The dining room and bar at Sneaky Pickle. | Randy Schmidt A status update of what’s open, what’s closed, and how neighborhood restaurants are navigating power outages as of Friday, September 13 Two days after Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 2 storm, access to power in New Orleans remains all over the map. Quite literally — in neighborhoods across the city, one block may have its power up and running while the next block over is dark. As of Friday, September 13, Tropical Storm Francine has weakened to a tropical depression after making landfall in Louisiana this week ..read more

New Orleans restaurants are preparing for Tropical Storm Francine. | Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images What’s open, what’s closed, and how New Orleans restaurants are preparing for the storm As of Tuesday, September 10, Tropical Storm Francine is strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to become a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday, September 11, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Now is the time for New Orleanians to prepare, whether stocking up on ice, canned goods, and batteries; cleaning out freezers; or pick ..read more

Cafe Degas.  | William A. Morgan/Shutterstock Le Ponce is open and serving tartines, chouquettes, croissants, and Applied Arts coffee A long-awaited cafe and bakery from French bistro stalwart Cafe Degas opens today, September 6, in New Orleans’s Bayou St. John neighborhood. Called Le Ponce, it’s serving up ham and brie tartines, chocolate croissants, and chouquettes at 3133 Ponce de Leon Street. The small shop has been in the works for some time after owners purchased the building formerly home to Fair Grinds Coffeehouse in 2022. It’s held a few test runs since, popping up during Jazz Fe ..read more

Confit beef cheeks with sauce chasseur from Junebug. | Randy Schmidt/Junebug Diners can look forward to Korean fried chicken, a jamón bar, and late-night drinking food As the summer heat begins to wane in New Orleans — even temporarily — there’s fresh hope in the air: for a mild, uneventful end to hurricane season; that this year the Saints take the NFC South, and that the local crawfish supply returns plentiful. This fall is also expected to bring an abundance of new restaurant options that will rival a most exciting summer of game-changing openings. New Orleans diners can look forward to a l ..read more

The end of summer brings the end of the road for beloved doughnuts, ice cream, and crepes This periodic column rounds up restaurant and bar closures in and around New Orleans. Know of a restaurant closing we missed? Drop us a line. August 2024 Rahm Haus On Friday, August 30, Rahm Haus dropped its last menu of wildly flavored, intricately crafted ice cream from owner Jillian Duran. The last day for the off-and-on pop-up with a huge following is Sunday, September 1, at its summer home at Margaret Place (known as Staycation). Rahm Haus first shut down in spring 2023 after a three-year run at Cou ..read more

Nini Nguyen’s new cookbook, Đặc Biệt, is out now. | William Hereford/Đặc Biệt The chef, cookbook author, and New Orleans native knows where to get the city’s best banh mi, pho, and martinis When New Orleans native and Top Chef: Kentucky and Top Chef: All-Stars fan-favorite Nini Nguyen decided to write a cookbook, she knew its recipes would be vibrant and Vietnamese but through the lens of someone who grew up on the Gulf Coast. “It’s things I grew up eating that maybe other Vietnamese people didn’t — Vietnamese with a Louisiana twang,” Nguyen tells Eater. In Đặc Biệt: An Extra-Special Vietnames ..read more

Miso black cod from Nobu. | Steven Freeman/Nobu The celebrity favorite for miso black cod and yellowtail sashimi has opened in Caesars Casino and Hotel At restaurants around the world, thinly-sliced pieces of fresh yellowtail topped with slivers of jalapeño in a pool of citrusy soy sauce help signify to the diner the type of establishment they’re patronizing. It’s usually an upscale Japanese lounge, a hugely popular genre ushered in by Nobu, the brainchild of chef Nobu Matsuhisa. Now, New Orleanians can try the very dish that inspired it all at Nobu New Orleans, which opened last week in Caesa ..read more

John Besh is opening a new restaurant on the New Orleans riverfront. | David Moir/Getty Images Delacroix Fish Camp & Bar, BRG’s forthcoming restaurant on the riverfront, is funded in part by an additional sales tax imposed on customers of Riverwalk shops John Besh is opening a new restaurant in New Orleans, the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reported last week, seven years after two dozen employees alleged a culture of rampant sexual harassment at his restaurants. The newspaper says Delacroix Fish Camp & Bar, opening next to the Riverwalk Outlets mall on Spanish Plaza, marks Besh ..read more

Illustration by Klever Alvarado These 10 talented individuals represent the future of bartending and the drinks industry. https://punchdrink.com/articles/best-new-bartenders-2024 ..read more

Bennachin’s West African dishes helped shape New Orleans’s culinary legacy. | Photo illustration by Lille Allen How the 32-year-old restaurant secured its own chapter in the culinary history of New Orleans New Orleans restaurant Bennachin’s namesake is one of the West Africa region’s most popular dishes — a plate of fluffy jollof rice, winkingly described on the menu as “African jambalaya.” Accompanied by a buttered roll and jama-jama, a side dish of spinach sauteed to a deep green hue, the plate arrives to the table steaming. The rice bursts with the heat of ginger and red bell pepper, the al ..read more