Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published December 8, 2006 Click here for the current edition Ritz-Carlton Hotel Reopens, With A Restaurant Out Of A Fantasy After over a year of reconstruction following disastrous storm damage, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel reopened in the former Maison Blanche Building on Canal Street last week. The building took damage in two ways: big sections of its roof came off, allowing water to cascade in. And the basement, with all the building's utilities, filled with flood water. The building was on the edge of the flood zone, but the edge was bad enough. While they were at it, they reconsidered the food outlets. Victor's, which was as ambitious a restaurant as New Orleans had ever seen when the hotel first opened in 2000, has been replaced by a restaurant called Melange. Tell me if you've heard of this concept before: the menu at Melange consists of reproductions of the famous dishes of noteworthy New Orleans restaurants. Here are some of the restaurants: Arnaud’s Bayona Bourbon House Brigsten’s Broussard’s Clancy’s Cuvee Dooky Chase’s Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse Jacque-Imo’s K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen Mosca’s Palace Café Peristyle Restaurant August Upperline Vizard's So they'll have shrimp remoulade in the style of Arnaud's, and like that. And the chefs of the restaurants involved will make guest appearances as Chef De Cuisine du jour. Hmm. Where have I heard this before? Oh, yeah--that's the idea behind the fictional restaurant I've been writing about in this newsletter for the last three years, in the Back To The Wall feature. I'm not insinuating that's where they got the idea. What I am saying is that I have been presenting it as a little preposterous. It's sort of like an April Fool restaurant I did a few years ago, which allegedly operated in a bank lobby. One year later, just such a restaurant appeared. They say that half the menu will be composed of imitations of other restaurants' dishes, and the other half will be traditional New Orleans fare. And that the idea is to promote the other restaurants. They'll have leather-bound books available around the hotel with menus from the famous places. Interesting, and right in with the trend for major hotels in major food cities. The kind of guest the Ritz-Carlton gets knows better than to dine in a hotel restaurant when you're in a city like New Orleans. That's why so few hotels have mjor restaurants here. Well. . . I can't say this turns me on. But let's see how it goes, and how well they reproduce the dishes. And hope that we don't get barbecue shrimp with barbecue sauce on it, or anything like that. Melange will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays, and brunch and dinner on Sundays. © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com