by Mary-Devon Dupuy

Jazz Fest has come and gone, but if you spent most of your time eating po-boys and Crawfish Monica and missed a good boil, there's another chance to go get your fix at UNO’s inaugural Crawfish Mambo Cook-Off this Saturday at the UNO Lakefront Campus.

The University's alumni association is putting on the cook off, a competition between up to 35 pre registered teams of expert boilers. Executive Director of the Alumni Association, Pam Meyers, spoke with NoDef about the inaugural event.

“We’ve got 20 preregistered teams, with everyone from restaurants to beginners to local celebrity-types who claim to boil the best crawfish,” she said.

Teams will be competing for the esteemed title, “Crawish Mambo Boiling Champion,” so they’ll bring their a-game to the lake. Official judging begins at 1pm, but the first batch will be ready to serve by 11. Feel free to arrive early and hungry.

The winner will be judged by a celebrity panel, but there will also be a category for the crowd favorite. On the panel there will be two food critics, Alexander Hancock with Eater Nola and Leslie Almeida of Nola Eats. Alum DJ Soul Sister and the president of the university will also be judging potential champions.

Tickets are $15 (plus a $2.50 processing fee) if you order them online and $20 at the gate. Children under 6 get in free, and UNO is going to provide free parking on campus. It’s a lot cheaper than Jazz Fest, you can park safely and legally, and the lineup is pretty impressive.

The UNO Jazz Allstars start off the day, followed by Mia Borders, Brass-A-Holics “Gogo Brass Funk” Band, Paul Sanchez and the Rolling Road Show, Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. & the Zydeco Twisters, and finally, Bonerama closes the fest with their set from 5:45-7pm. If you’re still not sold, you should know that all the proceeds from the event will benefit students.

“The money goes to helping student success in things like professional development, mentoring, and recruiting students,” Meyers told us.

Meyers really believes in the event and hopes that this will be the first of many.

“We think we’ve got such a great event, we are trying to put a stake in the ground and make this a new New Orleans festival tradition," she said. "Six bands, all you can eat crawfish, you really can’t go wrong.”