Eater writers and editors always get asked the same question: Where should I eat right now? Between the Crescent City’s iconic eateries and a steady stream of restaurant openings, it’s never a simple decision. The Eater 38 is a crucial resource covering the restaurants that define the city, but the Eater Heatmap points diners toward the buzziest and most intriguing new restaurants in the New Orleans area.
Procida
The Best New Restaurants in New Orleans
Our answer to the big question: Where should I eat right now?
Following typically hot, quiet summers, the New Orleans restaurant scene begins to stir in August followed by a flurry of September openings. It’s one of the most dynamic times of the year, with the restaurants that braved a summer opening having gained their footing alongside a lot of restaurants that had been waiting for their fall debuts.
In this latest update, Maple Street’s dining scene continues to expand with Origami Sushi and the return of Maple Street Patisserie, while Magazine Street adds more dim sum options to an already vibrant smattering of options. Design-heavy CBD restaurant Kira tucks a separate omakase restaurant led by a nationally respected sushi chef within its doors, and Mid City stops for a breath at Respite — with a serene design and a petite, pitch-perfect menu. Procida swings open in the Marigny with Southern Italian coastal cuisine.
Locations are listed geographically, from north to south.
Procida
The Best New Restaurants in New Orleans
Our answer to the big question: Where should I eat right now?
Eater writers and editors always get asked the same question: Where should I eat right now? Between the Crescent City’s iconic eateries and a steady stream of restaurant openings, it’s never a simple decision. The Eater 38 is a crucial resource covering the restaurants that define the city, but the Eater Heatmap points diners toward the buzziest and most intriguing new restaurants in the New Orleans area.
Following typically hot, quiet summers, the New Orleans restaurant scene begins to stir in August followed by a flurry of September openings. It’s one of the most dynamic times of the year, with the restaurants that braved a summer opening having gained their footing alongside a lot of restaurants that had been waiting for their fall debuts.
In this latest update, Maple Street’s dining scene continues to expand with Origami Sushi and the return of Maple Street Patisserie, while Magazine Street adds more dim sum options to an already vibrant smattering of options. Design-heavy CBD restaurant Kira tucks a separate omakase restaurant led by a nationally respected sushi chef within its doors, and Mid City stops for a breath at Respite — with a serene design and a petite, pitch-perfect menu. Procida swings open in the Marigny with Southern Italian coastal cuisine.
Locations are listed geographically, from north to south.
Kenji Kazoku
Sliding in near Michael Gullota’s Tana, Kenji Kazoku is the newest addition to Old Metairie’s growing restaurant lineup and the broader New Orleans area’s exploding sushi scene. It’s the sister restaurant to upscale jewel Kenji Omakase in the International House Hotel, both from sushi chef Matt Nguyen and former LSU football star receiver Malachi Dupre. The menu features fish butchered and aged on site; wagyu, scallops, and shrimp from the robata grill; karaage; sushi rolls; and cocktails, Japanese beer, and sake in a sleek space that is already bustling with locals.
Kenji Kazoku
Respite
In a light-flooded, 28-seat space that formerly housed a sheet metal shop, Respite serves whole grilled fish, raw oysters, grilled oysters, steak frites, and a rotating cast of dishes that changes with the season (or the chef’s whim). The restaurant maintains some of the look of a sheet metal shop, but all those elements are put to good use in a design that strikes at serene. Cinderblock walls, now painted a clean, bright white, form the backdrop for linen-encased sconces and custom-milled wooden booths. Light streams in through large glass garage doors, and the cement flooring feels clean and simple. The dinner hour can get busy, but the cafe opens at 3 p.m.
Casa Verde
This lush, family-run Mexican restaurant is bringing stellar tacos and margaritas to Tulane Avenue in a space that rings with reggaeton beats. The walls are lined with greenery, patio tables are made of palm trunks, and the entire exterior is painted green — all in the service of making this taqueria feel like an escape. It’s the next act for the Alvarado family, who ran El Patron in Gretna before opening Casa Verde. Casa Verde is open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and closed Wednesdays.
Casa Verde
Procida
This coastal Italian seafood spot is bringing a lighter slate of Italian dishes to the Marigny Triangle under the guidance of chef Valeriano Chiella, a native of the Amalfi Coast who previously worked at Domenica. The Southern Italian menu puts seafood front and center in dishes like a whole grilled branzino; flounder served with blue crab, pinenuts, olives, capers, and tomatoes; and saffron risotto studded with clams, Louisiana shrimp, and mussels. The restaurant is spacious with exposed brick walls and plenty of windows.
