Dear cherished readers,
You have no doubt observed many changes in the Tom Fitzmorris brand in this last year, both on the radio and certainly on the website and newsletter. It is well past time to offer you an explanation. Its delay has been simply a matter of us trying to figure a path forward.
For 45 years now, Tom has been at the center of a passionate restaurant community who enjoy the culinary identity of New Orleans the same way he does. They gathered on the radio to ask about things and to get recommendations and to compare notes about meals they have had. They went to The New Orleans Menu to read about our family and Tom’s food news and opinions.
When Tom began these endeavors, he was in college. He had no vision-he simply followed his true passion-dining out. Along the way, he developed what we call true works of art, printed magazines and booklets done entirely by him, each letter on the page typeset on an old typesetter machine.
The radio show came in 1988, further uniting this enthusiastic group of diners who could now listen and get instantaneous feedback. And then the web came, and nomenu.com was born. As the internet world and websites proliferated, there has been an increase in the number of people and sites covering food, but none of these have the connection to the very heart of our cultural identity in this city. I often say that The New Orleans Menu, at its core, is a love letter to New Orleans.
This year has brought a decrease in the 16-hour days for Tom. The next generation is taking over with a vision for the company. We have incorporated things that have previously not been a focus, like restaurant news and local developments. There will be a few products we have historically had.
People have written a lot in the last months asking about their subscriptions. We will still have a subscription product, but now at a set price. In a nod to the good old 1350AM, the subscription will be $1.35 per week, billed monthly. We are bringing back the beloved Ciao Numbers, and each subscription will have a Ciao Number. Subscriptions will include all the archival things that people miss about the old site. The almanac will be here, with recipes, and extinct restaurants, and various pieces from Tom’s 45-year database. Tom will occasionally write reflective pieces about the then and now in the New Orleans restaurant world.
The free version of Nomenu is what you see now, and this will be incorporated into the paid version as well. Additionally, there will be a premium add-on where the Ciao Numbers can win you books and an invitation to food tastings that are coming on the radio.
Our vision for the new improved site includes a redesign, and more voices, as well as additional categories and helpful features that you will love, all focused on this reverence we have for what makes our city so unique. All of this will take a lot of money to implement, so we hope you will consider subscribing. We are in this together, as we have been for all these years. Let’s move forward together.
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Starting today, we have an open call on Ciao Numbers for the next two weeks. If you have a Ciao Number from the past that you would like to claim, send us an email at news@nomenu.com by January 15th, and we will apply it to your Four Star or Five Star Edition subscription when you sign up or renew. After January 15th, you will only be able to select your Ciao Number with a Five Star Edition subscription, and Ciao Numbers will simply be assigned to Four Star Edition subscribers.
We will begin accepting subscriptions in this new format after January 15th, and plan to roll out the new system starting February 1st. Subscriptions will renew annually from the date you begin receiving the newsletter.
We are very excited to bring back hints of the look, feel, and content of vintage Nomenu print publications, many of which were lost to us in Hurricane Katrina. If you or your family have any of the print New Orleans Menu magazines circulated from 1977-1996, we would love to have them, or at the very least, make copies and return them. Contact Mary Leigh at maryleigh@nomenu.com if you are able to help with this search.
We are undertaking a huge project of transitioning and preserving a 45-year-long stream of priceless information, entertainment, and historical journaling into one accessible resource able to be used, enjoyed, and cherished for the next 45 years. Please be patient with us as we make these changes. We are, at the core, a family business, and there will most assuredly be hiccups along the way. Know that we are working tirelessly to keep Tom Fitzmorris and Nomenu a fixture in the landscape of our New Orleans for generations to come.
Tastefully yours,
Mary Leigh and Jude Fitzmorris
