July_Aug_2015_FINAL_62215_bleedless REV

the Anniversary issue

Restaurant Rows by Pableaux Johnson + photos by Cheryl Gerber

Before Katrina, there were just over 800 restaurants in New Orleans — excluding fast-food and chains. Now there are around 1,500.

L ooking back, it’s been a long road. After the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failures, New Orleans recovery was, in many ways, measured by our food and (by extension) our restaurant scene. In the early months of recovery, the city’s bounceback was marked by which restaurants reopened quickly — the places where locals and visitors alike can experience the dishes and experiences that make New Orleans unique among the world’s food cities. The neighborhood joints, po-boy shops, oyster bars, stalwart saloons and old-line French Quarter restaurants that form the backbone of our city’s edible culture became a tangible measure of the city’s revival. Many returned to their former glory after full renovations,a testament to the city’s resilience and cuisine as a community cornerstone. But in the decade since the floods, the New Orleans restaurant scene

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT / CBD As New Orleans passes the 10-year mark, it shows significant growth in restaurants that are easy walking distance from the Rouses Market on Baronne Street and the apartment/condominium complexes that are becoming a mainstay of the formerly staid downtown area (thanks in large part to the opening of the Rouses in 2011). Herbsaint’s Donald Link had already established a firm foothold in the Warehouse District before Katrina and was eagerly working on a new venture, the Cajun-inspired Cochon. After the understandable delay in opening, Link’s restaurant group opened a string of successful ventures in the neighborhood — Cochon, its more casual sister Cochon Butcher and their 2013 blockbuster Peche Seafood Grill. The team — led by partners Link, Steven Stryjewski and Ryan Prewitt — also managed to garner substantial national attention, winning four James Beard Foundation awards (often called the “Oscars of the food world”). John Besh expanded his influence with a Latin-influenced taco joint, Johnny Sanchez, a Poydras Street partnership with chef Aaron Sanchez, and Borgne, which he co-owns with Chef Brian Landry. Besh Restaurant Group is also poised to open a bakery partnership run by gifted head pastry chefs, Lisa White and Kelly Fields, in a café-style homage to their grandmothers. Top Chef veteran and chef/owner of La Petite Grocery opened up Balise, a cozy seafood-driven restaurant near Lafayette Square. [TOP LEFT] Peche Seafood Grill [BOTTOM LEFT] Balise This growth and increase in diversity is fueled in many cases by “restaurant rows” across the city. From the heart of Uptown to the neighborhoods hugging the Industrial Canal, these restaurant clusters have vitalized neighborhoods while strengthening the city’s commercial and culinary fabric. These rows, like the new populations they often serve, reflect new (often modern) influences in a town that’s known for an inclination toward local tradition. has also changed significantly. Ten years "after the storm," the scene is stronger than ever, with plenty of new restaurants exceeding pre- storm levels.Dress codes have relaxed, and more casual restaurants now draw food-savvy tourists into the city’s outlying neighborhoods. New restaurants have increased the scene’s stylistic diversity with a wave of international flavors (Vienamese, Caribbean, Mexican) expanding the city’s culinary palette.

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MY ROUSES EVERYDAY JULY | AUGUST 2015