48the BK Brooklyn, New York and as you know we gotta honor BK because what? It's the
00:5250th anniversary of hip-hop. You can also find them throughout the country and I've
00:55been waiting for this dish. Waiting and waiting. You're gonna see a hand float in
01:00the screen right now. Don't you just love TV? It's the jerk chicken dinner tacos and
01:05if you see smoke coming out of my ears you know why. Here we go.
01:11I just love this fake hand. Okay let me do this here. Let me take a big old bite.
01:25This is really good. There's a level of sweetness to it that I really like. It
01:32has a little bit of a kick but it's very sweet. There's a savory kind of sauce in
01:37here. I love the way the cheeses are meshed. The chicken is so good. You know
01:42sometimes people always cook their chicken and it's rough. This chicken right here is
01:47nice and tender. Man this is great. I'm gonna finish eating. I'll see y'all in a second.
01:54All right Essie's. Dish number two. I've had to sit down now. I'm already full from
01:59dish number one but dish number two comes from Mardi Gras Madness. They're
02:02straight out of Houston, Texas. They've been in business for 22 years and their
02:05owner Denise hooked me up with this amazing dish. Actually two dishes. The
02:08first one is gonna be the seafood baked potato. We got some shrimp here, some
02:12crawfish. I love sour cream. I love sour cream. The cheese looks good too. Can't wait to
02:17dive in. And of course we have a good old crawfish pie. Never had this before so
02:23I'm excited and I'm gonna hand the mic over to my invisible hand from earlier.
02:26Boom! Let's try it out. All right I'm gonna get a good hefty bite. This looks
02:32really good guys. Okay here we go. A big shrimp fence. Let's see.
02:39Oh my goodness. First of all, it's very flavorful. Very flavorful. The shrimp is just juicy. The
02:53crawfish and the shrimp, they're not competing. They're actually cousins. They're not competing.
02:57Okay. The sour cream is a perfect touch. You can never go wrong with a baked potato. They
03:02also have some chives and onions in here. It's just really really finishing things off well.
03:08And the way they distribute the cheese is always important. They did their thing on this one.
03:14Crawfish pie. Now I've tried chicken pot pie but this is different. I'm trying to get this outside
03:20crust. First of all, this crust is very buttery. I love a good buttery crust. All right here we go.
03:25Let's go. Woo. Hot. Mmm. This is very, very, very good. It's got a little spice to it. I'm gonna taste
03:39some tomato in there I think I'm tasting. Again the crust is perfect. And the way that it's just
03:44distributed throughout is so, so good. It does have a kick to it. And I mentioned to you guys earlier,
03:49I'm not a spicy food girl. But this is a kick that I can handle.
03:59All right family. Dish number three. Now I said I was full. But I am not too full to eat
04:05this amazing dish from Miss D's Catering Cuisine. She hails out of the West Bank, Louisiana baby. She's
04:12been in business for 20 years. Now I met Miss D outside. Let me tell you something. Outside her
04:16restaurant of course. We're not outside. It's too hot out there. We're inside of Essence Eats. But
04:20she said I want to make sure your food is hot. So guess what she got me? This beautifully sectioned
04:25off crab meat fried fish po' boy and the crinkle cut fries. Now I know that this isn't about the fries.
04:31But I just wanted to point out that crinkle cut is the way to go with ketchup. Amen somebody. I also
04:36want to thank Miss D. She cut it into three sections. I love when people cut my food up like I'm in
04:40kindergarten because I won't choke and I can share with my friends. Here we go. Oh man. Okay. First
04:53of all this fish is special. It tastes like biblical times fish. Like really fresh. I'm gonna take one more
05:02bite. Hold on. Mmm. I love the combination of the fish. This crab meat sauce she has in here.
05:12It doesn't overpower the fish. Now I'll be honest. I'm not really a sauce girl. So for me to be able
05:16to eat two bites of this is big. You can still get a good taste of the fish. She's got a little tomato in
05:21here. A little lettuce. It's just not overdone. And that's what I love about this sandwich. Simple to the
05:26point. All right guys. So I'm full. And you know what you do when you're full right? You get just
05:36something to drink. If you notice I didn't have anything to drink this entire time. So I'm very
05:40excited. I have three choices. I'm going to drink all of these and be refreshed. And these are from
05:45Soba Hibiscus. They hail from Louisiana baby. I just love Louisiana black owned businesses. And this one is
05:52owned by Kami and Stefan. They've been in business for six years. And I'm a health nut. So I'm really
05:57excited about this first one. The smooth ginger. Oh it's so good for your digestive system. And you
06:01know as well as I do how we've been eating out here down to the Essence Festival of Culture.
