NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – A collapsed building on Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District caught the attention of dozens of bystanders on New Year’s Eve.
The staff at the nearby restaurant Gris Gris now have a bird’s eye view of the damage.
Head chef and owner Eric Cook says what sounded like a car crash forced him to close the restaurant during dinner service Monday night. “It’s probably upwards around $100,000 that we could lose if we can’t get open, because if we can’t get open tonight, then we lose inventory, and then a residual sales on those is, you know, just starts compounding from that point on,” explained Cook. Fortunately, power was restored Tuesday morning, but the staff were racing against the clock to ensure Gris Gris would be open on one of their busiest nights of the year. “Now, we’re going through the checklist of rebooting the kitchen, rebooting hood systems, and obviously we have Wi-Fi situations and internet and fire boxes and alarms and things we have to get up and running.”
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The work was done just in time for New Year’s Eve happy hour…