Procida
Casimiro
At Ana and Lydia Castro’s busy new Bywater breakfast and lunch cafe, a menu of comforting Mexican dishes that the Texas-born and Mexico City-raised sisters enjoyed during their childhoods diminishes the distance between New Orleans and Mexico. There are chilaquiles bathed in red or green salsa, tamales, molletes, house-made tortillas, and charro beans, brothy pinto beans flavored with smoked meat (in this case, andouille sausage) that are a staple of Texas cuisine with roots in northern Mexico. There are also cafecitos and Micheladas. Casimiro, its interior awash in earthy neutrals like soft terracotta meeting intentional pops of cobalt blue, has become an instant neighborhood classic, very likely to stick it out in this prime, light-filled corner location that has, unfortunately, been a revolving door for restaurants over the years. It’s open Thursday through Monday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Limited reservations available on Opentable.
Missy Frederick/Eater
The Crustacean Club
New Orleans’s culinary landscape is being transformed with creative tasting menus, and the trend shows no signs of stopping. In this petite new seafood spot on Rampart Street, the 22-seat dining room hosts a 5-course tasting menu highlighting Gulf seafood for $125. It includes canapes, chilled seafood dishes, a rotating hot dish, salad, rolls, and a light dessert. For a less structured approach, diners perch at a large marble bar to slurp oysters and eat caviar and tuna carpaccio, rounded out with hot fries and cold martinis. The restaurant is anchored at the former home of Effervescence, which closed last summer when its owner retired; in fact, Crustacean Club owners and chefs Evan Ingram and Brenna Sanders ran the kitchen at Effervescence. The Crustacean Club is open Thursday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on Sundays until 9 p.m. Reservations are required for the club room and recommended for the oyster bar.
The Crustacean Club
Dakar NOLA
Dakar NOLA is bringing its dazzling Senegalese tasting menu to life in Uptown’s Riverbend neighborhood just steps from the levee. After debuting on Magazine Street at the end of 2022 and quickly earning two James Beard Awards and a slate of other accolades, the move (to the former Mat & Naddie’s space, which closed in 2017) marks a new chapter for the lauded restaurant: This time the business partners bought the property. After a complete renovation of the bargeboard cottage, chef Serigne Mbaye and business partner Effie Richardson still anchor the experience in a multi-course, pescatarian tasting menu inspired by Mbaye’s childhood in Senegal. The new dining room is awash in soft pink and deep green, and the patio is lush with foliage. Reservations, available on Opentable, open at 10 a.m. 21 days before each dining date with three seatings per evening. Each time slot is two hours long.
Kira Omakase
Inside the CBD’s night-clubby Japanese and Mediterranean mash-up Kira, Kira Omakase has opened as its own restaurant under the helm of lauded sushi chef Yoshi Okai. The dramatic 12-seat omakase counter is awash in warm browns beneath wood-paneled ceilings, a stage for Okai’s a set menu of about 20 courses for around $175. For those who aren’t ready to commit, seating near the omakase bar will eventually offer a la carte dishes. A separate room will host a few tuna carvings a year.
Kira Omakase
Maple Street Patisserie
Several years after Maple Street Patisserie shuttered on Maple Street in a prime corner location (now home to French Truck Coffee), the lauded bakery has swung open its doors just a block down the street. Taking over the former home of Eats, which closed over the summer, master baker Ziggy Cichowski is back in action with flaky croissants, muffins, donuts and twists, sausage biscuits, and more in a convivial space staffed by people who clearly love dogs (they always have a dog biscuit when neighbors come by with canine pals). There are a few tables inside and just a couple on the sidewalk in front of the shop.
Maple Street Patisserie
Origami
After nearly 15 years on Freret Street, this beloved neighborhood sushi spot has moved into the former PJ’s Coffee and Tea spot on Maple Street after a full renovation. A long sushi bar runs the length of the minimalist dining room. Most tables offer a view onto Maple Street, but seating will soon expand onto a large outdoor patio and into a rear room. One of the best spots is a glass room sitting on the patio. The menu features izakaya-style dishes and sushi, including an excellent blue crab handroll wrapped in white soybean paper. Much of the staff moved over to the new location, so visiting feels like a homecoming. Origami is currently open for dine-in only, but the restaurant plans to add take-out soon.
Origami
Shang Kitchen
Owner Kelvin Chen named his new Magazine Street Chinese restaurant for his hometown of Shanghai. The stylish restaurant has light fixtures that look like koi swimming overhead. In a glassed station in the dining room, cooks prepare soup dumplings in a rainbow of hues and flavors. The menu features a number of regional Chinese dishes with a few Chinese-American classics tossed into the mix, meaning General Tso can join a table laden with sizzling dan dan noodles and soup dumplings. Outdoor seating is available in a shared courtyard crowned with oaks. Shang is the latest in a rush of top-notch Chinese restaurants opening along Magazine Street, including crowd-stopping Miss Shirley’s just a few storefronts away, as well as the casual Wishing Town and soon-to-open Tsang’s further uptown.