06:07Um I'm not going to embarrass myself or anyone else. Just know we can do better. And I'm going to do better
06:11right now as I take a sip of this. Here we go.
06:13Wow. Okay. This is fantastic. You you taste the ginger. But sometimes you know when you have
06:23ginger it's a little bit overpowering. This is perfect. Also sometimes with hibiscus teas
06:28they're overly carbonated. So this goes down really smooth. It doesn't taste like I'm drinking soda.
06:33It's very very refreshing. One more sip of this. The invisible hand. I'm going to pass this over to
06:39them so they can put the cap on top and I can take that home with me. All right. Next one. Thank you
06:43invisible hand. Tropical pineapple. Oh it tastes like summertime. It's perfect. Like you eat. I can
06:52taste the pineapple. But I can also taste the other tropical flavors in here. It's a good blend. A good
06:58mix. Um you know and I know it's healthy. But if you want to put a little something in there.
07:04Maybe make a sangria or something. I'm just being honest. I think this will work for that.
07:10All right. Invisible hand. There you go. And number three. Nothing like a classic. You can't mess up
07:16anything that's a classic. Let's try this. That is good. That tastes like your homemade
07:24good old sweet tea. Again the the thing that I love about this tea is nothing's overpowering.
07:30It's really really really refreshing. So when you're out here whether you're eating terrible like we are
07:35down to the essence festival culture. Or you're just at home or maybe leaving the gym going to the
07:39gym what have you. Or you just need something refreshing. I would really highly suggest this.
07:47Dish number four is here. And um yeah I feel like eating again. I'm very refreshed after my
07:52sober hibiscus. And this time I'm having a dish from Sisters Catering. They are owned by Taiwan Mickey.
07:58They've been in business for nine years. They hail out of New Orleans, West Bank baby. And guess what?
08:03I got a little more crawfish to eat. And this time it's the crawfish ravioli. It's sauced up to
08:09perfection. They got a little parmesan cheese garnished on the top. And I'm just going to dig
08:13right in. I'm a big ravioli fan. I want to get a good help in the crawfish on here. Here we go.
08:27Thank you Invisible Ham. First of all the crawfish is amazing. And the ricotta cheese inside. Now
08:34sometimes people put too much ricotta inside the shell. This is perfect. The sauce is amazing. Again
08:43I've mentioned before guys. I'm not really a sauce girl like that. But the way that it doesn't
08:48impede with the progress of the dish as a whole. I'm impressed with. All right guys. I'm bringing
08:55this thing to a close. And so is the building because they're almost about to shut down. And
08:59of course you bring things to a close with a good old dessert. And I'm a dessert girl. It's nothing
09:03like an Italian ice. And actually this is coming from Italian Happy Ice. They are owned by a woman.
09:10Her name is Keisha. They are out of Louisiana baby. And they are a baby actually. Only been in business
09:16for about six months. But they are blossoming. And they are booming. And today I'm going to try
09:21the It Takes Two to Mango Italian Ice. Try it out and see. Here we go.
09:30Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something about this. It Takes Two to Mango. Let me tell you.
09:37It takes one to eat this. And I'm going to eat the whole thing. It is refreshing. Now you all know it is
09:44hot. It is hot out here in New Orleans. But this is a refresher that I can stand by at any point in
09:53time. The fruit. It's just got that good fruit taste. Like you all know like when you get a good
09:59popsicle. But even better. It's smooth. It's savory. It's sweet. Shout out to Keisha and Italian Happy Ice.
10:08I wish you guys nothing but success. It's six months now. It's going to be 60 years when we look up.
10:14It's your girl Sheree Nicole signing off on behalf of Essence. Essence, I love you.
10:19I'll see you next year. Essence Eats.
10:27.
10:28.
10:28.
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