From fine dining to neighborhood haunts, breakout chefs and tried-and-true favorites, New Orleans has no end of great places to eat. For our annual Best of Dining review, we are counting some of this year’s top moments highlighting the food, restaurants, hospitality and people that make going out to eat a true celebration. *This list is not in any specific order
✪ 1 | Saint Claire Opens in a Hidden Spot in Algiers
Chefs Melissa Martin and Cassie Dymond, longtime friends, dreamed of opening a restaurant as a retreat from city life. After years of looking, they knew they had found their spot as soon as they stepped onto an oak-shrouded four-acre property just 10 minutes from downtown.
“The property was a siren,” Martin said. “We purchased it and opened a restaurant in six months to share the space with other weary city folks in New Orleans. Being on the grounds makes your blood pressure drop, maybe it’s the 18 live oaks or the proximity to the Mississippi River. “
The historic building in which Saint Claire is housed, along with delicate floral china, pewter candlesticks holding old-fashioned tapers, rustic secondhand furniture, and handcrafted pieces from local artisans, makes the space feel warm, homey and romantic, as if it has been there forever. The food is equally comforting and rustic — lamb Bolognese with pappardelle and Parmesan; pillowy gnocchi with hunks of jumbo lump crabmeat; duck confit with cardamom-kissed plum confiture; richly fatty rabbit rillettes for spreading on rounds of toasted sourdough. Guests are invited to explore the porch, the courtyard and the grounds. Lovely picnic baskets brimming with delicacies are available for order and can be enjoyed anywhere on the property. – JB
⇢ 1300 Richland Rd., 504-766-9316, saintclaire.me
✪ 2 | Ayu Bakehouse: Chef Kelly Jacques, Best New Chefs 2025
Chef Kelly Jacques is no overnight success. “I started when I was 14 and I’m 37 now,” said the pastry chef and Ayu Bakehouse co-owner. When she was named among Food and Wine’s top chefs for 2025, she was gob smacked. “Never in a million years would I have expected that. It’s definitely very validating. We’re so in the sauce, it’s hard to see ourselves from a mile out.”
Jacques and business partner Samantha Weiss opened the bakery on Frenchmen across from Washington Park in 2022. The parade of innovative baked goods hasn’t slowed, same for the wholesale business selling to hotels and restaurants. The pastry chef combines whimsey with local culture in her wildly popular muffaletta sticks with and without salami. And that three-and-a-half-pound savory Challahgator pull-apart bread is on so many short lists for a holiday table wow. As for holiday pies, pumpkin is taking a break, replaced by a sweet and salty bar nut pie that inspires bar top nostalgia.
As thrilled as she is about the recognition, the chef’s been busy on another front. Jacques was eight months pregnant with her daughter Josie two Mardi Gras ago. “I’m convinced that’s why she’s always moving. I was eight months pregnant making king cakes for Mardi Gras. She was born right after.”
As to what comes next, that’s in the thought bubble for sure. “We’re figuring out where do we go from here? We feel we can do exciting things and keep growing at our location. New Orleans is a one-of-a-kind place. It feels like Ayu should be a one-of-a-kind place too.” – BD
⇢ 801 Frenchmen St., 504-302-7985, ayubakehouse.com
✪ 3 | Commander’s Palace Hits Social Media
The Commander’s Palace’s Instagram feels like scrolling through Food Network. With encouragement from their social media team, co-proprietors Ti Martin and Lally Brennan have used Instagram Reels to create episodic videos sharing humorous and engaging stories about the restaurant’s rich history.
“We really pride ourselves on surrounding ourselves with young people with young ideas,” Brennan said. Martin adds that the restaurant is constantly evolving and open to trying new things, including filming feel-good social media content with their creative marketing team.
Martin and Brennan make the perfect co-hosts, bouncing jokes off of each other like only old friends could. Like a breath of fresh air, their familiar New Orleans spirit and natural camera presence, make the videos digestible, informative and somehow comforting (like a PBS special).
Martin and Lally first recall filming social media content in 2021. Since then, Commander’s Palace’s Instagram Reels have taken off, with some videos reaching more than 720,000 views.
