The Resy Hit List: Where In New Orleans You’ll Want to Eat in Aug. 2024
There’s no question we hear more often: Where should I go eat? And while we at Resy know it’s an honor to be the friend who everyone asks for restaurant advice, we also know it’s a complicated task. That’s where the Resy Hit List comes in.
We’ve designed it to be your essential resource for dining in New Orleans: a monthly-updated (and now expanded!) guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Five Things In New Orleans Not to Miss This Month
- Magic Number 34: A reason to suck it up and deal with the heat in the French Quarter, chef Susan Spicer’s evergreen Bayona is celebrating 34 years in business this summer with a $34 three-course lunch and 34-cent martinis throughout the end of the summer.
- New Digs for an Old Favorite: Done with the French Quarter, chef Eric Cook shuttered his celebrated Saint John Restaurant in May, promising to reopen elsewhere soon. Coming weeks will bring the haute Creole restaurant to 715 St. Charles Avenue in the Warehouse Arts. Darren Chabert, a veteran of Gris-Gris and Saint John, will serve as chef de cuisine. And keep an eye out for Cook’s first book, “Modern Creole.”
- Bubbles and Fried Chicken: The weekend of August 24 will bring Effervescence’s 7th annual Champagne and Chicken Picnic, because we all need something to celebrate. Also on Sundays, Effervescence will offer 30% off all bottles of pét-nat all month.
- The Royal Way: The Vilkhu family of the James Beard Award-nominated Saffron is inching toward opening their second restaurant, the Kingsway, in the former Magasin Vietnamese Cafe location on Magazine Street Uptown. It will differ from Saffron by merging East Asian and French flavors. Look for it any moment now.
- Witchy Women: Milkfish founder Cristina Quackenbush joins up with chefs Anh Luu, (formerly executive chef at Bywater Brew Pub) and Hailey Vanvleet ( formerly of Belle Epoch) in Tatlo, a French Quarter spot in the Historic Old Absinthe House, to merge elements of witchcraft, Southeast Asian foodways, and absinthe. Quackenbush refers to her new venture as “a Filipino witch bar, an immersive trip through the personal, the mystical, and the historical.” A soft opening continues through the summer.
New to the Hit List (August 2024)
Acamaya, Cane & Table, Hot Stuff, Odelia, Smoke & Honey, St. Pizza.
1. Acamaya Bywater
James Beard Award-nominated chef Ana Castro opened this Mexico City-style restaurant with her sister in early July. The hot and cold seafood-centric menu celebrates the sisters’ native culture through foods both comforting and complex, as does the design by Farouki Farouki. Pro tip: For an offbeat experience, try the bass ceviche with cherries, jicama, and unsweetened chamoy. The most personal dish on the menu is the earthy arroz negro, which is jammed with mussels, squid, and huitlacoche, a fungus grown among corn crops (known also as “corn smut” or Mexican truffle). So central is it to her style that Castro has the highly regional, highly perishable ingredient overnighted from a purveyor on the West Coast. All the serveware and fixtures were collected from Mexico City, creating a transformative experience.
2. St. Pizza Lower Garden District
A hit when it opened in the spring, St. Pizza has blown it off the charts since The New York Times named its pies among the top 22 in the nation just a few weeks ago. Executive chef Crystal Lachney’s style is restrained, with a crisp crust and spare applications of top-notch ingredients like house-made fennel sausage, garlic confit, sweet ricotta, and a finish of fennel pollen. A tight selection of entrees includes excellent renditions of meatballs and spaghetti, and chicken parmesan. The pies are sold through a walk-up window either whole in two sizes, by the slice, or at the tavern where guests enjoy well-crafted cocktails and low-intervention wines.
No reservations. Find more info here.
