C’EST BON
A hearty ‘g’day, mate’ to Outback Steakhouse. The company announced last week that it will serve only Louisiana shrimp at its 14 locations in the Bayou State. An official for the Florida-based, Aussie-themed restaurant says the company had planned to switch to less costly imported shrimp next month, but in light of the tribulations of the Louisiana shrimping industry — hard hit by imports and internal squabbling among shrimpers and processors — Outbacks in Louisiana will stick with the local variety. That means, of course, that a shrimp dish in a Louisiana Outback will be a little more expensive than the same dish at Outback locations in other states, but for our money, it’s well worth it.
PAS BON
New Orleans’ four-year odyssey recovering from Hurricane Katrina looks to be far from over, according to economist Loren Scott. At a recent symposium in Biloxi, the LSU economics professor predicted that the Crescent City will continue to lag behind other Gulf Coast cities affected by Katrina in terms of attracting new companies and business investment. While billions for construction projects have been spent in New Orleans since Katrina, most of it has been for rebuilding — houses, bridges, infrastructure — and very little in new development. Scott reiterated an oft-repeated scenario that has many a New Orleanian scratching their collective head: It’ll take another direct hit by a hurricane — and the levees holding — before the business community will feel comfortable investing in New Orleans again.
COUILLON
William S. Burroughs would be proud. A Slidell man lived his own little drug- or booze-induced Naked Lunch episode recently — actually a naked midnight snack — as surveillance video in a residence captured him breaking in, ransacking the home, taking a shower and making himself a meal, all while completely and utterly in the buff. The nude dude was thoughtful enough to wrap himself in a sheet before leaving. So far, cops have no idea who he is, but hope someone will recognize the couillon from the video.
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again, it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to go public this year.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
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