It’s well into January, and if you’re lucky, you’ve been able to stick to one or all of your New Year’s resolutions.

New Orleans' food scene continued its fast growth in 2012, with a mix of high profile openings and hallmarks of foodie culture that brought new geographic areas and even more national attention. In the New Year, more new openings will ensure that we'll never struggle to find a place to eat. Here's the best of 2012, and what to look for in 2013:

In this Oktoberfest edition of Big Easy Bites, Jennifer Abbott delves into the connection between Louisiana's German heritage, and some of our best sausage.

In New Orleans, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a block party and a benefit.  This weekend’s Beasts & Brass—a food-and-music spectacular to raise money for Boucherie chef Nathanial Zimet—promises to be a little bit of both. Sunday at the Howlin’ Wolf, the community continues to rally in support of Zimet, who was shot three times in May outside his home in an attempted robbery after staying late at the restaurant to prepare food for the next day’s Bayou Boogaloo festival.

First, the good news: Chef Nathanial Zimet’s recovery is going better than anyone could have expected. 

Last week, NoDef received reports that No Reservations' nomad of nosh, Anthony Bourdain, was in town. Our minds quickly produced daydreams that involved the snarky sightseer taking in one of the smoked delectables from those guys that wear the "Hot Meat For Your Mouth" shirts. But they were quickly dashed as Bourdain tweeted that he stopped in to see Susan Spicer, and went for a dish of yakamein before it was off to Cajun Country. The most extensive evidence of the "South Louisiana" episode that has turned up so far is this Deep South Magazine report from Cajun Country, in which Travel Channel's man attends a pig slaughtering, and meets up with David Simon.

Last week, NoDef's Brad Rhines ran down all of the benefits planned for Boucherie Chef Nathanial Zimet, who was shot early on the morning of May 22. Now, so much support has been offered for Zimet that the benefits have their own website. Over at benefit4nathanial.wordpress.com, all of the ways to help with the chef's recovery are neatly compiled. Along with the many dates and times at which we can help him out, the site also provices the valuable information that Zimet is a beast.

For Chef Nathaniel Zimet, a horrible shooting ordeal over the weekend was quickly followed by an outpouring of support. NoDef collected details on the upcoming benefits, and other outlets through which people are helping Zimet recover.

Chef Nathaniel Zimet of Carrollton restaurant, Boucherie, was the victim of an early morning Uptown shooting Sunday, Da Paper reports. Zimet, 32, is still in the hospital, but the injuries are not life threatening. According to New Orleans police logs, Zimet sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and arm. Just before 5:30 a.m. Sunday, the rising New Orleans culinary star was sitting in his pickup truck near the corner of S. Saratoga and Jena Sts. Two men approached him and demanded money. There were no details if a struggle ensued.

2010 was a year when casual dining reasserted itself in NOLA- from street food, to Pho, to star chefs gone dress-down, we loved to eat without airs this year. 2011 will bring us a bit more of the same, conversely some bar food gone fancy, lots of ethnic cuisine, and a few other surprises. The (again, unordered) list y’all...