Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

The trick to a good potato po-boy is mayo and good beef gravy. The sandwich from Rocky and Carlo's is heavenly.

Please explain this: "Especially now, with New Orleans's cultural heritage under siege post-Katrina..." What does that mean? Under siege by whom?

When you're hungry and need to be fed,
Get some frites (still hot); butter and bread;
With a sprinkle of salt;
And some vinegar (malt).
Haute cuisine — this chip butty will spread!

Well, Lorin, I live in New Orleans, as well. I'm interested to know if you ever look into the kitchens of the many places that you apparently regularly dine in. Was Spanish the language of the kitchen in New Orleans before the storm? I'm pretty sure that it wasn't. I'm not saying that this is a bad change (we are, after all, a port city and a city made up largely, historically, of immigrants, at that), but I am asking you why do you think that situation is occurring? Could it be because the people who have performed these jobs for many years, completely underpaid in most cases, can't afford to live here? Perhaps it's because the places and neighborhoods where they used to live pretty much don't exist anymore? You should probably get out of The Isle of Denial more often than you apparently do. It's not pretty. We have no meaningful public transportation, expensive housing and utility costs that are outrageous by anyone's standards. Our hospital system is shot to hell, the cops are undermanned and untrusted, localized crime is out of hand, and the criminal justice system is a national disgrace.

Then again, the "waiters are making a killing." Every night? Most nights? A few nights? What waiters? Waiters at Drago's? Where might all of these rich waiters be? If Tommy is turning them away, perhaps he could direct them to just about anywhere else, as most people in all levels of service seem to be hurting badly for front of house staff and could use the help-especially if there is a killing to be made.

And as for a comparison between the Sonnier's and the Scotch House? Are you really making a comparison or just another of your overstated generalities designed to make some kind of point? The Sonnier's had, among other things, good health and the advantage of being relatively young, insurance, a nice place worth selling over by the Track (though flooded it was still useful real estate in what had been a great location before the levees broke), some money in the bank, and the ability buy a place (in what has become the most desirable and bizarrely insulated section of Uptown) to get things up and running by themselves. Sadly, in what is surely one of the most complicated situations that I have ever witnessed (and pretty much a by the book "Just what's wrong with this place" situation) they have not been able to do that and have probably lost their asses in the bargain. It's a shame because they ran a great place and they are supremely nice people, but it's what it is. Willie Mae had none of those things. None. Those people that helped her did so because they had good hearts-nothing more- as surely 90% of the people who worked there had never been to the place before and many, many of them had never even been to New Orleans-they just wanted to help out in a bad situation. And they did. They didn't expect anything and, in the end, they got alot more than they bargained for on those long weekends in that junky ass place in Treme. Why don't you get a list of them and see if they wouldn't do it again, there or somewhere else, in a heartbeat? Volunteerism is about doing work for others and feeling good about it. Not much more, I don't think.

How can you possibly say that "traditions aren't at risk?" Perhaps not the stuff in the unflooded and previous to the storm fairly affluent (though, clearly, this being New Orleans, mixed shoulder to shoulder with the not so affluent-the huddled wodies, if you will) areas along the River, but as for the REST OF THE CITY? Treme, Gentilly, Broadmoor, the Lower 9, the East, etc would seem to be pretty much in danger of being marginalized or drastically changed. And you know what? I'm one of those who is honest enough to say that some of it is probably for the better, but not all of it and I'm certainly not blind enough to say that there is no threat to these traditions. I can't believe any thinking person would believe otherwise.

New Orleans is, without a doubt, a culture that is all of it's own and completely unique-this is, at the same time, our greatest weakness and by far our greatest strength. We're who we are and we don't apologize to anyone for it. This fixing things will take awhile and it's not going to be fast. We'll be doing it, largely on our own without the help of, or inspite of, the government on every level and every step of the way. But we will do it. There's too much to lose here and many of us can't seem to fathom living anywhere else.

Thankfully there are many people around the country who kind of don't get us, and don't even pretend to, but in many ways they want part of what we have. They see something, though often they're not even sure what, that they don't have in Des Moines, or Chattanooga, or even New York-and it's not just "go cups (though this IS one of our most civilized features)." This is a place where people "work to live" not "live to work" and while most of us are doing alot more work than living right now, at least we (or at least most of us) know what we are missing.

Lorin, Ed Levine here. First of all, let me say right off I love New Orleans with all my heart and soul. I love its food, its music (I co-produced two Dr. John solo piano albums in a former life), and its very soul. Post-Katrina, I have observed a colossal failure by every level of government, starting with Bush, "Brownie," Governor Blanco, and Ray Nagin. I have been down there twice, and to see entire neighborhoods still lying in ruins is heartbreaking. Some of these are neighborhoods that can and should be rebuilt, others will never be safe from another Katrina-like hurricane and unfortunately should not be rebuilt, and yet no one seems to have the courage to say that. The resulting paralysis is both heartbreaking and debilitating.

Although restaurants are bustling, what I fear (and many of my journalist friends in New Orleans do as well) is that New Orleans will end up being a theme park of a city, and that much of the cultural soul and grit of the city will be lost as a result. God knows I don't want this to happen. I want every po' boy joint and every red beans and rice establishment in every neighborhood of New Orleans to come back better than ever. I have given money to Willie Mae Saeton's restaurant building fund,, and publicized it every chance I get. In fact, I am going to post about it again next week.
But I don't think there's any question that some important stuff has been washed away by Katrina, and at least some of that important stuff isn't coming back. So who is New Orleans under seige from? From every branch of government you or I could name.

Lorin, I can't speak for Ed, but from what I've read many food industry workers were among those evacuated, and many of them made the hard decision to not move back. A lot of restaurants are gone, sure, but structures can be rebuilt; it's the people who ran them, cooked their food, and passed down recipes through generations that can't be replaced. There are pre-Katrina experiences, culinary and otherwise, that no one will ever have again, because the people that made them are just not there.

Regards noodlepie Mike. The funny thing is, five or more people over the years, possibly including yourself, have likened what I write on the blog to Tony Bourdain. Before I started the blog I'd never heard of the guy. A friend of mine gave me his book, Kitchen Confidential, which I'll admit I enjoyed for the first 70 pages or so before I got distracted by something else and meanwhile someone else decided they'd borrow it from my bookshelf in Saigon.... ach... Vietnam...

Also, I'd never seen any of his TV shows until a couple of weeks ago I searched around YouTube and found a couple of clips of his which I added to the Vietnamese food video round up:

http://www.noodlepie.com/2007/02/vietnamese_food.html

I don't think his expereince of Vietnam is anything like ours, although he may have flirted with the edges of daily life there. The freak show end of things in Vietnam is not a freak show when you live it. It's just normal life.

Then, the other day I was culling my podcast subscriptions when I noticed eGullet had a couple of Bourdain interviews I hadn't heard. So, I downloaded them,

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/05/28/podcast-16-and-17-tony-bourdain/

The sound quality is total crap, BUT, what Bourdain says especially re: the scarcity of quality food, quality street food in developed societies and what we've lost etc. is something I very much recognise. I live in Toulouse which is filled with quality nosh, but unlike Saigon that quality is not available to all regardless of wealth, on every street corner at all hours of the day. Although foie gras is available in every and any strain 2 minutes from my gaff :)