The Resy Hit List: Where In New Orleans You’ll Want to Eat Right Now
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 expanded!) guide to the restaurants that you won’t want to miss — tonight or any night.
Four Things In New Orleans Not to Miss This Month
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Help Thy Neighbor: In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the culinary heart of Asheville, N.C., has been left shattered. New Orleans chefs know how this goes, and more than 20 esteemed chefs and restaurant owners have united for a heartfelt cause: Cooks for Carolina. In November and December, a series of exclusive dinners will provide support to restaurants around Asheville, with North Carolina chefs paired with local ones. Participating New Orleans restaurants include La Boca, Brasa, Lilette (chef John Harris with Asheville chefs Jacob Sessoms of Table and Trevor Payne of Tall John’s on Nov. 17), Cochon (Nov. 19), Mister Mao (Nov. 20), Commander’s Palace, The Wine Bar at Emeril’s, Galatoire’s (Nov. 26) and Rosedale. More info here.
- Travels With Chef Mbaye: Chef Serigne Mbaye and business partner Effie Richardson of Dakar NOLA will lead a group of travelers to Senegal in January. You’ll experience the best of Senegalese culture through vibrant art, traditional cuisine and architecture, and historic sites like Goree Island. This is an opportunity to connect with the other place chef Mbaye calls home. Space is limited, so book now.
- Now Open: Cajun Flames is the second restaurant from a trio of young chefs who broke out of the pop-up format to open Indian restaurant Lufu Nola last year. The new format riffs on familiar Louisiana foodstuffs — jambalaya, po’boys, and seafood. The menu is not so much Indian-Creole fusion as it is a rethinking of the familiar. Oysters are served raw and in a panoply of chargrilled styles. Entrees bring the usual local suspects plus whole fried pompano, and a distinctive grilled octopus served with chimichurri over dry-roasted new potatoes that are both crispy and fluffy. And needless to say, you can keep track of the latest local openings with New on Resy.
- The Happiest Hour: Chef Eric Cook has revealed an enhanced new happy hour at the newly relocated Saint John. The generous new bargain menu is offered daily from 3 to 6 p.m. and includes hamachi crudo with spicy banana sauce, red bean dip with pork cracklins, muffuletta bruschetta, and more — plus drink bargains. And needless to say, we always have more recs for great drinks all over town.
New to the Hit List (Nov. 2024)
Bar Pomona, Clancy’s, Restaurant R’evolution, Tatlo.
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. Pêche Downtown
Donald Link, Stephen Stryjewski, Ryan Prewitt and now Nicole Cabrera Mills — recently named one of Food & Wine’s 2024 Best New Chefs — can probably take the credit for re-popularizing the trend of whole fish at the table that returned with staying power ten years ago. People here stare as the fish, often with their heads and tails flopping off opposite ends of the oblong plates upon which they rest, are paraded through the dining room. Preparations and combinations are numerous: baked drum with corn, squash, coconut and cashews; grilled tuna with okra, chile, garlic, and tamarind; whole roasted flounder with lemon-caper beurre blanc; grilled mangrove snapper with Louisiana shallots and criolla sella vinaigrette; roasted redfish with salsa verde. You can’t go wrong.
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. Clancy’s Audubon
The recent death of longtime owner Brad Hollingsworth brought heartache to this unpretentious spot, which holds fond memories for generations. But the pleasure lives on, with a quadfecta of an unpretentious dining room, a 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. Fried Gulf oysters might show up with roasted delicata squash, blue cheese, and a red wine gastrique. The unorthodox combination remains within the confines that allow the 38-year-old restaurant to remain true to itself. Pro tip: Get a pile of jumbo lump crabmeat dumped on top.
6. Tatlo French Quarter
Part speakeasy, part Filipino witch bar, and part absinthe den, chef Cristina Quackenbush and her coven hope to create a place for locals to get in touch with their inner divinity. In September, Quackenbush merged her decades-long witchcraft practice with her lifelong immersion in Southeast Asian cuisine. The food menu is a nurturing, modern celebration of the Filipino flavors Quackenbush is known for, paired with a drink menu that channels astrology and uses medicinal ingredients. To wit: the Triquetra is three pork ribs with a sticky lemongrass barbecue sauce arranged in the shape of a trinity knot and served with red cabbage, candied mango, and herbs.
Find more info here.
7. Dakar NOLA Uptown
Chef Serigne Mbaye’s tribute to the culinary contributions enslaved Africans made to the foodways of the American South was named Best New Restaurant by the 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 explanation of its evolution from Africa, through the slave-run kitchens of the South, to modern day. 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 substance for both body and soul.
