Full of beans . . . Chef Maya Mastersson has been tapped to head the kitchen at the new restaurant inside Beanlandia, headquarters for the Krewe of Red Beans. What began as a small marching parade glorifying a local Monday-night tradition was catapulted into an organization built by and for the community. Beanlandia, the cultural museum and community center launched by the krewe in 2023, has now added Muy Pwa, a cafe for members and visiting ticket-holders featuring a legume-laden menu with dishes such as Midnight Hummus with black chickpeas served with a sweet potato and lentil baguette for dipping; a smoked gigante bean BLT with “Cajun” bacon, greens and compressed Creole tomato; long bean kimchi and white bean panzanella in a garlic confit vinaigrette.
3300 Royal St., kreweofredbeans.org/muy-pwa-bean-cafe/
Keeping it sweet . . . Thomas Matthews, a local man with sweet pastry in his blood, has opened Not Another Donut Cafe in the little blue building that formerly housed Blue Dot Donuts. Matthews, who’s family members have been working in the city’s donut shops for the past 20 years, had been looking for a place to call their own and Matthews had approached Blue Dot’s founder Zach Menicucci before he was ready to sell. Opened late last year, Not Another Donut Cafe offers yeasted donuts from glazed to cake, glazed beignets, featured donuts like honey buns and apple fritters, and breakfast sandwiches and sides.
4301 Canal St., @notanotherdonutcafe
Sandwich central . . . Central Grocery, one of the city’s most hallowed institutions, has thankfully reopened late last year. Our muffuletta mainline shutdown in 2021 after severe damage during Hurricane Ida, and though they were still shipping out our city’s most famous Italian sandwich through Goldbelly, the French Quarter just wasn’t the same without its century-old Italian grocery regularly featuring lines of fans trailing out the front door. Sicilian immigrant Salvatore Lupo founded the grocery in 1906 and when he retired, his son-in-law Salvador T. Tusa took over and it’s been in the family ever since. The Tusa’s were determined to reopen the Decatur Street shop, even though the building had to be completely rebuilt. Visitors are excited to be once again browsing through specialty Italian foodstuffs and chatting up the friendly staff, but most of all they will return for that massive, mouthwatering muffuletta. It’s so good to have you back!
923 Decatur St., centralgrocery.com
Steak-ing out a spot . . . The city has a new steakhouse right near the Superdome in a space that’s lain empty since the former Besh Group’s restaurant Borgne closed four years ago. Brothers Jack Rizzuto and Phil Rizzuto, who run Rizzuto’s Ristorante & Chophouse in Lakeview, have taken over the former spot inside the Hyatt Regency New Orleans and launched Rizzuto Prime, a steakhouse with a menu that includes seafood and local Italian cuisine.
601 Loyola Ave., rizzutosristorante.com
Hip hip filet! . . . It’s been over a decade since we said goodbye to ridiculously affordable, over-stuffed filet mignon po-boys and crazy potatoes at the original Crazy Johnnie’s Steak House, but they’re back! Mike Landry, nephew of Johnnie Schram, the beloved Fat City steak tavern’s namesake, recently re-launched Crazy Johnnie’s in a new location on Veterans Boulevard, across from Lakeside Mall. Landry revived the local love for Johnnie’s in 2023 when he began selling the former restaurant’s bottled sauces and seasonings. Crazy Johnnie’s fans are enjoying the same great menu and flavors at the new and improved restaurant, helped in part by some of the staff returning to their same old gig after a 10-year sabattical. But we won’t ever get back $16 buttery filet po-boy.
3560 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, crazyjohnniesneworleans.com
Bumping into things . . . Cosimo Matassa’s Jazz City studio on Camp Street has been transformed into the Junebug, a cocktail bar and bites spot launched by the Washington D.C.-based Neighborhood Restaurant Group, the folks behind Devil Moon BBQ and Brewery Saint X. ‘Cue king Shannon Bingham is stepping aside from the smoke to offer dishes such as blue crab gratin and foie gras mousse with banana bread while the creative take on cocktails come in fully-spirited form or just a light lift.
748 Camp St.
Bring on the naan. . . South Claiborne Indian restaurant Aroma has launched a second location just this past fall in the Garden District on the corner of 7th and Magazine. Housed in the space formerly occupied by sandwich shop Gott Gourmet and Turkish restaurant Anatolia, Chef Sudharshan Kasarapu has expanded his reach offering all the naans, classic lamb biryani, aloo mutter, butter chicken and more. Uptown denizen won’t have to go all the way downtown for dosa. It’s twice as nice!
3100 Magazine St., facebook.com/aromaindiancuisinenola
Who wants lunch? . . . St. Roch Market Italian sandwich purveyors Lunch have moved into their own brick and mortar after their brief, but bountiful stint at the Marigny food hall. Now located Uptown on the corner of Broadway and Zimpel, the ‘wich shop is slinging their Tuscan-inspired eats right next to The Boot, appealing to nearby university students. Mother and son team (baker) Lisa & (chef) Jack Greenleaf are embracing their culinary knowledge and Italian heritage after moving here from New York City in the midst of the pandemic. On house-baked schiacciata (a light, crispy Tuscan version of focaccia), the duo are serving sandwiches like “The Positano” with pistachio mortadella, fresh burrata and pistachio cream or “The Napoli,” prosciutto cotto, provolone and roasted butternut squash served pipping hot.
1039 Broadway St., lunchsandwichshop.com
Chocolate-covered Carnival . . . New Orleans chefs and bakers are constantly breaking out of the traditional king cake mold and over at GW Fins, they’ve done it again. Riding on the Dubai Chocolate Bar wave, Executive Chef Michael Nelson has created a almond-based king cake filled with toasted shredded phyllo and chopped pistachios, crowned with a cinnamon sugar brioche. The cake is then dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with a pistachio crumble and chocolate chips. Because that’s not nearly enough chocolate (is it ever?) the cake is decorated with more chocolate sauce, pistachio sauce, crème anglaise, and whipped ricotta mousse. The cake will be available on the dessert menu at GW Fins through Mardi Gras Day . . . that is, if we don’t stampede the restaurant and eat every last morsel.
808 Bienville St., (504) 581-3467, gwfins.com
*Article originally published in the March 2025 issue of Where Y’at Magazine
