Po-Boy Views

I Restauranti Morti or Dead Cafés

March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic. On March 15, 2020, states began to implement shutdowns in order to prevent the spread. The shutdowns included schools, commerce, the service industry, trade, and other retail businesses considered “inessential”. About two years later, one million Americans were dead and so was food and beverage (“from farm to tombstone”, as they say). In the country in general and in New Orleans specifically, the thin line between effort and reward was quickly erased.

Immediately, if not sooner, the government began a program called the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, The American Rescue Plan Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which put money into the pockets of workers affected by not having any work to go to. Forty-three agencies took part in giving nearly $4 trillion to keep folks in food, clothing, and shelter. The Paycheck Protection Program gave away no-cost loans to “essential” businesses that needed to remain open so that folks could spend that gravy from the government train. Unfortunately, with the pandemic worldwide, the supply chain came off the rails and “essential” goods and services came to a standstill along with wholesale household, food, electronic, and repair supplies. Rent, mortgage, insurance, and utility bills did keep coming and restaurants in New Orleans fell like circus clowns in a mud pool rope-pulling contest.

Just when light appeared at the end of a long dark tunnel, along came Hurricane Ida and every eatery ate dirt. Multiple closings (and re-openings) during erratic/sporadic COVID lockdown periods took a financial toll everywhere. Some restaurants never got back to their knees, let alone their feet. As one owner put it, “I’ve reopened, shut down, reopened, and shut down again and lost entire inventories and staff four times, and (sigh) I just can’t do it anymore. I’m throwing in the towel.”

Some managed to hang on for six or eight months. However, many eateries are not many payrolls away from bankruptcy. Many an entrepreneur will tell you that the best way to go broke is to open a restaurant. The mortality rate is one of the highest of endeavors. For large and (especially) small eateries, the prognosis was obvious: if the supply chain, labor shortages, pandemic restrictions, electrical outages, and spotty trash pickups didn’t get you, the hurricane (Ida) will take the grim and ironic humor (the usual attitude of a New Orleanian, if there ever was one) out of desperate and hopeless situations. We watched some of our favorite restaurants’ tail lights gleam and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house; some just walked and others ran away. One owner said it was like watching your childhood dreams die. Yes, it was that bad.

People who did not experience Katrina do not get visceral feelings when that subject comes up. Likewise, "Newer" Orleanians will not wax nostalgic when someone plays that "ain’t dere no more" game: Rosedale, Cake Café, Meauxbar, Emeril’s Delmonico, Upperline, Arrow Café, or Saint Charles Tavern.

Some stalwarts tried comebacks. L’il Dizzy’s Café on Esplanade died and was reborn, as was Couvant. Kebab on Saint Claude made a go with new ownership. Mimi’s in the Marigny is still MIA. The last Semolina finally bit the dust. Nine Roses in the Quarter called it quits on the Eastbank. Nacho Mama’s, Sammy’s, Polly’s, The Bordeaux, The Standard. And you know more than I do, which isn’t where it was and ought to be. Kingfish is just gaining ground after its hiatus. Is Mahoney’s open yet? It’s a shame, sad, and downright unfair for this to happen to us. As they say: “It ain’t ought to be like this; it’s like being erased.”

I’ve been in New Orleans on and off over 40 years and I can count on all the fingers of the Saints Cheer Krewe how many businesses that served my soul, spirit, and appetite have shut down, closed, but still remain a topic of conversation when like minded friends gather over a glass and recount the food that made us fall in love again and again (and again) with New Orleans.

The good news is that eateries are like phoenixes that rise from ashes, newly transformed for the new days here and ahead. Wide-eyed innocents and businesssavvy veterans will take that “FOR RENT” sign down, add a coat of fresh paint, and open a new venture that will face all of the time-worn challenges of their predecessors with the same faith and optimism: Bisutoro, Pomelo, Queen Trini-Lis, Cru, Jamaican Jerk House, Leo’s Bakery, Zee’s Pizzeria, and Margot’s all vying for a place in your favor, attention, and love. And what’s not to love?

The sad news is that there will never be another K-Paul’s Restaurant, and sadder still is that any of our most welcome newbies will look at us as if we are some kind of weird to be obsessed with recalling flavors and foods that have passed into the otherworld of gestation and olfactory memory. Someday, someone will open a restaurant called Orpheus that will bring back those memorable dishes. Do you remember Buster Holmes’ red beans, Kolb’s sauerbraten, Morrison’s deluxe cornbread pecan dressing, the stuffed pepper and potato salad that came with the chicken platter at Chez Helene, the bread pudding with whiskey sauce at the Bon Ton Café? What was the name of that little place in the French Quarter that served a fried oyster and roast beef with gravy combo po-boy and called it a Bear Sandwich, or what was that joint on Broad Street that deep-fried (breaded) their dressed po-boy? You see what I started?

Three things I’ve learned: cherish (and support) your favorite eateries for they also may fade someday, try new places to add more favorites to your memories, and The Wu Tang Clan ain’t nuthin’ to @#$%&!* with.