The fact that New Orleans loves breakfast and brunch is nothing particularly shocking. We are, after all, the city that invented eggs Hussarde, eggs Sardou and buttermilk drops, and dishes like grillades and grits have been lazy Sunday morning specialties for generations. Given our passionate literary roots, we’re also a city that loves to read. So, if you ever longed to enjoy a truly spectacular breakfast in the company of truly spectacular books, no longer will you have to lug your overstuffed college backpack to Brennan’s or Elizabeth’s to experience that exquisite combo. The recently opened Cafe Malou, nestled snugly next to Octavia Books Uptown, is here to satisfy the needs of both your inner bookworm and bacon aficionado.
Restaurateur Mani Dawes, a child of the Crescent City, didn’t exactly plan to open a breakfast spot in a bookstore as her next culinary venture. Dawes gained significant acclaim for her Spanish tapas spot Tia Pol in New York City for a decade before moving back home to New Orleans, where she and her husband Sean Josephs opened Kenton’s on the corner of Magazine and Nashville in 2015. “It was a big restaurant, and it did really well…until it didn’t,” said Dawes. “And we learned a lot, but it was tough because we put so much into it.” Eight years after shuttering Kenton’s and swearing up and down that she’d never sign a restaurant lease again, Dawes began to get the itch once more, and began carefully scouting real estate in town, which led her to Octavia. “It’s our favorite bookstore,” she said. “And so when I saw that Scrambled closed, I went over and talked to Tom Lowenberg, who owns Octavia. When I looked at the space, I just loved the building so much. I thought, wow, this could be so magical. Who doesn’t love breakfast and books, or coffee and books? And especially a coffee shop, a restaurant and a bookstore that have some sort of shared space, where there’s some sort of flow. And then I just saw it in my head. It’s going to be a breakfast spot, open from seven to seven to three. I just knew it.”
From there, Dawes enlisted the aid of Chef Matt Greco to help her conceptualize the menu. Greco —who previously served as executive chef at Joseph’s bourbon and BBQ-centric spot Char no. 4 in Brooklyn and had since gone on to open Salt Craft in Pleasanton, California — eagerly came to the Big Easy to help design Cafe Malou’s breakfast and brunch offerings. “We both had this mission to create this delicious menu that was as simple as humanly possible, but also a full-service experience,” Dawes said. The pair then spent weeks testing and refining the menu, paring it down to something that’s elegant in its simplicity while also providing plenty of options for a wide variety of appetites, and also making sure to incorporate Greco and Dawes’s love for southern breakfast staples and traditional Louisiana favorites.
The resulting menu at Cafe Malou is both tight and elegant, with a main focus on a selection of baked egg dishes as the centerpiece. The “classic” features a familiar pairing of eggs, bacon and buttered toast, which may sound a tad quotidian, but don’t mistake its simplicity for laziness. That toast isn’t Bunny bread, it’s specially crafted for the restaurant by Bellegarde Bakery. And the bacon? Perhaps the best small batch bacon in the country, from Bill E’s in Fairhope, Alabama, where their house-made, thick cut pork bellies are painstakingly crafted from heirloom hogs, resulting in the perfect blend of salt, fat, meat and smoke. More elevated baked egg options include a pairing of Dickie Brennan’s boudin and white country gravy, another with cheesy grits prepared carbonara-style, Spanish-influenced huevos rotos with pimentón potatoes, speck and aioli, another with deviled crab and creamed greens, or even their version of “Eggs Cacciatore.” It’s a playful and gratifying mix of influences, techniques and ingredients, all grounded in hearty southern sensibilities.
If eggs en cocotte aren’t your bag, don’t fret, you won’t be scrimping for other options. There is, of course a breakfast sandwich, a quintessential bacon, egg and cheese inspired by the one beloved and ubiquitous in NYC bodegas, only served on a specially crafted brioche roll from Bellegarde. And for those who wish to take their egg sandwiches up a level, there are four other options from which to choose, including a decadent croque monsieur variant sporting prosciutto, raclette and bechamel, as well as an open-faced baked crab sammy with pimento cheese, not to mention a knockout mushroom melt and their unique take on the muffaletta sporting roasted mortadella and provolone. Should all that seem a bit weighty, you’ll also find a number of thoughtful salad options, including a classic Cobb, a kale Caesar with walnuts, anchovies and
roasted garlic, as well as an Italian chopped salad bursting with prosciutto, mortadella,
Provolone and castelveltrano olives bound to please the “just a salad” carnivores in your party.
That should be enough for most breakfast spots, but Dawes and Greco decided to keep the party rolling with additional festive options. You’ll find a selection of loaded toasts featuring blackened avocado, another with smoked salmon, creme fraiche and olive tapenade, and a not-to-be missed pairing of creamy ricotta and satsuma with olive oil and sea salt. There’s also a warm, crustless quiche with basil and raclette cheese, and of course the ever-popular French toast, here made with buttery brioche topped with maple Nutella syrup and blueberry jam. And if, by some miracle, you still managed to save a little bit of room after all that, there are also dessert options available, all simple and refined, from the warm, brown butter chocolate chip cookie to a generous creme brulée or a chocolate pot de creme with orange whipped cream. Wash all that down with your preferred selection of specialty coffees (crafted especially for Malou diners by the java artisans at Applied Arts Coffee Roasters), crack the spine of that thick new novel you’ve been eager to tear into, and it’s truly a recipe for something special.
Dawes is the first to admit that diving back into the New Orleans restaurant scene headlong again wasn’t without a bit of trepidation. “Restaurants are challenging,” she said. “It’s a really tough business, but the opening has been great. We’ve been busy just about every day, and brunches have been very busy, and everything’s been so well received. We’re incredibly grateful. It’s just really nice to put something out there that people are responding to in this way. It’s scary, and you feel so exposed, but at the end of the day it’s been really wonderful.”
About the Owner
A New Orleans native (her first culinary job was manning the counter at Smoothie King in high school), Mani Dawes’s passion for all things Iberian led her to study Spanish in college, and living in Madrid for two years solidified her love for Spain, especially its cuisine. Moving to New York at 25, Dawes began working at small but reputable restaurants as she found her footing in the Big Apple. Eventually, with a dream and a hearty helping of youthful ambition, Dawes decided to open an authentic Spanish tapas restaurant in New York like the ones she adored in Madrid. Not long after, that restaurant – Tia Pol – became a near instant hit with diners and critics alike. After a decade there, Mani and her growing family moved back home to New Orleans, where she and her husband opened the bourbon bar and restaurant Kenton’s on Magazine Street. When that sadly closed, Dawes spent eight years away from being a restaurateur before inspiration and kismet took hold, and hence Cafe Malou was born. More than anything, Dawes is both grateful and delighted to be part of the New Orleans restaurant fabric once more. “I just love connecting with guests,” she said. “I had my kindergarten teacher from St. Andrews come in a week ago! It’s the most interesting city in the world, and it’s the city with the most heart. I never had this experience in New York. I’ve just felt so cocooned and uplifted by all of the people that I’ve intersected with, and it’s the most gratifying experience. It’s the reason why we do it!”
