Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published March 17, 2006 Click here for the current edition Gilbert LaFleur Although Gilbert LaFleur, who died over the weekend, is best known as a waiter at Galatoire's, to me he will always be the man wearing an ornate tuxedo who orchetrated the service at LeRuth's in its last decade. That's why I always called him "Gilbert" instead of "Louis," as his Galatoire's nametag denoted him. Gilbert always had a smile on his face, even when he was telling you about things he thought were going badly off the rails. Over the years he let me in on many choice behind-the-scenes tidbits of information, involving all kinds of people. Most of it I can't repeat, but among the ones I can I most recall something he told me about the spectacular and seminal oyster-artichoke soup at LeRuth's. "Mr. LeRuth buys palletloads of canned artichokes for that," he said, with a mild note of disapproval--even though he always made it clear that he though of Chef Warren Leruth as perhaps the greatest genius in the history of the restaurant business. Gilbert saw much of the history of the New Orleans restaurant business, in two tours of duty at Galatoire's (before and after his eighteen-year stint at LeRuth's). And from his Cajun background before that. He came from Ville Platte, which he always claimed had the best Cajun food in all the Cajun country. Every time I talked with him at length he would tell me about chefs and waiters he'd seen go by, combining respect for them with a distinct implication that these fellows were at least a little nutty. The whole world of restaurants seemed to be a great entertainment to him. He was one of a troika of Cajuns, all related in some way, who worked during the same era at Galatoire's. (One of them, Homer Fontenot, also worked with Gilbert at LeRuth's.) They 're emblematic of the greatest tradition of service in New Orleans, one that's dying out as the men themselves do. But I thought we'd have a decade or so more of Gilbert. He last waited on me about three weeks ago, and seemed hale and hearty as ever. He died of a heart attack after having done his regular shift at Galatoire's the night before. I'll miss the guy, his grin, and his jokes. © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com