Two

In da Christmas Picayune, I saw right dere in Section "E"

Tujague's recipe

for the crawfish they caught in Arabi.

Tujague's (pronounced locally, "TOO-jaks") is one of the city's oldest restaurants, opened in 1856. It's funky little place with great food. You don't need a reservation, so it's a great place for a spur-of-the-moment dinner in the Quarter. Tujague's is moderately priced (meaning it's not as expensive as, say, Galatoire's), but it's not a bargain place, either. The most popular menu choice is the daily Table d'Hote menu, which is a fixed-price dinner including an appetizer, soup du jour, boiled beef brisket as a transition to the entree, the entree (usually a choice of 3 or 4), coffee and dessert.

The restaurant has three main areas. When you enter the door on the corner, you walk into the bar. There's a huge mirror that was imported from Europe in the 1850s that is a single 10'+ piece of glass, remarkably expensive for the time. As you wak to the back of the bar, you come to a hallway where the matire d's station is located. You'll be seated either around the corner to the right in the front dining room (which is the second door, to the background of the photo, or the back dining room, further into the building. The atmosphere is very laid-back, but still that all-business attitude of an old-school Creole restaurant. It's all about putting a good meal in front of the diner.

The photo of the restaurant was shot in January of 2006, just after Tujague's re-opened. That's why the big banner on the second floor. New Orleans' restaurants have been in the lead of the city's recovery. Restaurants employ a wide range of folks, from management to dishwashers. The post-storm period has been problematic for restaurants, however, since gutting houses and hanging drywall pays a lot better than washing dishes. Given how many people have been displaced by the storm, skilled cooks and chefs are also in demand. These increased labor costs have seriously cut into the profit margins of restaurants, as there's only so much of the cost increases that can be passed on to diners.

Business owners in the restaurant/tourism/hospitality industries know all too well the importance of making sure affordable housing stays a high priority for the city leaders as we continue to rebuild.