Scalise Fattens Up on Daily New Orleans Deliveries

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, still recovering from a June shooting, is being fattened up on daily New Orleans food deliveries from restaurants, according to The Advocate.

Bayou City restaurants have lined up to deliver meals to the House Majority Whip while he rehabbed from a shooting the day before Congress's annual charity baseball game at Nationals Park that pitted the Republicans against the Democrats, The Advocate noted.

James T. Hodgkinson was killed by police at the Alexandria, Virginia, baseball field where the Republicans were practicing after firing some 60 shots at legislators, staffers, and law enforcement, National Public Radio reported. Scalise was the most seriously wounded of the four people hit, at one time being listed in critical condition.

Scalise was released from MedStar Washington Hospital Center in July and has been in rehabilitation since, CBS News reported.

The Advocate said that restaurant food deliveries to Scalise started in July through a grassroots effort led by Tommy Cvitanovich, owner of Drago's Seafood Restaurant in Metairie, Louisiana.

"These weeks since the shooting are the longest Steve has ever been away, and he's eager to get home as soon as his doctors say he’s able," Scalise spokesman Chris Bond told The Advocate. "But in the meantime, he's blessed to know that friends and family are going to make sure he gets some good Louisiana cooking to fuel his healing and rehabilitation. He is a man whose heart is full of thanks, and this is one of many reasons for that."

For New Orleans area restaurants, it is a way to show their support for the Congressman, the newspaper said.

"For us to take a little time to make his day, we'll always do it," Cvitanovich told The Advocate. "He's a friend, and he's a true advocate for the hospitality culture of New Orleans and Louisiana."

Scalise had been receiving such Cajun staples as po-boys, stuffed artichokes, shrimp remoulade, and sizzling, garlicky oysters, The Advocate wrote.

The New Orleans Saints sent Scalise shrimp po-boys and "Dome nachos" for the team's NFL opener with the Minnesota Vikings on "Monday Night Football," The Advocate said.

"The cool thing about the restaurateurs in New Orleans is that while we compete, we are very tight, we are each other’s best friends," Cvitanovich told The Advocate. "The word travels among our group, and people step up."

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