3. Chapter IV Central Business District
Chapter IV fulfills the late Leah Chase’s dream of having grandson Edgar “Dook” Chase IV, an economist, financier, businessman, and classically trained Le Cordon Bleu chef, rise to assume the mantle of family leadership. Chase’s menu at his breakfast and lunch spot honors his legendary family’s Creole culinary heritage while making things intriguing to younger palates. Oysters are fried for his interpretation of Oyster Rockefeller, then served on the half-shell atop creamed spinach and topped with pickled red onions and jalapeno. Weekends bring brunch with live music, lively cocktails, fried oyster Benedicts, fish and grits, and fried chicken sandwiches. The younger Chase is also the exceedingly handsome figure behind PBS’ “The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah’s Legacy.”
4. Cane & Table French Quarter
If Hemingway were to visit the city, we would find him at Neal Bodenheimer (CureCo) and chef-partner Alfredo “Fredo” Nogueira’s moodily lit, atmospheric Cuban tavern. Nogueria showcases culinary traditions authentic to his family’s Caribbean roots. The tropical courtyard is always a sensual experience but is a bit sultry this time of year. The grilled octopus is served with kalamata aioli and sweet pepper slaw. The chupe de mariscos brims with mussels, shrimp, and fish, and the Fish Rundown features fried drum and gobs of crabmeat swimming in an unctuous coconut curry. And don’t forget the drinks: weekday happy hour from 5-7 p.m. offers frozen piña coladas, classic daiquiris, and Argentinian and Mexican white and red wines by the glass.
5. Dakar NOLA Uptown
Chef Serigne Mbaye’s destination for providing overdue recognition to the culinary contributions enslaved Africans made to the foodways of the American South was recently named Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. Mbaye’s ever-changing seven-course pescatarian tasting menu explores the intersection of his native Senegambian cuisine of West Africa with that of his adopted New Orleans. Each dish arrives with a history lesson explaining its evolution from Africa, through the slave-run kitchens of the South, to where it is today. Though the subject matter is heavy, the menu of carefully sourced Gulf seafood is not. Mbaye brings levity and warmth by serving most dishes family-style. Consider it part dinner party, part history lesson — and a chance to provide substance for both body and soul.
6. Fives Bar French Quarter
Last fall, businessman and designer Jayson Seidman opened this chic raw bar in New Orleans’ most in-demand locale on the ground level of the historic Lower Pontalba building, reimagining it as a mix of contemporary and vintage elements. A wooden horseshoe-shaped bar with a green marble top takes center stage, surrounded by round tables beneath a series of sketches by American artist Gerald Gooch. Executive chef Paul Terrebonne offers a menu of oysters (Gulf and Eastern shore), caviar, and raw seafood, as well as salads, beef tartare, roasted bone marrow, butter-poached lobster rolls, and luscious crème brûlée for dessert.
7. Jewel of the South French Quarter
Barmaster Chris Hannah’s elegant tavern was recently named Outstanding Bar by the James Beard Foundation. The highly atmospheric destination is tucked into an 1835 Creole cottage on a ragged edge of the French Quarter. The main entry is accessed through a passageway to a lush, verdant courtyard that opens to reveal the antique bar that sets the vibe for the place. Jewel is named for a restaurant run by Joseph Santini, inventor of the Brandy Crusta, the first cocktail to incorporate fresh citrus juice. The menu of contemporary craft and classic cocktails in this soothing spot changes monthly, but always features Hannah’s muse: the house’s signature Brandy Crusta.
8. Smoke & Honey Mid-City
From a long-time pop-up to a recent brick-and-mortar, Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis’s Greek and Jewish “soul fool” spot is now a fully-fledged café serving breakfast gyros, bagels, and boreka while steadily adding more dinner dishes to the mix, like the cinnamon-spiced pastitsio, a Greek-style lasagna. Not to miss are the flambeaux (a po’boy-style sandwich of slow-braised lamb leg, whipped feta, onion, and garlic jam) and a soup made with a deeply satisfying chicken bone broth bobbing with matzo balls made with bacon fat. (No kosher here!)
