As you’ve probably heard, Starbucks is planning to close beaucoup U.S. locations by next year (600, to be accurate), though the company has been tight-lipped about which ones will get the axe. The java-anxiety has spawned rumors, blogs, and now a Web feature by the Seattle Times, which is plotting the supposed closings on an interactive Google map.

New Orleans, of course, has never been as Starbucks-saturated as most other major cities. When it comes to coffee, we’ve been ahead of the “support your local business” curve for, well, decades. According to the Web site Starbucks Everywhere, we only have a few dozen Starbucks in the metro area. (In L.A. or Seattle, of course, there seem to be a few dozen per person.)

Interestingly, the Times’ Google map doesn’t show any closings in Louisiana.

I’m mixed on Starbucks. I hate the way they try to muscle out the local guys; I like the fact that they offer health insurance…something that many of the “buy local, support local” coffeehouses don’t do. I hate the fact that many of their stores charge for WiFi; I like the fact that they finally dumped their signature Burned-to-Hell French roast for something more palatable.

But my last few cups of coffee came from Morning Call, PJ’s, and St. John’s. I’m just not in the Starbucks habit.

Are you? Would you miss Starbucks if the few outlets in New Orleans went the way of K&B?

Americans in general often get a bad rap for gluttonous meal portions, with super-sized this and extra-large that. But for a little dose of global perspective, take a look at the photo at left and consider that this plate would be considered a completely normal restaurant meal in many South American countries.

The kingly collection of steak, sausage, chicken, shrimp, tostones, rice and beans and salsa and chimichurri (in the two tin cups) is the specialty of the house at Don Victor’s Fine Latin American Restaurant, the excellent cross-cultural Latin American restaurant I reviewed this week.

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Scott Jordan, who worked at Gambit from 1998-2003 before assuming the helm of the Independent Weekly in Lafayette, La., announced this morning that’s he’s leaving the paper (and journalism) to become communications director for the Louisiana Democratic Party:

“This fall’s elections, both statewide and national, promise to be historic,” says Jordan. “And after 15 years of working as a journalist and editor, I’ve decided I want to be directly involved in politics in a different role.”

Congratulations, Scott. We look forward to giving you hell when necessary…and we hope never to have to write “Scott Jordan, spokesman for the state Democratic party, did not respond to a request for comment.”

New Orleans didn’t make it into the Top 10 of Outside magazine’s Top 20 Best Towns in America, but we did get the longest writeup of the 20 places profiled in the August 2008 issue.

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Death can’t stop Ernie K-Doe. He’s still out in the town (in the person of the K-Doe Statue, and if you don’t know what that is, you fail New Orleans 101). In this week’s Gambit, Alison Fensterstock tells the improbable story of how K-Doe topped the UK music charts a few months ago, due to his song “Here Comes the Girls” being used in a British cosmetics commercial…which is worth a look:

If you want to celebrate with Ernie and his widow Miss Antoinette, get on down to the Mother-in-Law Lounge on Saturday night, when they’ll be celebrating the release of K-Doe’s “new” (actually re-released) CD, Here Come the Girls. (The Mother-in-Law was voted #9 in Gambit’s recent ranking of New Orleans’ best bars.)

And if you can’t get “Here Come the Girls” out of your head, you can buy the whole CD here from the Louisiana Music Factory.