There are still more pigeons than people in Jackson Square, the norm for the French Quarter since the corornavirus shutdown began. But as a steamy Friday morning got underway, just across Decatur Street the smell of chicory coffee and beignets once again wafted from Café du Monde.
The landmark New Orleans coffee and beignet parlor in the French Market reopened for the first time since March.
Joe Roman holds up a sign at Cafe Du Monde as they reopen in the French Quarter after the coronavirus shutdown in New Orleans, Friday, May 22, 2020.
One of the first people in line was Stacie Ancar. A Belle Chasse native, she lives in Atlanta now and is back in town for a weekend visit. Café du Monde was her first stop.
“There is no New Orleans without Café du Monde,” said Ancar, her shirt adorned with a café au lait pin and the inevitable dusting of powdered sugar from the first bite of her beignets. "It’s where I always go when I come home."
Between the awnings and arches of Café du Monde’s covered patio, Ancar had plenty of room around her.
Customers eat beignets at Cafe Du Monde as they reopen in the French Quarter after the coronavirus shutdown in New Orleans, Friday, May 22, 2020.
To get underway, the café is serving takeout orders only from a makeshift counter set up by the front door. Though it can normally seat 400 people at once, Cafe du Monde now has about 20 outdoor tables for people to tuck into their takeout bags.
“We’re not going to have the crowds we normally would, but that’s not important right now,” said Jay Roman, one of the family owners of Café du Monde.
“What’s important is showing the city is open again. We want people to know that New Orleans is back.”
The white SUV pulled around the corner of Annunciation and Bellecastle streets and three generations of Domilise‘s po-boy eaters gazed out, lo…
Restaurants have been returning to business in one form or another all across New Orleans since phase 1 coronavirus reopening began last week. The prospects for Café du Monde, with roots back to 1862 and a location in the heart of the city’s tourism hub, can resonate beyond the city.
People don’t just eat beignets at Cafe du Monde. If they’re tourists, they tell stories about them when they get home; if they’re locals they argue the particular merits of Café du Monde versus Morning Call or any of the new beignets makers on the block.
Stacie Ancar takes a photo of her beignets at Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter after the coronavirus shutdown in New Orleans, Friday, May 22, 2020.
Hours are curtailed from the normal 24/7 schedule now, operating 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, though Roman expects to extend those hours when the city gets to phase 2 reopening measures.
“Our business plan is written on a white board with erasable marker, because it changes every day,” he said. “Every time you think you have a plan, you read something else, you watch another webinar, you learn about something different that you have to do.”
Café du Monde has been reopening its suburban locations, starting with drive through service. In May it reopened the takeout window at its location in New Orleans City Park. Business has been encouraging at those cafes, and Roman said Mother’s Day weekend was an encouraging boost, showing that many customers were ready to venture out again.
Customers wait for Cafe Du Monde to reopen in the French Quarter after the coronavirus shutdown in New Orleans, Friday, May 22, 2020.
The original Café du Monde presents a different dynamic. The French Quarter is still very quiet. But from the dead calm that had settled over the streets, little gusts of activity have more recently been turning up.
Roman has been around the French Market almost daily since the shutdowns and noticed the change. He credits street art and grads.
“After people started painting art on the plywood over all the boarded up windows around here, that drew people down to check it out,” Roman said. “Then with graduations, it was the tour of caps and gowns, parents taking their pictures in front of landmarks without a lot of tourists around them.”
On opening day, there were some signs that tourism is not completely gone. The office phone kept ringing with calls from out of towners looking for updates.
Meg Helf and Rob McCloskey, of Pennsylvania, sit down to a couple orders of beignets and coffee at Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter after the coronavirus shutdown in New Orleans, Friday, May 22, 2020.
For Rob McCloskey and Meg Helf, the order they picked up on opening day was their first taste of beignets. They live in eastern Pennsylvania, near Scranton, and have been traveling to escape the depressing mood back home. They couldn’t do many of the usual tourist activities but they did find their way to Café du Monde and hopped in line.
“This was on our list of things to do anyway,” said McCloskey
Kim Hoffman, who has been working at Cafe Du Monde for over 40 years, wears her Cafe Du Monde hat before they reopen in the French Quarter after the coronavirus shutdown in New Orleans, Friday, May 22, 2020.
Kim Hoffman was thrilled to see them. She has worked at the French Market location of Café du Monde for 43 years, starting here not long after she emigrated from Vietnam. She’s been mostly staying home since the shutdowns, taking care of her husband. She leapt at the chance to get back to work.
“When they called, I felt like I’d won a million dollars,” she said, between sanitizing tabletops and waving playfully at little kids covered in powdered sugar.
“You see everyone here, famous people at one table, grandfathers, fathers and sons at another,” Hoffman said. “I love it. I missed the people.”
Galatoire’s Restaurant reopened its main dining room Wednesday, May 20, 2020, with just a few dozen seats and something it's never had before:…
Galatoire’s Restaurant will reopen its main dining room Wednesday with just a few dozen seats and something it’s never had before: reservation…
You can hear New Orleans cheering each time another of its favorite restaurants reopens in the coronavirus crisis. What I’m dreading is when N…
"cafe" - Google News
May 23, 2020 at 01:15AM
https://ift.tt/36ln5VK
Cafe du Monde reopens in the French Quarter hoping to show 'New Orleans is back' - NOLA.com
"cafe" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FkbMR3
https://ift.tt/3c4yPxW
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25244079/4.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment