Workers at Galatoire's Profiled

[Mayhaw Man]

Today's Picayune ran a very nice piece by Elizabeth Mullener on 2 workers who, together, have worked in the kitchen more than 100 years. It was very well done and I thought that their thoughts on the modernization of the place were very interesting. There are some great photos that Kathy Anderson shot that accompanied the piece. If you can find them you are better at navigating that stupid sight than I am.

The Keepers of the Flame

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thank you for the insightful article, Brooks ... I have loved the meals I had at Galatoires .. which is merely a microcosm of what has changed in the world around it (and everywhere else) from the ready-made foods that arrive with much of the scut work done elsewhere (the egg yolks) and the casualness of the dress of the customers and even the attitude of the employees now:

But mostly, the changes that rile the senior class at Galatoire's have to do with the new generation of workers, including the ones who are their colleagues. They're noisy, they're bumptious, they're not conscientious enough and they're way too soft.  "At one time, people understood they had to do work," says Mitchell, "and they did what they had to do. People are not as willing to work as they used to be."

Times have changed outside and within the walls of Galatoires ... and Brennans .. and the Court of the Two Sisters ...

[saturnbar]

"'Hello, dear,' Mitchell says to the Leidenheimer's bread man, who has five bags of bread in each hand, splayed out under his firm grasp."

I always thought Galatoires and the rest of the old liners in the Quarter got gigits from Gendusa's on Rampart. Have I always been mistaken, or is Leidenheimers a new thing? ch

[FistFullaRoux]

I wonder how many other places have someone just to prepare employee meals? And a dedicated shrimp peeler?

[Mayhaw Man]

"'Hello, dear,' Mitchell says to the Leidenheimer's bread man, who has five bags of bread in each hand, splayed out under his firm grasp."

I always thought Galatoires and the rest of the old liners in the Quarter got gigits  from Gendusa's on Rampart.  Have I always been mistaken, or is Leidenheimers a new thing?  ch

Actually I think that you will find several bakeries supplying the things that we need (french bread new orleans style)-Mostly you will see Leidenheimer's, Binder's, and Gendusa's though. It's the brick ovens that do the trick at all three of these old line bakeries (there used to be a fourth-Reising's-but they sold out to Leidenheimer a few years ago.

Personally, since I can walk there from my wifes apt, I like Binders (in the Faubourg Marigny kinda down Frenchman St. past and behind Doerr Furniture going towards St Claude Ave). You can go there really early in the morning (on your way home, as is often the case in my case) and get a couple of loaves and some donuts (they are very good) and go home with a little breakfast before you conk out. Binder's is conveniently located just down the street from most of the clubs on Frenchman.

Zip (Leidenheimers) makes awesome baguettes though. So I guess it's a toss.

[rshorens]

Melissa's comment on "the casualness of the dress of the customers" made me smile..when we visited NO for the first time in April, Galatoire's downstairs was our first meal. We had just dropped our bags off at our hotel in the Quarter, then walked into the restaurant. My husband was wearing a sport jacket, although we were unaware of any dress code. After sitting down at the table, we gave our drink order, and while waiting, my husband took off his jacket and put it on the back of his chair. Within a second, a staff member asked my husband to put his jacket back on. We were taken aback until we realized that there was a serious dress code enforced here! Quite a change from northern California!

Roz

[Mayhaw Man]

The first sports jacket that I ever had WAS PURCHASED to fulfill the dining room requirements at Galatoire's, and if I remember correctly there was a tie rule for gentlemen as well.

I have a friend who used to insist on going to Commander's sans jacket so the he would be forced to wear the "plaid jacket of shame" that was given to customers who did not have a jacket for dinner. He is now a Federal Prosecutor in New Orleans. Go figure.