Hurray’s newest album, The Past Is Still Alive, dropped in late February. | Hurray for the Riff Raff Intel on fresh pasta, dirty martinis, and farmers market gems, courtesy of musician Alynda Segarra One of Alynda Segarra’s first New Orleans hangouts was Z’otz Cafe downtown, a now-closed location near the Royal Street laundromat. The cafe was open 24 hours — to Segarra, then a 17-year-old, freight-train-hitching, Bronx-born punk street musician, it was a refuge, a place where they met friends, washed dishes in exchange for free coffee, and napped until it was light enough to wander around Wash ..read more

Find Rahm Haus ice cream at Courtyard Brewery. | Randy Schmidt/Eater NOLA Under-the-radar eats to tackle in a single day Chef-run pop-ups are a wily beast — they can be hard to track down without a little extra sleuthing. The good news is that there’s no shortage of enterprising chefs in the Big Easy. Pop-ups thrive in the Instagram ecosystem, so find your favorites and dive in deeper: the pay-off is biting into something that isn’t found on any other menu in town. Here’s how to eat through some of New Orleans’s boldest pop-ups right now in a single day, whether you’re a local or an out-of-tow ..read more

Matzo ball soup. | Getty Images/iStockphoto Bakeries, delis, and pop-ups offering matzo ball soup and more for the holiday This year, Passover begins at sundown on Monday, April 22 and ends after nightfall on Tuesday, April 30. One of the most significant Jewish holidays, Passover celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from ancient Egypt — families typically gather the first night to share a seder dinner (for some, two seders are observed). The traditional seder plate, which has small, symbolic portions of horseradish, parsley, shank bone, and charoset (a paste made with nuts and fruits) is central ..read more

Ralph’s on the Park. | Ralph’s on the Park From the Vieux Carre to the bayous of the Barataria Preserve New Orleans is such a pretty place, with gorgeous waterways, historic architecture, and outside of the city, lush bayous and acres of moss-cloaked live oaks. What better way to take it all in than with a restaurant offering an epic view? From the storied streets of the French Quarter to the mighty Mississippi to the quiet bayous of Slidell and Marrero, here are some of the best restaurants with views in the greater New Orleans area. Don't see your favorite restaurant with a view in the great ..read more

Chef Anh and the Fab Five. | Ilana Panich-Linsman/Netflix A transformative dinner, a deleted séance scene, and a reckoning with grief in Netflix’s New Orleans season The final scene of chef Anh Luu’s Season 8 Queer Eye episode isn’t your typical Netflix send-off. As the closing credits roll, she’s hot off hosting a 40-person dinner of scallion- and peanut-topped baked oysters, sour mustard green soup, and ginger caramelized chicken at New Orleans’s Bywater Brew Pub, where she’s served as executive chef for almost three years. At her day job, Luu cooks Viet-Cajun pub fare; her big seller is her ..read more

The Little Gem Saloon is opening in the CBD. | Little Gem Saloon Plus, Toups Meatery relaunches its free meal program as Landry declines federal EBT funding, and a South American steakhouse opens downtown Glenn and Allison Charles, the couple behind bustling Gert Town restaurant Nice Guys Nola, are opening a restaurant, bar, and music lounge in the former Little Gem Saloon space, Nola.com reports. Headquarters, the first-floor restaurant, will serve a Southern-inflected menu of shrimp bread, crawfish etouffée, glazed beignets, and bread pudding, among other dishes, from chef Louis Brown II — u ..read more

Yakitori on the grill. | Shutterstock Local spots for yakitori, donburi, and so much more Japanese cuisine is rich with variety, expanding beyond delicate sashimi and tightly wrapped maki rolls to yakitori (skewered meats); barbecue; katsu (paneed pork or chicken); meticulous, multi-course kaiseki; donburi rice bowls; and so much more. While most Japanese restaurants offer some cooked items, this line-up highlights places where cooked dishes are often the star of the meal — otherwise, here are maps for stellar ramen and sushi around town. Here are 16 essential Japanese restaurants around New O ..read more

Tracking restaurant closures around the Crescent City in 2024 March Bijou Rampart Street restaurant Bijou has closed in the French Quarter, Nola.com reports. Bijou opened in the fall of 2021, transforming a historic cottage into a luminous, modern bar and dining room with a snug courtyard out back — chef Eason Barksdale debuted with a menu of tom yum chicken, squid ink spaghetti, and tuna tartare. Jeff Bomberger, one of Bijou’s founding partners, told Nola.com that last year’s summer slow season was the worst he’s seen, and that business has been inconsistent recently, leading to the decision ..read more

Chef Ana Castro’s upcoming restaurant, Acamaya, will feature mariscos like shrimp, ceviche, and aguachile. | Randy Schmidt/Eater NOLA Venezuelan brunch, fresh aguachiles and ceviches, and Portuguese tapas to look forward to With another Carnival season in the books, New Orleans’s 2024 restaurant openings are kicking into full gear as spring heats up. Get ready for Venezuelan brunch spreads and spit-roasted meats; margaritas paired with hot, pillowy arepas; fresh-from-the-gulf Mexican mariscos; expansions from a local soul food favorite; menus melding French and East Asian flavors; and Portugue ..read more

Palm & Pine. | Palm & Pine These restaurants serve top of the catch day in and day out This lineup highlights essential New Orleans restaurants serving pristine seafood, with an emphasis on freshness and, for many, sustainability. Many offer daily “Gulf fish” specials or “day’s catch,” choosing the best of what’s wild-caught in local waters. The map includes both seafood houses and a few restaurants that don’t use that label, but consistently feature seafood dishes that hit the highest mark. (And while there are plenty of good seafood take out spots, here we’re highlighting sit-down sp ..read more