15 September 2023
Rosella is opening this fall with kitchen help from Blue Giant’s Richard Horner.
Plus, Drew Brees-backed sliders are headed to New Orleans, K-Paul’s building is for sale once again, and more news to know
An intriguing new restaurant is in development for Mid-City, and one of the owners of Blue Giant, the beloved, now-closed Chinese-American restaurant in the LGD, is helping out with the menu. Richard Horner tells Eater that Paul McCaige and Alixandra Petrovich, the owners of the forthcoming Rosella, are doing “a really great job of finding out what sort of things people in their neighborhood are potentially looking for and listening to them, and I’m really just going off that input.” While the menu is still in early development, Horner says, the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports Rosella will serve wine, seasonal small plates, snacks, sandwiches, grab-and-go items, and sno-balls. Stay tuned for more details.
Drew Brees-backed slider restaurants set for New Orleans
After opening throughout Louisiana including in nearby Marrero, a slew of restaurants backed by former New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees are headed to Orleans Parish. Smalls Sliders is headed to New Orleans and Metairie later this year and next, from Brees and his former Purdue University teammates and separately, from developer Troy Henry. While Henry’s Orleans Parish restaurant locations are still to be determined, Brees has a lease for Smalls Sliders to open in Metairie’s Clearview City Center and three more in metro New Orleans. The four-year-old brand, which operates primarily drive-thru restaurants, serves cheeseburger sliders and waffle fries.
“Eatertainment” company drops all-day cafe planned for K-Paul’s
The founder of well-known “eatertainment” company Punch Bowl Social is no longer opening an all-day cafe in a historic French Quarter building, reports the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. Last summer, Robert Thompson announced plans to open the French Quarter Boulangerie in the former site of K-Paul’s, the legendary Cajun restaurant from chef Paul Prudhomme at 416 Chartres Street. While renovation work began at the address, the newspaper reports, the French Quarter Boulangerie will no longer open there, though plans remain to develop it elsewhere in the future. The property is for sale once again, listed for $6.9 million.
Cool off at the Frozen Sweets Fest this weekend
Temperatures remain swelteringly high despite the calendar, so it’s good timing for the inaugural Frozen Sweets Fest, a first-time event taking place at the Broadside on Sunday, September 17. Benefitting Second Harvest Food Bank, the free-admission festival will serve sno-balls, popsicles, ice cream, Italian ice, and other frozen treats to a backdrop of live music, contests, and more family-friendly entertainment from 2 to 8 p.m.