7 July 2023
Dan Stein of Stein’s Deli appears in Queer Eye season 7. | Iiana Panich-Linsman/Netflix
Plus, the city’s first pickleball venue sets an opening date, a Vietnamese staple prepares to move, and more news to know
New Orleans’s favorite deli owner, Dan Stein of Stein’s Deli on Magazine Street, shared that he was carjacked on Wednesday night after leaving the shop shortly before 1 a.m. Stein is a “little banged up,” according to the deli’s Instagram post, and received stitches to his head after being pistol-whipped during the encounter. In true Stein fashion, given that he was nominated for the New Orleans-filmed season of Queer Eye to achieve better work-life balance, he was at work the next day serving customers at lunch.
Though Stein has long been a local celebrity to New Orleanians due to his ever-popular pastrami sandwiches and unique Philly-style Jewish-Italian deli, he became a household name to fans of the Fab Five after being featured as a makeover subject on Season 7 of Netflix’s Queer Eye. Stein’s car, a light blue Toyota 4Runner “that probably smells a little like pastrami,” is still missing.
New Orleans’s first pickleball venue to open in August
A forthcoming pickleball facility is set to open in August, just in time for National Pickleball Day (August 8). Exchange Pickleball and Bar is the first venue dedicated to the popular sport in New Orleans, taking over a vacant 20,000-square-foot warehouse in the LGD across from the Tchoupitoulas Street Walmart. The facility promises food, drinks, and live music, though specific plans for food — i.e. whether it will have a restaurant or host food trucks — have not been released.
Popular Vietnamese restaurant finds new home
Decade-old Maple Street Vietnamese staple Ba Chi Canteen is moving, reports the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. It’s relocating to Metairie, with plans to open in September as Ba Chi Kitchen & Bar in the address most recently home to YuYan Kitchen (and before that, Korea House). Adding Viet-Cajun-style boiled seafood, a genre growing in popularity nationally, and a bar serving cocktails, the restaurant’s specialty, bacos, will remain. Ba Chi Canteen’s final day at 7900 Maple Street is July 14.
Two more chances to score frozen treats from Rahm Haus
Just when you thought your last chance to savor Jillian Duran’s Rahm Haus wares had come and gone, two new opportunities have emerged. Rahm Haus is popping up twice this month while Duran awaits starting her new role as pastry chef at Metairie’s forthcoming Garrison Kitchen and Cocktails. The first is tonight, July 7, at Okay Bar in St. Roch. Stop by starting at 10 p.m. (there’s no cover) for a slew of frozen treats including freezie pops (think roasted fig and honey, Alabama peach, and watermelon and lime leaf) and ice cream sandwiches. The second is on July 16 at Junk Drawer Coffee, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., where fans can score pints of classic Rahm Haus flavors.
St. Roch Market gets new vendor
There’s a promising new food stall in Marigny’s St. Roch Market specializing in multi-regional Indian food and a menu of curry bowls, kathi rolls, snacks like bhel puri, and desserts. Everything Spice is from chef Vishal Kotagiri, a graduate of the Culinary Academy of India, and is now open daily beginning at 11 a.m.
St. Roch Market