James Anthony Moran (abt. 1926 - 1995)

Ancestors

Biography

This profile is part of the Moran Name Study.

James Anthony Moran was born about 1926, son of James Brocato (1895–1958).

Jimmy (23) married JacQuita Chouest (23) (born on 10 October 1927 in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, USA; daughter of Menton Alces Chouest and Loretta Viola McCabe) on 23 November 1950.

Jimmy passed away on 18 January 1995, aged about 68.

Obituary

^[1]Jimmy Brocato Moran Jr., a French Quarter restaurateur famed for his fettuccine, died Wednesday of a heart attack at Ochsner Foundation Hospital. He was 69.

Mr. Moran, who once was given a pendant proclaiming him New Orleans' "king of fettuccine," owned La Louisiane Restaurant, Moran's Riverside Restaurant, Acme Oyster House and Jimmy Moran Catering. He sold the three restaurants but retained the catering company until his death.

He was born in New Orleans but lived in Biloxi, Miss., for the past nine years.

Mr. Moran was named for his father, flamboyant New Orleans restaurateur "Diamond Jim" Moran, who earned his nickname by sticking diamonds in meatballs.

The younger Moran started in the culinary trade by helping his mother peel onions and by cooking with his father at the family's fishing camp on Lake Pontchartrain.

After finishing St. Aloysius High School, he went to Louisiana State University, where he earned money cooking for campus activities. Food became his livelihood when Chicago & Southern Airlines asked him to cater.

When the airline merged with Delta, his business grew. Eventually, Mr. Moran provided food for Pan Am, Eastern, Braniff, TACA and Capitol (now United) Airlines, and he added a dining room to his catering kitchen near the airport.

He also opened Salt & Pepper hamburger shops in Baton Rouge, which featured a Tabasco-topped ham-and-cheese concoction he dubbed the Tiger Burger.

In 1958, the elder Moran died, and his son had to decide whether to run La Louisiane, the family business on Iberville Street. It didn't take long: He sold the catering business to Dobbs House, sold the burger chain to another enterprise and headed for the French Quarter.

Three years later, Mr. Moran went to Rome to learn how to make fettuccine Alfredo at Alfredo's Restaurant, the establishment that created the dish. During a six-month apprenticeship, he bought pasta-making machinery for La Louisiane and hired a pasta maker known only as Felecia to teach the staff how to use it.

Felecia gave Mr. Moran the pendant, which read, "Jimmy Moran, re della fettuccine di New Orleans."

Among his regular customers were former Mayor Moon Landrieu, Gov. Edwards, former Gov. John McKeithen, basketball star Pete Maravich and onetime Saints Coach Hank Stram.

For a time, Mr. Moran regularly flew to Kansas City to whip up fettuccine for Stram, who lived there because he had been coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

In the 1970s, his restaurant empire expanded to include Moran's Riverside Restaurant in the French Market. In 1976, Landrieu took King Hussein of Jordan there for a black-tie dinner.

Because the king's Islamic faith forbade shellfish and wine, he had andouille gumbo, a baby veal chop, tomatoes stuffed with broccoli, a spiced peach and lemon ice with strawberries.

"This is the warmest party I've had in the United States," Hussein told Mr. Moran.

The restaurant has since been replaced by Bella Luna.

Survivors include two sons, James Anthony Moran of Houston and James Lee Moran of Biloxi; three daughters, Marie Rittiner of Clifton, Va., Jacquita Hutchison of Metairie and Ann Brainard of New York; two brothers, Anthony Moran of New Orleans and Robert Brocato of Many; and nine grandchildren.

A Mass will be said today at 11 a.m. at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Burial will be in Metairie Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ "Quarter Fettuccine King Dies. 01-20-1995 Times Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana. Retrieved from http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/orleans/newspapers/00000147.txt