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. Palm & Pine French Quarter
The fierce sense of community that chef-owners Jordan and Amarys Herndon share with other members of the industry first developed when they worked as sous chefs in different restaurants. (After hours they hosted a pop-up, the Old Portage, in the Black Penny bar.) Soon they’ll turn the corner on Palm & Pine’s fifth anniversary. Check out the Soiled Dove pop-up lesbian bar every 3rd Thursday at 10 p.m. And pro tip: Don’t leave without trying the country ham with melon, black garlic Dijon, chow chow, marañones, and smoked cashews. Sounds like overkill but it’s perfection. Ditto the Parisa: Texas-style steak tartare with fermented serranos, Havarti, and egg jam served with potato chips.
10. Compère Lapin Warehouse District
Chef Nina Compton’s long-standing but never-boring flagship merges her Caribbean upbringing and European culinary training. Named after a folk figure from her native island, Compère Lapin is lauded for its complex, yet approachable flavors. In 2018 she won a Beard Award for Best Chef: South, and last year was a semifinalist for Outstanding Chef. Compton’s husband and business partner, Larry Miller, maps each day’s success by the number of goats coming in the back door and leaving curried. Tender chunks of flavorful goat are stewed down in a curry kissed with cinnamon and then ladled atop soft, rich pillows of sweet potato gnocchi with cashews. Pro tip: Get the goat, but start with the unctuous house-made scialatielli with shrimp and rundown sauce.
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. Mosquito Supper Club Uptown New Orleans
At MSC, most guests are seated communally, and throughout the evening, a deeply personal bounty pours forth from the kitchen, with most items arriving family-style on platters over five courses. The dinners that chef Melissa Martin hosts are about telling the story of the shrimpers, oyster fishermen, crabbers, and farmers that define her native Cajun cuisine and the life she lived growing up on Bayou Petite Calliou in Chauvin, a place that will soon disappear due to coastal erosion. The seafood-centric menu changes weekly. If fortune has you in her favor, every 20 minutes or so, someone may arrive from the kitchen bearing a platter of enormous, fried soft-shelled shrimp, a delicacy rarely seen in a restaurant setting.
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. Vyoone’s Warehouse District
When business at the sprawling, charmless convention center beckons, nearby Vyoone’s offers tranquility from the masses and the madness. Cozy and bright, yet serene, this seated spot serves high-end French fare with an Afro-Creole overlay. By night, the tropical courtyard is lit with masses of twinkling lights, creating a romantic air. Solid starters are the escargots in a white wine beurre blanc served with oven-roasted bone marrow and the onion soup gratinee never disappoints. Most entrees are a study of classics: duck a l’orange, grilled lamb chops, and Coquille St. Jacques. The ubiquitous steak and potatoes keeps it local, topping a six-ounce filet with buttery NOLA-style barbeque shrimp.
16. Restaurant R’evolution French Quarter
Drama ensues as guests enter Restaurant Revolution through a long lantern-lit bar, followed by a tour through a succession of dining rooms that set the stage. The showpiece: a live-fire exposition kitchen in the main dining room. Last year’s multi-million dollar renovation and the quiet dissolution of his 10-year partnership with chef Rick Tramonto freed chef John Folse to return to his roots. Now, the menu includes the famed Death by Gumbo, as well as caviar service. And try the redfish Bienville, a throwback from Folse’s erstwhile Lafitte’s Landing — served with a charred lemon beurre blanc and roasted root vegetables.
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. LUVI Uptown
Somehow the energy, passion, and pure thrift that brought together this cozy, Technicolor space renders it perfect, only acceptable backdrop for Chef Hao Gong’s exotic, playful Asian hybrid cuisine. Gong’s cooking draws on elements of his Shanghai upbringing, his stints at restaurants around the U.S., and his decade-long career as the head sushi chef at Sake Cafe. Some dishes, such as spicy Sichuan dan dan noodles and Mala Holla (razor thin slices of beef shank in ghost-chile oil) hearken to Asian traditions. Others, like the Monkey Snack—raw salmon, sesame-crusted banana and a spicy-sweet sauce—are his own creations. A new monthly supper club provides all you need for a dinner party at home.
20. Bar Pomona Marigny
If plates of crunchy crudites with fine cheese and the soft layers of mortadella flecked with pistachio are enough to get you there, this small, perfect, oh-so-Frenchified neighborhood restaurant and bar with a great wine list is your place. A small spot with low ceilings, the bar takes up most of the room, and details both epicurean and adorable fill the rest. The menu is a short roster that splits the difference between snacks and a proper supper. The wine list is imposing for its size, selection, and value, with most bottles under $50. For brunch, spiced garlic yogurt is topped with two poached eggs, then hit with dukkah, chili crisp, and fresh dill, and served with Sara’s peerless focaccia. Bliss.
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