Archived Restaurant Review By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published December 13, 2005 Click here for the current edition Casamento’s Post-Katrina Ratings: B, 2$ Uptown: 4330 Magazine 895-9761 Lunch Tues.-Sat. Dinner Fri. & Sat. (and Thurs. starting next week) No credit cards. Casamento's is back in the home stretch of its first one hundred years in business. After a storm-enforced doubling of its all-summer vacation, it returned a few weeks ago to its sparkling clean, tile-walled dining rooms on Magazine Street. Like any iconic restaurant favorite, no matter how low its latter-day profile may be, Casamento's reopening was taken by many Orleanians as reassurance that not all the strings that run through the history of New Orleans were severed by the hurricane. We wondered what would become of Casamento's in the weeks after the storm, when we heard it would be a long time before the Louisiana oyster beds would recover. That proved to be unrealistically pessimistic, fortunately, and when it was clear that the oysters were not only available but excellent, Charles Gerdes and his family did what little fixing that needed to be done (Magazine Street came out of the storm mostly intact), and Casamento's was like nothing had ever happened. Which is to say that if you come here, you'll probably be eating oysters. The half-dozen I started with were medium in size but big in flavor--the great oysters we always get this time of year, after the first few weeks of cold weather inspire the oysters to start working out. Then came a dozen fried--larger than the raw, strangely enough, since frying usually shrinks oysters. On the side, a foot and a half of Casamento's toasted, buttered, thick "pan bread." (It's really just plain white bread in an unsliced loaf that they cut their own distinctive way.) And fresh-cut French fries. A fine lunch. You can get a few other items here, but when I lunched threre this Saturday, not a soul in either of the two full rooms was eating anything but oysters. Which is typical, and worthwhile. Casamento's suffered a double spiritual setback in the storm aftermath. Joseph Casamento, second generation, passed away. Go have a dozen raw and a dozen fried with a beer in one of those tiny glasses they still use in his honor. © 2005 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com