Whether they’re talking about the restaurant’s signature Milk Punch, launching new merch or sharing about their 25 cent martinis, Martin and Brennan’s reels have become our new favorite show to watch. – CF
⇢ 1403 Washington Ave., 504-899-8221, commanderspalace.com
✪ 4 | Salon Supper Club at NOMA
There are plenty of ways to dine happily in the Crescent City, from picnics in the park or by the river to ultra-luxe fine dining, 3 a.m. po-boys in the Quarter, at the top of a skyscraper or in the clamor of a bawdy barroom. But is any of it…artistic? Well, this year the New Orleans Museum of Art answered that question with its Salon Supper Club presented by First Horizon Bank series, which aimed to pair some of the city’s best chefs and their artistic creations with the more traditional artwork found in NOMA’s permanent collection, and of course live music. That’s right: fine art met fine dining in City Park this year, and by all accounts the series made a splash. In May, Chef E.J. Lagasse contributed his efforts to the evening with his signature savory cheesecake topped with smoked salmon, caviar, dill, and a gold leaf garnish. Later, in July, attendees were treated to “A Taste of West Africa,” with a collaboration between Café NOMA’s chefs Chris Montero and Chris Fite with beloved local Chef Serigne Mbaye of Dakar, all while gazing at the stunning work of artist and photographer Nicolas Floc’h. The October event highlighted Arts of the Americas, in collaboration with Chef Alfredo Nogueira. In a city filled with feasts for the senses, this enchanting amalgam of art, food and music certainly took the cake in 2025. – SG
⇢ New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Cir., 504-658-4100, noma.org
✪ 5 | Abita Taproom New Orleans
Craft beer-loving New Orleanians have long taken delight in a long afternoon sipping selections at the Abita Brew Pub. The only hitch, of course, is that doing so requires that long drive to the North Shore. If you’ve ever daydreamed of partaking in that experience without a trek across the Causeway, 2025 is the year your dream came true, with South Louisiana’s iconic beer brand opening up a new Brew Pub on the new “brewery row” that is a particular stretch of Tchopitoulas St. Uptown. Naturally, you’ll find a wide selection of ales and lagers from Abita’s crafty beiermeisters, including everything from favorites like Abita Amber and Andygator to more esoteric offerings with appropriately fanciful names like Fruity Pebbles, Vanilla Triple Dog Dare, and Bourbon Barrel Aged Pecan. But the fun doesn’t end with beer alone, and to that extent Abita has smartly cultivated its taproom space for weekly events ranging from savory barbecue courtesy of Cochon King BBQ, trivia Tuesdays, beer flight Fridays, beer and yoga pairings (yes, really), live jazz bands on Thursdays, and a rotating variety of food pop-ups for when you need to to soak up some of those suds. All of which you can gleefully enjoy while not having to worry about that long drive home across the lake. – SG
⇢ 2375 Tchoupitoulas St., abita.com
✪ 6 | Cooking Up Throws
New Orleans locals have filled up their homes with Mardi Gras cups, Krewe of Bacchus socks, Muses napkins, and Femme Fatale beauty essentials for years. Now, there’s a new prized throw on the route: Krewe da Bhan Gras cookbooks.
Since being founded in 2022 by New Orleans doctors and dance enthusiasts Monica Dhand and Anjali Niyogi, Krewe da Bhan Gras has always honored South Asian culture and cuisine with parade throws such as spice packets and cookbooks.
Before becoming the beloved graphically designed cookbook it is today, the Krewe da Bhan Gras cookbooks started as 200-300 handprinted and assembled booklets. Since then, it has evolved into both a digital and printed resource and will return in 2026 with even more member recipes, Jayeesha Dutta throw co-lead for the krewe said.
