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.
