You can get your liver and onions smothered in gravy as a breakfast plate or as a po-boy. The same goes for the grilled pork chops.
Coffee is cheap and it’s bottomless when you order a meal. There’s fried chicken and hamburger steak. Monday’s special is red beans and rice, and naturally, Friday’s special is fried fish.
Sound old school? It sure is, and it’s also a revival. This is the World Famous Anita’s Grill, a diner that definitely achieved a level of fame within the world of New Orleans.
The diner was a low-key landmark of Tulane Avenue for more than 60 years, a beacon of warm, if no-nonsense hospitality and short-order cooking with New Orleans soul. It closed late last year. Its property was sold, the old building was demolished and Anita's longtime owner retired.
And that seemed to be that, another New Orleans institution washed away by time and changing trends.
Instead, an upswell of goodwill for the place convinced the next generation to bring it back, in a new location, one with plenty of its own historic character built in. It’s now downtown, on the ground floor of the Howard, the flat iron-shaped building on Howard Avenue, just off Harmony Circle.
Some of the old diner’s former staff are back, serving up the classic New Orleans greasy spoon menu Anita’s was known for.
Anita’s was once part of the city’s circuit of 24-hour diners, though those hours were curtailed in the years after Hurricane Katrina. To get back open now, it’s starting with breakfast and lunch.
In its all-hours edition, the old Anita’s drew plenty of people after a night on the town, but also musicians and service industry workers after late shifts and staff from nearby hospitals. The courthouse supplied many regulars, too. Some locals who moved away often returned on visits back home.
Can the reborn Anita’s fill that same night owl role again? By coming back at all, it’s already beating the odds. We’re losing more deeply embedded local spots. But this time there’s a comeback. This makes my heart happy, if maybe not exactly healthier.
