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New Orleans - On the Slow Road to Recovery
By Kevin Howell

New Orleans, the Crescent City, the Big Easy, the home of blues, jazz, and a laid back attitude like no other is still regrouping after last year’s hurricanes.

With rebuilding in progress, another storm season encroaching fast, and a barely reelected Mayor Ray Nagan pushing hurricane preparedness, I wondered how the city is fairing.

In March, six months after being pummeled by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I visited New Orleans for the first time in 20 years. The premise was to move my son Zac, a sous chef for the Asian Cajun Bistro in the French Quarter, from Savannah, Georgia - another story in itself.

But really I wanted to see for myself what was happening.

Ironically it was the hurricanes that took Zac to the Crescent City. With many evacuees still missing, labor was short, so he took a friend’s offer to work at the Asian Cajun.

When I was there many moons ago, I was intrigued by the city - I remember walking the levees, the river walk along the Mississippi, and especially the French Quarter where music drifted in the air and delightfully full helpings of seafood dishes - shrimp, crab, crawdads (or crayfish) - were served up steaming hot.

Changes have taken place since that time.

Unloading in the French Quarter where Zac lives, I finally had time to look around and talk with locals.

In March the city was struggling to hold its own - water marks four feet up buildings, trees still down, debris yet to clean up, and rebuilding happening all around.

The Quarter survived with wind damage, and seemed to be making headway, at least according to Zac.

"The French Quarter is so small and so close knit. I haven’t really left it except for the trip to Savannah and you don't really realize how big New Orleans is - it’s not just the French Quarter, but that’s the heart of it," he told me one night over a few beers.

As long as the French Quarter keeps going, he said, New Orleans will stay alive.

His boss and owner of the Asian Cajun, Philip Chan, had hopes too.

He returned to the restaurant at the corner of Decatur and Bienville just weeks after Hurricane Rita, the second wave of craziness.

"I reopened this restaurant two weeks after Rita. When we had power and gas, we opened right away - in early September,' said Chan, an award winning, nationally renowned chef, and co-owner of the Five Star Chopstix Restaurant in Atlanta, GA.

"We were number one to open on this street and one of ten in the French Quarter."

Early customers were construction, hospital, police and FEMA workers. By March they were thinning out some and the city needed tourists back.

Mardi Gras brought some, but not as many as in the past. Chan said it would likely be a year, maybe two before New Orleans truly comes alive again. But he returned to the Big Easy because he believes in it.

"New Orleans is such a great town with a lot of history, and I came back because I believe that it can come back and it will be better than before. I want to be a part of that," Chan explained.

But it may not be in the French Quarter. In late May I contacted Chan to see how things were going. He said the Asian Cajun may be moving out of the Quarter, at least for the time being.

"The rest of New Orleans is doing okay, but in the French Quarter we’re facing a recession this tourism season and it’s not doing as good as before. Everybody is very sensitive about what happened before (with hurricanes)," Chan told me.

He said both the tourism business and convention business have not been up to par, and are expected to drop off during the summer hurricane season.

Both affect the Quarter retailers who depend heavily on those sources of incomes.

"We always hope, but the rest of the year is looking difficult for everybody."

Tourism trade is about 5-10 percent of what it was Chan explained to me, although the recent Jazz Festival was a success, and cruise ships are expected back around Memorial Day.

But bars and restaurants and retailers are still struggling, and Chan said larger restaurants and hotels like the Ritz Carlton are not yet even open.

Uptown New Orleans though is fairing better with more local traffic coming in, Chan is opening the second Asian Cajun at 8400 Oak St., about 15 - 20 minutes from the Quarter.

To put a plug in for Chan, despite the down surge in the Quarter I recommend the Asian Cajun wherever it’s located.

The Bistro offers shrimp, crawfish, flounder, snapper and other seafood cajun style with a twist of asian flavor - delicious.

Chan, originally from Hong Kong, also serves more typical asian fare including Peking Duck, hot szechwan chicken, and fried rice. He can also whip up vegan (no meat) dishes on request.

But for me the asian cajun mix was a treat for the palate.

In March I was motioned to the kitchen where Zac prepared a plate of New Zealand Rack of Lamb served with Asian teriyaki sauce on a bed of lettuce and a garnish of tomato and lemon.

Simultaneously Chan and Wok-chef Hin Chan were out front whipping up Prawn in Bird’s Nest (huge shrimp with Chan’s special blend of sweet and spicy sauce with Asian greens), and a bowl of Asian Cajun fried rice with crawfish, fish and sausage.

Needless to say I couldn’t finish what was put in front of me, but I relished every mouthful!
Where there’s cooking like that, how can New Orleans and the French Quarter not survive.

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