There's a Bourbon Street brouhaha over Galatoire's

NEW ORLEANS -- Galatoire's restaurant, a French Quarter institution of high dining, is in the middle of an all-out food fight.

The restaurant has received more than 120 letters of protest from its most loyal patrons, some of whom once dined there weekly. The angriest are boycotting. They say Galatoire's managers are changing -- and ruining -- the 97-year-old restaurant.

The 19th-century Bourbon Street building was renovated to add an upstairs dining room. Hand-chipped ice gave way to machine-made cubes. A popular waiter was fired.

Minor changes? Not to these diners.

"Something drastic is afoot, a renovation not only of the physical features of the classic old Creole eatery, but a renovation of its very soul," wrote W. Kenneth Holditch, a retired University of New Orleans literature professor.

Patrons say changes at Galatoire's are notable, if not galling, because the restaurant has remained true to its roots for so long.

Galatoire's fans appreciate the dress code (jackets required for dinner), the lamb chops bearnaise ($28) and the sauteed poisson with crabmeat Yvonne ($26). They like the tiled floors, gleaming brass fixtures and the tuxedoed waiters.

"The drinks are stiff, you're never hurried. The best dinners I've ever had in my life, I had at Galatoire's," said John Stinson, an antiques dealer.

Galatoire's developed customers loyal enough to pay someone else to stand in line -- sometimes all day -- in order to guarantee a table and get around the restaurant's ban on reservations.

Now, reservations are permitted for the new dining room, a space the regulars consider inferior because it attracts a casually dressed tourist crowd.

The protest letters started coming after the April 27 firing of Gilberto Eyzaguirre, a waiter for 23 years who was popular with customers but had twice been accused of sexual harassment.

Angry patrons thought Eyzaguirre's firing was the latest in a series of wrong-headed moves to increase profits. Some have said they won't go back unless Eyzaguirre is rehired.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright