Travel Weekly's Arnie Weissmann was in New Orleans for the grand reopening celebration for the Hyatt Regency. His first dispatch follows.
A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city was still devoid of tourists.
Although the French Quarter was clearly ready for business, very few people either believed it or were quite ready to return to celebrate in a city that had experienced so much disruption and sadness.
I wrote at the time that New Orleans, whose cuisine I dearly love, felt "malnourished."
Now, five years later, I can give a full-throated cheer that the city has recovered.
Not just full-throated, but full-stomached. I am about to tell you how I gained 6 pounds in 12 hours.
I was in New Orleans two weekends ago to help celebrate the grand reopening of the Hyatt Regency, the last of the city's iconic institutions to revive post-Katrina.
To begin at the beginning: I had skipped breakfast that morning, and rationalized that there really is no difference between eating a distinct breakfast and lunch and eating two lunches back-to-back.
My wife and I had 1:30 lunch reservations at Commander's Palace, but she had never eaten char-broiled oysters, so I suggested we make a stop at Drago's at the Hilton Riverside to split a dozen before heading over to Commander's.
While at Drago's, my wife, who didn't know how rich char-broiled oysters are, suggested we also split a bowl of gumbo.
I, in fact, did know how rich the oysters are, but simply cannot say no to gumbo.
I also knew the oysters went well with beer. Abita seemed the obvious choice, and I had never tried their Turbodog label, so I ordered that. Turns out it's a somewhat heavy beer, somewhere between Guinness and mercury.
When we stood up 45 minutes later, we were both undeniably full. But I was loathe to give up a reservation at Commander's. I suggested we go and just split a few appetizers.
Turns out that all Commander's serves is a three-course jazz brunch in the early afternoon on a Saturday. We were already seated before we learned this, and I felt there was no turning back.
I started with a brandy milk punch, which the waitress suggested was a classic way to begin. The appetizer — blue crab on truffled scrambled eggs — was relatively light, if not perhaps a bit over-truffled.
The next course, however, was simply outstanding — and wonderfully rich: wild shrimp on corn grits. The sauce was a beautiful blend of heat, fat and herbs that balanced perfectly with the sweet grits.
I've had this dish before, but never did it come close to this extraordinary version. I felt the chef, Tory McPhail, could indeed be worthy of putting on the toque of his predecessors, Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse.
I did end up leaving about half my dessert, a heavily whip-creamed praline sundae, but made up for it by assisting my wife with her with bread pudding souffle with whiskey sauce.
We were painfully full, and wanted nothing more than to walk back to the hotel through the Garden District, but we had an appointment to keep: We had signed up for a cocktail tour of the French Quarter. I flagged down a cab.
A Pimm's Cup at Muriel's, an absinthe at the Pirates Alley Cafe, a Bayou Bash at the Court of Two Sisters and a Sazerac at Arnaud's later, we found we had to hurry to make our dinner reservation at Chef John Besh's acclaimed restaurant, August.
We had plans to join a group of journalists who had also come down for the hotel opening.
For the next three hours, we worked our way through a four-course dinner, not including a relatively rich amuse and a very rich dessert. A wine was paired with every course.
And, of course, an assortment of petit fours was brought to the table with coffee.
Like a Dostoyevsky character wondering just how low and abased he could go, I took a small bag of peanut brittle from the bowl next to the hostess on my way out, just to have something to munch on during the walk back to the hotel.
And that is how I gained six pounds in 12 hours. It's now nine days later, and I wish I could also report how long it takes to reverse the process.
Email Arnie Weissmann at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter.