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Thank you, says Copeland, who put cheeseburger pizza on the Straya menu and says it's a sign of his restraint and good taste that he didn't put this restaurant "concept" farther up genteel St. Charles, "in the middle of antebellum homes." Copeland, who opened his first Straya in a suburb three years ago without complaint, hired some of the 200 employees for his new restaurant from the depressed neighborhood to the north of the restaurant.
Last week disturbed council members admitted that some zoning rules might have been stretched when the eatery was approved and pledged to review them before Copeland proceeds with construction of a hotel on the two floors above the restaurant. "I never bribed anybody in my life," Copeland declared. Asked if he was a campaign contributor to Mayor Marc Morial, he said he couldn't remember. "But I did have a party for him on my yacht."
Meanwhile, Copeland's publicist said she contacted two vampire experts, who said that if Rice left Lestat at the building that is now the restaurant, he may still be there. Copeland says he isn't a believer. "But if I end up with two marks in my neck, you'll know what happened."
--With reporting by Ratu Kamlani