As summer heats up, New Orleans restaurants trim hours

• Instead of closing for good, some businesses appear to be experimenting with temporary hours or seasonal closures instead, writes Eater New Orleans' Clair Lorell.

Zoom in: Bearcat Baked in the CBD announced it would adjust its hours for summer, as did Plume Algiers, the lauded Indian restaurant on the West Bank.

• Plume Algiers' owners are dropping dinner altogether "to survive the gruesome summer ahead," as well as navigate limited child care availability, they wrote on Instagram. They'll instead focus on lunch and added breakfast.
• Kermit Ruffins also opted to limit hours, temporarily only opening Kermit's Treme Mother-In-Law Lounge on Tuesdays and for private events because "it's been real slow," he wrote on Facebook.

What he's saying: When chef Eric Cook suddenly announced in May he'd be shutting down Saint John for an extended break before reopening elsewhere, he told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune that staying open through the summer didn't make sense.

• "We looked at summer coming, and we don't have the legs or the depth to survive another summer in New Orleans," he told the paper.

Yes, but: National restaurant data puts the industry on track to have its biggest year ever, according to Axios' Jennifer A. Kingson.

• Total restaurant spending this year is expected to surpass 2019 numbers, the year before the pandemic cut the industry off at its knees.

The bottom line: Check the hours at your favorite New Orleans haunts before heading out, because things might change this summer.

• But it might also just help them make it through to the busier fall season.