Grand Isle Report

[EatinAintCheatin]

Wife and I decided to take a drive down to "the island" today to support the people. We were going to stop at Sarah's for lunch but they were slammed so we went to "The Starfish."

Surprisingly, the place was about 80% full. Based the the sensationalized network media I expected the place to be empty.

We ordered two full size shrimp poboys. The waitress, a lovely local who showed much appreciation for our patronage, told us that were were lucky. They had just made a fresh batch of seafood gumbo the day before and were offering it up in cup or bowl sizes (if you don't know the importance of "the day before" then shame on you). We decided to split a sample cup.... she brought us a bowl.

The gumbo was one of the best I've ever had. Very similar to the one that HungryOne's family cooks at the French Food Festival. very thin broth, packed with shrimp and crabmeat. The difference from the FFF was that they put okra in theirs.

Shrimp poboys were generously loaded with 50 count shrimp (which I like better than the bigger ones) and served on a soft loaf similar to Casamento's. And $2 beers made my day. Definitely recommended.

Then we went to the state park and walked out onto the peer. The oil was very dark where the water hit the sand. There were tons of school buses with people being shuttled but we saw almost now cleaning. Not sure what they were doing.

Oh, and the restaurant did have oysters but they were from Texas....

Based on what I saw on the peer and from the observation tower at the state park the oil will be there for a very long time. Very sad....

[hungryone]

EAC, you shoulda stopped for a "tar ball" flavored snowball while on the island. It's weird to see all of the cleanup workers & media buzzin' around GI, yet virtually no visitors. Doesn't the new high school look spiffy?

[ratcheese]

Based on what I saw on the peer and from the observation tower at the state park the oil will be there for a very long time. Very sad....

Interesting how you're observations about the spill were contained in a single sentence post script...I think that mirrors the reaction of our entire community...what's to say...sickening

[EatinAintCheatin]

Interesting how you're observations about the spill were contained in a single sentence post script...I think that mirrors the reaction of our entire community...what's to say...sickening

What's else to say... I went, I saw, and I felt no need to elaborate on what everyone already knows other than to give it a small personalized statement.

I guess I should have worded the Title of this thread differently. The report was mainly on the restaurant activity of the Island.

Now, Ratcheese.... my "reaction" doesn't really mirror the "entire community." My action was to drive 2 1/2 hours down there on what should be one of their busiest weekends and support them and see for myself what's going on. What's your action/reaction?

[ratcheese]

What's else to say... I went, I saw, and I felt no need to elaborate on what everyone already knows other than to give it a small personalized statement.

I guess I should have worded the Title of this thread differently. The report was mainly on the restaurant activity of the Island.

Now, Ratcheese.... my "reaction" doesn't really mirror the "entire community." My action was to drive 2 1/2 hours down there on what should be one of their busiest weekends and support them and see for myself what's going on. What's your action/reaction?

EAC, that was a sympathetic comment. It mirrors my personal sense of helplessness about the whole affair. And, I do find that same feeling of helplessness to be common throughout our community. Its not a condemnation; its just the way it is. What is there to say?

p.s. don't change a thing; your post is a perfect reflection of local determination to make the best of it.

[Suzy Wong]

I'm starting to think I'm the only person that has never been to Grand Isle...

[EatinAintCheatin]

EAC, you shoulda stopped for a "tar ball" flavored snowball while on the island. It's weird to see all of the cleanup workers & media buzzin' around GI, yet virtually no visitors. Doesn't the new high school look spiffy?

Hungryone,

We did see the new school. It will be one of the nicest buildings on the island. I assumed that it would be a K-12 school. Is it just for high school?

The snowball stand was packed when we passed. We passed it up to stop in Galliano and have coffee with Maw-til (I'm sure you know her).

One last observation: We saw one sign that said "we love you BP" and many, many other signs that were not so friendly.....such as:

"Tony bologna"
"Home of the Walrus"
"Fix my beach"

[hungryone]

Yeah, it's k-12, not just HS. It's nice to see some "real" infrastructure that can survive the frequent storms, not just repairs of earlier, less-hardened structures. I saw the "walrus crossing" signs, but I didn't drive all the way to the end of LA 1, where some of the staging/coordination HQ is located. My favorite series of signs said something like "SpongeBob lives in a pineapple under the sea....Who killed SpongeBob? BP!" Reminded me of the old series-slogan signs that used to dot the roadside borrow ditches on the way to GI, way back in the day, al la Burma-Shave. I miss those signs.

[LauraMc]

I'm starting to think I'm the only person that has never been to Grand Isle...

I might get bombarded for this but you aren't missing anything. I have been twice in my lifetime and saw nothing that would make me go back. Maybe if I knew someone who had one of the nicer camps but there wasn't that much of a beach even 20 years ago and I'm sure much less now.
I can't even recall where I ate or drank. I'm sure it was good seafood but I can get that here too.