[Nola] French Quarter

i haven't been, but a buddy and i struck up a conversation with a man saturday night who lives there.... he was sayin how most of downtown is in pretty good shape. the bars and hotels are open and people are going back. i've had friends who went for jazzfest and they had a blast.

it's a lot of the outlaying areas that are in awful shape.

 

My business partner just got back. He went this weekend. He took his son to Louisiana because he's volunteering through some non-profit to clean out homes there.

He said the French Quarter is functioning. Room rates aren't nearly as low as you'd think. There was a convention there this past weekend, and they had a hard time finding a room. He said it smells bad. More so than normal. Trash is still piled up downtown.

He said the area east of downtown (9th ward) is an absolute nightmare. The visual he gave was, imagine an area similar to the area west of 610 towards katy all the way to Highway 6....south to Westheimer...north to Little York...COMPLETELY GONE. homes, businesses, everything. gone. drive down streets and cars are still turned over on top of homes. cars are parked underneath overpasses. about 1 out of ever 200 homes has a FEMA trailer parked in front...but everyone else is gone. there's no activity to speak of. and nothing to go back to. and it's been 10 months. His son was told that the homes they would be going into were homes where no one had been inside in 10 months.

I don't think people grasp the reality of this.

 

according to my friend, outlying means only about 3 miles east of downtown. that's where the 9th ward was.

 

Been several times since Katrina. Still functioning, although there are a whole lot less people.

And Max is right. We toured the vast majority of the city and the destruction is still intense.

 

Was considering going there for my birthday again this summer like I did last year, however reconsdiering after talking to my dad. He occasionally travels there for work, his downtown office, he said, had to hire police to stand outside because several people had been mugged right outside in broad daylight.

I know New Orleans was never exactly the safest city in the world, I used to call it home after all, but I think I will wait a few more years rather than putting myself and my girlfriend in that situation.

 

Just came back from there yesterday after spending a long weekend at the W next to Harrah's. I also went for this past Mardi Gras.
I go to Nola at least twice a year for.....well.....as long as I can remember, and other than the messages on the t-shirts for sale in the quarter, I couldn't tell one single difference in the French Quarter from any other time I've been there. This past Mardi Gras did see a bit fewer people, but this past weekend looked like any other summer weekend in the quarter. Someone mentioned the smell......unfortunately, the quarter always stinks in the summer. I've smelled it worse......but only when the temps were even higher.

There also seems to be quite a bit more people in the city now since I was there at Mardi Gras. Magazine street was hopping with life all the way out towards where it ends. Street cars were running again as well, but not everywhere. My wife sent me an e-mail less than an hour ago that stated that she tried to book our hotel rooms for next year's Mardi Gras, and NONE of the places we like to stay at had availability. We've NEVER encountered this so early in the year. Property values in the Garden district are higher now than they were before the storm. New Orleans is marching steadily onward. Before I get to some of the bad stuff, let me just say one thing: If you like French type dining, I had perhaps the most memorable meal I've ever had this past weekend. The hand-made potato gnocchi tossed with crabmeat and truffle and the Moroccan-spiced duck with soft polenta at Restaurant August are two of the finest things I've ever put in my mouth. But I digress.

Now, despite the progress, there is still a lot of work to be done. They were in the process of renovating the super dome this past weekend, and we saw them replacing some of the street car electrical lines on St. Charles. There are still hundreds of cars abandoned all over the city, and we saw no less than two or three dozen car carriers hauling brown and dirty vehicles towards Houston (and I guess, points beyond). There are still a few buildings in the CBD with windows boarded up (and I'm talking business towers), but all indications were that from Tulane all the way to Faubourg Marigny and up to Rampart that part of the city will have completely returned by Autumn.

