Dan DeBlanc loved his Jack Daniel's. Gentleman Jack, to be precise, with a twist of lemon.

Sadly, DeBlanc, well-known across Slidell as a longtime owner of the popular Southside Cafe, never got to sample the special barrel that he and his partners purchased from the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, to celebrate the restaurant's 35th anniversary.

But on Thursday night, a couple hundred of his friends and family gathered at the south Slidell hot spot, raised their glasses and bid a hearty and touching farewell to DeBlanc, who died in July at the age of 80.

"This is for Dan, forever our friend," Chris Legrand said, raising his arm from behind the bar.

Someone shouted "Oorah!," an ode to DeBlanc's time in the U.S. Marines, prompting a chorus of "Oorahs" in response, as doz

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