NOLA Restauranteurs Vow to Return

"PapaBoy, Harry Dixon Wilson, was elected to serve his state for thirty-two years, from 1916 to 1948, as Commissioner of Agriculture amd Immigration. Under his inspiring and witty leadership, Louisiana welcomed peoples from many other nations to the safety of our soil, where they could pursue their dreams." Dedication by Justin Wilson to his father in his book Homegrown Louisiana Cookin'.

Justin Wilson introduced me to Cajun cooking. It was that simple man on TV talking about his family and his food. Whooee he'd exclaim. Dems good I ga-ron-tee! He began to light a fire in me. You see I'd never been much of a cook. My husband is the cook, I'm the baker. I still am the baker, but when we have a good bowl of Gumbo, you know I've been cookin. There is rarely anything better than a good bowl of gumbo on a winters eve. I then learned to make a family favorite: Etouffee. One of my first posts in this blog was on what a great meal it is.

Louisiana is food. Area restauranteurs are vowing to rebuild. It may take time, and maybe not all will return, but the stalwarts who've been there through the good times and the bad will be back.

My favorite part of the artice reads "This is not just any food. It is Cajun with its brash, full-bodied take on pork fat and crawfish. It is Creole with its okra and red beans, butter and cream. It is oysters Rockefeller. It is king cakes and beignets.

"That is the epitome of what we're talking about right now," said Melvin Rodrigue, general manager of Galatoire's, a century-old Bourbon Street restaurant known for Creole classics such as shrimp remoulade.

"Everybody who sits down to dinner right now is talking about what they're going to have at their next dinner," he said. "That's part of the fiber of who we are and we're going to bring that back into play."

A votre sante, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississppi.