Changing hands? . . . Algiers Point restaurant Tonti’s Cocktail Bar & Bistro (formerly Tonti’s Hand) has tapped a new head chef. Chet Henderson recently moved to The Point from Colorado where he worked as the Corporate Executive Chef of The Culinary Creative Group, a hospitality company responsible for restaurants such as Aviano, Bar Dough, and Mister Oso. Everyone in the neighborhood (and beyond) are excited about the dishes Henderson is bringing to the table which are still French, but just made by different hands, from Le Poulet Rôti – a fried buttermilk-battered chicken on a toasted potato bun with remoulade – to duck confit with rosemary sweet potatoes and mustard sauce.
323 Verret St., (504) 264-7973, tontis-bistro.com
Tutto bene! . . . Folks in Gretna were crying in their cacciatore when Tony Mandina’s closed after serving Creole Italian cuisine to Westbank denizens for 40+ years, but all was not lost! Shortly after their closure, longtime Mid-City Italian joint Venezia’s (open since 1957) purchased the property and reopened to much pomp and circumstance in mid-August. The new Venezia’s on Westbank Expressway has the same menu as their Carrollton Avenue location, with the addition of table side Caesar Salad service. Guests can load up on fried calamari, Gulf shrimp scampi linguine in a lemon, garlic and butter sauce, and piles of buttery garlic bread, and raise a glass to the memory of Mandina’s.
1915 Pratt St., Gretna, (504) 910-6302, venezianeworleans.com
You just can’t beat halal meat? … Three Palestinian entrepreneurs Hasan Ayyad, Omar Jamhour, and his father Chef Ayoub Jamhour recently opened Moshiko Falafel & Shawarma in Bywater. Located next door to Wagner’s Meat on St. Claude Avenue, Moshiko is billed as a “fast casual restaurant” with Ayoub manning the rotisserie and crispy, fried handmade chickpea-based falafel. Moshiko is open daily for lunch and dinner.
3200 St. Claude Ave., @moshiko_nola
He’s flipped! . . . Uptown Mediterranean restaurant MISA has had a total menu makeover and is now a new burger spot dubbed Son of a Bun. Owner Tal Sharon, the mastermind behind Tal’s Hummus just across the street, has re-branded the Magazine Street restaurant and is now slinging burgers, sandwiches and fries, but the menu is not without touches of Israeli-inspired cuisine such as eggplant fries with tahini date sauce, crispy halloumi with lemon garlic aioli, and a veggie burger made with falafel patties.
4734 Magazine St., sonofabunburgerbar.com
La comida es vida! . . . Chef Maria Ruhl and her son James Ortiz recently launched a Cuban restaurant in the French Quarter called Havana 1961. In a mission to “bring the vibrant flavors and rich culture of Cuba to New Orleans” the mother/son duo offer a menu with a wide variety of traditional Cuban dishes, including ham croquetas and papa rellenas (fried potato balls stuffed with bell pepper, onion and ground beef), as well as classics like ropa vieja with stewed beef, tomatoes and sofrito, and lechón asado, a sort of Cuban version of cochon de lait. Havana 1961 also features a wide variety of Cuban-inspired cocktails intended to “transport guests to the streets of Havana,” accented with a Santeria and Vodú twist.
239 Decatur St. @havana1961.nola
On the rise . . . Popular Uptown spot Levee Baking Co. just off Magazine Street recently expanded into the space next door, which has allowed for a larger kitchen in order to produce more amazing breads and pastries, plus they’ve launched a more robust breakfast and lunch menu – because who can get enough of their croissant twists with prosciutto and Gruyere? They’re also now able to host more baking workshops, so go learn how to sourdough with some of the best bakers in New Orleans!
3138 Magazine ST., Ste. D, (504) 354-8708, leveebakingco.com
An ambitious dish . . . The uber-plushy, New York-born sushi chain Nobu just opened a location inside the soon-to-be completed Caesars New Orleans. A “universally celebrated restaurant” recognized for pioneering a new style of Japanese cuisine, the menu features signature dishes created by Chef Nobu Matsushisa such as black cod miso and rock shrimp tempura. Don your finest garb and don’t forget your platinum chopsticks for $9 plates of edamame and a $21 plate of oysters (3). You may have to take out a second mortgage on your house to dine there, but perhaps you can win it back in the casino afterwards.
8 Canal St., noburestaurants.com
Branching out . . . Sachin Darade, Aman Kota and Sarthak Samantray, the dream team behind the downtown Indian restaurant LUFU NOLA (Let Us Feed U), are in their stride with the mid-summer opening of a Taiwanese bubble tea shop DingTea Downtown, and more recently Cajun Flames in the French Quarter. Only two blocks away from LUFU, DingTea is located on Baronne Street inside a former beauty salon serving up boba teas, “soufflé slushes,” milk tea or tea lattés and yogurt (Japanese probiotic Yakult) drinks. It also features sweet and savory croffles (a mashup of croissants and waffles) just in case you want a takoyaki croffle with your roasted wintermelon latté.
337 Baronne St., dingteadowntown.com
The trio has also opened Cajun Flames, a New Orleans-style seafood restaurant inside the Decatur Street building that formerly house Saint John (now open on St. Charles Avenue in the Le Chat Noir space) and before that, the never-to-be-replaced Maximo’s. Diners at Cajun Flames can expect an oyster bar with both raw and grilled Gulf oysters, plus a plethora of fried seafood platters, from shrimp and catfish, to (you guessed it) Gulf oysters.
1117 Decatur St., @cajun_flames
*Article originally published in the November 2024 issue of Where Y’at Magazine
