NEW ORLEANS — The menus are limited. There aren't enough waiters. And those places not using paper plates are hiring dishwashers at $10 an hour or more.

But the restaurants of New Orleans are coming back.

Though the devastation wrought on Aug. 29 by Hurricane Katrina is still apparent, restaurants are popping up in the French Quarter and Central Business District — the areas that escaped the worst of the hurricane and attendant flooding — in defiance of those who predicted that months would pass before anything of the sort could happen.

Indeed, at Bacco and Red Fish Grill, two restaurants owned by the Ralph Brennan Group, the paper and plastic have been packed away. The restaurants started using their regular dishes and glassware Oct. 18.

"Hallelujah," says Ralph Brennan. "I hated those plastic dishes."

That's how progress is measured by New Orleans' restaurants. Baby steps.

"We're not taking it day by day; we're taking it shift by shift," says Charlee Williamson, the Brennan group's executive vice president. "The day the newspaper was delivered for the first time, that was a big deal. Our first UPS delivery, that was a big deal."

To be sure, some of the city's most famous restaurants are still shuttered. Commander's Palace, Brigtsen's, Emeril's, Bayona — all remain closed, and only Bayona's owner, Susan Spicer, is talking about reopening before 2006.

But, beginning Oct. 19, it was again possible to enjoy coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde, the open-air cafe adjacent to Jackson Square that, despite its short menu, is one of the city's iconic eating spots.

Also open are nearby Cafe Beignet, Herbsaint, Cuvee, Restaurant August and the New Orleans Grill inside the Windsor Court hotel.

"I'm very, very encouraged," says Laurie Claverie of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp., whose Web site, www.neworleansonline.com, maintains a list of restaurants, music venues, tours and other attractions that are open for business.

"The people that are coming back are pioneers, doing what they can," says Claverie, who compiles and updates her list largely by walking around town.

"But people are going and supporting them because they're open, and they don't care if they're eating off paper plates."

One thing that is certain: There is no shortage of customers.

"It's a very large mix," says Greg Dietz about the clientele coming to his place, Theo's Pizza, which reopened Oct. 6. "I'd say 40 percent of our regulars have shown their faces at least once. We're getting a ton of construction workers, roofers, FEMA and CDC folks and insurance people. And the National Guard. When a guy walks in carrying an M16 and orders a pizza, you know things are a little different."

Donald Link, chef/owner of Herbsaint, was so eager to return to his business that he says he created "bogus passes" to get past the security checkpoints.

"I came in and cleaned the coolers," he says, "and I saw the city for myself. And I called the staff and told them not to get other jobs."

Link reopened Herbsaint on Oct. 7 — using regular dishes, he happily points out — with exactly four staff members, himself included. "We didn't have a dishwasher, so we all cooked and cleaned and served," Link says. "We did everything we could."

Herbsaint's menu was a bit shorter than usual, and some ingredients, such as farm-raised rabbits, were unobtainable. "But every night it's been like a party," says Link, whose staff now numbers 16 (the pre-Katrina number was 40). "People thank me every night; they think it's incredible that we're open. And it is incredible; it's some sort of miracle that we've managed to pull this off."

At the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, the job description for management has undergone some adjustment, a reflection of the fact that Brennan retained 85 percent of its management workers but only 10 percent of its hourly employees — many of whom lived in the hardest-hit parts of town. Out of 350 employees, the restaurant group has 95 back.

And so upper-level managers are at Red Fish Grill or Bacco — until recently, both restaurants used a common menu for simplicity's sake — waiting tables, tending bar and cooking.

"We kind of talked about it, and we said we're going to do what it takes," says Ralph Brennan. "We're in the customer service business."

The biggest issue facing New Orleans restaurants is the city's incredibly shallow labor pool. The college students are studying elsewhere, though there's hope they'll return for the next semester in January. Workers with children have relocated and enrolled their children in school, and are unlikely to return until New Orleans' schools reopen. And for those willing and able to return, housing is scarce and expensive. Brennan says his company is working with local real estate agents to find housing for returning workers, and that wage rates have gone up 25 percent for hourly workers.

The Windsor Court Hotel, which reopened its New Orleans Grill (serving buffet style for the time being) and Polo Club Lounge the second week of October (the hotel itself will reopen Nov. 1), has the luxury of setting aside some hotel rooms to house staff.

"And a number of our people's houses are fine," says public-relations representative Audra Poole. "After all the horrible, horrible stories, we're starting to hear some good news."

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"A lot of the people who were evacuated filled crucial needs," says Val Sevin, a seafood wholesaler with Tuna Fresh Inc., which has moved its operations to Baton Rouge. "Management waiting tables and cooking in the kitchen — that's just natural now.

"Life is not normal," Sevin says, "and we don't know what normal may be anymore. A lot of places are still boarded up; that's the reality of the deal. We've got one vibrant part of the city, but we're still severely hampered by a lack of labor and lack of businesses. It's gonna take some time."

But for now at least, and much sooner than expected, there is hope.


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