Thursday, September 24, 2015.
Bad Water. Dining Room Robbery. Recovery From Dinner.
I work from home today, for two reasons. First, the east bank of Orleans Parish is still under a boil-water order. If I go in, I will reflexively forget about this, and wind up drinking potentially tainted tap water. (Frankly, I think it's a longshot, but when the authorities say to do something that doesn't cost me anything, I do it.) To keep from being a total paranoid, I write an article for NOMenu and the radio show today, to the effect that we can't afford to keep giving our city black eyes like this. Having drinkable water is one of the ABC's of civilization.
Little did I know that an equally bad bit of negative p.r. would play out tonight at Atchafalaya. The superb Creole bistro on the corner of Laurel and Louisiana was robbed by two armed, masked creeps who skimmed the wallets and jewelry from many customers. Co-owner Tony Tocco literally saw them coming. He ran to the door and locked it, but the two interlopers kicked the door in and commenced their nefarious task.
I have some expertise to lend in the effort to arrest this sort of thing befoe somebody gets shot. It comes from the decade in which I worked in Time Saver convenience stores around the area. I was robbed twice at gunpoint, as were many of my colleagues. The solution: the stores stopped having any significant amount of cash in the building--only about $30 in small bills for making change. The incoming cash was immediately dropped into a safe that nobody but the armored car operators could get into. When the robbers found such a pittance to steal, they largely gave up on the enterprise.[caption id="attachment_49020" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Armed robbery of a bottle of wine from an old New Orleans restaurant (not known which one) in the 1870s. The robber was soon identified by the unusual perfection of his manicure.[/caption]
If I owned a restaurant (and I'm glad I don't, as much as I love being a customer), I would not accept cash. I'd tell my customers to refrain from carrying cash into the place. This works. I have seen it get the job done. Now let's implement this immediately.
Comparisons drawn between this robbery and the one that occurred a few weeks ago at Patois have suggested that the two sets of criminals were the same. I doubt it. At the Time Saver, we saw that a successful robbery of any of our stores was followed by numerous copycat actors. That kind of infection is another reason this issue must be put to a stop. Imagine what must go through the minds of people who are coming here for a vacation or business. We're killing ourselves.
Another reason I remain at home today: the rigors of a three-hour dinner such as the Eat Club had last night are starting to get to me. I still enjoy our Eat Club events--and going to restaurants in general, particularly the grand places. But I feel the effects of the eating and drinking much more than I did, say, two years ago.
The Marys are awash in delight in their plans for Mary Leigh's wedding next year. It's wonderful to watch and listen to them. They're going to wring every smidgen of pleasure from this.
True to our family's defaults, we have dinner at Zea. We are surprised to find that the Restaurant Week special menu (three courses for $25) is still active. The Marys have two orders of hummus, which they think knows no equal. I can't say I disagree. Not greatly, anyway.
[caption id="attachment_36870" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Tuna stack at Zea.[/caption]
I have a tuna stack--raw tuna on avocados and some other vegetables, served cold. Love this. I also get an order of crab cakes, which they're making with an interesting, Southwestern-style assortment of sauces and dry seasonings. It's a little expensive at $13 for three little crab cakes, but I think it's fair enough. The good house salad is followed by bread pudding. It came with the special. What am I to do but eat the pudding?
Armed robbery of a bottle of wine from an old New Orleans restaurant (not known which one) in the 1870s. The robber was soon identified by the unusual perfection of his manicure.[/caption]
If I owned a restaurant (and I'm glad I don't, as much as I love being a customer), I would not accept cash. I'd tell my customers to refrain from carrying cash into the place. This works. I have seen it get the job done. Now let's implement this immediately.
Comparisons drawn between this robbery and the one that occurred a few weeks ago at Patois have suggested that the two sets of criminals were the same. I doubt it. At the Time Saver, we saw that a successful robbery of any of our stores was followed by numerous copycat actors. That kind of infection is another reason this issue must be put to a stop. Imagine what must go through the minds of people who are coming here for a vacation or business. We're killing ourselves.
Another reason I remain at home today: the rigors of a three-hour dinner such as the Eat Club had last night are starting to get to me. I still enjoy our Eat Club events--and going to restaurants in general, particularly the grand places. But I feel the effects of the eating and drinking much more than I did, say, two years ago.
The Marys are awash in delight in their plans for Mary Leigh's wedding next year. It's wonderful to watch and listen to them. They're going to wring every smidgen of pleasure from this.
True to our family's defaults, we have dinner at Zea. We are surprised to find that the Restaurant Week special menu (three courses for $25) is still active. The Marys have two orders of hummus, which they think knows no equal. I can't say I disagree. Not greatly, anyway.
[caption id="attachment_36870" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Tuna stack at Zea.[/caption]
I have a tuna stack--raw tuna on avocados and some other vegetables, served cold. Love this. I also get an order of crab cakes, which they're making with an interesting, Southwestern-style assortment of sauces and dry seasonings. It's a little expensive at $13 for three little crab cakes, but I think it's fair enough. The good house salad is followed by bread pudding. It came with the special. What am I to do but eat the pudding?
