Reply #41: Cafe Du Monde set to reopen

[PDittie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051013/ap_on_re_us/new_orl...

After the longest break in its 153-year history, Cafe Du Monde will once again fill New Orleans' Jackson Square with the luscious smell of beignets and rich, chicory-laced coffee.

The French Quarter landmark known to tourists the world over for its fried dollops of dough dusted with powdered sugar is getting ready to reopen next week, a month and a half after being shut down by Hurricane Katrina.

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"Blowing powdered sugar on your date's tuxedo was a rite of passage in New Orleans," said Kit Wohl, who grew up in the French Quarter.

Archie Casbarian, who owns Arnaud's Restaurant, another New Orleans institution, moved to the French Quarter in 1966, and used to go carousing back then. "And I always ended up at Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets," he said. "It's a well-known hangover cure."

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On Thursday, workers painted the walls, boiled water in the deep fryers and hauled in new equipment. The tables and chairs that normally fill the patio were still stacked inside the building, and workers cleaned up tree limbs around the area.

"We've found about 50 of our 150 employees, and the cleanup will be finished by Tuesday," general manager Scott Escara said. "We'll turn the fryers on about 5 Wednesday morning and we should have hot beignets pretty quick after that."