“It makes so much sense to represent food and culture on the streets of New Orleans during Mardi Gras,” Dutta said. “It’s awesome that it’s not a traditional New Orleans cuisine that’s being represented, but a diasporic community that’s growing in the city. In these times, it feels really important to elevate and amplify the beauty immigrants bring to the United States and just how much richer we are for our presence here.” – CF
✪ 7 | Terranova’s Meats
More than a few New Orleanians found themselves utterly crestfallen when Terranova’s Supermarket, a local institution serving the city for a century, shuttered its doors this past year. But like a delicious phoenix rising from its own smoky ashes, the Terranova family decided to reinvent their business, pivoting from a grocery to an old-school South Louisiana butcher shop, in all the best ways. Sure, the new spot might be smaller than the beloved grocery, but also more focused, a good thing if you have a carnivorous bent. You’ll still be able to find your favorites there, from Terranova’s signature sausages, boneless stuffed chickens, juicy double-cut pork chops stuffed with sausage, and of course their famed hog’s head cheese, one of our favorites to slap on a Cajun-style charcuterie board. And of course, you’ll also find more traditional steaks and chops, expertly trimmed to order, with the kind of old-school personal, friendly neighborhood service that’s long been a New Orleans hallmark. We don’t like to imagine a world without Terranova’s in it, and though the grocery might now be dearly departed, the “new” butcher shop proudly carries those traditions on to the next generation, and hopefully will continue to do so for another hundred years. – SG
⇢ 3308 Esplanade Ave., 504-482-4131, terranovasmeats.com
✪ 8 | Super Witch Ice Cream
We scream at parades, and we scream at concerts, but when the dog days hit hard, New Orleanians tend to scream for ice cream. Nothing hits quite so sweet when the mercury spikes than a frosty cup or cone of dairy delights, a phenomenon that has only increased in recent years with the availability of small batch, hand-crafted ice creams from a variety of local artisans, among them Super Witch, which continued to dazzle Big Easy denizens through 2025. The only catch, at least for now, is that the operation is limited to pints available only through online ordering, but cyber-stalking Super Witch is a fun activity in its own right. You never know what fancies each week might bring, courtesy of owner and ice cream obsessive Briggs Barrios. One day might offer “Airline Skate Center” (vanilla with Funfetti Cake Batter Swirls and Oreo Chunks), or maybe “Chicken’s Peach Cobbler, which sports vanilla ice cream with peach swirls and spiced yellow cake crunchies. And if procuring artisan ice cream via social media isn’t quite your bag, start getting excited now, because Barrios and his team are hard at work planning a brick-and-mortar location in town in the near future. Until then, we’ll continue to hit refresh on Instagram to find out what magnificent creamy concoctions lie in wait for us this week. – SG
⇢ 5640 Jefferson Hwy., Harahan, superwitchicecream.com
✪ 9 | The Batture Opens on the Uptown Riverfront
For decades, New Orleanians have understood and enjoyed the singular local pleasure of packing up a picnic and heading over to the Audubon Fly to enjoy a lovely evening al fresco on the riverfront, watching the sun set over the Mississippi and sharing food and fun with our friends and loved ones. If you’ve wondered what could possibly improve this experience, wonder no more: The Batture, which opened on an industrial section of riverside space this year, became an instant hit with locals and visitors alike. The great lawn affords plenty of space for activities both leisurely and active (especially for little ones), and there’s also a modest petting zoo featuring a variety of barnyard friends, but the standout feature, of course, is the rotating selection of food trucks on hand. Craving a burger? Bub’s is there to scratch that itch. Chicken sandwiches? Bootsy’s has some of the best in town. For seafood, it’s impeccable lobster rolls from The Nell Shell, and sweet-toothed New Orleanians of all ages can get their fix from Imperial Woodpecker sno-balls and organic fro-yo from Stelly’s. No matter which trucks happen to be catering to your whims on a given weekend, one thing is for certain: The Batture might be the best outdoor dining experience in New Orleans in recent memory, no reservations needed! – SG
⇢ 25 Walnut St., batture.com
✪ 10 | Porgy’s “Lady Mongers Dinner Series”
Bring on the bad ass lady mongers. Camille Staub and Caitlin Carney are the two women behind Porgy’s Seafood Market, the “Lady Mongers” who break down primal cuts of local seafood to retail in the fish case and serve in the homespun café. This past summer, they started a Lady Mongers dinner series, collabs with women chefs like Rebecca Wilcomb and Nini Nguyen, to spotlight local catch.
Porgy’s, which Carney owns with her partner chef Marcus Jacobs, takes a sustainable approach to Gulf seafood, something both women can relate to. “When I was first doing research on mongering, I talked to so many women about their relationship with the Gulf, their memories of seafood growing up,” said Carney. “Like chef Nini who grew up here, who remembers being sent to the dock to pick up shrimp. We don’t want to lose these stories,” said Carney.
