Now that you mention it, Irene's does take some time. I refuse to have dinner on a shot clock but obviously that is an issue for many people. Once in a great while I will tell a waiter that I have a 4:00 flight, so I need to get out earlier than normally I would. My guess is that if you told them your schedule they would try to accommodate you. They are well known (as is Manale's) for having you lounge awhile before seating., a time honored run-up-the-bar-tab trick.

I spoke to a tour boat driver a few weeks ago who said she'd run some visitors to Spahrs awhile back and everything was dandy. I won't see her for another couple of weeks so I cannot get any clarification before early May, Must be something "in the air" though because I keep encountering fried catfish at every turn and you'll have a riotous superfluity of that at des Allemands.

Re: your last comment, how thoroughly dispiriting. I bet she don't know Mike Persia Chevrolet, neither, or the address of Rosenberg's...

The Good Friday wop salad was terrific and I told my companion that it was of the sort over which Food Writers would bewray their tinny standards by whimpering about the anchovies which had been negligently dumped, en masse, on top and not separated from each other. Big deal. And the asparagus were comme il faut, US Army Surplus green, denture-friendly soft, Super Deluxe canned gems, bearing no relation to something drooled over by The Society for Aristology.

I had tried to respond yesterday afternoon but for reasons known only to the Powers & Principalities of the Air the damn thing would not go through and the site did not acknowledge my password. I become a more confirmed Luddite with every Internet encounter.

Looking at your line-up, it occurred to me that a bit of variety might be fun so I suggest Irene's for the NOLA Italian angle. High Hat would also be a good, casual change of pace, nothing pretentious but good and mostly simple. For some reason Manale's suggested itself, too, and the BBQ Shrimp there is worth a detour.

It's an open-ended request but if you are looking for finery and celebration sort of stuff, the Old Line will do fine: Commander's and Galatoire's will be busy and dressy, probably true of Arnaud's, as well. If I go out (by myself) of a celebratory Sunday I wait until the lunch/brunch crowd has largely passed off. This is tougher at Commander's because one needs to be out by mid-afternoon but it is do-able.

Any number of other places will be open but several of them will be of the Modern Aircraft Hanger Design that I do not cotton to and do not think works for something like Mother's Day. But I still believe in polished shoes so I am an anachronism....

See any comprehensive New Orleans cookbook for a stuffed artichoke. These need not have the choke excavated but that can be done. Commonly, a stuffing of cheese, breadcrumbs and one's own roll-call of goodies goes in. These are then spooned into the space between the leaves, compacted as best one can, and then steamed or boiled with a minimum of water. Some people bake them as a finish. I typically put olives, anchovy, sometimes salami or another meat in a food processor with garlic, some herbs de countertop, and a bit of olive oil and grated cheese.

I have also dug out the choke and put crabmeat in with a sauce..sometimes béarnaise, sometimes a juiced-up béchamel..and used that as the dip.

Finally, my grandmother's summertime recipe which is a cooked artichoke halved, choke removed and a vinaigrette put into the cavity. Chill. I put capers in mine, lots of garlic, maybe tarragon...whatever is lying about.

I'm sure the others agree with me that it is gratifying to be of assistance. Montuori's advice re: post JF is spot-on for your situation. It would be rather a shock to "drop in" for a romantic Getaway and run into that haymaker. In May, you will have warm but probably not beastly weather and goodies such as crawfish ought still to be available. I spoke to crabbers on Lac des Allemands last week and they said things are picking up (and the commercial crabbing ban has been lifted).

Many lifetimes ago my family was innocently meandering in France when we encountered Pentecost and everything was shuttered-and-barred. The experience saved us a few years later and we planned around it. Lesson learned but always worth remembering when planning something (National holidays can blindside you: not everyone would know, say, National Melon Day in Turkmenistan).

This is complicated greatly by the dementia/Alzheimer's issue. I have experience dealing with that and found that as time progressed the affected person became less patient and, often, confused. Something like Galatoire's...in the afternoon when it is quiet...was alright but more bustling places (as it is later or earlier in the day) could be a trial. Also, choices can present a problem and I found it best to make the menu selection myself, based on what I knew of preferences. Clancy's will be busy and very tight: that is a consideration, as well.

Absent any such problems, I'd say Brigtsen's, Galatoire's or Clancy's, and Irene's or Bayona would be my suggestions. Note that NOLA Italian is not "true Italian" (and many New Orleanians will howl that it is Sicilian) so you won't get The Same Thing you'll find in NYC.

By the time of your visit crabmeat will be great so anything, really, should be good at the better places. I don't think I've had an au gratin in ten years, preferring other uses for crabmeat, but I will snack off someone else's. Bon Ton's is fine, but I never saw it as ne plus ultra.

As someone pointed out on this board awhile back, there are some closures around July 1 so do check far enough ahead to have a fall-back. I went to lunch one Saturday in the Quarter during Essence (it was the only day available for a visiting fireman) and when I called the restaurant ahead of time I was told not to worry: indeed, the streets were packed but the old line places were empty.

You said it! Sometimes I think you cannot make a block in New York without stumbling in to one. Sometimes the stuff is good but the whole idea tends to annoy me, for no good reason I guess. The one in the Plaza just reminds me of how much the Plaza had changed. GCT has benefitted from the ones there but, again, it makes me pine for the Oyster Bar back when the chowder crackers were still loose in the hotelware silver bowls, with a spoon to fetch them. (I just watched "North by Northwest" with a friend this week so I have very fresh thoughts of GCT in the Good Old Days, and the Oak Bar, too, as God Meant Them To Be.)

I spoke to a woman in the area of Back Vacherie who said she had started tours already..had one on Wednesday. She thought warmer weather this weekend would bring out the alligators and reported she had seen several already. She did not have a business card on her or I'd provide info. If I can get something I will post it but likely not before Monday. However, you might check Torres tours down in Kramer,LA...I have never done one but it has been praised by folks and perhaps they, too, are gearing up.

I did see a heron walking down the street by my informant's house.

It is true that the soup recipe has varied across the Brennan Empire..the standard variation used to be in amount of tomato but sometime the tinkering came out in such things as allspice or cloves. As a rule, the recipe is fairly basic..Commanders used spinach for its famous edition. In the mens' club, too, the recipe is quite similar and the clubs memberships often have a good bit of cross-over so that would be expected. The Yacht Club is justifiably famous for its version. There is one in town that uses turkey thigh to stretch the components and, so far as I know, no one has never noticed.

As I said earlier, efforts to stand out have employed chili as a background note, and one place used orange. A friend was experimenting with star anise but so far I know he has not perfected it.