Both Involved In Dispute Over New Uptown Restaurant
Chef Greg Sonnier Will Run Against
Eddie Sapir For City Council
Last week, as candidates filed their papers for the city elections next year, two names jumped out at my colleague Chris Miller, a reporter for WWL Radio. Eddie Sapir everybody knows, after decades in city politics. But Greg Sonnier--isn't that the chef whose efforts to reopen his formerly-highly-rated restaurant in a new location Uptown was foiled by legal actions in which Sapir was involved?
Why, yes, it is.
In case you don't know the story: Greg and mary Sonnier owned Gabrielle, a gourmet Creole bistro on Esplanade Avenue, highly regarded by just about everybody. But the hurricane did so much damage to the place that the Sonniers gave up on the location, and found another. It was a reception hall called The Uptowner, on the corner of Henry Clay and Laurel. That's a block away from Clancy's and Patois, two comparable bistros.
But The Uptowner's license as a reception hall didn't allow it to open as a restaurant. So said a neighborhood organization in which Sapir was active. As it turned out, the city had no real definition for what a reception hall could or could not do. But Sapir and company let the Sonniers know that they would have to fight a protracted legal battle to open as a restaurant. The Sonniers couldn't bear the expense and backed away. They still have not been able to reopen.
So now this political move. I have no idea what it means, but it does make me smile. It'll be interesting to watch.
December 13, 2009