Food writer's new book underscores how New Orleans restaurants have changed since pandemic

What she says: "I've had the real delight and privilege of talking to so many chefs and restaurants since the pandemic, and half the restaurants in the book were not around before 2020," D'Addono tells Axios New Orleans.

• Through D'Addono's work at Gambit in particular, she says, she's had "the chance to really hear about some of these wonderful stories and what these folks have gone through."

The latest: D'Addono's book, "City Eats: New Orleans," which is out now through HarperCollins imprint Cider Mill Press, collects short profiles on dozens of New Orleans restaurants and pairs them with a recipe from their chefs.

• To celebrate the release, D'Addono is hosting monthly happy hours through the end of the year. She's posting event details to her Instagram.
• The next will be at the Hermes Bar on Aug. 21 with Antoine's Restaurant's Lisa Blount.

Zoom in: So many of the stories D'Addono collected show how much America itself has changed in the past five years, from the Black Lives Matter movement to pop-ups becoming permanent.

• One of those stories, from Julio Machado, formerly of Mucho Mas, shows "the grit, the gumption and the heart" of what it takes to make a restaurant work, she says.
• Machado was forced out of his native Venezuela, he tells D'Addono, and had to start over in the U.S.
• "He started as a dishwasher and worked his way up and now has his own Venezuelan restaurant [Origen], which is what he really wanted," she says.

What's next: If you buy the book through D'Addono's website, she says, she'll sign it before delivery.