The July Hit List: Marjie’s Grill, Pluck, Tapeh’s Water Ice, and More

The big smoky flavors of a meal at Marjie’s are precisely what you want during the hellscape heat of a New Orleans summer. The menu changes constantly, but you can be sure there will always be the satiating draw of barbecued meat and wood smoke-kissed seafood and vegetables alongside the chile heat and acid zip of southeast Asian cuisine. A meal might include long-smoked pork jowl with chile shoulder with chile naam jim. Or wood-roasted eggplant with mushroom-chile paste. Or grilled chile butter shrimp with herbs. Whatever is available any given night will be reliably delicious, which is why we’re calling Marjie’s Grill a must-visit summer pick. Dine on a Tuesday and there will be sake specials as well.

When you need a solid seafood spot, Basin is the answer. You could start with a half-dozen chargrilled oysters, loaded with pecorino-Parmesan butter, or a bowl of seafood gumbo. Then it’s on to, say, grilled puppy drum with ham hock-loaded lima beans and popcorn rice. If you happen to bring a carnivore with you, they can breathe easy: duck pappardelle or a Basin Burger with red onion-bacon jam will provide.

Down under the overpass tangle near the Superdome is this new Indian restaurant. There are the prototypical restaurant hits American diners expect, such as potato-and-pea-stuffed samosas, chicken tikka masala, and palak paneer. Look closer, though, and you’ll notice more uncommon dishes. Plates like Indo-Chinese fried rice or noodles, goat featured in biryani or korma, and southern India’s rasam (a zippy soup), and pepper fry, the latter a mix of your favorite protein and a heady spice blend with wallops of black pepper.

Check out Aroma NOLA on Instagram.

If you prefer your raw fish treated simply, Tsunami has you covered like its nigiri covers seasoned short-grain rice. If you prefer your raw fish with endless bells and whistles, Tsunami has the Big Easy roll for you — a monster mix teeming with crawfish, crab, tempura shrimp, and a blitz of sauces. That’s the thing about Tsunami: It knows how to please a diner. The restaurant is open all day most days of the week and there are beers and wine and sake for every taste.

Some scorching days you want a frozen respite other than a snoball. (No shade to snoballs!) On those days, water ice is your solution. A water ice is denser, smoother, and somehow lighter than a snoball. At Tapeh’s, the flavor options are seemingly endless: watermelon, peach, cotton candy, sour apple, fruit punch, and so many others. If choice paralysis appears, go for the rainbow, in which all the flavors are swirled together.

Take a look at Tapeh’s Water Ice on Instagram.

The downtown wine bar has been running their Flight School for the last few weeks. It’s a class setting in which the wine professionals at Pluck zero in on a specific kind or style of wine. The last two were a vertical tasting of one Tuscan rosé producer and a tasting of three top producers of Aligoté. Up next on July 7 is sauvignon blanc, featuring producers in Italy, France, South Africa, and California. Buy a ticket and know July 14 is Night of the Living Red, featuring chillable natural wines. And there will be more classes throughout July.

A standout club sandwich; bayou nachos with roast beef and homemade ranch; hot sausage patty melt: Jordan Ruiz’s food is what you want to eat, pretty much whenever. The Gentilly location with views of Pontchartrain Park is now the only location to eat Ruiz’s cooking, after the Lower Garden District outpost closed. The seafood-and-sausage gumbo is unimpeachable, and the salads, like the Caesar and chopped, are paragons of the genre. Clear enough yet that you can’t go wrong at the Munch Factory?

Go right to Munch Factory’s website here.

Ohhhhh, the summer broil. It’s unrelenting, and everyone’s always looking for a pool, it seems. Now, you can secure a spot ahead at Ace Hotel’s rooftop bar and pool, Alto. If you want to dip early, starting at 11 a.m., the cost is $40 for the day. If you wanna shave some dollars off the price, come after 3 p.m. for only $30. Good drinks, good snacks, and a refreshing day spent in water? Yes, please.

You could order a classic shrimp or oyster po’ boy here, but why? Those are available pretty much everywhere in New Orleans. At Banh Mi Boys, though, you could have a different kind of classic: a staple banh mi like the dac biet with headcheese, two kinds of ham, meatballs, and pâté. Or you can wild out with one of the signature sandwiches, like the honey sriracha shrimp banh mi. Or you could pull back and have a rice noodle bowl with tofu. Or go all in with the Cajun Crack fries, chicken cracklins, bacon, ranch, and Flamin’ Hot cracklin crumble. Point is you’ve got options.

Exercise your options here at Banh Mi Boys’ website. 

There have been weeks where we accidentally wind up at the bar or in the courtyard at this breezy Marigny spot twice in one week. Unplanned. Simply because it is such a fine place for an easygoing cocktail and a bite — or three. There’s a briskness to the cocktail menu, with drinks that highlight snappy ingredients like celery and bitter aperitif wines. You could also swerve New Orleans classic, with a Roffignac or a Café Brûlot. Somehow the Elysian Bar always feels like the right answer.