LDEI New OrleansEvery event is an opportunity to connect with our community and to support our mission. Thank you for making our philanthropic work possible!
New Orleans knows how to turn up the heat. Join us for Hot Dame!, an evening at NOCHI that starts with a cocktail and ends with a bottle of hot sauce you made with your own two hands.
Dame Haera Shin will share her story and show us how to build the welcome cocktail featuring Louisiana Pepper Exchange’s green jalapeño puree. She’ll talk about her new cocktail book, Korean Cocktails, and sign copies before the main event: a make-your-own hot sauce adventure led by the Louisiana Pepper Exchange team. Pick your peppers, build your blend and take your creation home!
📍 New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI)
725 Howard Avenue • New Orleans
🗓️ Wednesday, November 18, 2026
⏰ 6 PM - 8 PM
🎟️ $45 per person
This program is open to Dames + Friends
🍽️ Welcome cocktail and hot sauce included
Dame Haera Shin
Haera Shin is a New Orleans Dame and the author of Korean Cocktails: From Traditional Spirits to Modern Drinks. She spent the past seven years as beverage director for the Momofuku restaurant group and, before that, was bar manager at Zuma, an acclaimed high-end Japanese izakaya in New York City. Now based in New Orleans, she oversees the bar program at The Columns and is preparing to open her first bar next year.
Louisiana Pepper Exchange
Founded in 2010 by Chris White, Louisiana Pepper Exchange is a New Orleans pepper company that works directly with small farmers to bring in more than 20 varieties of peppers. It turns them into mash, purees, and powders for chefs, bartenders, and food makers. Traceable from farm to kitchen, its peppers show up in everything from restaurant hot sauces to national brands, and its purees are now available to home cooks, too.
Ticket proceeds directly support the programs, grants, and community initiatives of Les Dames d’Escoffier New Orleans, including our Leading from the Heart Awards.
Members: Join us for an afternoon of giving back at Second Harvest Food Bank, where we’ll help pack Senior Boxes for older adults in our community.
Second Harvest’s Senior Box Program provides monthly food boxes to eligible community members age 60 and older who are facing hunger. Boxes include nutritious pantry staples such as canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, beans, cereal, pasta, shelf-stable milk and canned meat, along with cheese and fresh produce.
📍 Second Harvest Food Bank
700 Edwards Ave. • New Orleans, LA 70123
🗓️ Monday, November 23, 2026
⏰ 1 PM - 3 PM
🎟️ Free
Space is limited to 8 volunteers, so please RSVP to reserve your spot.
Please note: Confirmed volunteers will need to provide additional information directly to Second Harvest before the volunteer shift. We’ll send the required link or QR code, along with details about attire, parking and other day-of logistics, once your participation is confirmed.
By RSVPing for this event, I grant Second Harvest Food Bank, LDEI New Orleans, and its legal representatives permission to take and use photographs and video recordings of me at the event. These images may be used in any media format for promotional, marketing, or advertising purposes without compensation or prior approval.
Women with at least five years of food, beverage, or hospitality experience welcome to apply!
Chapter fundraising helps fund our annual Leading from the Heart Award grants.
📍 Good Catch Thai
828 Gravier St • New Orleans, LA 70112
🗓️ Wednesday, November 4, 2026
⏰ 6 PM - 8 PM
🎟️ $65 per person
🍽️ Includes one welcome cocktail/mocktail, multi-course, family-style Thai dinner & dessert
Our Global Culinary Initiative (GCI) dinners offer Dames a chance to gather around the table and explore global flavors at local restaurants. Our next dinner takes us to Thailand by way of Good Catch Thai Urban Bistro.
Chef/owner Aom Srisuk’s cooking celebrates authentic Thai flavors and makes beautiful use of Louisiana’s Gulf seafood. Chef Aom grew up in Ayutthaya, Thailand, learning to cook in her grandmother’s kitchen before going on to own restaurants in Thailand and, eventually, New Orleans. Good Catch recently earned the prestigious Thai SELECT 1-Star certification from Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce, recognizing its authentic Thai cuisine, quality and hospitality.
Come hungry — and curious — for a multi-course dinner designed for sharing.