Utimately, much of New Orleans will be rebuilt -- the struggle now is over who it will be rebuilt for.

Well put. New Orleans has always been a tourist-friendly town, and I know the food and 24-hour party vibe is what draws alot of people. But without the gumbo of a population to occupy it--rich, poor, white, black, crazy, laidback, corrupt and righteous--it's in danger of being just a hotter, muggier, buggier Las Vegas...of the South.

Great post, r2g. I think your photo of the soft shell crab can singlehandedly revive tourism in New Orleans.

I just wanted to qualify what I had written: when I mentioned NOLA "rebounding", I meant in the sense that the restaurants and other businesses were starting to return, rebuild and re-open. A start is a start. I've been reading the various stories that filter up here about what neighborhoods are being revived and which aren't, and how the entire sections still don't have power or water, people living in terrible conditions in trailers on their land, and it is heartbreaking. I pray that the powers that be will take a step back and think about what they are doing, and don't make the city a "Las Vegas of the South". In no way did I mean to minimize what the people have suffered.

Rosie: No worries...I didn't read your post as minimizing what people have suffered. It's clear you had a great time in N.O., and that's what the city is there for. I just worry that people see some business recovery and assume that the city is well on it's way to being the city it was. This is a crucial time in the rebuilding--after the shock, when the real work needs to get done but tends to get bogged down in the political. You even picked up on some of the signs, literally and figuratively, that people misread. That's why I pointed out the underlying message in all of those "HIRING" signs.

Obviously, this is personal, but I also don't want to sound too discouraging (thus the 'dark cloud' caution). It's a pivotal time, which is why it's so important to know about or question what you don't see in New Orleans. As I said...go. Eat. Drink. Soak up that charm you so clearly enjoyed. The city has a good chance of being a better version of itself if we take the "whole world is still watching" approach, like post-9/11, to make sure the recovery and rebuilding is on the up and up.

But, let's not get too off subject here. The FOOD. The food. Next time, make a reservation at Jacques-Imo's, eat a BBQ shrimp po-boy at Liuzza's, face into a piece of grilled pecan pie at the Magnolia Grill, inhale a softshell crab po-boy at Mother's or Acme, and stop in at Willie Mae's Scotch House and order one of everything.

I'll second crrush's comments above, as I didn't mean to be critical of the posters who have enjoyed NO recently and posted all the lovely food pictures. I was only throwing in the caution, based on the dismal reports I've heard from someone who has pretty extensive first-hand knowledge of what's going on outside the French Quarter, that it's always risky to judge a city in its entirety by the way its touristy or well-to-do sections look (recalling, for instance, that Nelson Algren once called Lake Shore Drive "the rouge on the old whore's face" when describing his home town). I realize that most readers here know that, but I fear that Katrina has long since outlived her 15 minutes of fame and not too much is being reported generally on the scandalous conditions facing many residents (or one-time residents) down there.

Amen to both posts. I would suppose that any progress at all is good progress. When folks can go down and enjoy, eat and drink this treasure of a city, perhaps this will fuel more progress. I do intend to go back soon and will bring a copy of this thread with me so that I can enjoy some really chowish stuff, I'll have to be sure and plan carefully. The last time down was an eating and drinking blur (a lot more blur than I would care to mention). Let's all keep this great place in our thoughts and prayers...and keep hoping for all of the best of NOLA to come back stronger than ever.

My sister moved there with her family in 1998, and from their reports, while there are isolated pockets of seeming normalcy, it's mostly pretty depressing. We've been in the habit of visiting that branch of the family at least once, sometimes twice a year since they've been living there--but have been in no hurry to return since Katrina. And we're still not. (Luckily, other family occasions here in Chicago and elsewhere have enabled us to stay close with them.) I post this to second the emotion that while visiting New Orleans these days may be a good deed in that city's hour of need, it doesn't sound to me like much fun. It's not just an awareness of "what people have suffered"--it's a sorrowful acceptance that the place is still largely dysfunctional even after a year, to everyone but the tourists. Although some of the more positive posts on this thread give me encouragement. Maybe when the weather cools off there, and gets frigid here...

crrush wrote:

it's in danger of being just a hotter, muggier, buggier Las Vegas...of the South.

