Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published February 3, 2006 Click here for the current edition Early-Week Specials, A Good New Idea  At Le Parvenu I got a note from Chef Dennis Hutley, the owner of the excellent Le Parvenu in Kenner. His was one of the first gourmet restaurants to get back open following the hurricane, and for many weeks the number of people he could serve was limited only by the degree to which he could staff his restaurant. Which wasn't--and still isn't--fully. But now that over two-thirds of the worthwhile restaurants in the New Orleans area are back in business, things have softened a little. I have also heard this from a number of other restaurateurs, who had become used to full dining rooms whenever they were open. Other forces are at work here. Most people in New Orleans now are back at work, as they were not two or three months ago. I know that when I went back to doing my radio show every day again, it forced me to cut back on long lunches, and I'm not making up for it with longer dinners. And by now most of us have had dinner with the dear friends that we needed to re-connect with. It had to happen. It was a wonderful time, those months of carefree (except, of course, for the part about not having a house) living, dining out every night and feeling lucky to be alive. We're returning to normal, is what's happening. And restaurateurs are returning to the gambits they used to bring people in. The early-dining special menus, for example. Those have been almost non-existent. Look for them to return soon. Chef Dennis, to get back to him, has a different idea. He's still mobbed Thursdays through the weekend. It's Monday through Wednesdays that show him open tables. So he's instituted an early-week special menu. In it he's bringing back some of the home-style dishes he did right after the storm. (One of those, the liver and onions with grits, is one of the best dishes I ever had there.) He serves these with vegetables and a glass of wine: This Evening's New Orleans' Beans and Bay Leaf Rice, with Southern Smoked Sausage or Grilled Ham Steak $11 Tender Calf's Liver Smothered with Onions, Crisp Bacon, Mashed Potatoes, and Natural Gravy $15 Cornmeal Sautéed Catfish Fillet Amandine with Meuniere Beurre Blanc $13 Grilled Chicken Breast and Mushrooms Etouffee, with Chef Albert's Really Good Gravy and Classic Béarnaise $12.50 All of this works for me, at those prices. I'd like to see other restaurants take up this idea. It's available at Le Parvenu (509 Williams Blvd., in Rivertown, 471-0534) Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Along with the regular menu, which was never outrageous to begin with. © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com