9. Outpost 45 Lakeview
Named for both the French military outpost that once occupied this formerly swampy terrain and the RTA bus line that services the area today, Outpost 45 has an eclectic vibe focusing on kooky cocktails and offbeat menu surprises with underpinnings of American fusion and Southern styles. Chef Jeff “JP” Roots’ menu offers shareable items like ahi tuna poke with pineapple and habanero; muffuletta eggs rolls; fried ribs; garlicky barbecue shrimp with toast; and a Southern take on poutine with brisket debris spread over housemade chips or fries dotted with bracing bits of Danish blue cheese and bacon.
10. Plates Restaurant Warehouse District
Early last fall after a series of pop-ups, local restaurant veterans chef Farrell Harrison and Brian Weisnicht took over the first floor of the Cotton Mill. Moody lighting, rustic brick, warm natural wood, and vintage plates and cutlery lend a homey vibe to what could be a cavernous space. The menu of shareable dishes was designed as “New Orleans tapas” with small plates bearing influences that span the globe. A four-course family-style tasting menu also is available. Wines are from lesser-appreciated Old World regions. Pro tip: Get the crawfish boulettes. The crustaceans will be gone for the year by the end of the month.
11. Odelia Mandeville
This confection of a restaurant, coffee, and wine bar befits its melodious name. Sommelier Blake du Brock runs the front of the house and the bar’s global wine program. Caroline du Brock, a master of dietary science, is responsible for back-of-the-house operations, including the entirely from-scratch, health-focused menu. Standouts include white bean puree served with fresh vegetables or crostini; a salad of shaved brussels sprouts, Parmesan, toasted almonds, and Champagne vinaigrette; and chicken with feta, yogurt honey-roasted carrots, smashed potatoes, and a verdant chimichurri. The plush, vibrant atmosphere at the diminutive, 55-seat jewel was inspired by the couple’s world travels and brought to fruition by Blake’s mother, Kim du Brock, a celebrated interior designer and sometimes host here.
12. MaMou French Quarter
Despite the city’s French heritage, classic French food is a rarity in town. In this intimate and atmospheric spot, chef Tom Branighan is rectifying this oversight both with 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. Sommelier Molly Wismeier’s list is a world tour that roves from France to Italy to California to Portugal. A tight space means a tough reservation, so get right on it.
13. VALS Freret
Developed on the site of a 1930s service station, the team behind nearby Cure created Vals as an indoor-outdoor hang, splitting the difference between bar and restaurant. Though the menu is Mexican-centric, cocktails go beyond the workaday Margarita. Look to an assortment of drinks including a frozen Margarita (classic and a daily special), Palomas, Ranch Water, and some originals. Two garage doors open directly into the bar room from a spacious outdoor area. Behind the bar is a 16-table dining room. Chef and partner Fredo Nogueira developed the menu over a year spent traveling Mexico. Look for takes on ceviche, elotes, and tacos, such as crispy beef belly, carnitas, chicken in green mole, and fried fish.
14. Saffron Nola Uptown
A recent finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: South award, chef Arvinder Vilkhu’s menu has been driving double-takes since it opened in 2017. The menu merges the culinary sensibilities of India with those of New Orleans, like Gulf fish and shrimp, oysters, gumbo, and charcuterie with the use of Indian techniques and spices. If a prize were available for beautiful, inventive plating the oyster bed roast would be a sure bet. One dozen fine Gulf specimens arrive on a large pewter platter in the shape of a curving leaf with wells forming the cups within which the oysters are broiled with caramelized onions, garlic, and curry leaves.
15. Cafe Amelie French Quarter
With one of the city’s most lush and fragrant courtyards, following a heartbreaking and unexpected closure last spring, one month later Café Amelie re-opened next door in an enhanced and expanded interior space while still retaining the courtyard for which it has been beloved for decades. After a night of carousing the Quarter, cochon poutine (fried fingerling potato and mozzarella poutine, topped with slow-smoked pork) tossed back with Midnight in the Garden (rye, rum, Cynar, and cold brew) should clear things up. Or not. Pro tip: Nab a table outside while the fine temperatures hold.
