Made a move … After spending nearly two decades feeding office denizens in the CBD, the Empire State Delicatessen picked up shop and moved all the way past the far end of St. Charles Avenue to Oak Street. A change in names coincided with the move, as the new spot on Oak is dubbed Paulie’s Delicatessen, appropriately named after its owner Paul Tufaro. The downtown deli has taken over the space which once housed D.T.B. (Down The Bayou), the coastal Cajun cuisine restaurant created by the city’s bereaved Chef Carl Schaubhut, and briefly Mucho Mas, a Mexican concept from chef Julio Machado and owner Shawn Toups. Decorated with musical memorabilia from New York and New Orleans, Paulie’s sports a similar menu with familiar specialty sandwiches such as The Fat Cat, a pound of grilled pastrami on rye with melted Swiss and yellow mustard, and The Manhattan Project, a London broil smothered in horseradish cheddar cheese and sauteed onions on toasted 7-grain.
8201 Oak St., (504) 412-8326, pauliesneworleans.com
Gulf Coast cheese pleasing … St. James Cheese Co., New Orleans’ only very own cheesemonger and purveyor of extraordinarily ripe lunches, just recently stretched its pull opening a third location in Pass Christian, Mississippi. The Prytania Street lunch spot, opened by Richard and Danielle Sutton in 2006, has become something of a local legend, and popular enough to not only endure, but thrive warranting a second locale which, to citywide approbation, opened in the Warehouse District in 2015. Now the people of the Pass have been blessed with the masters of mold, and are able to take part in the Suttons’ wisdom of rinds with a rotating selection of imported artisanal and farmhouses cheeses, cured meats and gourmet groceries, not to mention their stellar sandwiches, salads and daily curated cheese boards. St. James Cheese part trois is located in The Pass Bungalows, a brand new resort on West Scenic Drive.
stjamescheese.com
Thai-ing down the market . . . French Quarter restaurant Thaihey NOLA recently opened a vending arm at St. Roch Market. The fabulous Thai fusion food of Chef Orawin Yimchalam can now be enjoyed at the Market under the guise of Thaifood, a name which needs no explanation. Although it was born in Baton Rouge, Thaihey enjoyed a meteoric rise after opening on Decatur Street in the fall of 2021. Serving the chef’s inspired, fusion approach to Thai cuisine, Thaihey features dishes such as red curry frog legs, Thai-spiced arancini and lump crab fried rice with scrambled eggs and fried lotus root.
thaiheynola.com, strochmarket.com
At your service . . . NOPSI, the 1920s-era public utilities building-turned-luxury hotel in the CBD, recently named Adam Korbel as its new executive chef. The New Orleans native is now overseeing all of the food service operations in the hotel which includes the signature Public Service dining room and rooftop bar Above the Grid. “I’m honored to step into this role at this iconic property,” said Korbel. “It’s a special place brimming with opportunity, and I’m looking forward to crafting menus that are bold, locally-inspired and uniquely NOPSI,” says Korbel. The local chef, known for blending “Southern heritage with global technique,” is a Delgado graduate who has experience working in other New Orleans hotel kitchens such as Le Pavillon and the InterContinental.
317 Baronne St., nopsihotel.com
Fit for a king . . . The highly anticipated new restaurant from the Vilkhu family launched recently, right across the street from Saffron NOLA. The Kingsway is the first solo venture by prodigal son Ashwin Vilkhu, and the skilled chef’s first foray offers anything but the usual suspects. Located in the space that formerly housed Vietnamese restaurant Magasin (redesigned by local architecture firm Farouki Farouki), The Kingsway follows the current high-end trend with a prix fixe menu, in this case a four-course meal featuring modern dishes influenced by both Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. Named after Kingsway Drive, the Gretna street address of the Vilkhu family’s first American home, the new restaurant offers dishes such as Hong Kong-style refrigerator noodles with Gulf shrimp and black garlic, five-spiced Canton pork belly with red plum and kabocha squash, and herbed snapper with nuoc cham and peanuts.
4201 Magazine St., (504) 506-9272, kingswaynola.com
Internally grateful . . . Kris Padalino, former pastry and sous, has risen through the ranks to become Brennan’s Restaurant’s Executive Chef. Tapped from within, like Ryan Hacker before her, Padalino’s path was unusual as not many pastry chefs end up in the lead. Padalino has already made new menu contributions to the nearly 80-year-old restaurant, famous for its Bananas Foster and Pepto-pink facade, and looks forward to adding more. Although she is taking on the leadership role, Padalino knows her success is due in no small part to her co-workers and will continue to “emphasize collective excellence over individual achievement,”
417 Royal St., (504) 525-9711, brennansneworleans.com
Coffee and (killer) croissant . . . French Truck, the local coffee purveyor known for its small-batch brews and bright yellow Citroën, has recently opened yet another location (its 13th!), this one on Maple Street. Taking over the space that long-housed Chef Ziggy Cichowski’s Maple Street Patisserie, French Truck is happily in direct competition with Starbuck right across the street. Co-owners Geoffrey Meeker and Bobby Winston are upping the ante by offering incredible pastry and lunches at all of French Truck’s locations, a menu now created by former Emeril’s pastry chef Jeremy Fogg, who briefly attempted his own sweet venture on Baronne Street dubbed Mae’s Bakeshop. Here’s hoping the collaboration can kick the massive Seattle-born chain to the curb.
frenchtruckcoffee.com
*Article originally published in the August 2025 issue of Where Y’at Magazine
