The Best New Restaurants in New Orleans

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. Summertime in New Orleans is the restaurant industry’s quietest season as tourists and locals flock to cooler climates.

Those that do stay in town get rewarded with intimate first looks at new restaurants — and there are plenty of eateries throwing open their doors and breaking the monotony of the summer doldrums. In this latest update, the Crescent City’s sushi scene continues breaking new ground with excellent Kenji Kazoku’s expansion to Old Metairie; Bar 1865, an intimate cocktail destination, opens for three nights a week in a historic CBD-neighborhood townhouse; and the massively lauded Dakar NOLA gets a new home in the Riverbend.

Locations are listed geographically, from north to south. 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. Summertime in New Orleans is the restaurant industry’s quietest season as tourists and locals flock to cooler climates.

Those that do stay in town get rewarded with intimate first looks at new restaurants — and there are plenty of eateries throwing open their doors and breaking the monotony of the summer doldrums. In this latest update, the Crescent City’s sushi scene continues breaking new ground with excellent Kenji Kazoku’s expansion to Old Metairie; Bar 1865, an intimate cocktail destination, opens for three nights a week in a historic CBD-neighborhood townhouse; and the massively lauded Dakar NOLA gets a new home in the Riverbend. Locations are listed geographically, from north to south.

Feliciana

A show-stopping bistro from BRG Hospitality (John Besh and Octavio Mantilla) has landed in the former Star Theater in downtown Covington with a menu of faultless French classics in a dining room inspired by the works of Walker Percy, who lived in the area.

A white asparagus soup swims with tender crawfish, while a luxurious saffron broth is poured tableside over jumbo lump crab for a soup inspired by Alain Ducasse. The burger gets the French treatment with Comté cheese and Dijonaisse while towers of seafood bring cinematic magic. Feliciana’s interior is smart and unfussy, a perfect picture at every turn.

The theme continues at the gorgeous rooftop cocktail lounge, Paradise, awash in greens and inspired by Percy’s Love in the Ruins.

Safta’s Table

After bringing his brand of elegant Israeli cuisine to the perennially busy Magazine Street anchor Saba, Alon Shaya is now dishing all manner of pita combos, from classic hummus to sandwiches stuffed with chicken schnitzel or roasted lamb, in his spiffy new Lakeview spot, Safta’s Table.

The bright all-day cafe has square tiles stretching from floor to ceiling, making for a clean and uncomplicated space: You’d feel equally at home having a boisterous brunch with friends, quietly reading over a snack at the counter, or running in for a healthy grab-and-go dinner from the case. The latest in Alon Shaya and Emily Shaya’s burgeoning restaurant mini-empire keeps pace with all the rest, but it feels a little easier to approach on a whim.

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.

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.

No reservations.

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 Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations are required for the dining room and recommended for the oyster bar.

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.

Bar 1865 in the Swoop-Duggins House

In a historic townhouse in the CBD, Bar 1865 pairs aged decadence with a menu that takes advantage of the season.

Order a Roadside Julep with a fistful of mint and toasted peanut syrup or a summer salad that’s bright with tomatoes and oregano vinaigrette ( pepperoni and garlic butter keep the salad from feeling like an act of piety). Season-spanning options include deviled eggs in a crisp shell of panko or a pastrami-spiced confit chicken.

Crystal chandeliers cast a soft glow across the intimate brick-lined space(in the former Cellar Door), making it ideal for a date night. Once a hidden spot only open once a week, Bar 1865 is now open Thursday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Sushi by Us

Sushi by Us is a dive into an imagined underwater refuge, with a tiny, seductive dining room swimming in cobalt blue light and over-the-top details — the windowless dining room is a maximalist’s dream, and the dishes follow suit. The crispy crab-filled Dinamita Roll is served with a side of clarified butter, making a satisfying roll even more luxurious; and the alligator bao is served in a small alligator head like the ones sold in French Quarter souvenir stores.

To visit this clever Japanese adventure, find it hidden behind an unmarked door inside Tacos Del Cartel.

Kira

Billy Blatty’s cinematic new restaurant on Tchoupitoulas showcases Japanese and Mediterranean flavors with a menu that trots the globe. A raw bar prepares tuna tartare and hamachi crispy rice; a mezze menu dishes well-executed standards like hummus and labneh; and the rest of the menu blends global flavors into crowd-pleasing entrees and sides.

A DJ station gives Kira a club vibe, while the arches, coves, and a warm color palette anchor it in a cozier feel. Kira has taken root in the space that previously housed downtown bro-cade Barcadia and Mister Oso, two of Blatty’s previous projects with a Denver-based hospitality group.

Kira’s dramatic turns show no sign of ebbing — Blatty has tapped nationally renowned sushi chef Yoshi Okai to lead Kira Omakase, soon to open within Kira.

Saint Claire

Melissa Martin and Cassie Dymond have teamed up for a true head-turner of a restaurant, perched on four acres of land at the end of a cul-de-sac in Algiers and anchored by massive oak trees. And it’s been an instant hit: It’s already a James Beard semifinalist this year.

The menu includes refined dinner options like fluffy gnocchi with lump crab and lemon butter, and rabbit rillettes with figs, pickles, and sourdough. The historic property’s idyllic grounds call for a picnic, and you can reserve a basket with cheese, crudites, and charcuterie.

If you have to wait for a table, visit the bar and pass the time enjoying your drink on the front porch or in the courtyard.

Cafe Conmigo

A petite Cuban coffee and sandwich shop has touched down on Freret Street, piling chorizo-spiced burgers high with crispy shoestring potatoes, pressing sliced pork into iconic Cuban sandwiches, and pouring Cuban coffee and cocktails.

Cafe Conmigo occupies the slim shotgun that previously housed Ice Cream 504, caddy-corner to High Hat Cafe, the catfish and gumbo specialist from the same owners as Cafe Conmigo. There’s not a lot of indoor seating, but plenty of comfortable tables dot the outside.

Cafe Conmigo is open Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Dolfy’s

Ask anyone what Crescent City restaurant they miss the most and they’re likely to reminisce about the Warehouse District’s Spanish stunner Rio Mar, led by chef Adolfo Garcia, Sr. His son, Adolfo Garcia, Jr. (sometimes called Dolfy) grew up around the Rio Mar kitchen, forming early ideas about food before training at the Culinary Institute of America and gaining cooking stripes at high-end restaurants in NYC and beyond.

Dolfy’s, Garcia, Jr.’s own foray into Spanish cuisine alongside his wife and business partner Sophia Petrou Garcia, is taking root in the former home of Ancora Pizzeria along the Freret Street restaurant corridor (just down the street from Garcia, Jr.’s Chi Chi’s Chicken & Beer). Garcia, Jr.’s menu celebrates the wood-fired cuisine and pintxos fundamental to Basque culture, but Rio Mar denizens will be happy to see that the beloved shrimp al ajillo does make the list.

Small shareable plates also include papas bravas, fried olives with cider mornay, and chilled, spicy mussels. Entrees like the arroz meloso (landing somewhere between a paella and risotto) pop with fresh seafood.

A wood-fired chicken with piri piri makes exceptional use of Ancora’s beautifully tiled pizza oven, as does an exceptional sourdough bread made from Ancora’s starter.