Priced around $75 per person, the three to four course Tuesday night dinners include chats with the participating chef and mongers about seafood. If a chef grew up elsewhere, like Wilcomb in Massachusetts, there would be a nod to those roots on the menu. “For Nini we had four types of Gulf shrimp Gulf. For Rebecca, we used hake instead of cod and added in Ipswich clams and scallops.” For other women curious about what lady mongering is all about, Porgy’s plans a series of monthly classes. “Come cut with us!” said Staub. “Honestly this is my favorite job ever.” – BD
⇢ 236 N. Carrollton Ave., 504-429-3474, porgysseafood.com
✪ 11 | Chef Rebecca Wilcomb at Evviva
When restauranteurs Heather Lolley and Humberto Suazo were asked to reimagine the Franklin in the Marigny, their yes was conditional. “Only if Rebecca would be the chef,” said Lolley, who also owns Galaxie Tacos. Chef Rebecca Wilcomb, a James Beard Foundation award-winner formerly of Herbsaint and Gianna, had exited stage left from the Link Restaurant Group in 2021.
“I stepped away to figure out what balance actually looks like in my life,” said the Bywater resident. She and her partner are now the proud parents of a three-year-old daughter. In the past four years, she’s reflected on what her career looked like, and what it would look like moving forward.
“I started feeling like I was out of balance in a different way. Restaurants and kitchens are where I feel my most authentic self. I missed it. When Heather asked, I was ready.”
She arrived armed with newly minted patience. “You change when you become a parent!” Wilcomb works closely with chef Marcus Jacobs, another Link alumnus. “Opening a restaurant with people who I respect and are truly my friends is a gift, a best-case scenario,” she said. “Beyond balance, I was searching for connection and community. That was the main reason I came back.”
The chefs change Evviva’s seasonal menu frequently. As to her favorites, Wilcomb confesses that when she’s at the bar as the end of service nears, Velma Gene’s anchovy bread, a riff on Jacobs’ grandmother’s recipe, is her go to. Built on a foundation of crispy focaccia from another LRG pal Maggie Scales at La Boulangerie, fat anchovy filets, fresh mint, onion and crushed tomatoes bring a world of flavor in every bite. “So delicious and so simple.” – BD
⇢ 2600 Dauphine St., 504-267-0640, evvivanola.com
✪ 12 | Mona Lisa Survives
In August, French Quarter residents were horrified to learn that Mona Lisa, one of the tourist-driven neighborhood’s few restaurants that catered to neighborhood folks with a quirky, cozy atmosphere, familiar dishes and thrifty prices, would be closing after nearly 40 years due to eviction and the sale of the building that housed it. Owners Farrow Stephenson and Tom Moore were alerted to the sale and ordered to vacate within 60 days via an offhand text message sent from a real estate agent. A rally, “Night of 1,000 Mona Lisas,” was organized to protest the eviction of the beloved local spot. Hundreds planned to dress like the lady with the mysterious smile and descend upon the restaurant’s Royal Street block on. Letters from devoted customers started appearing. The loss of a spot for pizza and pasta known for hand-drawn reveries and handwritten notes left for customers in the window was more than the community could bear. Following the visceral reaction, Stephenson and Moore met with the building’s new owners and worked out a deal that would allow them to stay. The protest rally was reorganized as a day of celebration. – JB
⇢ 1212 Royal St., 504-522-6746, monalisaneworleans.com
✪ 13 | Lagniappe Bakehouse
2025 was a banner year for chef Kaitlin Guerin. After starting her business as a pop up, the New Orleans native celebrated the first anniversary of Lagniappe Bakehouse in Central City. Lagniappe, which she runs with her partner filmmaker Lino Asana, was also named among the nation’s best 22 bakeries by The New York Times. And most amazingly to the 32-year-old trained dancer turned pastry chef, she was a finalist for a James Beard Award in the Emerging Chef category. While she didn’t take home the award as a first timer, she and Asana crushed the red carpet. Guerin rocked a dress from Nigerian designer Michelle Adepoju of Kilentar, a fringed strapless number a shade lighter than the chef’s perfectly proofed French croissants.
