Pairing Local Restaurants With Your Arts Calendar

Pairing Local Restaurants With Your Arts Calendar
MaMou

An evening or afternoon at the theater or a museum opening is a cause for your best attire, celebration, and discussion over a fine meal pre-or-post event. Local spots to begin or conclude your theatrical or artistic endeavor are abundant.

Pairing Local Restaurants With Your Arts Calendar
Tableau

CBD/Warehouse District

MaMou

With the intimate and atmospheric MaMou, chef Tom Branighan has brought much-needed attention to the intersection of bistro classics (cassoulet and côte de boeuf) and Louisiana cuisine (a take on Gulf fish Courtbouillon, which features both oyster dressing and sauce rouille) and salmon mi-cuit, in which just-cooked salmon is stuffed in a beignet. The baba au rhum is flambéed tableside. The wine list includes selections from France, Italy, California, and Portugal.

942 N Rampart St., 504.381.4557, mamounola.com

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Jolie

Begin or end the evening dramatically. A mashup between lounge and brasserie, this over-the-top, fun spot serves playful cocktails crafted with props, including blow torches and glitter. The kitchen serves up Frenchified shareable plates of escargot in a curried sauce to be mopped up with bread. Luscious whipped foie gras is piped artfully on sourdough toast rounds, and crisp frites are ladled over with a meaty duck gravy that will be a welcome find when the weather turns chilly.

324 Julia St., 504-766-7233, jolie-nola.com

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Palm & Pine

Just a five-minute walk from the Saenger, this is an easy spot for a pre or post-show dinner. Light bites include the Corner Store Crudo and the P&P Salad. Heartier options include the TX BBQ Shrimp and Chicken Fried Texas Quail. The Palm & Pain and the Guava Caipirinha are not-to-miss cocktails.

308 N Rampart St., 504-814-6200, palmandpinenola.com

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Pairing Local Restaurants With Your Arts Calendar
Tableau

 

French Quarter

Tableau

Housed under the same roof as Le Petit Theatre, Tableau has a romantic balcony overlooking Jackson Square. The menu draws on local ingredients to execute a menu with European underpinnings. The Blue Crab Fondue with confit garlic gruyere cream, artichoke hearts and Chartreuse, served with crostini, and the silken Cajun Tarte á la Bouille made with sweet dough never disappoint.

616 St Peter St., 504-934-3463, tableaufrenchquarter.com

Sylvain

Sylvian feels like a titillating secret housed in an 18th-century carriage house just steps from St. Louis Cathedral. This restaurant-bar mashup beckons locals with its lack of pretense, its touch of romance, and a sense of humor. All types of protein are on the menu but Chef Chris Hamm’s excellent vegan and vegetarian options are no afterthought.

625 Chartres St., 504-265-8123, sylvainnola.com

Bayona

Though one block from Bourbon Street, the uncivilized noise and chaos vaporize amidst the tropical foliage and flowers over a bottle from the selection of over 600 bottles that is consistently described as one of the country’s most eclectic and diverse. Inside and out, it is romantic enough for an important date at night, while still casual, carefree and inviting for a leisurely lunch. The grilled shrimp with black bean cake and a sauce of orange and coriander was on the opening menu and is still a stalwart for a reason.

430 Dauphine St., 504-525-4455, bayona.com

Gentilly/Midcity/Treme

Addis NOLA

Located on historic Bayou Road, Addis is now a cultural hub of Black-owned businesses. The dining experience is a transport into the colors, flavors and textures of Ethiopia. Do not miss the Ethiopian coffee service or the honey wine. Prepare to use injera rather than cutlery for your meal.

2514 Bayou Rd., 504-218-5321, addisnolarestaurant.com

Dooky Chase

A classically trained chef, Edgar “Dook” Chase IV now runs the kitchen long overseen by his late grandmother, Leah Chase. The younger Chase has retained the peerless fried chicken and deep, rich Creole seafood gumbo his celebrated grandmother made famous while expanding the menu. Leah Chase’s outstanding collection of works from Black artists remains beautifully intact.

2301 Orleans Ave., 504-821-0600, dookychaserestaurants.com

Zasu

The ivy growing over the door lends to the secretive feel of chef Sue Zemanick’s jewel box of a restaurant. When the James Beard Award winner left her long-time kitchen post at Gautreau’s in 2019, she took chef de cuisine Jeff McLennan with her. Together, they specialize in complex preparations of the region’s Gulf seafood with contemporary Southern and Southeast Asian accents. The menu changes frequently, but some interpretation of spiced and grilled baby octopus with potatoes and potato and cheese pierogies—a nod to the Zemanick’s heritage—are mainstays.

127 N. Carrollton Ave., 504- 267-3233, zasunola.com

Uptown

Clancy’s

The draws are an unpretentious dining room, resistance to change, a killer wine list and a seasonally driven menu. The linens are white. The prices are reasonable. The lack of foolishness is comforting. The kitchen’s combinations stay loosely within the confines that allow the 38-year-old restaurant to remain faithful to itself while not succumbing to boredom or idiocy. The West Coast and France are exhaustively explored on the celebrated wine list.

