Quarter Fettuccine King Dies
01-20-1995 Times Picayune

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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.