That would be terrible. My wife and I both commented on how NO looked to actually be all that Las Vegas acts like it is. All of the charm that enchanted us during our visit would be gone if all of the small restaurants, drinking holes, and sense of history would be sterilized, repackaged, and supersized. We liked the grit.

Without getting too far off-topic, I want to say that I'm glad others have posted to broaden the focus of my purposefully narrowly post to capture the tragedy, human loss, and suffering that still surrounds New Orleans. I know many people (including many that were supposed to attend the conference that prompted my visit) that thought all NO was still a post-apocalyptic and dangerous wasteland. They were not willing to visit for fear of their safety. I hope that my post helps to minimize those concerns in others, as those concerns would likely only serve to hurt NO.

Like I said, I can't wait to take another visit out there, especially armed with even more recommendations from this board. Hopefully there will be less "HIRING" signs on store windows: but not because business is bad, but rather because the people that do the work are also back in town, not just the businesses owners.

Since this might push the limits of food talk--although this guy is trekking up to D.C. in his FEMA trailer in the hopes of having dinner with the president--I'll redirect it to a new Non-Food Chat thread.

Via "Appetites" (a good New Orleans-centric food blog), I saw this which might be of interest to folks here:

Chefs in Exile wrote:Chefs in Exile will document the personal stories of these chefs: how they survived Katrina and fought heroically to reopen their damaged restaurants-understaffed, with no potable water, and often homeless themselves. In the darkest days following the hurricane, these chefs provided solace through their cooking to family and friends, stranded hotel guests, and relief workers throughout the city and beyond.

NYTimes story today, "In New Orleans, Knives, Forks and Hammers"

Also in the NY Times today (http://www.nytimes.com) they have begun a series on Katrina then and now (as I'm sure many other papers will do as well in the next few days.) The NYT stories include maps and the website features video and audio features, and today at least, they are soliciting stories about favorite dining experiences in NO: http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=29

At the NY Times here you can post your favorite New Orleans food memory: http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=29

There was an article in this week's Trib about Antoine's. It is opened again and apparently is struggling due to the sharply minimized tourist trade, the basis for its pre-Katrina business.

On a positive note, Commander's Palace finally re-opened last weekend.

Times Picayune Article on Commander's

On a sparkling, crisp day two weeks ago, I sat on the banks of the Mississippi with beignet dust on my face and, for the first time since Katrina, felt a real sense of hope and revival in beloved New Orleans. I know I've been one cautioning too much optimism, but I saw more progress, more determination, and more of the old spirit on this last trip than any of the previous.

For anyone who thinks the rebuilding of the Superdome and the Saints big return was a big waste of time and money, I urge you to read Chris Rose's piece "Eternal Dome Nation" (http://www.nola.com/rose/t-p/index.ssf? ... xml&coll=1)

On a food note...along with the Cafe du Monde beignets and coffee, I had a muffaletta at Central Grocery (washed down with the requisite root beer) and a butter-drowned BBQ shrimp po-boy at Liuzza's by the Track. A new upscale grocery has opened in the old Whole Foods store on Esplanade near the fairgrounds, as well as a wine bar (Sip). Acme in the Quarter looked modestly rehabbed--everything looks the same, but with slightly more space. And they're serving outstanding grilled oysters now (I don't remember them being on the old menu, but I know they serve them at the other locations).

Laissez bon temps rouler!

Well, I am taking a little break while on vacation here in the Big Easy. We flew in Friday, our room wasn't ready so we headed out for lunch at Galatoire's. The atmosphere was mostly locals having the martini lunch and talking about the law firm... We loved our Oysters Rockefeller, and crab salad remoulade to start and then Soft Shell Crab and Stuffed Eggplant (stuffed with crab & shrimp) for the entrees.
For dinner on Friday we just had shrimp gumbo & a crab salad at the Polo Lounge which I think shares a kitchen with New Orleans Grill (same hotel, Windsor Court Hotel).
Last night we had an AMAZING meal at Peristyle. The soup was a bisque that had hints of truffle, shallots and leeks. We also had mussles & cockle clams, and a crab salad. The Kobe Beef entree, and Tile fish with a goat cheese ravioli was really special.
Tonight we are off to Commander's Palace! YEAH!

