12 March 2024
Venezuelan brunch, fresh aguachiles and ceviches, and Portuguese tapas to look forward to
With another Carnival season in the books, New Orleans’s 2024 restaurant openings are kicking into full gear as spring heats up. Get ready for Venezuelan brunch spreads and spit-roasted meats; margaritas paired with hot, pillowy arepas; fresh-from-the-gulf Mexican mariscos; expansions from a local soul food favorite; menus melding French and East Asian flavors; and Portuguese tapas accompanied by a “jamón bar,” among other highlights. Here are New Orleans’s most anticipated restaurant openings this spring, in no particular order.
Origen
Where: 3600 Saint Claude Avenue, Bywater
Julio Machado, the chef behind Uptown restaurant Como Arepas, is bringing a new Venezuelan restaurant to the Bywater neighborhood this spring. Machado has spent years in New Orleans’s restaurant scene, cooking in restaurants like Brasa Churrasqueria, Zocalo, Tacos del Cartel, and the recently-closed Mucho Más. Origen, poised to open in late March, emphasizes brunch: Machado has been teasing spreads of eggs, beans, and rice; stewed meats; arepas; plantains; and tequenos (Venezuelan fried breaded cheese sticks) on Instagram. For dinner, according to What Now New Orleans, expect three different prix-fixe meals featuring spit-roasted carne en vara.
La Cocinita
Where: 4920 Prytania Street, Uptown
Benoit and Rachel Angulo, proprietors of one of New Orlean’s most popular food trucks, are launching a permanent location of La Cocinita this spring. Expect a bigger-than-ever menu of hot, fresh, pillowy arepas, including vegan options, and a weekend brunch menu of empanadas, breakfast tacos, breakfast bowls, and arepas. La Cocinita’s full bar will serve tropical cocktails, mimosas, margaritas, and mojitos, plus South American wines and beer.
The Coop
Where: 1030 Derbingy Street, Gretna
James Beard semifinalist Marlon “Chicken” Williams is opening a second outpost of his restaurant, Chicken’s Kitchen, in Gretna. For now, Williams says, the Coop will function as a kind of ghost kitchen, allowing Chicken’s Kitchen to expand its delivery and preorder options and cut down the waiting-in-line factor for customers. He also plans to add fresh-pressed juices, smoothies, and salads to the menu. The Coop may open as soon as May — in the meantime, Williams has already repainted the building a vibrant red.
Acamaya
Where: 3060 Dauphine Street, Bywater
James Beard-nominated chef Ana Castro, who closed her acclaimed Mexican tasting restaurant Lengua Madre in 2023, is embarking on a new venture with Acamaya, her Mexican mariscos restaurant. Expect a more casual atmosphere than Lengua Madre, and fresh-from-the-Gulf seafood: Think aguachiles, ceviches, fish soups, shrimp cocktails, and more. Acamaya will debut in the Bywater neighborhood later this spring.
The Kingsway
Where: 4201 Magazine Street, Uptown
The Vilkhu family — son and daughter Ashwin and Pranita; mother and father Pardeep and Arvinder — is inching toward to the opening of their second restaurant, the Kingsway. Saffron, the family’s flagship, has made waves as a destination for fine-dining Indian cuisine; though the Kingsway will be similarly elegant and upscale, the menu will meld East Asian and French flavors. Renovations are underway at the former Magasin Vietnamese Cafe location.
34 Restaurant and Bar
Where: 710 Baronne Street, Warehouse District
Emeril Lagasse’s “love letter” to his Portuguese heritage, 34 Restaurant and Bar, is slated to open in the Warehouse District this spring. Expect tapas-style shared plates and a “jamón bar”; Lagasse’s son, E.J., is a collaborator. According to New Orleans CityBusiness, the restaurant will occupy part of the ground floor of a massive building for luxury short-term rentals — it’s the latest of three recent Lagasse restaurant openings, a successor to his French restaurant Emeril’s Brasserie and flagship Emeril’s, which he revamped and reopened in fall 2023.
A yet-to-be-named restaurant from Brooks Reitz
Charleston restaurateur Brooks Reitz is expanding to New Orleans with a new restaurant on Esplanade Avenue. Expect a “bar and dining room with an ‘English accent” and a cozy pub feel — but there won’t be bangers and mash on this menu. Reitz plans to lean into New Orleans food culture, weaving together a number of culinary influences and leaning on the example of the French House in Soho, the storied pub where chefs Margot and Fergus Henderson cooked French food in a second-floor dining room in the 1990s. Look for an opening later this spring.
Later this year
Keep an eye out for Étoile, chef Chris DuPont’s NOLA homecoming restaurant headed for Magazine Street; ShaSha Lounge: Social Aid and Pleasure Club, an ambitious NFT project helmed by chef Nina Compton and her partner, Larry Miller; and Rice Vice Sake, a Nashville-based sake bar expanding to New Orleans.