Where to Eat in August: N7, Bisutoru, Sylvain, and More

People have long come for the charm of this breezy Bywater environ and the menu’s mix of Japanese and French cooking. What remains a comparative secret is the venue’s Friday and Saturday lunch service. Look for an array of salads, including a watermelon one and an avocado option, plus N7’s beloved charcuterie. For the sandwich-minded, consider the very N7-ish take on both the Croque Monsieur and the Croque Madame, each filled with braised chashu pork in lieu of the prototypical French ham. And wine, natch. Lots of it, if you like.

Jacqueline Blanchard, co-owner of the superb knife and cooking-supply ship Coutelier, has opened her dream restaurant. Its centerpiece: tamaki, aka hand rolls, made to order with a combination of the finest ingredients available in Japan and south Louisiana. Snag a seat at the long bar and order sake or natural wine, and as many temaki as you can handle.

Learn more about Sukeban here.

The summer swelter demands refreshing cocktails, and this tiki destination is a prime option. The rum flows here, the blenders whiz, and the gaudy garnishes wave. Fly solo with, say, a Missionary’s Downfall featuring a blended mix of honey, peach brandy, mint, pineapple, and your choice of rum or vodka. Or come with a group and have a straw battle with one of the shareable large-format drinks.

Kimi Nguyen’s cracked cream puffs have become a kind of local pastry legend. She fills her puffs with a range of flavors, including ube, Thai tea, and black sesame, and tops them with craquelin cookie bits. She does pop-ups regularly at places like Coffee Science but she also offers custom orders through Instagram. If cracked cream puffs aren’t your thing, maybe a pandan-scented honeycomb cake or a layered crêpe cake is?

Make your custom order here.

Seeking a one-stop shop for the greatest hits of south Louisiana cooking? This new downtown venture has you covered. Boudin balls with jalapeño ranch; shrimp with truffled rémoulade; gumbo; fried catfish with mac ‘n’ cheese: Choose your weapon. And, blasphemy aside, red beans and rice with smoked sausage is available any old day of the week, not just on Mondays.

Snoballs are the icy lifeblood of a Crescent City summer. Here’s the thing about Baby’s Snack Box: Yes, you will have a snoball. But, oh, the savory food. Fried shrimp tacos on flour tortillas on Tuesdays, the legendary chicken salad, hot tamales, a sublime club sandwich. We humans cannot live on snoballs alone — despite how much we may like to try to do so each and every August.

Imagine: You find yourself in the French Quarter. Maybe you’re running an errand. Maybe you’re visiting. You blink and you realize you’re really hot. Pop into this Quarter stalwart for, at minimum, a bottle of Champagne accompanied by perfect fries. If that raises you from the near-dead, add crisp octopus with puffed rice, or short ribs glazed with soy sauce and sesame. Or go all in with the fried chicken sandwich or burger.

Muffaletta. Breadsticks. The geniuses Kelly Jacques and Samantha Weiss melded those words into this craveable pastry at their new bakery on Frenchman Street. The duo’s fanbase is already fervent and understandably so. The Creole tomato sourdough loaves, like the muffaletta breadsticks, feel distinctly New Orleanian, and the sweet red bean rolls and chocolate babka knots are smart takes on sweet classics.

Get into the pastries here. 

The maki options at this new-ish Japanese spot on Magazine Street are seemingly endless. They run from simple, like the umekyu with cucumber and plum paste, to complex, for example, the Sea Dream with spicy tuna, tempura green onions, herb oil, ponzu, and micro greens. This means there is something for pretty much anyone at Bisutoro. And cool, refreshing maki during a New Orleans August sounds, well, optimal.