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MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
JULY | AUGUST 2015
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
Restaurant Rows
by
Pableaux Johnson +
photos by
Cheryl Gerber
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.
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.
the
Anniversary
issue
Before Katrina, there were
just over 800 restaurants in
New Orleans — excluding
fast-food and chains. Now
there are around 1,500.