New Orleans food outside New Orleans

[TAPrice]

In the six months I was stuck in Dallas after the storm, I read reports of a few displaced New Orleanians setting up restaurants there. I met a writer this weekend, who relocated to the Northwest after the storm, and he was working on a piece about a New Orleans chef who opened a restaurant in Portland.

Immediately after the storm, there was much talk about the diaspora Creolizing the rest of the country. Honestly, I think it was more wishful thinking than anything else. I wonder, though, how much the food has spread. It's been a year and half since Katrina. Are there more Creole restaurants around the country? Can you get a good plate of red beans in Atlanta? Are people sipping chicory laced coffee in California?

[Timh]

I left way before Katrina, but hope to open a New Orleans/south Louisiana pub in the near future. I've leved and cooked in NO and Houma and think I have a good grasp of the food and the culture. My time in Houma was by far the most enjoyable and rewarding, I still return twice a year to eat, drink, fish, and eat, and sweat.

[TAPrice]

Tim,

Do you think there is a greater interest in New Orleans food recently? Has all the post-Katrina talk of New Orleans made people hungry (or at least curious) about the cuisine?

New Orleans musicians seem to have a higher national profile than before the storm.

[Timh]

From my perspective, there has not been enough coverage of the New Orleans food scene. The storm brought up the subject of the city, but very little of the cuisine, Mardi Gras always stokes some reaction in people, even those who have never been to the city. Personally, I am more interested in the old guard restaurants(even those of faded glory) who are struggling to return , and the possible demise of the classic cuisine of the city to the revitalization and inevitable transformation of the city.

[Dago]

I can only say from personal experience. Up here in Chattanooga, we have Michael Adams and his family who have relocated after the storm. He's a true blooded Creole, who formerly owned and operated Mo Gumbo catering in New Orleans.

He has opened his Blue Orleans Creole Restaurant and is about to open a second one in the Fall 2007. It's been a hit so far, thank God. It's nice to have a good place to go instead of always having to cook yourself when you live away.