Famous Restaurant Returns to New Orleans

Commander's Palace restaurant gets ready to open in New Orleans in this Sept. 28, 2006 file photo. On the morning of Oct. 1, more than a year since being damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the mainstay of haute Creole cuisine and elegant dining plans to reopen for a jazz brunch. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) (Alex Brandon - AP)

"Who knew that steak would turn to liquid and seep through the floors and walls?" Martin said.

Also blown away by the storm were many of the restaurant employees, and replacing them is more complicated than putting out a help wanted sign.

Waiters work their way up, beginning as runners _ people who bring the food to the dining room but are not allowed near the tables _ before progressing to back waiters, front waiters and finally captains. On the way they train constantly.

"We want our waiters to have superb skills, warm personalities, a strong sense of hospitality, and a thorough knowledge of food and liquor," general manager Don Strunk said.

Waiters this week finished the last of the two-week classes that start them on the way. Instruction included the proper way to unfurl napkins and place them in laps to the arrangement of dishes on the table.

Before Katrina, Commander's had about 200 waiters. The restaurant will reopen with approximately 100, about 40 of them returning workers.

Another big turnover occurred in the kitchen. Thirty-five members of the culinary staff are gone since the storm, and only four of the longtime cooks have returned.

"They are all working at the better restaurants around the country," McPhail said.

To replace them, McPhail has hired top graduates from culinary schools in New Orleans and around the nation. The new kitchen crew has spent the last week in what McPhail calls "Creole University."

"We spend a lot of time talking about New Orleans food, they taste dishes so they can understand what we want," McPhail said.

According to the Louisiana Restaurant Association, 1,562 of the metro area's 3,414 pre-Katrina restaurants are still closed. Among those still dark are Mr. B's _ another restaurant owned by the Brennan family _ Bella Luna in the French Quarter, and neighborhood favorites such as Mandina's, Gabrielle, and Gautreau's.

"This restaurant is going to go the way of the city," Martin said. "If the city does well, we'll do well. It's as simple as that."

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On the Net:

Commander's Palace: http://www.commanderspalace.com/