Karen Haymon Long surveys the current state of recovery around New Orleans for Tampa Bay Online.  The areas most frequently visited by tourists, the French Quarter and the Garden District, appear to be in very good shape.  Commander's Palace, Brennan's, Galatoire's, and Cafe du Monde (pictured above, pre-Katrina; click here for Michael Stern's Roadfood.com review) are all up and running normally, although the French Market is doing much less business post-Katrina.

Many residential areas, however, are still shockingly devastated.  Hard as it is to imagine, she points out that the city's pre-Katrina population of 500,000 now stands at 239,000, and 6000 businesses have closed or relocated elsewhere.