Those are the positive observations; unfortunately, there's a lot of negative too. We did drive out to the ninth ward and beyond (past Chalmette) as we did during Mardi Gras and the destruction is just unreal. We drove more than 17 miles past the city and there was nothing but mile after mile of destroyed neighborhoods. Cleanup was in progress, but you have to understand that these areas were just devastated whereas the the areas surrounding the quarter simply were not. There are thousands of FEMA trailers all throughout there, and it appeared that at least five or six times as many of them were occupied now (when only a few seemed to be occupied during Mardi Gras)--I'd say trailer occupancy was approaching 100% now, but I saw a LOT more destroyed homes than trailers. Electricity was back on in a few places, but in many others, there was still nothing. In many ways, it looks worse now than it did during Mardi Gras because so much stuff had been hauled out of houses to the street, and in other places, the additional months of neglect had taken their toll. Still, there were a few houses here and there that someone had obviously lovingly restored. Seeing that was somewhat bittersweet.........because it's awfully easy to take the cynical look that some of the areas truly need the fresh start that only a bulldozer can bring. These are mostly poor or working class neighborhoods; prior to the storm, many of the residents needed assistance to just survive, so they'll need even more now. You can tell that the most progress in these areas is being made where the economics demand it. There are a few chemical plants/refineries out there, and you can tell that neighborhoods where the workers live are the ones that are coming back the quickest. They have a long road ahead of them, and it can only be true that not ALL of the residents of these areas will return. To many, this area was their home, but I've been through there before, and you just know that quite a few of the people there were just surviving........nothing more. Not much good could ever come out of a storm like that.......maybe a few heros, and for others........perhaps a fresh start. Outside of the New Orleans that most people know......in the places where the average Joe actually lived..........there's still a lot of work to be done.

 

Ditto what Pole said. I was there about 3 weeks ago for a bachlor party and the French Quarter was rockin and packed with people. Since this is where NO gets most of it's income you knew they would fix this area first.

If you decide to venture out past the French Quarter you will see the damage that has been done, such as the water line on all buildings where the flooding took place.

 

Haven't been to Palace since last year, but I miss me some Oyster pan roast. Went to K Paul's over Mardi Gras, and it was good.......but not great. If those places are up your alley, you might consider Bon Ton. It's a bit more homey (red check tablecloths, old waitresses in polyester unifroms with nametags), but the food is stellar. Make sure you get the crab meat au gratin....and the softshell crabs don't suck either. My wife raves about the friend oysters. Also, if you have a car, Jacque Imo's is a lot of fun, but it can be tough to get a table.....fortunately, there is a bar next door whose only business is to give people waiting for a table a place to wait. We went there Saturday night. Also, I'd definitely recommend La Boulangerie for breakfast one morning. We always drive out to the one on Magazine, but it appears that there is one much closer to the quarter on St. Charles. The guy who runs the place is straight off the boat from Paris, and his breads are the type I didn't think you could get down here. If he is in the restaurant when you go there, you will simply be amazed at the quality. If he isn't, you'll still get better bread than you'll find anywhere in Houston.

Also, our concierge recommended Couchon.....a new restaurant opened by Donald Link (Herbsaint). We were all disappointed we couldn't get in. If you like pork, I'd check it out........it is designed to be a local tribute to all things of the pig.



http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/Cochon Menu.pdf

http://www.americascuisine.com/menus/3_menus/BonTonMenu.pdf

http://www.americascuisine.com/restmenu.cfm/cityId/3/restId/95

http://www.jacquesimoscafe.com/menu.htm

 

And did I mention how awesome Restaurant August was? The second highest rated restaurant in NOLA after Delmonico, and they let me in wearing shorts (I thought I had grabbed a pair of khakis wrapped in plastic from the cleaners, but my good wife had actually sent a couple of pairs of shorts to be pressed). Absolutely stellar food, and we had some nice Pinots with us, and they waived corkage. They were a bit late seating us, so they brought everyone at the table an appetizer of the gnocchi I mentioned. it was so damn good, I ordered another one for myself..........and I wasn't the only one. I will be haunted by that meal for years to come.