LAPLACE, La. — The stove fires are back on at Petra Restaurant in LaPlace, where Monday, owner TJ Qutob was serving up a Valentine’s Day menu with an extra side of love, thanks to a community that gave him so much of it the last couple of months.
“It took a lot of hard work, a lot of stress, but we’re back,” said Qutob.
The Airline Highway restaurant was heavily damaged after Hurricane Ida became an unwelcomed guest. It took three months to reopen.
“Sometimes you think is it worth it to reopen, it is not, but I’m very happy that we came back and are back in business,” said Qutob. “Knock on wood, business has been good since we reopened.”
Around the corner, debris once piled up along Cambridge Drive is mostly gone, but signs of Ida are still there as homes are being repaired. St. John the Baptist Parish president Jaclyn Hotard says about 700 temporary housing trailers are on hand for folks in need. The holdup is finding a place to put them.
“FEMA has very strict requirements on where they can place these commercial sights. The ground has to be flat and not in flood zones and available to take electricity,” said Hotard.
Home repairs haven’t been as easy lately because of a challenge never seen before.
“People are having issues, maybe let’s say with the insurance company and when you do get the check there are supply chain issues,” said Hotard. “The same windows pre COVID that may have taken two or three weeks to get in, it’s four months.”
That’s a parish problem too. Some streetlight projects are on hold. Even through the challenges, Hotard says recovery is promising.
“From where we were after the storm to where we are now, it’s completely night and day and I think it’s a testament to our residents and our community how quickly we bounced back,” said Hotard.
Bouncing back to business was a determination for Qutob who says it’s important ingredient in his community.
“With the help of everybody else, this community is going to come back strong and we’re going to be able to help communities when they need help,” said Qutob.
Qutob says now that the restaurant is reopen, there’s another challenge. He says the pandemic and the storm created a staff shortage, which other restaurants are dealing with as well.