Friday, July 25, 2008

New Orleans's Long Road Back

An important step on the road to recovery, from anything, is the ability to face criticism again. So it's worthy of note that New Orleans has reached a milestone of sorts.

From today's New York Times:

New Orleans has gotten its beans back.

These are not the creole red beans that hold a sacred place on Monday lunch menus across the city. Rather, they are the measures of restaurant quality that the city’s daily newspaper awards. Let other critics use stars; The Times-Picayune deals in beans.

In its Friday issue, for the first time since every restaurant in the city shut down after Hurricane Katrina nearly three years ago, the newspaper was handing out beans alongside a formal restaurant review.