- Middendorf's
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Middendorf's Restaurant Restaurant information Established 1934 Current owner(s) Horst and Karen Pfeifer Food type Louisiana seafood Dress code Casual Street address 30160 Highway 51 City Akers State Louisiana Country United States Other information Phone (985)386-6666 Closed Monday and Tuesday. Website http://www.middendorfsrestaurant.com Middendorf's is a famous Louisiana seafood restaurant and a local institution.[1]
Contents
History
Middendorf's was opened in 1934 during the Great Depression by a German couple named Josie and Louis Middendorf. The restaurant was passed down through two generations of the family. In September 2006, a year after Hurricane Katrina, the Lamonte family, the then second generation owners, sold the restaurant to German born chef, Horst Pfeifer, and his wife, Karen. The Pfeifers had just lost their five star New Orleans restaurant, Bella Luna, to the winds from the hurricane and from subsequent looting.[2] Since purchasing the restaurant, the Pfeiefers have preserved the traditional menu, which includes a mixture of three distinct cuisines: Creole, Cajun, and Southern. Its most famous dish is the thin fried catfish, which Southern Living magazine has declared, "Possibly the best fried fish in the world."[3]
Location
Middendorf's is located 40 miles northwest of New Orleans near Manchac. To the south of Middendorf's is Pass Manchac, a seven-mile-long serpentining natural canal that connects lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain. On the north side is the Amite River. The two lakes and two rivers form the boundaries for the hourglass-shaped island named Jones Island. Jones Island is a depleted cypress swamp, whose cypress trees were harvested by loggers from 1897 to 1952. [4]
Hurricane Ike
Middendorf's received little damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. On September 14, 2008, however, Hurricane Ike caused a ten foot storm surge on the western shores of Lake Pontchartrain. This high surge was the result of Ike's extremely large wind field and the persistent east-southeast winds that drove water into Pass Manchac. The hurricane was never within 200 miles of the area, yet this was the highest storm surge since the Hurricane of 1915, which destroyed the logging settlements of Frenier and Ruddock along the western shores of Lake Pontchartrain. At the water's highest point, four feet of water inundated the old restaurant.
As a result of the flooding, the future of the old building is uncertain. The newer building reopened for the first time since the flood on October 8, 2008.[1]
In 2009, the restaurant sponsored a 10 mile and 5-K race called Middendorf's Manchac Race for the first time. Runners ran along old Highway 51.
References
- ^ a b Middendorf's is reopening to customers next week, WAFB-TV, October 3, 2008, http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9118234&nav=menu57_1, retrieved 2008-10-04
- ^ New Man in Manchac, Gambit Weekly, May 22, 2007, http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2007-05-22/restreview.php/, retrieved 2008-10-04
- ^ 204 Food Finds Across the Region, Southern Living Magazine, 2007, http://www.southernliving.com/southern/travel/food/article/0,28012,607588,00.html, retrieved 2008-10-04
- ^ Saving a Cypress Swamp, Southeastern Louisiana University Magazine, 1996, http://www2.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/swamp.htm, retrieved 2008-10-04
External links
Categories:- Restaurants in Louisiana
- Buildings and structures in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
- Visitor attractions in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
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