Man, can you say first day of school jitters? Because of the strife I feel reluctantant to discredit a place on its way back. I still feel nervous from the newbie staff, I must dig through my luggage for a xanax!
Our server offered us our bottle of Premier Cru Chassagne Montrachet, "I offered it to the other table and poured some, what should I do? Oh, and they really liked it!" We laughed vehimently! We did overhear the other table rave about the wine but, really!
But after waiting so long and seeing the staff manuever about like the worker bees of a hive trying really hard to do the right thing, we just couldn't complain.
Clearly there are some growing pains / recuperation pains. The food was really good, but I wish I could have tasted our entrees hot. We had the three soups (Turtle, Gumbo & soup du jour)and Shrimp and Tasso Henican, our entrees were pecan crusted gulf fish and shrimp "Haute Creole". The Pecan Encrusted Gulf Fish was better.
We were instructed by someone in the know, to ask fo the tree room, well it is the garden room. I liked that you had to walk through the entire restaurant to get to it, we walked through the kitchen on our way out, which used to be the only way to get to it. The energy in the main dining room was more calm.

Tomorrow we go to a four hour cooking class in the afternoon!

Yes, we must schedule beignets, and way more time at the gym working out! How is anyone thin in this town????

I will describe in detail in the "shopping & cooking chat" more about this! But you might miss this if you are looking to know about New Orleans post-Katrina. THIS IS A DEFINITE MUST!

We took a half day cooking class with New Orleans Cooking Experience.
WOW! Frank Brigtsen is one of their mentors and they have guest chefs teach occassionally. Chiqui, the chef who taught our class was phenomenal.
It was everything I could want and more. And it was taught in the fabulous kitchen of an historic bed and breakfast which is just a couple minutes past the French Quarter. We had a class for the four of us. Chiqui had me make a roux.

New Orleans Cooking Experience
Judy Jurisich
504/945-9104
866/500-NOCE (toll free)
2275 Bayou Road
New Orleans, LA 70119

New Orleans Dec. 28, 2006 - Jan. 1, 2007

In light of the apparent post-Katrina interest here on these boards, I thought I would share my experiences there last weekend. I stuck to the Warehouse District, French Quarter, Garden District and Business District, so my experiences and observances are limited to those areas. Although there are plenty of establishments open for business, it is impossible not to notice the empty real estate and snail's-pace construction on certain restaurants and hotels that seem ambivalent about re-opening. Granted, there are larger issues at work - a diminished work force for instance (more on that later), but this is still a city that's fighting to come back to its former self. I had dinner with a resident who stayed through Katrina; she warned me about the dangers of the "just desperate" people in certain pockets of the city. My experience (albeit limited) supported her warning. On a few occasions, some panhandlers seemed determined and menacing enough to follow me for blocks before giving up on trying to get money. However, aside from those relatively seldom occasions, I felt perfectly safe, and at times, it was impossible not to feel safe considering that my party was the only one on the streets during certain weekday daylight hours. (By the end of the weekend, the French Quarter area filled up considerably as the Sugar Bowl crowd was filing into the city.)

I would not hesitate to visit N.O., though, even though it is currently a shadow of its former self. For starters, it could use the tourist dollars. Furthermore, there are too many open and thriving eating and drinking locales churning out great food not to visit just because of some old hurricane. Here are some of my experiences.

Day One: Herbsaint and August

On a Thursday night, Herbsaint was quite busy. My meal was good, even excellent, but I did not think that there was necessarily anything about this particular restaurant that was special to New Orleans. In fact, I think if you went to sleep and Peter Pan entered your bedroom in the middle of the night and flew you off to Herbsaint, when you opened your eyes, you could not tell Peter where you were at. It is best described as a solid, urban restaurant, the likes of which every large city has, and is glad to have. If I were a local, I'd probably dine here more often, but it was a bit of a letdown on my first night in N.O.

