Las Vegas Now'New Orleans Connection' Owners Remember Katrina

'New Orleans Connection' Owners Remember Katrina

Hurricane Katrina displaced many families from the New Orleans area, some of which ended up here in the valley. One family turned their loss into an opportunity, opening an authentic Creole restaurant.

Sisters Jayme Francis and Rochelle Perez fled New Orleans in 2005 and ended up in here in the Las Vegas valley. But after the first few years they realized there was one important thing they were missing.

"And once we got out here, we couldn't find anything that New Orleans has and everyone would say 'if you go here it is the same' -- but it wasn't. So I said, 'Mom, maybe we can try something here.' It is different, you don't see a lot of it and we'll just see how it goes from there," said Perez.

So rather than sit back and complain -- they took action. The sisters have now opened this restaurant in the southeast valley called The New Orleans Connection. The menu has all of their hometown favorites.

"Our biggest seller is the crawfish etouffee. It a smothered crawfish dish -- crawfish tails -- and it is served over rice and everyone is made for it. We can barely keep up with it -- it is just insane," said Francis.

Po' Boys and gumbo are also top sellers. But while they are in happier times now, the family's story is heartbreaking. Their grandfather died just days before Katrina hit. Their mother's home was destroyed.

The family spent time in Tennessee, North Carolina and Alabama before finally coming to Las Vegas. Some local residents are glad they did.

"The food here is excellent. This place opened up here not too long ago, and I came down here, tried it out and I have been coming back as a regular ever since," said customer Gary Snyder.

The sisters say one of the secrets is in the ingredients -- which they bring in directly from Louisiana.

Both sisters say they have been back to New Orleans since Katrina, and both say even three years later it is still not the same city they remember.

The restaurant is located at 9711 South Eastern Ave.

Email your comments to Reporter Mark Sayre.