Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published July 3, 2006 Click here for the current edition Tales Of The Cocktail, July 18-23 I will just miss this, but you shouldn't. The Tales of the Cocktail has emerged as a major mid-summer food and drink festival after just a few years, with all the features we expect from such events: dinners in restaurants, seminars with authors and other experts, and lots of tasting and drinking. Their website has all the details, but here are what look to me like the highlights: The event begins as usual with a free cocktail party at the Monteleone Hotel on Wednesday, July 19. (Free, but you have to reserve by calling 800-299-0404 between of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.) Many of the authors show up for this, and you get to meet them and sample cocktails. Thursday, the day begins (at the civilized hour of 11:30 a.m. with a series of seminars on creating cocktails, food with cocktails, cocktail history, and more. Then, in the evening, seventeen restaurants present special dinners paired with cocktail lineups. Here are the restaurants involved (you call 800-299-0404 to make reservations): 7 on Fulton Antoine's Arnaud's Bacco's Brennan's Café Adelaide Café Giovanni Court of Two Sisters Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House House of Blues Foundation Room Jackson Restaurant La Cote Brasserie Morton's Steakhouse New Orleans Muriel's Jackson Square Ralph's on the Park Redfish Grill Tujague's The prices range from $55 to $100; most are in the neighborhood of $75, inclusive, and feature guest chefs, cocktail experts, and local food -and-beverage figures. Most of the menus have been published; to look them over click here. Friday, July 21, the format changes a little. In the morning, there are a couple more seminars, followed by lunches that illustrate the points being made by the speakers at the Bourbon House and Brennan's. And there are a couple of parties in the evening. More seminars about all kinds of things on Saturday, with a brunch and a few more events on Sunday. You can buy tickets to the events singly, or packages for $175 to $275 per person. You can book all of this on line here. Usually I'd say I'll see you there, but I won't. (As soon as I get back from the Eat Club cruise, I go right back out again to continue my book tour for another weekend.) But people who've been tell me this is a lot of fun. So go find them and say I said hello. © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com