We finished the night with a drink and dessert at August, John Besh's restaurant. Even though it was inching towards closing time, it was crowded. I wish I had a picture of the rum cake with cream cheese frosting I had, and all the white chocolate shavings it was garnished with, but after so many martinis, you forget about taking pictures. It was a fabulous dessert.

Day Two: Parasol's Bar (Po'Boys) and Cochon

As I was touring the Garden District, I had lunch at Parasol's Bar, in the Irish Channel/Lower Garden District area. They specialize in the roast beef Po Boys and that's what I had. For seven dollars, you received a monster sized sandwich which contained extremely tender, highly seasoned beef, "dressed" with lettuce, tomato, mayo and pickle. This is an LTH-kind of a place. You wouldn't necessarily think that this dive-bar served food unless you were told that in advance. At 11:30 a.m., there were lots of old seadogs at the bar, smoking and nursing a shot with a beer chaser.



Cochon was, far and away, my favorite restaurant during my short sojourn in N.O. The chef/owner here is Donald Link, who also is the chef/co-owner of Herbsaint. Cochon is Chef Link's homage to the Southern Lousiana cooking he grew up on, which means a lot of artery-clogging stuff. I was there with a large group, and it was the sort of thing where the dishes were ordered in advance and kept coming out of the kitchen. The standouts: the Boudin balls, a cajun version of arancini; and the namesake cochon and garlicky, wood-fired baked oysters; others loved the head cheese and chicken livers.

(Unfortunately, I was too busy eatin' and drinkin' to photograph the food.)

Day Three: Cafe Du Monde - Cafe And Beignets and Upperline

Upon approach, this felt like the obligatory tourist stop:



Lots of rowdy tourists, located in the main strip in the French Quarter. This was not the place where I wanted to linger long. Luckily, the cafe au lait hit the spot and the beignets were divine:



Despite its notoriety on the tourist circuit, I thought Cafe du Monde's beignets, light and pillowy in texture, far exceeded another French Quarter chain, Cafe Beignet, which I visited on Day 4. Those beignets were too crisp on the outside and too chewy on the inside for me.

Dinner that night was at Upperline, a genteel, sort of Southern place in the Garden District. The restaurant, an institution, was divided into several rooms which gave you the impression that you were eating in someone's house. The only option (and not a bad one) was a four course meal for $40.00. Typical of these sort of prix fixe menus, you had the choice of several options per course. As one New Orleans transplant says, to "kick things up a notch," you can add lump crab to any dish you ordered. Every course ordered at the table was extremely plentiful and top-notch and prepared perfectly - from the mundane, such as filet mignon, to the local specialty, Cane River Country River Shrimp, to the delicious desserts. The Gumbo, offered as a course, was by far, the best gumbo I had in New Orleans; swampy, spicy goodness. All in all, one of the best meals I've had since the night before, which is to say at Cochon. Really good eats in New Orleans.

As with any good restaurant, it was a good omen at Upperline that the owner appeared at our table to check in with us. Of course, as with any semi-age conscious person, her photo on Upperline's website is about twenty years outdated, but I appreciate the fact that she's there, doing her thing, as opposed to, say, throwing down challenges upon unsuspecting potential Food Network subjects.

Day Four: New Years' Eve

As mentioned above, this day began with beignets also. Here was where I really experienced the diminished workforce due to Katrina. While every single bar, restaurant and cafe I frequented seemed to be stretching its existing workers thin, Cafe Beignet was no exception. It had a lone counter woman, who was responsible for making every single cafe au lait and coffee ordered, making drip coffee, refilling the thermal carafes with more drip coffee, filling pastry orders and taking payment. The line was out the door because they were clearly short-staffed. Imagine if Starbucks had to operate like this? Throughout N.O., I heard several hospitality industry workers grumble about the long hours due to the general short-"staffedness" of most establishments. It was definitely at its worst New Years' Eve and Day, undoubtedly when many workers took days off or called in.