Beyond the accolades, Guerin has her feet firmly rooted to the terra firma she’s chosen as home base on Euterpe Street. “I’m very proud of the community support and feedback we’ve gotten from the neighborhood,” she said. “I took a risk opening in a part of New Orleans that is trying to revitalize. But we feel so supported.” Her commitment to storytelling through ingredients like West African benne seeds and grains of paradise connects her pastries to the Black foodways of the American South. While maintaining her stunning pastry case, she’s added made to order breakfast sandwiches and the option for mimosas. She hopes to expand her bread program down the line.
As to the thrill of the James Beard experience, Guerin says it helped take away the imposter syndrome that sometimes whispers in her head. “I really wanted people to understand the story we are trying to tell. The nomination let me know that I am heard.” – BD
⇢ 1825 Euterpe St., lagniappebaking.com
✪ 14 | Edgar “Dookie” Chase Hits Food Network
Earlier this summer, New Orleans and Southern cooking became the stars when the Food Network and actress Octavia Spencer came together with a show highlighting family recipes and traditions. The Big Easy has no shortage of family legacies and traditions, but when it comes to a culinary dynasty, few match the history and success of the “Queen of Creole Cuisine” Leah Chase and the Chase family.
Edgar “Dook” Chase IV is part of the fourth generation of the Chase family to continue pushing the legacy and memory of Edgar, Leah and Dooky Chase’s Restaurant forward. Following the success of the family’s WYES show “The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah’s Legacy,” Dook was approached by the Food Network about interest in another show they were producing set in New Orleans and highlighting family recipes, family traditions and culture.
“Family Recipe Showdown” follows similar cooking show styles with a set time limit, round by round eliminations and even celebrity judges; but Dook’s favorite part was the contestants.
“[The show] sets a scene of different cultures, different traditions, no matter whether it’s a grandmother and grandson, two brothers, a mother and son-in-law but they showcase their traditions, their recipes,” said Dook. “Seeing that love of food and that love of presentation and letting the world know who they are through food is pretty cool.”
Family Recipe Showdown episodes are available on HBO and Discovery+. – KM
✪ 15 | Chef Ana Castro and Acamaya
Milestones have their place. For Chef Ana Castro, the first anniversary of Acamaya, the restaurant she owns with her sister Lydia in the Bywater, was epic. “We had a great first year, so much fun. I feel like the project was well received nationally, and more importantly to us, by the locals. We were embraced by the Bywater neighborhood and the city of New Orleans as a whole.”
For Castro, working with her sister and her team is everything. She credits her sister with talking her off the hospitality ledge when she came home filled with despair after toiling in New York kitchens. “She got me to try one more time.” That resulted in Lengua Madre in 2021. The sisters always wanted to collaborate as owners, and Acamaya opened in July 2024.
It’s been a year of learning. “I’ve been working on my leadership, on removing myself from the equation sometimes so others can learn and do. Let them do their thing a little bit without me always trying to be there.” This has made room for traveling, which inspires her creative side. She credits her chef de cuisine Daniel Levy with moving Acamaya forward. “We have a really cool relationship, so much trust and friendship.” Her relationship with her sister has evolved as well.
