The Riverbend neighborhood will be getting back one of its most well-known establishments. The Camellia Grill will reopen under new ownership after being closed since Hurricane Katrina.
Hicham Khodr, long-time local restaurateur, purchased the Riverbend diner following a seven-month negotiation with former owner, Michael Schwartz, according to an Aug. 31 article in The Times-Picayune.
Khodr is a partner in other Uptown restaurants, including the newly-opened Table One and Byblos Mediterranean Restaurant as well as NOLA, Emeril Lagasse’s classic Creole restaurant in the French Quarter.
There has been no comment on whether Lagasse had anything to do with the purchase.
The two men have shared close business ties in New Orleans for years, according to The Times-Picayune, and own Gally House together, a 1800s property in the French Quarter.
In the months following Hurricane Katrina, the Grill’s façade has become a shrine of Post-it “love” notes from locals and tourists who miss the food and atmosphere of the Carrollton Avenue diner.
A note signed “Greg at Loyola” reads, “Hurry!”
“Please come back. We need food. It’s 2 a.m.,” says one of the unsigned notes. Another anonymous note reads, “I need one of your hamburgers. (I’m going through withdrawal). Help.”
There are stark white plates still stacked on the shelves behind a dusty counter, and two of the establishment’s Entergy bills are shoved in the front door.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has deemed it a safe venue to serve food and approved the business to be reopened. The hot pink paper that says this has been hanging on the window of the restaurant since the city issued it on Nov. 4, 2005.
Many students, as well as faculty and staff, have expressed their excitement about Camellia Grill’s return. History Professor Michael Ross, Ph.D., said that he is excited about the return and has high hopes that some of the same staff will return.
“The key to the place was the staff and watching them work,” he said. “It won’t be the same if they don’t get some of the staff back.”
The famous staff is what most people remember about the diner, according to some of the Post-it notes that paint the exterior.
“It was one of the few places you could go where the simple act of handing you a straw was ceremonial,” said Ross.
Jack Sines, history senior, echoes the hope that the same staff returns. “The staff was a lot of the character of the place,” he said. “I hope the staff comes back.”
Communications senior Ashley Merheb said, “The waiters and cooks that are there really are the epicenter of Southern hospitality.”
But what Sines, like most students at Loyola, is looking forward to most is the food. “Ah, the patty melts,” Sines said.
Merheb said she enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwiches and apple pie most. “The whole fusion of flavors from when they slap the pie right on the grill next to the cheeseburgers is so good,” she said. “It’s the best midnight snack ever.”
Khodr told The Times-Picayune he wished he could “open it tomorrow.” But a tentative date has yet to be announced.
Khodr owns his own investment company, Khodr Investments in Metairie. He is married and has two children.
Nicole Wroten can be reached at [email protected].
