The 5 Best New Restaurants in New Orleans
Every year I am shocked—shocked!—to find that restaurants have the nerve to continue to open even after I complete my list of Best New Restaurants. The affront was compounded this year by the fact that three noteworthy new places opened in my own backyard in the few weeks after the list was finalized. Here are peeks at them, along with two other newcomers from the past year that you should know about whether you're headed this way for Jazz Fest, which starts April 27th, or any other time of the year.
Morrow's
2438 St. Claude Avenue, Marigny
Larry Morrow is a man not shy about his own name: His local events promotion company is called Larry Morrow Events; his book, All Bets On Me: The Risks and Rewards Of Becoming an Entrepreneur is published by Larry Morrow Publishing; and the neon script letters hanging above the bar at the stylish new restaurant that he recently opened in the Marigny read "The Morrow of the Story…." But the kitchen belongs to Morrow’s mother, Lenora Chong, and she turns out a fine selection of New Orleans soul food: head-on barbecue shrimp; fried oysters, catfish, shrimp and soft-shell crab piled into a tower called the "Just Watch"; a rich and ruddy crawfish etouffee—along with a handful of Korean dishes. Kick things off with a sizzling plate of chargrilled oysters that taste of smoke, butter, and brine.
Manolito
508 Dumaine Street, French Quarter
This tiny-as-a-coin-pocket bar in the French Quarter was opened by two NOLA cocktail heavyweights—Nick Dietrich, who was previously a partner in the excellent Cane & Table, and Chris Hannah, who usually defends his title as the city's best bartender at Arnaud's French 75 Bar. The two began traveling together to Cuba in 2015, under the guidance of legendary cantinero Julio Cabrera. Manolito is their loving tribute, featuring a bar menu of authentic Cuban daiquiris and other cocktails, with snacks like ropa vieja, a Spanish tortilla, and Cuban sandwiches to match.
Bywater American Bistro
2900 Chartres St, Bywater
Nina Compton came to New Orleans as a contestant on Top Chef and stayed to open 2015's Compère Lapin with her husband, Larry Miller. The restaurant quickly became a local mainstay, in the process expanding the definition of "Creole" to emphasize Compton's Caribbean roots. (She is from St. Lucia.) At Compton's second restaurant, she and her longtime sous chef, now partner, Levi Raines, continue to push the envelope. One quirk of Compère Lapin was that, despite its name, "Brother Rabbit," there was no actual rabbit on the menu. That's rectified here with a rabbit leg served in a bright curry that tastes of ginger and clove, topped with pecans and cilantro. Raines steams delicate red snapper and serves it with broccoli rabe sautéed with Calabrian chiles and a Crystal Hot Sauce hollandaise; he fries oysters and serves them over rice in a deep brown gravy made from an oyster roux. For dessert, there's sweet/savory pudding made from California sticky rice that's been dressed in vinegar and mirin, cooked in milk punch (Compton's father's recipe) as though it was risotto, and then topped with dulce de leche and puffed rice. It's brain addling but stomach pleasing.
Rosalita's
Rosalie Alley, Bywater
When Bywater American Bistro opened, it took over the space occupied by Mariza, a much-loved Italian restaurant owned by New Orleans restaurant veterans Laurie Casebonne and Ian Schnoebelen. Luckily it was a happy ending for all: a much-better-rested Schnoebelen and Casebonne opened a hole in the fence that separates their house from an alley housing a working voodoo temple, installed a counter, and started selling some of the city's best tacos on weekend days and Tuesday nights. The pulled pork shoulder taco is moist, smoky and irresistible, as is one with battered and fried fish that will have you thinking you're in San Diego, which happens to be where Schnoebelen grew up. There's a small clearing with assorted lawn furniture to sit at farther down the alley, which is decorated with voodoo-themed drawings and paintings. Its name is Rosalie Alley and it's located between two streets named Piety and Desire—which of course is where most of us dwell nearly all the time.
Gabrielle Restaurant
2441 Orleans Avenue, Treme
This was the year's most welcome resurrection. The original Gabrielle Restaurant closed after Hurricane Katrina and owners Greg and Mary Sonnier struggled to find a new home for the next twelve years. During those years, New Orleans's dining scene underwent a transformation as dramatic as that of Gabrielle herself, the couple's daughter who was a child when the old Gabrielle opened and now manages the dining room of its new incarnation on Orleans Avenue. In 2018, it feels like a time traveller: a classic New Orleans neighborhood restaurant with white tablecloths, servers in ties, French bread in brown paper sleeves, and a menu of Cajun and Creole standbys. There's gulf fish with crawfish cornbread dressing; a pork chop as thick as a phone book, lacquered with a mojo marinade and stuffed with pepper jack; panko-fried boudin and andouille. In this year's Perfect Night Out, I hailed gumbos from as far away as North Carolina (Hello, Sailor) and Seattle (JuneBaby). Gabrielle reestablishes Louisiana's dominion with a version that is dark as tar, flavored with smoked quail and a homemade "green sausage" of fennel, spinach, and Herbsaint (the anise-flavored liqueur crucial to making a Sazerac, which Gabrielle also does very well). In a town filled with gumbos, it has instantly taken its place as one of the best. As recently as seven or eight years ago, this was what you came to the Crescent City to eat like. You still should.
Brett Martin is a GQ correspondent.
