Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris
Originally published May 7, 2006
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Back To Normal, Back To The Past
I learned (from its most regular customer) that the Bon Ton Cafe returned to its pre-storm schedule of lunches and dinners, Monday through Friday, last week.
In various publications in the last few days, I've noticed that a number of restaurants are advertising that they've returned to their menus. (I was particularly happy to see this at Nirvana.) And that others that were formerly closed for lunch (or dinner), or on certain days of the week out of the ordinary for them, have extended their hours.
Yet restaurateurs still cry about the lack of sufficient staff to operate the way they'd like. So how can more restaurants continue to open, existing restaurants expand their hours, and menus get fleshed out back to pre-Katrina levels?
Simple. We're getting back to normal. Faster than we thought.
Of course, we have a shameful area of uninhabitable houses out there, and lots of people are living in trailers or with friends and family. It is very stressful.
And yet. . . it's all coming back together for most people and businesses.
The Jazz Festival and the Zoo To-Do--both of which happened over the past weekend--gave great examples of what's going on. In both cases, the event went on as scheduled, and was entirely recognizable. But in both cases, there was a bit less of everything. Two fewer music stages than usual at the Jazz Festival, and a slightly (I can't say I noticed this, myself) smaller number of food vendors. At the Zoo To-Do, they didn't have the usual six thousand people--only four thousand. And no name band--just local musical assemblages.
I have been attending both of these events since their earliest days. And what I saw and heard about reminded me of their counterparts back when. And not all the way back to the 1970s, either, but as they were, say, in the early 1980s. When we loved--and were very impressed by--both events.
So we have here a new way of looking at our signature disaster. It's a time machine. We're back the way we were twenty or twenty-five years ago. With smaller crowds, but no less enthusiasm and pleasure.
If anything, things were more fun back then.
If only we could roll the prices back, too.
© 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com