"GulfOilSpill" news and stories

In a city renowned for one of America's most distinct and vibrant food cultures, a way of life is in danger: One by one, New Orleans restaurants are beginning to drop oysters from their menus, and it's not a matter of food safety.

"I wish we could change people's perception about our seafood," Gerald Amato, owner of Mother's Restaurant lamented this morning. "We had one customer say the catfish tasted oily. Catfish is pond-raised! It's just perception," he stressed. "Seafood has never been tested more than it is now and we can't sell it if it's not safe."

It comes down to supply. Amato pointed to an empty pan in the kitchen next to another heaped with pink Gulf shrimp. "That's where the oysters would go. We're supposed to get a shipment in tomorrow," Amato said. His oysters are supplied from P&J Oyster Company, the longest running oyster house in America, who earlier this summer was forced to lay off the majority of its shuckers due to supply shortages for the first time in 134 years.