For New Orleans, a 6th Final Four is bounce-back moment

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A seat at the 182-year-old French Quarter restaurant that invented Oysters Rockefeller and mastered Baked Alaska is virtually impossible to get this week as the first NCAA men's Final Four without pandemic restrictions in three years comes to this historic port city near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

It's a simultaneously joyous and frustrating time for Lisa Blount, whose family operates Antoine's — a restaurant which opened in 1840, only had French menus for most of its existence, and has a long tradition of hosting Mardi Gras “royalty.”

Because of challenges to finding and training staff since the pandemic, bookings have been limited to about half of the upwards of 600 per night there would normally be for an event this big — meaning half as many orders of Pompano Ponchartrain with crab meat or Filet Marchand de Vin.

“It's great to see people in town and this type of event that is so high-profile, but it’s frustrating because we still have issues with staffing,” Blount said. “I feel so bad. People are calling everywhere and can’t get a reservation for dinner.”

The country — and much of the world — is trying to put the fears and frustrations of COVID-19 in the rear mirror.

Few things in the sports world resemble a return to pre-pandemic life like a Final Four in a sold-out Superdome and all that goes with it.

This weekend, fans are flocking to New Orleans in no small part because of the teams involved. Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Villanova all have storied basketball histories and huge fan followings. On top of that, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, among the most successful coaches of in the history of the sport, is retiring after this season, giving Saturday night's semifinals — and perhaps Monday night's final — added historical...