CornPop

The year was 1997..or maybe it was 1998. But I do recall clearly that it was Valentines Day.

I had booked a special weekend stay at one of those plantation homes for me and my wife to celebrate our anniversary (9th or 10th).

We were poor graduate students, so this was a big deal - and the pinnacle of it all was a meal at the celebrated restaurant "Lafitte's Landing" - the original one, located just over the Sunshine Bridge. I wanted everything to be perfect, so I called ahead and made reservations several days in advance - 7 pm sharp.

We arrived famished at 6:45 pm - and they found our reservation and said it would only be "a few minutes"....we were so excited...our first luxury meal in years and a chance to try the wonderful delicacies of the famed restaurant.

We were especially excited to see Chef John Folse himself across the room at the restaurant's bar. We had seem him on TV - so it was kind of cool, and maybe we'd get to meet him - or get his autograph?

But our reservation time of 7 pm came and went, and then 7:15, and then 7:30, and then 7:45 - and upon inquiring a few times we were told over and over..."sorry, but the kitchen is really backed up - due to the Valentines Day crowd".

..but there was a different reason we could see...

There were numerous customers who arrived after us and were told there was no open tables without a reservation.
But many of them were negotiating with the Maitre D - "Go tell John it's us, he knows us"

These folks were not just requesting, but insisting that they be seated without reservations - And apparently several of these people did know Chef Folse - who on that entire night (with the Kitchen backed up) sat in that bar, holding court and waving on a procession of locales and dignitaries into the few seats available as soon as customers finished up their meals.

This constant bumping of our reservations continued as one-by-one an old friend or a dignitary would arrive and with a wink and a nod they would get seated - always in view of me, my wife, and a few other unlucky couples who, like us, had nothing more than a "reservation".

Finally, at around 8:45 pm we were seated, but the political parade continued - with Folse gladhanding like a politician and the waiters being extremely apologetic about the backed up kitchen. We sat at that table, waiting for service, and watching the Folse carousel until we finally had enough. We left hungry and disappointed - maybe around 9 pm.

There wasn't much in terms of back-up food options in the Sunshine-Donaldsonville quarters back in those days - especially after 9 pm on Valentines day night. As I recall, we settled for some microwave burritos from the local Billups station. I still remember my beautiful young wife all dressed up and in tears on the ride back home.

This was my only experience with Chef Folse and it was not a good one.

I resolved then to tell this story anytime I could to anyone who would listen.

Thanks for reading.

I have two tickets for the LSU-Auburn game on 40-yd line lower bowl, east side. Sec 302.

Great seats, side-by-side, one is on the aisle.

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I laugh at the morons in grocery stores etc with their little handkerchief over their mouth.

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You might want to rethink your assumptions.

Some of those "morons" you laugh at could be the primary caregiver for a family member with a compromised immune system - due to cancer chemotherapy, emphysema, etc.

In those situations, people will do whatever they can to minimize risk to try and protect a wife, husband, parent, or child.

And the oft-cited claim that homemade masks do nothing to protect the wearer is not completely accurate. There is such a thing as a dose-response curve. Google it.

Anything that can be done to reduce the inhalation of viral particles is not necessarily a bad thing during a pandemic.

Laughing at strangers and calling them "morons" says more about you than it does about them.