"The street has changed and we didn't change with it"

The owners of Cafe Rose Nicaud are in their 70s now and ready to cash out. You can't really blame them for that but also it's kind of a shame. Especially so since it seems clear the space will very likely not continue as a cafe in its next incarnation.  We'll know more about what that is when we find out who is the new owner.

Melba Ferdinand, who started the cafe with husband Kenneth, said the couple, now in their 70s, are retiring.

“It’s that time for us, and just as important, the street has changed, and we didn’t change with it,” she said. “That’s not regrettable, we love what we did and how we did it.”

The couple own Café Rose Nicaud’s property, a two-story historic building near the corner of Royal Street. Ferdinand said a sale of the property is in the works, though she could not name the prospective buyer.

Which Motwani is it this time? Also how many Chicken Shacks do we think can fit on Frenchman Street if there even is a limit to such a thing?

I don't know why he does it

I don't know why he does it

Bultman Funeral Home Borders Store to open Friday

Yes, I have been critical of this project... and continue to wonder how long it will last given the current economic environment. Yes, I will continue to patronize and support the excellent locally owned booksellers who operate in the very same neighborhood. And, yes, of course I question the necessity of yet another high-end coffee outlet in this section of Uptown.

But, yes, I will spend some time and probably some money in this store. It's right down the street from me, for Chrissakes.

Meanwhile... the counter-operatives are organizing.

Oh God, please don't send me back to ECON 101

Especially if I can't have any coffee.

Coffee

I'm not the sort who breaks routine very easily. But I've recently discovered that the price of an iced coffee at Magazine Perks is significantly cheaper than the comparable product at Still Perkin' Since neither is inconvenient to my daily commute, I may be patronizing the former more regularly in the future.

On the other hand, Still Perkin' is far and away the prime location for local political celeb and/or NOLA blog people spotting in the mornings. Plus I think I've got a free one coming soon.

Well here's today's first mistake

Nasty shit, this is.



Avoid at all costs.

Murder on the Magazine Street Express

From the looks of things, the Puccino's on Magazine and Ninth appears to have shut down. Which one of these other coffee houses within walking distance on the same street could have put them out of business?

Was it:

The Starbucks four blocks away?

The CC's three blocks away?

The Rue across the street?

Or was it.... all of them? (eerie music)

I certainly hope that now someone will have the good sense to open another sushi restaurant in that building.

Aw who am I kidding? We all know it will be a PJ's

Drug problem

I have a problem. Coffee. Weird energy drinks. Thank God I can't afford cocaine.

Crucial issue of the morning

Go see Haney now to get in on the "best iced coffee" discussion.

New Orleans, as many of you know, is one of the great coffee towns in America. The Louisiana State Museum maintains an exhibit in the Cabildo Armory that treats the history of the coffee trade at the port of New Orleans and its lasting cultural impact. A few highlights:

Today, New Orleans is the number one coffee port in the country. Around 241,000 tons of green coffee or 27.8 percent of the coffee that entered the United States in 1995 came into New Orleans. Beans are shipped here in large containers from thirty-one coffee-producing countries. This coffee is shipped out to large bulk roasters and smaller specialty roasters around the world.

In the 1920s the coffee break, as we know it, had not yet become a part of the daily ritual of American workers. In New Orleans, however, where business was said to have taken a secondary role to pleasure, the mid-morning break began to take form. In 1928 Lyle Saxon wrote in Fabulous New Orleans:

It is no unusual thing for a business man to say casually: "Well, let's go and get a cup of coffee," as a visitor in his office is making ready to depart. It is a little thing perhaps, this drinking of coffee at odd times, but it is very characteristic of the city itself. Men in New Orleans give more thought to the business of living than men in other American cities. . . . I have heard Northern business men complain bitterly about these little interruptions for coffee or what-not.

We may never know if the coffee break was actually invented here in New Orleans, but the tradition remains popular. In recent years, a new breed of coffeehouse, the gourmet shop, has gained popularity in the New Orleans region in keeping with a national trend. With premium blends of coffee from around the world, these establishments are breathing life into a coffee industry that was suffering from high prices and competition from soft drinks and flavored waters. Workers in New Orleans, now more than ever, enjoy their sacred coffee break ritual to its fullest.

The highlight indicates the sentence that brings the largest smile to my face. Also, I should point out that the "Coffee houses" of the day more often than not traded in stronger drink than just coffee. The New Orleans "coffee house" of the 19th and early 20th century was often interchangeable with the saloon.

And there were quite more than a few of them as this FrenchQuarter.com article indicates.

By the 19th century, New Orleans was already one of the world’s busiest ports and, thanks to its proximity to Latin America, coffee was one of its leading imports. Naturally, coffeehouses sprang up around city. In fact, one city directory from the 1850s lists more than 500 coffeehouses in the rapidly growing port town.

Today, there aren't exactly 500 coffee houses in town but there is still quite a good number from a surprising variety of operators. So, again, go visit Haney and give some love to your favorite.

And, yes, the evil empire does have a foothold here... but I can't imagine patronizing them except in the most dire of emergencies.