Part Five: Back from the ashes, but not out of the woods
Eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina, old customers get a taste of a renewed New Orleans institution The first customers who walked into Mandina's on Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. were greeted with the flash...
View ArticlePart Four: As reopening day nears, the bills mount
Isadore Pilart drew in a deep, chest-heaving breath. "You can smell a restaurant going on in here," he announced through a grin that revealed two gold teeth. Isadore Pilart drew in a deep,...
View ArticlePart Three: A family history: Sicily to New Orleans -- and Baton Rouge and...
The Mandina family has been feeding New Orleanians since the turn of the century Six years ago, Cindy Mandina boarded an American Airlines plane for Maui and opened up the in-flight magazine to a...
View ArticlePart Two: Architects re-imagine an iconic locale
Restaurateurs envision a new and improved version of their grand old eatery By Brett Anderson Restaurant writer As 2005 bled into 2006, the office meetings between John Montgomery and Cindy and Tommy...
View ArticlePart One: Assessing the damage
For 75 years, the Mandina family served classic New Orleans cuisine to classic New Orleans characters at the corner of Cortez and Canal streets. But as they surveyed the mess the failed levees left...
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