The Resy Hit List: Where In New Orleans You’ll Want to Eat in May 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 newly expanded!) guide to the restaurants in that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Four Things In New Orleans Not to Miss This Month
- Afro Freedom Afro Feast: Juneteenth may not be until next month, but we’re taking an early chance to mention chef Serigne Mbaye’s (Dakar NOLA) annual Juneteenth experience, which gathers some of the city’s finest chefs to cook over an open fire in the manner of their African American ancestors. The multi-course dinner will happen at Grow Dat Youth Farm in City Park on Sunday, June 16th, from 3 p.m.-8 p.m. Visit afrofreedomafrofeast.com for tickets — and soon, because they sell out fast.
- Perks for Industry Peeps: Following the demise of the industry-centric Late Nite Happy Hour at Palm & Pine a few months back, chefs Jordan and Amarys Herndon knew they had to fill the gap. Enter Monday Industry Nights, when service industry workers get 25% off their bills. The bar and kitchen also run select specials solely for their fellow industry friends.
- New, Swanky Steak: Columbian chef Edgar Caro and business partner Antonio Mata in the Caro Mata Restaurant Group recently opened a new flagship, Brasa, a South American steakhouse in the former Morton’s space downtown. The new spot emphasizes lesser-known cuts of Angus beef as well as Gulf seafood cooked over open fires. And you can always keep up on recent openings in New on Resy.
- What’s New at MaMou: Chef Tom Brannigan has added a few new seasonal dishes to the menu at MaMou. Gulf Fish ‘a la Royal tops roasted striped bass with sauce Bearnaise served over a bouillon of vibrant garden vegetables. His risotto ‘Riz Sal’ sees a meat-flecked “dirty” rice topped with roasted quail stuffed with shrimp and pork voudabon sausage and zesty chow chow finished with herb oil; and then there’s the Des Allemands catfish quenelles, made with brandy-soaked truffle scraps. Get booking.
New to the Hit List (May 2024)
Café Amelie, Plates, Wild South.
1. N7 Bywater
Founded by filmmaker Aaron Walker and situated behind a high wooden fence on an obscure street, N7 provides few signs you’ve arrived, namely a small burned-in impression in the wood. But to step behind the swinging gate is to enter another world. A lush garden surrounds the small, open building. Candlelight glows. Within this petite French restaurant, beautiful people sip natural wines and share artfully arranged plates of French-Japanese delicacies deftly turned out by chef Yuki Yamaguchi. Pro tip: During inclement weather, garden seating may not be available, so check with the restaurant (via your Resy confirmation; it has no phone).
2. Galatoire’s Restaurant French Quarter
Since 1905 regulars have stood in line for hours to secure a table at this French-Creole institution. Most regulars could not even tell you what the menu looks like. They rely on their trusted usual waiter to bring them what looks best from chef Philip Lopez’s kitchen. Shrimp with sauce remoulade and crabmeat maison are foolproof starters. If they are on offer, don’t miss trout almandine, broiled pompano, and fried soft-shell crabs — each of which will come ladled over with meunière sauce for the asking. (Pro tip: Ask). Men must wear jackets in the dining rooms after 5 p.m. and all day Sunday. Pro tip: Wear a jacket. If you forget, you will be obliged to wear a soup-stained loaner. Sneakers, tank tops, and flip-flops are never welcome. Step it up and enjoy a classic.
3. Dooky Chase Tremé
Classically-trained Edgar “Dook” Chase IV now runs the kitchen long overseen by his late grandmother, Leah Chase, a woman with a rightful claim to the annals of Black history. The elder Chase professed it was her generosity with her celebrated food that inspired the police to look the other way as she hosted clandestine meetings between Black and white civil rights leaders. The younger Chase has kept the sanctity of the dishes of his family’s famous restaurant — peerless fried chicken (pro tip: get an order for the table to share), and a deep, rich Creole seafood gumbo — while expanding the menu, and advancing the wine and cocktail programs. The world-class collection of works from Black artists remains beautifully intact.
4. BABs Bywater
James Beard Award-winning chef Nina Compton of Compere Lapin shut down her Bywater American Bistro for what seemed the blink of an eye before she reopened it as BABs, with an aesthetic overhaul. Compton and her spouse and business partner, Larry Miller, describe it as a “restaurant for every day or any day.” It brings focus to Compton’s exemplary pasta-making skills — with signatures like a wagyu beef lasagna with Fontina fonduta; spaghetti carbonara with andouille and black truffles, and cavatelli with shrimp and Compton’s unctuous run-down sauce. There’s also burrata with marinated tomatoes and soppressata; arancini with paddlefish caviar; and so much more.
5. Dakar NOLA Uptown
Chef Serigne Mbaye has created a destination to provide overdue recognition to the culinary contributions enslaved Africans made to the foodways of the American South. Mbaye’s ever-changing seven-source 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 n 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. Sukeban Uptown/Carrollton
Save for the seasonal appearance of crawfish in her temaki, there’s no inkling of chef Jacqueline Blanchard’s Assumption Parish upbringing at this very decidedly Japanese izakaya she tagged with a moniker meaning “delinquent girl” when she opened it in 2022. But there is an abundance of badassery in her masterful execution of the Japanese culinary arts (which so often remain entrenched in the boys’ camp, both here and in Japan). Blanchard’s restrained menu is limited to those handrolls, plus a few sides, and specials. The 16-seat bar with a view of Oak Street is scattered with spray bottles of house soy sauce, as well as miso from Moromi. The crabmeat used in the most popular temaki is from Higgins Seafood of Lafitte. Pro tip: Do not miss the potato salad.
