That Katreen

Sunday, December 11: A barker howls at nobody outside Coyote Ugly. Folks sit down to bread bowls behind a guarded fence around a makeshift federal facility near the French Quarter riverfront. “Now Hiring” and “Now Open” banners hang off trinket shops and eateries. At Café Du Monde, the beignets are as messy as ever with powdered sugar, the cafe au lait just as milky and the Vietnamese servers as efficient and surly. It is sunny and in the 60’s in New Orleans. The open-air space is half-filled, locals mixed with transplanted workers and their families.

Kristen and I take a drive north from the Quarter and then west, past eye-high piles of debris and the ghostly frames of folks’ former homes, over the London Avenue Canal at the spot where the levee broke. St. Roch’s Market in the Bywater is boarded up. It was known for its po’boys. At the marina in West End, the lighthouse has been tipped on its side into Lake Pontchartrain. Joe’s Crab Shack, a sprawling chain joint jutting over the shoreline, has been chewed like a cob of corn.

Across the 17th Street Canal, Metairie is nearly fine as can be. The eastern levee burst, not the west. We eat lunch at Deanie’s in Bucktown, a lakefront neighborhood stuffed to the gills with seafood shacks. The after-church crowd packs the place. The servers deliver mountains of fried soft-shell crab, oysters, shrimp, catfish, crawfish dressing balls; po’boys so large you have to cradle them like a child; altitudinously challenging onion-ring piles. Our waiter quotes Orwell and pushes lemon meringue pie. He won’t tell me what’s in the barbecued shrimp, but the rich, red sludge in the pan shows chives and scallions and tastes of pickled lemon. The shrimp are likened unto langoustines, they’re so large. This is the South – order one giant soda, they bring you two. The amuse bouche has been a bowl of boiled russet potatoes, steaming and mildly garlicky.  Kristen describes her diet during the evacuation: “Cookies and Klonopin. It’s a great combination.” Though Deanie's was on the dry side of the levee, the electricity outtage and a month's closure made the post-storm clean-up no picnic. "You don't want to be there when the catfish liquifies..," our waiter remarks.

On Veteran’s Boulevard, we pick up a hitchhiker. His name is Salvatore Sicarelli. He is 89 years old. He was once in the ice business, he tells us. His father delivered blocks of ice to restaurants in a cart pulled by a mule. He is going back to Gentilly Terrace where his house was destroyed but his wife and he are living in an upstairs apartment rent-free. “I got no gas, no hot water, no heat, no electricity, but I have two blankets and a comforter,” he says. “That Katreen, she’s a dirty girl. She put a lot of people in a lot of trouble.”

Comments

[Cathy M. Hultgren]

Thanks for the great story. I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and we also have lost so many grand old restaurants here. Haven't been back to New Orleans yet, but we will soon.

[Donna Marino Wilkins]

Thanks for the terrific postings...so interesting...I'm looking forward to your reports in the days ahead!

[Michael Corrigan]

My wife and I were there last Easter and met so many wonderful people. Our Hearts go out them. How about the Bon Ton Across from the St.James (where we stayed) and Brennans? (Banannas Foster!)
Check out Cooters down by Tulane. It is - was - right on the river. Great beer selection and all the prereqresite fried goodies.

[Ken K from Philadelphia, PA]

Your writing is wonderful and so brings me back down to earth and realizing how hard life is for some of us. I am very proud of you Betsy. Years ago I met Paul Prudhomme in New York City who when signing my menu implied that good food is one of three ingredients to making a happy life. Please thank all of the restaurant owners and workers for being there. Be well.

[Jack Blanchard]

Wonderful reporting, it shows true optimism in the face of unimaginable horror. If anything magnifies the spirit of New Orleans and its people it's their love of and respect for food, and eating well. God bless the people of New Orleans and their great city. It, and they, will not only survive, but will flourish and prevail.

AMDG

[steve n.]

Glad to learn N.O. is making some progress on the culinary front. People going out need to be patient, it's not the same place, but it will come back. Have faith!

[karim donayre]

i can't even begin to tell you how much your stories are touching me..i have been back & am spending x-mas in virginia...for now...i cannot wait to get back HOME...thank you for reminding me how important it is for us to support the lovely city of new orleans by just simply being there...thank you!
i want to come home

[Irene Kohn]

Thank you so much, Betsy Andrews, for your insightful and fabulously interesting blogs on the New Orleans restaurant industry and your observations in general. I think you've done more to ensure New Orleans's recovery than has FEMA! Keep 'em coming!

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