I was just on vacation in New Orleans, and we went to an average breakfast place. Like 9am on a Thursday. Place was maybe 40% full. We didn’t want anything fancy, the kids just wanted eggs and pancakes, I wanted a big platter and my wife something simple like oatmeal and fruit.
It took over an hour to get our food. When it came out the waitress said something like “Sorry for the wait, this bitch in the back just started and still thinks she’s at her fancy ass fine dining place.”
It at least looked really nice and was one of the best breakfasts I’ve had. Wife and kids couldn’t care less though because they were all raging from hunger.
To be fair… It’s called the Big Easy. Not The Big Hard Working.
I had a friend who grew up there. He told me they just aren’t in that kind of hardcore work mode that is expected in so many places. They’d rather make great food over getting a ton of volume out in a fast pace. Which is why every place you eat has awesome food. Hell local chain food is dope.
Now this person might have been slow as shit and that waitress might be right, but it’s New Orleans, it’s basically in “Island Time”. You get it when you get it.
Also it sounds like there may only have been one cook.
While there certainly are many places like that, that mentality is not the norm. New Orleans and Louisiana in general have a work hard, play hard mentality and genuinely have some of the best work ethics out there. There are, however, a lot of career kitchen workers that don't give a fuck, but their routine and flow is down to a science. When I moved from LA to Colorado 10 years ago, I interviewed at 3 places in a week and got 3 offers, and they all said "you're from Louisiana, I know you know how to work hard."
I feel like New Orleans work culture has a level of restraint the rest of the country isn't used to. Like the badass lunch spots that have a line out the door but serve 11-4. In my state they'd get greedy and try and grind it out until 10pm, and if that didn't make it medicore enough they'd add a shitty brunch.
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u/empire161 May 22 '25
I was just on vacation in New Orleans, and we went to an average breakfast place. Like 9am on a Thursday. Place was maybe 40% full. We didn’t want anything fancy, the kids just wanted eggs and pancakes, I wanted a big platter and my wife something simple like oatmeal and fruit.
It took over an hour to get our food. When it came out the waitress said something like “Sorry for the wait, this bitch in the back just started and still thinks she’s at her fancy ass fine dining place.”
It at least looked really nice and was one of the best breakfasts I’ve had. Wife and kids couldn’t care less though because they were all raging from hunger.