NEW Orleans’ French Quarter has long been many things to many people – one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the world, a place to let it all hang out, somewhere to delve into the city’s dining past in Grande Dame rooms such as Galatoire’s, Antoine’s, Brennan’s and Arnaud’s. If you wanted, however, to see New Orleans at its freshest and most cutting-edge – particularly on the dining front – you would generally have had to look elsewhere. A shame, considering that, after its nightlife, most people come to New Orleans to eat.
Good news, though – the Quarter is changing.
From Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue (and Rampart to the River), reinvention is now a mantra.
Even at Galatoire’s, they’ve named a 24-yearold award-winning chef (Brian Landry) to lead their kitchen, armed with sharp specials and a snappy new lunch menu.
Antoine’s is opening a new bar, Brennan’s lunches feel less like they belong in a museum and Chris Hannah, at Arnaud’s French 75 Bar, is young, fun and mixes a mean cocktail.
The new normal in the Vieux Carre is a dynamic, ever-growing roster of young chefs and restaurateurs, pioneering the city’s oldest frontier, restoring and re-invigorating the culinary landscape.
Chef Scott Boswell’s longawaited Stanley, the casual sister restaurant to Stella!, opens in early September on Jackson Square, after a protracted battle with Starbucks for the space. Stanley will be an adventurous upscale diner (look for the “perfect” Hollandaise on “perfect” poached eggs for the “perfect” eggs benedict po’ boy).
Café Sbisa, which originally opened in 1899 and was shuttered after Katrina, is being renovated and reopened under the talented and careful eye of Vega Tapas chef/owner Glen Hogh and business partner Michael Mauberret.
Those interested in Hogh’s cooking used to have to trot out to the suburbs; now you can sample it right on Decatur Street. Hogh’s plan is to serve modern Louisiana foods on small plates in a dressy-casual bistro environment.
Magazine Street is a must-see, but many people don’t have the time, which means they miss out on things like the brilliant La Divina Gelateria.
Owners Carmello and Katrina Turillo are bringing their seasonally-inspired gelatos to a smart new second location on St. Peters Street early in the month. The walls are done in ecopaints, take-away bowls are biodegradable and the goods are locally sourced.
Some folks aren’t branching out – they’re moving in. With Uptown in the rear-view mirror, Chef Ian Schnoeblen and partner Laurie Casebonne bring Contemporary American Iris to the Quarter’s Bienville House Hotel in September.
Ian is well-known for his fresh, light hand in dishes like gulf shrimp in pepper and tomato broth, baby octopus salad and Hawaiian marlin “Hebi”.
Some veterans aren’t afraid to scrap everything and try again – the most prominent example of this would be Tom Wolfe’s Peristyle, on Rampart and Dumaine, which is headed for a new look, name and style this September. Close to finalizing the restaurant name, and awnings going up next week, Tom wants to offer “a small-plates tasting menu of fun food with no boundaries” more in line with his original concept.
Expect appetizers like a soup duo of tomato and saffron bisque with creamy Louisiana crab quenelle along with a parmesan martini with trufflemushroom- salt rim.
Or try Hostel, a new restaurant and lounge tucked right next to the fire station on Decatur Street. Owners Michael Kenny and Remi Di Matteo are cocktail geeks turning out perfect Sazeracs and frosty silver-cupped mint Juleps while their Chef Richard Richardson whips up dishes like The Drunken Pig – a Drambuie-glazed pork chop with bourbon sweet potatoes and smothered Napa cabbage.
One, please.