Castro sees the restaurant as a catalyst for personal growth. “It’s catapulted me truly into a different era of my life,” said the 36-year-old chef. “It was my first restaurant. I made some decisions regarding the use of space that I would change next time.” As to next time, it’s something she and her sister are talking about. “We’re thinking about looking for another space. When it’s the right fit, we’ll know.” – BD
⇢ 3070 Dauphine St., 504-299-3477, acamayanola.com
✪ 16 | Spicy Mango
Restaurateur Larry Morrow is on a roll. With concepts ranging from his eponymous eatery, Morrow’s, to a steakhouse (Morrow Steak), upscale Asian fusion (Sun Chong), a cozy American joint in Mid-City (Monday Restaurant and Bar) and a couple of lively night spots, diners might easily have concluded that Morrow can rest on his laurels for a while. Well, 2025 had different plans, notably the opening of Morrow’s fifth eatery, the exuberant Frenchmen Street Caribbean affair called Spicy Mango, which taps into island flavors and energies equivalent to the revelers haunting the Marigny music and bar scene. A visit there absolutely must start with the fried Joshi bread with guava honey butter and a side of their spicy grilled elote with herbed ranch and Tajin, and of course you don’t want to miss those crawfish conch fritters. And we hate to say it, but the entree options are a bunch of jerks…literally. Between jerk chicken mac and cheese, perfectly medium rare jerk lamb chops, and a whole or half jerk chicken, we’re starting to wonder why being a jerk is considered so distasteful. Also, they have flaming margaritas and a tree in the middle of the dining room. Frenchmen might be a hard place to stick out, especially for restaurants, but Spicy Mango nails that trick and then some. – SG
⇢ 405 Frenchmen St., 504-708-2651, @spicymangonola
✪ 17 | French Truck and Chef Jeremy Fogg
French Truck has set a high bar for specialty roasted coffee since its founding in 2011, notable in a city dominated by coffee since the early 1800s. Now, with chef Jeremy Fogg in the role of culinary director and executive chef, the locally owned chain is bringing it with elevated culinary offerings.With 13 locations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Memphis, the first order of business was to centralize production at a company-owned commissary.
Fogg, whose experience ranges from haute to homespun, is the man for the job. He worked high volume resorts in his native Orlando, then oversaw Emeril’s stellar pastry program for six years. Fogg opened Mae’s Bake Shop Uptown as homage to his family’s Southern roots. While closing was bittersweet, French Truck offers a creative challenge, said the chef.
“I was tasked with taking a look at what we’re currently doing and seeing how to improve,” said the chef. That meant breaking down and rebuilding recipes, doubling down on consistency while ramping up production.Upping the game meant adding seasonal offerings, like a pumpkin praline cruffin and apple cream cheese croissant. On the savory side, breakfast wraps filled with choices like roasted potatoes, eggs, cheese and breakfast meats, so easy to eat on the go, are a top seller.
For lunch, there’s always a turkey sandwich, maybe with smoked gouda, arugula and housemade pepper jelly, homemade pickles on the side. Chicken salad gets a Mediterranean accent with fresh pesto. Vegetarian and vegan options are also in the mix. Fogg is overseeing the expanded bread program which includes house made focaccia and sandwich buns.
“This is a positive move for me,” said the chef. “I’m working with a great team of people, all focused on the same goal. There’s a lot more that we’re going to do. We’re just getting started.” – BD
✪ 18 | Really Really Nice Wines
Darrin Ylisto and Miriam Matasar are the fourth owners of a small wine shop on Magazine Street. They upped the game at Really Really Nice Wines (RRNW) last year when they brought on Chef Luci Winsberg, formerly of Gautreau’s, Zas, and Sukeban, as culinary director to offer a limited menu of seasonal, chef-driven shareable small plates with their selection of uncommon natural wines in a pale-wood setting that feels more like a relaxed, upscale snack shop than a restaurant. The space functions as both a wine shop/hangout and a retail shop. Culinary offerings include tartines, duck fat popcorn, anchovies on toast, white beans with grilled artichokes, charcuterie and cheese boards, entrée salads, and farmed oysters from Justin Trosclair at Lady Nellie Oyster Farms in Grand Isle, paired with citrus mignonette; and ricotta toast with fig jam and pistachios. Many dishes are served cold or at room temperature. Through the RRNW Club, the shop offers members two to four wines with a specific theme each month. A Cheese Monger’s Pick of the Moment is available as an add-on. Special events include evening workshops whereby guests enjoy wine while designing custom sets of press-on fingernails and enjoying self-care from celebrated nail artist Morgan Dixon. – JB
⇢ 3500 Magazine St., 504-309.-8744, reallyreallynicewines.com
✪ 19 | The Bell: Pouring from the Heart
The Bell’s British proprietor Andrew Bell is a self-described Guinness nerd. And he’s not alone. The stout, with its trademark crown of froth, has led the stout market since it was first brewed in Dublin in 1778. The Guinness formula is sacrosanct. And so is its delivery system, said Bell, who helped open the British style pub on Esplanade Avenue earlier this year.
There was no question that Guinness was going to be on tap at The Bell, he said. “The company is quite specific as to how they’d prefer it to be served.”
