Diary 9|21|2005. Thousands Eating Free, Thanking Drago..

Written by Tom Fitzmorris August 24, 2015 06:01 in

[title type="h5"]Day Twenty-Three After The Storm Wednesday, September 21, 2005[/title] Drago's Serving Thousands Free, Needs Help. Yesterday (the report is still here, below) I told you about Drago's opening its doors to serve relief workers and others for free. I've since learned that effort has grown substantially. Here's a letter I got from Gerry Cvitanovich (Drago and Klara's son and Tommy's brother): A few days after Hurricane Katrina, Drago's Restaurant started cooking free food for anyone with an appetite. Initially, without water, electricity, or telephone, Tommy and our loyal employee family started cooking, using propane and a generator. They served less than a hundred very hungry people that first day. Since then they have increased that number to two or three thousand people a day. For some of those people, it was their first hot food in days. We feel blessed to be in a position to help. We have been serving lunch only up until now. So far, no charbroiled oysters. . . but they will be back! Drago's has received assistance from several institutional food brokers, other businesses, and individuals. But the overall costs to our family have been substantial. As hard as it is to ask for charity, we need help in order to continue to provide free food to our fellow citizens. We plan to continue for another month or more. We have set up a charitable foundation to offset some of the costs. The Tax ID number is 20-3471145. All money goes to pay for feeding the people. The only administrative cost was that of setting up the foundation. Any and all donations are appreciated. Send them to: Drago's Foundation PO Box 640951 Kenner LA 70064 Please consider a donation to help us continue our mission. Also, we would appreciate it if you could forward this message to others. Thanks! God Bless You! The Drago's Family Absolutely! I'll bet they wouldn't turn away anyone who wants to volunteer to work, either. Zea Reopens, Needs Staff. Gary Darling, Hans Limberg, and Greg Reggio--The Taste Buds--are looking ahead to reopening their Zea Rotisserie and Grill restaurants as soon as possible. One location--the one on Hickory--is already open. They're trying to locate all their employees (amazing what a difficult job this has been for everybody in every business). They also say that they will have many vacant positions to fill, and are taking applications and conducting interviews starting tomorrow, Thursday, September 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Zea in Clearview Mall, 4450 Veterans Blvd., Metairie. The Zea Rotisserie Café on Hickory at Citrus in Harahan will open today--Wednesday, September 21--from 7 a.m. with breakfast till 10:30 a.m., followed by a limited menu until 6 p.m. They'll open the Zea Rotisserie & Brewery in Clearview Mall in a week to ten days, then the location in the Esplanade Mall in Kenner. The St. Charles Avenue location, which is not only beset by the infrastructure problems in New Orleans but also was looted, will follow later. They have more info on their website: www.zearestaurants.com. Eat Club Dinner In Washington, DC. I have been contacted by about a dozen people who either live in the DC area and subscribe to the New Orleans Menu Daily, or who have evacuated here as I have. All of them had the same idea: to hold an Eat Club dinner here. I have the perfect place for it: Acadiana, a new Louisiana-style restaurant on 9th and New York. It's owned by Chef Jeff Tunks. He was the chef at the Windsor Court for a few years about a decade ago, and I think he may have been the best chef they ever had. I'm having lunch with him today and will ask if it's doable (I think it will be; they've already hosted a fund-raising poor boy sandwich event) and the details. We may even do another one. The Smith and Wollensky here has been incredibly forthcoming in asking me what they can do to help. It would be great to do a Louisiana-style dinner there. If you're interested in attending either dinner, e-mail tomfitzmorris@nomenu.com.