You're listed to Beyond Bourbon Street, an insider's guide to New Orleans.

Beyond Bourbon Street is the podcast where we explore the food, music, culture, places, and people that make New Orleans unique.

Whether you are planning a trip, living in New Orleans, or simply wanting a taste of the

Crescent City from wherever you are, you've come to the right place.

And now, your host, Mark Bologna.

Hey, y'all. This is Mark. Welcome to episode 245. Today's show is all about St. Rock Market. It's a food hall and kind of so much more than that. It's almost a community center in the St. Rock neighborhood on St. Claude Avenue, and we're going to get into that. The last show is all about a traditional jazz camp here in New Orleans. If you missed it, go back and give it a listen. I think you'll enjoy it. Before we jump in, let me talk about the people that make the show possible. Today's episode is sponsored by our Patreon supporters. If you love the podcast, the Facebook group, and the work I'm doing, please consider becoming a monthly supporter. Find out more at patreon.com slash Beyond Bourbon S. ST. For the price of a cup of coffee or a beer,

you can help me continue to share my lens in New Orleans with you. If you join at the $10 level or above,

we'll mention you on the show. Now let's jump into today's topic. My guest has been a vendor at the

St. Rock Market since its 2015 reopening, and when the historic food hall was on the brink of closing in 2023, he refused to let it die.

Today he runs the whole operation.

150-year-old New Orleans landmark, home to 12 independent vendors, serving everything from

Gulf oysters to Egyptian falafel to Burmese noodles, all under one roof on St. Claude Avenue.

Welcome to the podcast, Kevin Pito. How are you? Hey, how's it going? Great thing. It's been a while. It has been a long time. Yes. It's, the last time I was on the show was when? It was 2019. September 2019. So that's before COVID. That's before the world changed. Yeah, you were just about to open Coast Roast or CR coffee now over on Magazine Street.

Yes, yes, yes. We opened, uh, we opened, yes, our location on Magazine Street, uh,

CR over on, like, near Louisiana on magazine. We opened there in October of 2019. And so I was

on the show in September of 2019. So I must have been teasing that the whole time.

Yeah, I'm sure.

When I was coming to do this, I mean, I remember doing the podcast with you, I would have guessed it would have been right after COVID or 2021 or something.

I didn't realize it was that far back.

It was a long time ago.

So now I want to go back and listen to it.

So we'll link it in the show notes.

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