So specific that there are regular training sessions for staff. The Guinness reps weighed in on exactly where the taps would be and that they’d be powered only by pure nitrogen, no CO2. That ensures consistency, explained Bell. The Bell’s bartenders have already poured more than 11,000 pints of the brew.
As to how to pour a perfect Imperial pint of Guinness — four more ounces than a U.S. pint — there’s a formula. “Pull the tap towards you and fill the glass three-quarters of the way,” said Bell. “Let it sit for 119 and one-half seconds and top it off to get the perfect head. That’s the folklore. We approximate that, but it works.”
For something different, try a black and tan, equal parts Guinness and pilsner. Paired with a hearty steak and Guinness pie topped with the flakiest of crusts, and even skeptics will come over to the dark side. – BD
⇢ 3125 Esplanade Ave., 504-381-4399, thebellnola.com
✪ 20 | Emeril’s Restaurant
If you still think of Emeril’s as a “young” restaurant, you might be surprised to learn that Chef Lagasse’s flagship dining destination is actually approaching middle age. And though age might just be a number, Emeril’s seems to be maturing like a fine wine. It doesn’t hurt that E.J. Lagasse has been absolutely dazzling local diners since inheriting the torch from his famous father, taking the Creole fine dining spot to inventive and elegant new heights. E.J’s tenure at Emeril’s so far has clearly revealed him as something of a culinary wunderkind, and though he might be too modest to accept the label, his talent, spark and ingenuity has certainly been a bright spot on the New Orleans dining scene. In addition to his reimagining of Emeril’s menu, E.J. also got a chance to impress further with the restaurant’s 35th anniversary celebration, which not just included a birthday party dinner, but even more impressively, featured a pantheon of culinary stars collaborating in the Emeril’s kitchen, including Chef Eric Ripert of the world-famous La Bernardin. We imagine few turns could be more welcome for New Orleans diners than to see a beloved restaurant reinvent itself in such unexpected and gratifying ways, certainly a local culinary highlight of 2025, and likely for many more years to come. – SG
⇢ 800 Tchoupitoulas St., 504-528-9393, emerilsrestaurant.com
✪ 21 | Nikkei Izakaya at The Broadside
“The overall concept is that this is a Nikkei restaurant first that happens to be in a bar, which also makes it an izakaya,” said Dana Honn, who, along with his wife Christina and long-time collaborator Wataru Seaki, for years ran the celebrated Cafe Camo raw bar.
“There are people who think Nikkei is a Peruvian style of Japanese food, but there are Nikkei communities all over the world,” Honn said. “We are trying to highlight the cuisine of all Japanese immigrants.”
The chefs work exclusively with Gulf seafood they bring in at least five times a week as whole fish and break down themselves. The menu in the casual space features small plates, a raw menu of ceviche, tiraditos and sushi, and entrees to be paired with craft cocktails, sake and beer. Weekly specials are a cornerstone. Tuesdays bring $6 Sushi Night with selections that do not resemble discount offers at sushi buffets. On Wednesdays, the price rises to $7 for a night of sushi specials plus temaki handrolls and silken nigiri. Thursday brings Ceviche and Ramen Night. Fridays usher in Gulf Fish & Fry with fresh Gulf fish coated in panko, fried and served with hand-cut fries. – JB
⇢ 600 N. Broad St., 504-224-5657, nikkeiizakaya.com
✪ 22 | Chef Nina Compton Cookbook Debut
The Crescent City’s connection to Caribbean culture and cuisine are undeniable. From cultural similarities like Creole languages and dishes to festivals such as Mardi Gras and Carnival, there’s a reason New Orleans is known as the northernmost Caribbean city.
James Beard Award winning chef and owner of Compère Lapin Chef Nina Compton did a deep dive into Caribbean cuisine in her debut cookbook “Kwéyòl / Creole: Recipes, Stories, and Tings from a St. Lucian Chef’s Journey: A Cookbook” released in April 2025.
“I was trying to shine a spotlight on a cuisine that is not really focused on,” Compton said. “Carribean food is having a moment, but we’re still playing catch up with getting those folks out there. We’re seeing a lot of chefs that have Caribbean heritage find their culinary voice in restaurants and now they’re doing it in books.”