Having absolutely no clue what to do for the big New Year's Eve, some friends graciously planned a last-minute four-course revillon at a BYOB restaurant called "Eat!." in the French Quarter. The theory was that places not serving alcohol would not be filled on New Year's Eve. My friends were right, and Eat! accommodated 15 of us at the last minute. Here's where the general quality of the restaurant scene in New Orleans shined. I'm accustomed to Chicago (and most other places) where set New Year's Eve dinners are bound to be disappointments, after-thoughts, and overpriced, the restaurants figuring that they'll still come out ahead and everyone's too damn drunk to care.

For $40, excluding tax and tip, this little hole-in-the-wall in New Orleans gave us excellently-prepared food for the money and didn't call in the second-string kitchen lineup to hobble together a half-assed dinner. We chose from a gumbo or sausage and head cheese for a first course, a salad for a second, a shrimp pasta, braised short rib, or pork loin for a third, and bread pudding or cake for dessert. The only course that wasn't too good was dessert, but for $40 on New Year's Eve, I'm not complaining.

Days Two, Three, Four and Five: The Carousel Lounge in the Hotel Monteleone

Don't ask me how I ended up here four times in five days. Maybe I like the whirly bar, which spun two out of my four visits. Or the old school, no-nonsense bartenders. Or the central location. But you could do a lot worse, I think, for a drink in N.O.

The Carousel Lounge
Hotel Monteleone

YourPalWill wrote:Camelia Grill has not reopened and is reportedly being sold. I'm not sure what its future holds. If it doesn't return in its present form, I will always praise it as the first place I ever at a chili omelet.

Just returned from my second meal at Camellia Grill since it changed hands, and am happy to report that this New Orleans classic is actually in better shape than it was before Katrina.

I had been hesitant to discuss Camellia on this board for the same reason that I became somewhat hesitant to eat there during the last five or so years under the old owners - namely a rather obvious (to myself and others) decline in the upkeep & cleanliness of the place. The new owners have clearly turned that around, and Camillia is back in prime form.

Menu-wise, I didn't notice any changes from the pre-Katrina days, and the food is just as good as ever. I'd have to say that in this case the ownership change was a good thing.

The Camellia Grill
626 S Carrollton Ave.
New Orleans, LA

ChiNOLA wrote:

YourPalWill wrote:Camelia Grill has not reopened and is reportedly being sold. I'm not sure what its future holds. If it doesn't return in its present form, I will always praise it as the first place I ever at a chili omelet.

Just returned from my second meal at Camellia Grill since it changed hands, and am happy to report that this New Orleans classic is actually in better shape than it was before Katrina.


Menu-wise, I didn't notice any changes from the pre-Katrina days, and the food is just as good as ever. I'd have to say that in this case the ownership change was a good thing.

The Camellia Grill
626 S Carrollton Ave.
New Orleans, LA

Have you ever tried the Spanish Omelet? Or the Half Chili/Half Spanish Omelet? The Spanish Sauce at the Camelia Grill is, or was, the most underrated item on the menu. Three years of post drinking at the camelia grill made law school bearable!! BTW if anyone is able to recreate their whipped omeletes at home please let me in on the trick. I have tried every kind of blender and every kind of additive in the egg mixture and i still cant get it to look the same way. probably because my grill isnt hot enough.

iblock9 wrote:Have you ever tried the Spanish Omelet? Or the Half Chili/Half Spanish Omelet? The Spanish Sauce at the Camelia Grill is, or was, the most underrated item on the menu. Three years of post drinking at the camelia grill made law school bearable!!

I went back tonight for dinner (Sunday dining options during the summer are somewhat limited) & looked for the Spanish Omelet. Didn't see it on the menu, but they did have a "Mexican" Omelet, is this what you were referring to? I didn't try it as I had a fantastic omelet with lump crab and brie at Dante's Kitchen for brunch a few hours earlier.

HMMM. I live in New Orleans in the early/mid-90s and i am pretty sure it was called Spanish Sauce. I was unable to find the menu online, but i didnt search very hard. Maybe its no longer on the menu? Im gonna call some of my buddys this week to see whats so.