At Least Three Reasons to Love New Orleans

Words and Photos by Briana Olson

“It’s changed,” former denizens of New Orleans often tell me when we get to talking about the city on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. What they mean depends on who they are, but of course it has. Culinarily speaking, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen shut its doors early in the pandemic and never opened them again. Willie Mae’s Scotch House was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, rebuilt, then, in 2023, damaged by a fire from which it has yet to fully recover. But Dooky Chase’s Restaurant is still hopping. Mandina’s Restaurant still serves catfish meunière and spaghetti in the building an Italian immigrant opened as a grocery store a century ago. Some places close earlier than they used to, but you can still order a muffuletta from Verti Marte at most any hour. On a recent trip, I found spots new and old where the vibe—and the food—carry on the traditions of simultaneously honoring, transgressing, and inventing that make New Orleans a city I love. Here are three (two of which happen to be James Beard semifinalists this year).

COMPÈRE LAPIN

If I lived in the Marigny, I’d haunt the bar at BABs (formerly Bywater American Bistro), snacking on arancini with egg yolk jam and caviar and sipping an unusual house cocktail with a clear view into the open kitchen. Housed in a former rice mill, BABs is the newer of Chef Nina Compton’s two restaurants in the city, and it’s a warm, easy place to be. But it was at Compère Lapin, the restaurant Compton and her husband / business partner opened in 2015 in the city’s once divey, now borderline glitzy warehouse district, that I was served one of my top dishes of 2024: curried goat with sweet potato gnocchi. It felt like a wink from New Orleans to Saint Lucia, where the chef was born.

LIUZZA’S BY THE TRACK

Liuzza’s may be young by New Orleans standards—it opened in 1996—but it feels like it’s been around forever. That’s partly because the building dates to the 1930s, when it became home to a neighborhood grocery and bar, and partly because of a dedicated local clientele. Liuzza’s is known for their wet shrimp po-boys and gumbo, both creations of longtime chef and former co-owner Billy Gruber. On my visit, though, I went for a special: the debris po-boy. Debris is to roast beef what burnt ends are to brisket: the bits that fall off while slicing, then stew in the gravy and juices. It is a saucier, messier, more glorious version of the classic roast beef po-boy; I paired mine with a goblet of pilsner and a trip to nearby City Park.

ALMA CAFE

Alma Cafe opened in the Bywater in 2020, making it part of the new wave of Latin-influenced restaurants in New Orleans. It’s also Chef Melissa Araujo’s homage to a Honduran community whose presence dates to the early twentieth century, when millions of bananas departed the small nation’s north coast for the New Orleans port. The chef’s own heritage is bound with that history, and with Alma, she draws attention to what is unique to Honduran cuisine while riffing on its Spanish, Indigenous, and Caribbean roots. Araujo favors local sourcing, and along with the congenial atmosphere, I dug the simple touches: the good coffee, the moros y cristianos, and the fiery pink curtido served alongside the meaty pastelitos.