The “Top Chef” star’s book takes the reader on a journey starting in her homeland St. Lucia, then to Jamaica, Miami and New Orleans. It includes family recipes from her childhood and new recipes developed from her exploration of different flavors and countries.
After book tour stops and cookbook-themed events around the U.S., Compton said this will likely be her first and last cookbook, as she wants to pour her energy into the kitchen and traveling. – CF
✪ 23 | Congregation Coffee Roasters
Wake up, Magazine Street, there’s a new coffee shop on the block.
When Congregation Coffee Roasters opened in July 2025, it breathed new life into the former CC’s Coffee House, a neighborhood spot that had remained dark since the pandemic. Patrick Brennan, son of esteemed New Orleans restaurateur Ralph Brennan, took on the project to restore the long-vacant corner building to the cozy cafe he remembered.
“It’s an old coffee shop that I grew up going to when it was a CC’s for something like 20 years before they closed down,” Brennan says. “It’s nice to get a great community spot back in commerce for the community.”
The chic cafe fits right into the hip, shopping and art-centric Magazine Street culture. Its modern bar, warm tones and decorative details feel like they’ve been there all along. The uptown cafe preserved the building’s original layout and structure by uncovering the historic wooden floors and retaining the previous coffee shop’s layout. Customers can stop in for coffee and tea drinks, pastries, breakfast burritos, bags of coffee beans, and prepackaged half gallons of cold brew.
With two cafes and one roastery, Congregation Coffee plans to continue growing with another coffee shop in the French Quarter. We can’t wait to start our day with the congregation. – CF
✪ 24 | Lost Coyote: Equal Parts Swim Club, Bar and Restaurant
In July, when most restaurateurs were sweating it out through the slow season, Colin Kennedy, chef/owner of Lost Coyote, was opening a new restaurant driven by Louisiana ingredients and Asian and South American influences that immediately threw him into the weeds. “The pool is a huge draw,” Kennedy said. “We have been welcomed with very strong support from the neighborhood.”
The restaurant/bar/swim club/hangout is housed in a historic mansion in Treme, close to the Claiborne overpass. A day pass to the pool costs $20 and comes with a towel and a glass of sparkling wine. The pool menu includes crispy olives with fried herbs and lemon, and red bean hummus with crudites and sumac. Weekend brunch brings bottomless mimosas, and Kennedy hosts crawfish boils by the pool during the season. When the weather warrants it, the heated pool will be kept between 85 and 90 degrees. Inside, there is a 100-seat restaurant, a long wooden bar, and a moody, sexy vibe. Evenings bring a more formal dinner menu that includes shrimp boulettes with Chamoy aioli; pan-seared Gulf fish with coconut-carrot purée and salsa verde; and parmesan-crusted double-cut pork chop with whipped potatoes, smothered greens and a Dijon velouté. – JB
⇢ 1614 Esplanade Ave., 504-381-4829, lostcoyotenola.com
✪ 25 | The Kingsway
After a long wait and two years of delays, The Kingsway opened in June to immediate applause. The kitchen is headed by Ashwin Vilkhu, the son of the father-son co-executive chef team that has garnered several nods from The James Beard Foundation for their exceptional fare at Saffron. The younger Vilkhu developed the prix fixe, Pan Asian tasting-style menu as an homage to the multicultural cuisine he grew up eating at home, due largely to his father’s (Arvinder Vilkhu) having worked with and learned from some of the world’s great culinary talents throughout the course of his international career in the hospitality business.
“The Kingsway was born because of the hospitality my parents offered at the home where I grew up,” said Ashwin Vilkhu. “My parents were avid entertainers who did everything with class and sophistication.” The chef’s menu is a study in measured precision that explores the colorful intricacies of cuisines and flavors from across Asia within a pristine space designed by Farouki Farouki. “I want diners to come here and invest their time in an immersive experience,” he said. Diners create their own four-course meals from categorical selections, including Tuna Solera in a five-year chili sauce, salt-baked jumbo shrimp, and Peking-style duck breast à l’orange with Chinese five-spice. – JB
⇢ 4201 Magazine St, 504-506-9272, kingswaynola.com