16. Yakuza House Metairie
Ask for a table, or ask the high-roller next to you to scoot it over at the bar. After a year-long meteoric rise in his minuscule first solo spot, chef Huy Pham’s roomier digs nearby are top-of-mind with the serious sushi-centric crowd — who seem happy to pay the price. The menu offers temaki, dressed nigiri, Japanese-style sandwiches, donburi bowls, and noodles. Temaki “sets” come in varieties that include “Nibbles,” ”Starving,” and “Hangry.” On a menu full of them, standouts include creamy Ora king salmon sashimi with shiso furikake, and seared hotate (scallop) dressed with luscious foie gras, unagi sauce, and a frizzle of fried leeks that lands on the palate in a swirl of flavors and textures. Looking to impress? This is your spot.
17. Garrison Kitchen and Cocktails Old Metairie
Taking over a long vacant garden center on a prime stretch of land, this three-in-one restaurant presses into service a historic home as the centerpiece of the operation. The buzzy, social cottage dining rooms number among several gathering spaces, both indoor and out, on the sprawling property. Executive chef John Sinclair’s menu straddles the line between comfort food and culinary inventiveness, and even the entrée-sized dishes lend themselves to sharing. Scallop crudo with grilled cantaloupe offers a light, bright start to the sweltering season, but the star of the show is the pork belly, which arrives crispy, chewy, and smoky with grilled Napa cabbage and fennel.
18. Hot Stuff University Area/Uptown
Chef Mason Hereford, New Orleans’ oddball culinary kingmaker, has done it again with Hot Stuff, a Southern meat and three lunch spot on Maple Street. In opening the venture, he partnered with long-time Turkey and the Wolf kitchen employee Nate Barfield, whom he put at the helm. Guests visit a central steam table with cafeteria trays to select from changing daily offerings that may include hamburger steak au poivre, fried chicken or catfish, marinated cucumbers fired up with chili crisp, red beans and rice, miso-enlivened green beans, and a cheese spread made with minced pickles and served with saltines. Pro tip: Arrive early to secure a Mountain Dew cake finished with lemon and lime — they sell out fast. Need a cocktail? They will pour your choice of liquor into a paper cup, and you finish it off from the self-serve soda fountain.
No reservations. Find more info here.
19. Dahla Central Business District
It’s a family affair at Dahla, the upscale Thai eatery Warakorn “Tom” Intavichai opened with business partner Glenn Mahiya last year. The Intavichai family hails from Sukhothai, Thailand’s ancient capital, and many dishes on the menu are executed from family recipes. Intensely flavored Chaing Mai sausage is made on-site with lemon grass, lime leaves, ginger, and chile paste. Prad kra pao kai, or Thai basil chicken, is a chile-spiced stir fry with Thai basil leaves and ground chicken, served with rice and topped with a fried egg. A grilled flank steak salad is bright with citrus, fresh herbs, and nam pla. Pro tip: Go for the chef’s special duck curry. The meat is roasted, then fried and bathed in a sweet-and-sour curry simmered with pineapple, raisins, and peppers.
20. Saint-Germain Bywater
Set aside some time for this 10-course stunner of a tasting menu in an intimate setting meant to evoke the experience of dining in someone’s home. The small guest count allows chefs Blake Aguillard and Trey Smith to offer carefully composed, technical dishes that rely on the dry aging of meats, freshly-made washed rind cheeses, and á la minute seafood butchery. The menu changes monthly and features such delicacies as white asparagus, venison, Norwegian king crab, squab, and geoduck. Check the website for frequent vegetarian tasting menu nights. A garden patio wine bar features natural wines, wines with minimal to no added sulfites with a preference for those grown organically or biodynamically. There are also beer, and craft cocktails.
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