One year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Big Easy, many New Orleans restaurants are still struggling to reopen. Here, we said "dis bye bye" to one of our own Cajun eateries when downtown's Redfish Looziana Roadhouse & Seafood Kitchen closed in August. Simone's in East Walnut Hills fought the good fight but shut its doors in August as well. ... Downtown workers still mourning the demise of Poppies Deli earlier this year will be glad to hear Marrakech Cafe opened just a few doors down on Elm Street. The restaurant offers Mediterranean fare for lunch and dinner, including a lunch buffet. Sivad on Seventh Street provides another new alternative, serving a potpourri of carryout entrees, sandwiches and sides. ...

City dwellers can get their caffeine jolt at a new spot in the Gaslight area of Clifton, where Brutopia opened this past month. The independently owned coffee shop serves a few lunch items and homemade breakfast pastries as well. Just down the way in Northside the family-run Madison's at Findlay Market will be opening a new produce and grocery store on Hamilton Avenue as the market season winds down, and Potluck is reopening soon as a full-service restaurant. ...

Greater Cincinnati hit the trifecta with three new Asian cuisine restaurants: Pacific Moon has a second location on Newport on the Levee; Hyde Park added to its Eastern choices with the Green Papaya on Wasson in the old Bebe's Kitchen space; and further north Samarkand Café opened, serving fare from the owner's homeland, Uzbekistan in Central Asia. ...

Other openings of note include Paul and Pam Sturkey's latest venture, mesh, in West Chester, which will focus on contemporary American cuisine, and the DeLuca family restaurant Sorrento's in Norwood. The family lost the business' founder, Enrico DeLuca, as well as the restaurant in a fire last year. ...

Area restaurateurs are putting money where the need is. Responding to the fighting that broke out between Israel and Lebanon in July, Andy Hajjarand of Andy's Mediterranean Grille and his friend Rabbi Abie Ingber held a fundraiser in August that raised $12,000 for two hospitals, one in Lebanon and one in Israel. On Sept. 9 chefs from around the country joined locals Jean-Robert de Cavel (Jean-Robert at Pigall's, Pho Paris, JeanRo and the Greenup Café) and Clinton Jones and Noreen Nagao of The Palace in Mason for "A Gourmet Sensation." The annual event benefits Hospice of Cincinnati.