KayIloveyoobuhbyeee!
Oh. You want more, don't you? All right...
Though we listened to many post-Katrina stories (including from people who were continuing to support family members forced to move outside the state), Don and I almost didn't realize that we were working with a human example of one of the most moving stories we could hear.
By the end of the second full day, the training was complete. Don put everyone through their paces with the retinal camera, and I (when I wasn't doing the same) set up the clinical pathway and made sure the applications team had everything they needed to fix all the other imaging clinics throughout Louisiana. The way I write about it in the past tense makes it sounds easy, or even that I always knew the end result would be just that. In reality, oooboy, it was touch and go. By the time it was all over, the only plans Don and I had were to head back to the hotel, eat, and not come out until the cab came to pick us up for the airport the next morning.
Enter Luis Bernhard: Pianist, artist, retinal angiographer by day, and one of the people we were training in the teleretinal clinical pathway that week.
Don and I were sitting in a room with Luis, making the final calls as well as saying goodbye-and-thank-you to the staff that made sure our training was able to happen. While I was finishing up, Luis invited us to his restaurant for a wine tasting. Feeling a fourth or fifth wind, and not wanting to pass up any opportunity of kindness, we said yes.
A half-hour later, this is where we ended up.
Arabesque, the hidden gem.
It was in a local setting. Nothing touristy about the street (it was next door to an abandoned beauty salon). Many of the people coming into New Orleans for the debauchery will never see it, yet the local populace keeps it going. Luis and his wife, Sandra, also went through their share of tragedy and disaster. Just hearing part of this story helped to make their bistro stand out in my eye as a symbol of triumph over tragedy.
Luis, co-founder of Arabesque, bartender.
Sandra Bahhur, Luis's wife and the head chef.
Arabesque's sous chef.
When we arrived and introduced ourselves to Luis' family and crew, it was about an hour before the restaurant opened. By the time they opened to the public, Don had a sampling of Red wines, and I had a amazing non-alcoholic fruit cocktail, only later saying what the hell and nursing a reisling (those of you familiar with my non-drinking stance know how much of a big deal this is).
Don and Luis, toasting.
Don and me. One of my rare "shirt-and-tie" pics.
The people came in slowly but surely. and we got to meet several of Luis and Sandra's friends and patrons while the wine tasting turned into a sampling of appetizers to a sampling of fillet mignon to a sampling of this amazing dessert.
You'll just have to go there to find out what this is.
I didn't photograph any of the food that came before the dessert, because we were way too busy devouring it. Definitely among the top-twenty meals I ever had, if not the top ten.
That atmosphere of the restaurant was assisted greatly by Luis' son, who had many pieces up all around the restaurant (many of which were sold).
And amidst all that, a meticulously reproduced copy of a painting that hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Someone identify this for me!
My personal favorite is the mural, which adorns the Arabesque menu.
Gorgeous.
I'll try to get the website for his son's work.
As I was ready to write this, I came across a much more detailed story of Arabesque and Luis and Sandra, via a piece from The Times Picayune. Click here to read it.
And visit the Arabesque web site by clicking here. I hope someone who reads this blog is going to Nnew Orleans and will able to visit this spot off of Canal Street. It's my way of thanking Luis, Sadra, and the rest of the Arabesque crew for passing on some kindness to us.
Okay, THEN Don and I went to the airport, we got home, and everything was cool.
Okaybye!!!
1 comment:
Great story Chad, and thanks for coming to New Orleans.
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