Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris
Originally published July 23, 2007
Early-Evening Menus Recover At Last
After the storm, even as restaurants reopened rapidly, one part of their service did not: the discounted early-evening special. Why?
Two reasons. First, following the storm people began dining out much earlier--by an hour or more. The previously slow hours from five till six-thirty or so suddenly became the busiest time. Attractive specials weren't necessary to fill the house. Meanwhile, restaurants that had always remained open till ten found they could close at eight-thirty and not really miss anyone.
Second, restaurant staffs were already so stretched that the last thing they needed were extended dinner hours.
During the past year or so, we seem to be reverting to our pre-storm dining patterns. When Daylight Saving Time began this spring, what had always happened in the past happened again: people delayed their dinners until it at least started to get dark.
It took a few months for these habits to prove long-term. But once the restaurants realized that, suddenly the early-bird menus were back.
They're different from what they used to be. You won't find many priced in the teens (although I have one of those below). Most are in the twenties, with a few in the thirties.
But they're appearing in some unusual places. Here are two I just heard about. I'll run more as they turn up, and build a page with all of them as we go along.
Commander's Palace. The Brennans' grand Garden District restaurant has premiered something called "Happier Hour." (Sounds good so far.) For $20, they serve a specialty cocktail (I imagine these are from a special menu), plus two appetizers. That goes on for the first hour of dinner service (that would be six till seven), and it's not in the bar but in the dining room.
Here are some of the dishes available:
Turtle Soup
Gumbo
Soup du jour
Commander’s Baby Spinach Salad
Romaine Salad
Spring Tomato Salad
Wild White Shrimp Remoulade
Oysters Racca
Shrimp and Tasso Henican
Crawfish and Creole Cream Cheese Gnocchi
Le Petit Cochon Baton
Cousins Ti Martin and Lally Brennan, who operate Commander's, are offering the same deal at their downtown restaurant, Café Adelaide. Here's the appetizer menu for the early-evening $20 deal there:
Louisiana Boucherie
Grand Isle Shrimp and Tasso “Corn Dog”
Dirty Duck Calas and Foie Gras
Crispy P&J Oysters
Crescent City Blue Crab Sandwich
Shrimp and Mirliton Spring Roll
Adelaide’s Limoncello Flan
Commander’s Palace. Garden District: 1403 Washington Ave. 899-8221. Cafe Adelaide. CBD: 300 Poydras. 595-3305.
Meanwhile, Byblos has also rolled out a new early-dining menu. Theirs begins at three in the afternoon and goes until six-thirty, Monday through Friday only. You get three courses for $14.95. Here's the menu, from which you pick one from each course:
Fattoush
Byblos Caesar
Mixed Field Greens
Greek Salad
Tabbouleh
Hummos
Baba Ghanuj
Falafel
Mujadara
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Rotisserie Chicken
Byblos Pasta
Vegetarian Platter
Kafta Kabob
Chicken, Beef or Combination Shawarma
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Assorted Baklava
Brownie Sundae
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Soft Drinks
Iced Tea
Coffee
They also have drink specials--Abita draft beer or well cocktails for two bucks during the same hours as the early-evening menu.
Byblos. Old Metairie. 1501 Metairie Rd. 834-9773.
Byblos. Uptown. 3218 Magazine. 894-1233.
© 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com