It is Tuesday.  Most people are back and most businesses are open.  Now that we are out of the “cone of error” for Ike, life is starting to resemble, err, normal.  

Two great places just got better, now that they have liquor licenses. RAW (which, contrary to the name, serves both sushi and Chinese food) at 3909 Magazine Street is now able to serve beer, wine and sake to accompany their great sushi.  Naturally I already miss buying a beer two doors down at Joey K’s and walking into the restaurant…  

And  Savvy Gourmet is now serving up 35 fantastic “food” wines selected by their Savvy new wine guy, Greg Knaps, and well paired with any of their cooking classes.   Wines are also available for purchase and take-away.  

As life begins to return to normal - we return to squeezing all of the goodness out of life that New Orleans has to offer.   

It’s hard to forget the Congressional earmark for the Bridge to Nowhere ($233 million to connect Ketchikan, Alaska, to an airstrip on the island of Gravina), especially since GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin is repeatedly saying that she opposed it (which turns out not to be true). She draws big applause with the line that if Alaska needs a bridge, they’ll build it themselves. Locals should remember a few things though. Katrina helped kill the Bridge to Nowhere - in November 2005. It was against the backdrop of the debate about what amount the federal government should spend to rebuild the Gulf Coast that the Bridge to Nowhere died in the sunshine of public scrutiny. Ironically, the bridge project was terminated, but the earmark wasn’t. Alaska got the money but diverted it to other projects. When Palin ran for Governor, she still supported the project (video of her supporting it here). Regardless of when Palin changed her mind, Alaska is still building a Road to Nowhere. The state received $24 million for a road from the Gravina airport to the point at which the bridge was supposed to be built. The alternative to building that road is returning the money to Washington. (Read the details in the Anchorage Daily News.) Sounds more like a parking lot for pork.  

So there’s been much ado about the NFL’s new Fan Conduct Policy that’s taken effect this season. While New Orleans is certainly renowned for its alcohol consumption, you can’t really argue that the fans have been known to be spiteful or mean. At least not like Jets fans. Or Raiders fans. Or…you get the idea.

Although those Bucs fans had a different take on it.

If there’s one thing these evacuations have taught me it’s that most people… OK, I can’t speak for everyone… it’s that I (and probably many others) despise being in a state of limbo. Hurricane season puts us in that state repeatedly and in so many ways that I’d suggest we call it Limbo Season if that didn’t also happen to be the name of that charming tropical balancing game that inebriated tourists enjoy so much on Caribbean vacations. How is it that being bent over backwards precariously perched halfway between standing and falling while trying to negotiate an ever more narrow window of opportunity provides raucous entertainment in the context of palm trees, pina coladas, ukuleles and grass skirts while the analogous situation in the context of a hurricane threat causes nothing but torturous anxiety?

Hurricane limbo sucks. Read the rest of this entry »

Keep a good thought for Bruce Daigrepont, who plays Tipitina’s regular Sunday fais-do-do; his parents Albert and Jennie Rita Daigrepont were killed a week ago Sunday in Mississippi as they attempted to evacuate the city in advance of Hurricane Gustav. Our best to the Daigrepont family and their many friends.