6100 Annunciation St., 504-895-1111, clancysneworleans.com

Dakar

Chef Serigne Mbaye brought home the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant this year. The seven-course pescatarian tasting menu changes frequently and explores the intersection of Mbaye’s native Senegambian cuisine with that of New Orleans. Each dish is explained from its African origin through its journey through the slave-run kitchens in the South to where it is today. Mbaye brings warmth to the heavy subject matter by serving most dishes family-style to encourage community.

3814 Magazine St., 504-493-9396, dakarnola.com

Gautreau’s

On a quiet, leafy Uptown street, Gautreau’s draws well-heeled patrons while serving as an incubator to talented chefs who go on to prominence after making their marks on a menu combining timeless classics with their signature dishes. Last year, Chef Rob Mistry introduced more Asian, Indian and Latin American influences. For example, a seared duck breast is glazed with a lemongrass and sherry reduction. The encyclopedic wine list offers a generous selection of portions by the glass.

1728 Soniat St, 504-899-7397, gautreausrestaurant.com

La Crepe Nanou

Fantasies are made of pushing through the heavy velvet curtains pulled across the door to step into the warm, bustling space where locals crowd the bar to await their tables for moules-frites, salades Tropicale, escargot Bourgogne and a vinaigrette with some magic ingredient that makes it impossible to duplicate (or maybe it’s just the magic of the place). The wine list is simple and French.

1410 Robert St., 504-899-2670, lacrepenanou.com

Pairing Local Restaurants With Your Arts Calendar
N7

Marigny/Bywater

BABS/Bywater American Bistro

James Beard Award-winning chef Nina Compton and spouse/business partner Larry Miller describe BABS as a “restaurant for every day or any day.” Compton’s deft touch with house-made pasta shines with Wagyu beef lasagna with Fontina fonduta, and little pillows of cavatelli are dotted with shrimp awash in the creamy run-down sauce of Compton’s native St. Lucia. Other house specialties include Gulf fish with crema and hazelnuts. Save room for one of the stellar desserts.

2900 Chartres St., 504-605-3827, babs-nola.com

Paladar 511

This lively, sun-splashed former warehouse space with exposed old brick and plenty of natural wood is usually packed with the beautiful people. But be forewarned: They are noisy in this spot with polished concrete floors and hard surfaces. The food is fresh, inventive, and California-inspired, with thin-crust pizza and an assortment of small and large plates. Arancini the size of fried baseballs arrive stuffed with lemon-kissed short rib ragu. Silky ravioli pillows are sauced with egg yolk, ricotta, porcini cream, and truffled pecorino. Hamachi Crudo is finished with tomatillo agua chile, green papaya, avocado and crushed chili peanuts.

511 Marigny St., 504-509-6782, paladar511.com

Pairing Local Restaurants With Your Arts Calendar
N7

N7

The only sign you have arrived is a small burned-in impression in the wood. Behind the gate is another world. This warmly lit romantic discovery will send pleasurable shivers to the stoniest hearts. A lush garden surrounds the small, open building, glowing with candlelight and a polished copper-topped wine bar serving natural selections. French-Japanese delicacies are lovingly crafted by chef Yuki Yamaguchi.

1117 Montegut St, no telephone. N7nola.com

Metairie

Tana

Chef Michael Gulotta’s impressive restaurant performance includes a central station where pasta is made, and a cart moves around the dining room to prepare tagliatelle alla ruota at the table. The dish features bright flavors from lemon zest and a rich, tangy taste from aged Parmigiano Reggiano. There’s a menu of small plates—saucy meatballs, tender arancini, focaccia stuffed with meats, cheese and olive salad, zeppole and arancini. A hefty tomahawk rib-eye, veal Marsala, and Redfish Piasta with pesto trapenese are among the options on the large plate menu.

2919 Metairie Rd., 504-533-8262, tanaitalian.com

Yakuza House

To satisfy the demands of his hefty customer base, after a year-long meteoric rise in his minuscule first solo spot, Chef Huy Pham moved on to a larger location nearby. The menu features temaki, dressed nigiri, Japanese-style sandwiches, donburi bowls and noodles. Standouts include creamy Ora king salmon sashimi with shiso furikake, seared hotate (scallop) dressed with lush foie gras and unagi sauce and a frizzle of fried leeks that lands on the palate in a swirl of flavors and textures.

2740 Severn Ave., 504-345-2031, yakuzahouse.com

Westwego

Mosca’s

Not much has changed since Italian immigrant Provino Mosca opened Mosca’s in a clapboard building in 1946. Before gambling was outlawed, it thrived in the area, and patrons of gaming houses would go to Mosca’s for late-night meals. The extended Mosca family still runs the joint with a seafood-heavy menu. The two-room building is lively. The smell of garlic perfumes the air and old crooners serenade from the jukebox. Dishes like shrimp Mosca and chicken à la Grande are served family-style in generous portions and often share the same olive oil, garlic, rosemary, oregano and wine sauce. Oysters Mosca is a perennial favorite, and the Spaghetti Bordelaise is coated in a sauce of oil and garlic that would be a wary parent’s wise choice for their teenage daughter’s first date.

4137 US-90 West, Westwego, 504-436-8950, moscasrestaurant.com

 

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