the city that fast food forgot March 18, 2006
The Downtown Irish Parade drew a pretty good-sized crowd at Mimi’s last night, but not an uncomfortable crush of people. Although I think I have some Irish ancestry, I have to confess it’s been years since I went to a St. Patrick’s Day parade. When I was younger, I didn’t like all those old guys kissing me. Now, I’m older and it’s young guys wanting to kiss me and give me a flower. Well, that’s more like it - come to mama, Seamus. The Downtown Irish also have women in their parade. Quarantined in the back, of course, but still. They looked pretty hot, too, with formal coats, fishnet stockings and high-heels.
Since I haven’t been to an Irish parade in so long, I don’t know if the crowd was typical or not. Almost every single person there was white. Of course, that’s New Orleans these days. It reminds me of when Don and I moved to Covington in 1992. We never saw any black people anywhere. A few years later, we moved to Hammond, and the mixed population was one thing that made me feel more at home there. Nothing against Covington, which I love, but I like a diverse mixture of people and that’s why I eventually wound up back in New Orleans. Don has said that the Flood turned New Orleans into Covington. So far, he is right.
Other New Orleans bloggers have been writing lately about the fast food shortage that is going on. I’ve noticed this phenomenon, too. There is almost no fast food to be had in Orleans parish. The exceptions are McDonald’s and Burger King on St. Charles, and the Rally’s on Carrollton. More people are opening up every day, so I am guaranteed to be inaccurate here, but, a large number of fast food places remain shuttered, even in areas that are otherwise coming back to life. I don’t think a Taco Bell taco can be had for love or money in either Orleans or Jefferson.
Starbuck’s also seems to have abandoned Orleans parish. I hope this gives CC’s, Rue de la Course and independent coffee houses an opportunity to eat their lunch. When I first came back from Texas in December, the large chain grocery stores were still closed but Dorignac’s and Langenstein’s were open. I guess it was better for the bottom line of the national chains if they left stores closed for months. Meanwhile, if you are a local company, you have to re-open as soon as you can and start making money. If it hadn’t been for these local businesses, we would have been driving to LaPlace to make groceries until very recently.
Just one more reason to support local merchants. But, wouldn’t it be kind of fun if all we had in New Orleans were local merchants? It hasn’t exactly been a bad thing that dangerblond can’t get her hands on a Mad Cow Taco Burger. If I get the shakes, I can always go to Taqueria, which is a local company. Hey, Taqueria - how about a drive-up window?