7. Mister Mao Uptown
Cooking demon Sophina Uong and her husband and business partner William “Wildcat” Greenwell turned a ho-hum former corner store into a tropical roadhouse named after their cat. It has become a go-to spot for “inauthentic” global cuisine from Uong and killer craft cocktails from Greenwell, with names like Daddy Issues and, yes, Uncle Butthead. The menu is subject to Uong’s considerable whims, but a dependable stalwart is the mind-blowing Kashmiri-spiced fried chicken. (Pro tip: Get an order for the table.) Appearances may be made by jelly doughnuts with orange flower water and cardamom sugar; chicken tinga chilaquiles; and Thai shrimp cake with eggs, mustard greens, curry, and fish sauce vinaigrette.
8. Saba Uptown
Chef Alon Shaya’s tribute to his grandfather remains built around an Israeli-influenced menu. Kick off with a selection of salatim served with puffy pita pulled from the wood-burning oven. The hummus is mind-blowingly creamy, with several seasonal versions available daily. A version topped with lump crab, butter, corn, and mint is particularly unforgettable — as are the grilled lamb kebabs, hanger steak with muhammara, and lamb shank braised with pomegranate and pink peppercorns. The duck matzo ball soup is afloat with threads of duck confit for a supremely comforting bowl of goodness. And if you’re coming in a group of eight or more, the family-style Feed Me meal is a terrific choice.
9. Juan’s Flying Burrito Multple Locations
Juan’s first “lit up” on a funky stretch of Lower Magazine in 1997, just before Mardi Gras. If the trippy menu, heavy ink, and fun-house-meets-punker-music-club environment are any indication, they’ve been lightin’ up ever since. Loosely based on San Francisco Mission-style burrito joints, Juan’s differentiated itself with Creole-laced, super-fresh, Tex-Mex-ish food made to order and finished à la minute on the grill. Devoted to local food culture, it has expanded over the years to offer its Hecho En NOLA sensibilities from four locations. Various margaritas are the size of your head. Expect to wait for a table. Get a margarita, and deal with it.
See the menu here.
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. Addis NOLA Treme
This mission-driven Ethiopian restaurant is situated on historic Bayou Road, a trading portage established by Native Americans before the arrival of the French, in what is now a cultural hub of Black-owned businesses. The space was designed by OI Studio and Nomita Joshi to evoke the Motherland. Chef Jaime Lobo mans the kitchen while Dr. Biruk Alemayehu and the couple’s engaging son, Prince Lobo, run the front of the house. The menu caters equally to vegetarians, pescatarians, and carnivores. The Ethiopian coffee service is not to be missed; nor is the Ethiopian honey wine.
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. Francolini’s Uptown
14. Gris-Gris Lower Garden District
Chef Eric Cook’s flagship is firmly rooted in New Orleans’ singular hospitality, with inspired takes on Southern cuisine. Expertly fried oysters make two memorable appearances. They are the main attraction on a salad with crisp little gem lettuce, thin shavings of radish, a scattering of blue cheese, and a hint of sugarcane vinaigrette. They also co-star in a fun take on a BLT alongside cubes of smoked pork belly and a complex tomato jam. Shrimp and grits are boosted by silken tomato butter and smoked sausage. And Cook’s deeply satisfying chicken and dumplings have the power to bring a warm smile to the stoniest of faces, thanks to a last-minute addition of fresh thyme. Nab a spot on the deep second-floor balcony overlooking Magazine Street for excellent people-watching.
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. Hungry Eyes East Riverside
Co-owners Mason Hereford and Lauren Agudo (Turkey & the Wolf) hung the walls in this smallish space with stylized Patrick Nagel prints and pink neon that illuminates smoked mirrors, then started blasting a soundtrack of Duran Duran and the like as backdrop for a beverage list that includes Vespers and Cosmos (but is blessedly devoid of white Zinfandel, apropos as it might be). Co-owner and chef Phil Cenac’s limited menu, meant to accompany potent drinks, changes often but may include crab rangoon, or Roman-style artichoke hearts smothered under a blanket of artichoke dip, morita chile sauce, and Parmesan — chargrilled and served in ceramic oyster shells.
17. Mosca’s Waggaman
Cash only. Call 504-436-8950 or email them for a reservation. Check out the menu here.
18. Beggars Banquet Lower Garden District
With this 65-seat bistro on a leafy street, chef Michael DiIonno brings his culinary journey and his family full circle. His wife, Patty, their daughter, Kat, and Kat’s partner, Jason, have joined the endeavor. The chef’s well-crafted menu includes crispy firecracker calamari, mushroom toast with cipollini onions, caper pesto, crispy garlic, and shaved radish on focaccia with cured egg yolk; and duck leg confit with butternut squash. Head bartender Josa Lazas’ Lavender Lady is just the thing to welcome spring. And an array of non-alcoholic cocktails keeps everyone happy.
19. Liuzza’s By the Track Mid-City
No reservations — just show up and hope for the best. Learn more here.
20. Wild South Lower Garden District
With a focus on his take on “traditional foodways, ingredients, and techniques that exist in south Louisiana,” Michael Stoltzfus’ 40-seat tasting menu restaurant was one of the most anticipated openings of this year. Executive chef Bret Macris’ menu changes with the region’s seasons based on the bounty of the prairie — think beef, pork, duck, and rabbit, as well as the waters — black grouper, red snapper, swordfish, and plump, salty oysters. But shrimp are the star of the show. Stoltzfus works with several shrimpers who deliver their nightly catch to the restaurant at dawn. The specimens are treated with a reverence that allows their sweet, briny nature to stand alone.
Discover More
Now on Resy: Saint-Germain, Dahla, Hungry Eyes, and More Local Favorites
New Orleans’ Newest Restaurant Openings, Now on Resy
Stephen Satterfield's Corner Table
