For nearly 60 of my 65 years, a "lunch" visit (Arrive 1:45PM for 2PM, languish until at least 4:30) to Galatoire's has been at least an annual event (even living 550 miles away). I still follow the routine of my grandfather, a shipping agent who did nothing with great haste...a pre-meal cocktail, for him 3 ounces of Old Forester, a teaspoon of Sweet Vermouth and a dash of bitters, followed a bottle of a decent white (and I still order a Sancerre, his favorite), and then a single dish - even appetizers - at a time, preferably shared among at least 3 people or even 4. I think I must have had the same waiter for most about a half century until his retirement a few years back. He always called my grandfather (who at best came once or twice a year) by name and didn't even ask for his drink order. They started putting a wine glass down for me when I was 8 or so, and it hasn't done me in yet.

There are several dishes which are hard to pass up, but the stuffed eggplant is a must for someone who wants to try a traditional "Creole" dish in a place where it has been prepared in the same manner sinbce hector was a pup.

Besides, even the "new look" Galatoire's remains one of the closest approximations of what New Orleans was than anywhere elso I go....
(and as it says in the lost sequel to Genesis: "...And on the 9th Day, Pat O'Brien's opened..." and hasn't been hosed out since.)

TMO