My co-workers do not believe that there ever was a T. Pittari's restaurant which served exotic dishes such as rhino, hippo and buffalo. Any info available on the New Orleans oddity would be most appreciated.

Pete

Dear Pete,

T. Pittari's was perhaps the most unusual restaurant that ever existed in the Big Easy. I know it's hard to believe, but there really used to be such a place at 4200 S. Claiborne Ave. The restaurant was established in 1895 by Anthony Pittari. When he died in 1938, his nephew Thomas Pittari acquired the restaurant and the family recipes.

The menu, which advertised French and Italian cuisine, was later expanded to include a special page where the 'wild" things were featured. It was subtitled 'large game." From here, if you were timid, you could order your basic, ordinary venison. For the adventurous, however, there were more difficult choices. Would you have bear steak, Western buffalo steak, or hippopotamus steak? Occasionally, a waiter would tell you that even more exotic creatures were the feature of the day: water buffalo, mountain sheep and whale. Appropriately, these meals were served with wild rice.

You also could walk on the wild side with smaller creatures such as pheasant, mallard duck, wild turkey, partridge, Rock Cornish hens, guinea hens and quail. These delights were always available.

The menu also included a huge selection of regular steaks and Italian food. And the seafood was incredible. T. Pittari's was the first restaurant in New Orleans to have a lobster tank for live lobsters that were flown in from Maine. The chefs created a dish called Lobster Kadobster, which consisted of a Maine lobster stuffed with redfish, oysters, shrimp, two kinds of crab and lobster in a creamy sauce.

The desserts were to die for. Some were as spectacular and 'wild" as the rest of the menu. The Baked Alaska and Cherries Jubilee " among others " were set aflame at your table, and with these you could have several different kinds of flaming coffees.

There also was a prix-fixe dinner. Your meal began with a centennial cocktail followed by a relish bowl. Next you were served lump crabmeat a la centennial and vegetable soup. By this time I was full, but the old appetite was revived when the sirloin steak was cooked in brandy at the table. This steak did not arrive alone. It was accompanied by a baked potato, garden salad and baked eggplant centennial. But wait. There was more. The meal ended with apple pie, wine, coffee and 75-year-old brandy.

T. Pittari's left South Claiborne Avenue in the early 1980s.

Hey Blake,

I'm looking for the grave of Bernard Levy at Odd Fellows Cemetery. How would I find a list of inhabitants and which graves they are buried in? Is the graveyard closed to new burials?

Lydia

Dear Lydia,

The list of inhabitants can be found at the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library at 219 Loyola Ave. in the Louisiana division on the third floor.

Librarians can show you where to find the burial records on microfilm and some old books on the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, where you might find the gentleman you're looking for.

Founded in 1849, the Odd Fellows Rest is no longer taking reservations.

Hey Blake,

Can you tell me where I can get one of those bumper stickers that says "I know what it means to miss New Orleans"? I have been living in Houston since Katrina and really do miss home.

Kevin

Dear Kevin,

I sure feel sorry for anyone who needs to buy one of these bumper stickers, but there is at least one Web site that sells this item and more. It has T-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, mugs, hats, bags and greeting cards among other things. You can even buy a T-shirt for your dog! The address is www.cafepress.com/missneworleans.

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• You should be able to find out who is buried in Odd Fellows Rest, a cemetery established in the mid-1800s at the end of Canal Street where several other cemeteries are located, but it's unlikely you can reserve a spot there for yourself.