Kill me now: McDonald’s starts Cajun venture.
Have my people not suffered enough culinary violence?
Seriously, I’m not a knee-jerk opponent of corporatizing ethnic food. I’ll freely admit being a Chipotle partisan, even though their burritos don’t scream “authentic” and the chain’s owned by the same Mickey D’s. And I’ve been known to enjoy some Popeye’s jambalaya when I need a quick home-state fix. But I’ve seen enough bastardized “Cajun” cuisine in my day to fear what’s coming.
All that said: That link above is to a wire story; the local Times-Picayune story makes it seem more like a standard upscale-casual place, sort of a less Italian Cafe Express (for the Dallasites in the house). The T-P doesn’t make it seem as Cajunified a concept. We’ll see.
Honestly, for all of New Orleans’ flaws, I can’t imagine any local eating at ChefMac when there are sooo many better and cheaper options nearby. They’ll need the tourist market to survive, and the location isn’t the most tourist friendly. (It’s on Poydras across from the Superdome, but a good six or seven blocks from the Quarter.) I feel like standing outside the place with a sign: “Much better po-boys down the street at Mother’s!”
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I think you would be correct if they were putting the location in Dallas. However, the fact that McDonald’s succeeds at all in New Orleans, where there is far, far, far better food on virtually every street corner leads me to believe that the general public just doesn’t care. Although the yuppified lawyer crowd from the courts may not go there, the non-yuppified litigants, court personnel, etc. who are looking for cheap fast food, will. They could call it ChefCrack, I still think they’ll find people who will be willing to go.
Actually, I have walked past this place several times recently on my way to meetings and such, and unfortunately, I think it might do fairly well in the location it’s in. I don’t think it is likely to get much tourist traffic (save the people wandering out of Saints games, since it is across the street from the Dome). It is in an office building and next to Civil District Court and the Louisiana Supreme Court, so I think it will get more traffic from worker bees who don’t want to walk down Poydras for better food. My reaction? Blech.
What I don’t get is the stupid insistence on branding it ChefMac. I’d think the yuppified upscale-casual consumer would hate the McDonald’s association. Seriously, would as many people go to Chipotle if it was called McBurrito? Of course not.
I’m very sad to say that the many in the local office lunch crowd will probably eat there rather than wait in line at Mother’s. My own sister, when she was working at a store in Canal Place, would frequently eat at Subway (Subway … Subway, for chrissakes) because she only had half an hour for lunch and didn’t have time to go to Johnny’s Po-Boys.
Sigh.