New Orleans Tomorrow - any must hit spots? - Page 3

I hear that there is some real prime meat in NO



Be sure to get some

I do know what you are saying. Allow me to relate a recent story. While it involves not food ... it tells a similar tale. A few weeks ago, I decided to make a return visit to Cinque Terre on Italy's Ligurian Coast. I hadn't been since the 1970s. I recalled it being a rather 'lazy area' with a few adversome tourists.

I arrived for my second visit having great expectations based on my previous visit ... but what a tremendous disappointment the place is today. That quiet little area is now overrun by crowds. The day I arrived (and quickly departed) it was akin to Disneyland on a busy day. I'm told that these new visitors are the result of numerous reviews over the years ... most recently by Rick Steves.

As I departed -- headed for someplace less populated -- I flashed back to a story told when I'd visited there in the 70s ... a story about an even earlier era when few if any visited the area. Cinque Terre ... it ain't what it used to be anymore ... but even back then it wasn't what it once had been.

Enough of my sidetrack ... back to New Orleans. Sadly, flip flop fatties aren't limited to tourists and Decatur hasn't been off the beaten path for some years now. Heck, Coops is across the street from Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville ... that's pretty touristy.

So Coops has changed ... and obviously not to your liking. But I'll be honest, there were people complaining in the 90s that the place wasn't what it had been in the 80s. Perhaps you were part of that change ... unless you were there from the beginnings. Of course, I've never really thought of Coops as genuine New Orleans. From the beginning it had the feeling of 'instant' atmosphere. But lets be honest, any place opened in the Quarter at any point during the previous sixty years (possibily long before) was opened with the tourist in mind.

That said, I understand your point that the locals want places of their own. I take it you are a local? But in this digital age where everyone has a voice and potentially a mass audience ... one review and a place can be packed with those who formerly knew not. Even so, NO still has plenty of colorful places for locals ... but not so much in the Quarter. If you want local ... head Uptown ... or to other parts of town.

Hey wait a minute; your location says Austin! Why you're a flip flop fatty ... or worse ... you're a Texan! New Orleanians have a saying: Once there was a local who didn't like jazz, red beans and rice, and mardi gras; he moved to Houston. Texans aren't high on the list of your average 'Yat.'

Of course, I'm sure everyone of us has had our cafe/restaurant 'discovery' ... as all the while the established patrons sneer at us for ruining what has been for them a place of their own. So in a sense we've all been the flip flop fatty whether or not we wear said footwear and no matter what our body type.
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As for Paul Dean ... I'm not familiar with him. That sounds like 'it's a good thing.' Although Martha didn't think it was a good thing when I 'discovered' one of her favorite cafes near her summer place in Maine. Then again, the locals didn't think that when Martha 'discovered' it.

I'll say that Johnny's is not that great. I've eaten the shrimp po boy and some of their breakfast items. All were mediocre at best. I can get a better sandwich up the road here in Dallas, they even use Gambino's bread.

Besh opened a Luke in San Antonio not too long ago. Why he chose San Antonio still baffles me.

Isn't there still a decent number of Katrina evacuees in San Antonio?

Jacques Imo's is a favorite, as is KPaul's.