There's nothing particularly smart or clever about eating red beans & rice - it's a culinary norm in New Orleans.  The thing is to find the best red beans and that's the challenge.  My mother-in-law taught me to make beans with a big Honey Baked Ham bone (did you know you can buy them from their retail stores?) tucked into the beans and seasonings burbling away on the stove.  Some cooks use "pickle meat," some sneak in "Liquid Smoke," and I finally settled on a recipe that incorporates a bit of what I was taught and my own additions like ham stock, and shhhhh, just a bit of Bacon Salt (yes, it really exists and is wonderful; Kosher too - don't ask).  That said, I like eating red beans in local restaurants too.  Liberty's Kitchen, a do-good enterprise on Broad Street that offers life and culinary lessons to at-risk youth, cooks up some seriously good red beans. Creamy, meaty, smoky - the beans meet all requirements for soul satisfaction, and then those cooks "gild the lily" by setting a giant fluffy biscuit on the plate.  What for you ask?  Oh my, that biscuit is perfect for sopping up the juices you didn't already scoop up.  Is it odd to dream about beans and rice, just for the biscuit?  I didn't think so.