Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published January 18, 2006 Click here for the current edition Unchain Us Last night I dined with my wife and daughter at Morton's Steakhouse, in Canal Place. They told me that I couldn't get a reservation until eight, but we showed up at seven-fifteen anyway, and found lots of tables. The explanation for that, of course, is that they're not fully staffed yet. They do, however, have the entire menu going, and have added a couple more items since the hurricane. It's a very pretty restaurant. If it weren't a steakhouse, it could be just about any kind of restaurant, up to and including the grandest kind. And boy, is it expensive. Aside from those big platters of seafood for six or eight people they sell at the Bourbon House and La Cote Brasserie, Morton's has the highest dollar figure currently being asked of New Orleans diners for a single item: the porterhouse for two, at $84. Our dinner was a shade under $300, inclusive. And that was with just one dessert, one appetizer, a split salad, and two glasses of wine. We left stuffed; the steaks were very large and very good. (Some day I will start in on an oversize strip sirloin from the correct end; one side is definitely tastier than the other, and I always seem to save it for when I can no longer go on.) In fact, everything was good, even the supersize Southeast Asian lump crabmeat (although the local product is better). Morton's is having the same problems all the other restaurants in town are, but they have advanced resources. They took in many of their New Orleans employees at other locations in the chain, and brought them back. Some didn't want to come back, because they have no place to live--fair enough. Others are being housed in the Wyndham Hotel just above the restaurant, which can't be cheap for the restaurant. So good for them, and congratulations for getting the place back open. However, other chains have not been as forthcoming. I am especially nonplussed by the failure of Bravo! and Houston's to get their very popular restaurants open on St. Charles Avenue. Why isn't the Whole Food Market back open? Ruth's Chris on Broad? Smith and Wollensky? Or even things like Rite-Aid? The explanation I get when I ask these questions of those company's executives usually boils down to this: Can we make money in your market at the levels we need to hit, as dictated by our profitability standards? That is a fair consideration. When Ruth's Chris says that it's hesitant about reopening the Broad Street location because they can't get insurance for the building, that makes good business sense. When Smith and Wollensky's chief questioned the return of tourism, that's a very responsible question. These guys would be unwise not to consider those matters. And this is one of the many things I dislike about chains. They are ruled by profitability--period. It's not about the food, the service, the involvement with the community, or any of that, really. All restaurants have to be profitable, of course, but a restaurant with roots here and local owners will plunge ahead in business because he must, even if it means rolling the dice and accepting lower profits--or perhaps none at all--in the early going. Perhaps this will be another of the many silver linings in the cloud that passed over us five months ago. Maybe the growth of the chain restaurants here--which has been to the detriment of independent restaurants, make no mistake about that--will be checked or even reverse. Remember, you can eat in Houston's and Bennigan's and Morton's and Cracker Barrel almost anywhere. But you have to come to New Orleans to dine at Arnaud's and Jacques-Imo's and Mr. B's and Drago's. And we need that attraction in the coming years. © 2006 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com