And I had several good meals at the popular tourist bar and cafe named “Olde N’Awlins Cookery” on Conti Street. The place is owned by Mike Lala, a long-time television cameraman in New Orleans who, after all those years of hanging out in bars, decided to open one. He has made his fortune serving the same four appetizers, four soups, and eight entrees year after year. It’s a successful formula with the out-of-towners. “I don’t change anything,” Mike told me. “I don’t even like to change the light bulbs.” Phil has known Mike Lala even longer than I have, but I always went to Olde N’Awlins alone. Phil says he isn’t going there until Mike starts using tablecloths.
Charles Kuralt, passage from his excellent 1995 book, “America”