Alexandra Kennon
Beloved West Bank favorite Tony Mandina's announced its closure earlier this summer, though the legacy of Creole Italian fare will endure as the building and staff is taken over by Venezia.
COOLinary New Orleans Returns for a 20th Year
Every hot and sticky summer, as we diligently follow dispatches from the National Hurricane Center and change our sweaty shirts just so the 95 degree weather can soak through another one, there is one silver lining, and thankfully it can be found at a number of culinary institutions across the city. It’s COOLinary New Orleans, the summer tradition for which participating restaurants rollout specially priced, prix-fixe menus for two-course lunches and three-course dinners and brunches. Now’s the perfect time to sample a curated menu from the dozens of inventive and classic restaurants that make New Orleans a dining destination. Sit back, order a (frozen) drink or two, and take your taste buds on a tour of the city’s comestible culture. Celebrating twenty years this year, COOLinary organizers have extended the deliciousness for an additional two weeks, lasting from August 1–September 15. neworleans.com/coolinary.
Creole Italian Endures on the West Bank
Though, after forty years, New Orleanians are saying goodbye to the West Bank’s Tony Mandina’s this summer, Gretna residents won’t be without Creole-Italian fare for long. Venezia, the famed New Orleans spot (and former mob boss hang out) that has held court on North Carrollton Avenue in Mid-City since 1957, has picked up the old Tony Mandina’s as the site for a second location. Nicholas Bologna, the proprietor of Venezia, is hoping the new space will give the restaurant more room to accommodate the crowds waiting for a table on weekend nights.
Traditionally, nights out at the original Venezia ended with a gelato nightcap at Angelo Brocato next door. But fear not, the two establishments are collaborating on a special dessert menu just for the Gretna outpost. And regulars from Tony Mandina’s can expect some familiar faces at the new Venezia, as Bologna plans to retain the staff. venezianeworleans.com.
Superior Serves Cajun Country
That sound of a (deadly) margarita shaking? This time you can hear it in Lafayette. Superior Grill has been serving up classic Mexican dishes in Shreveport since 1983, and has since made itself firmly at home in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Now, the restaurant group has brought its signature mesquite grill and tequila bar to Acadiana. lafayette.superiorgrill.com.
Introducing The SoFab Cookbook
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum, which turns twenty this year, launched in 2004 with a series of pop ups run by founder Elizabeth Williams, who wanted to dig deep into the culinary culture of the South. Since then, the museum has expanded into its permanent location on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in New Orleans, hosting a vibrant slate of programming that showcases how food and beverage are an integral expression of Southern history. The 20th year celebration includes a release of the museum’s first cookbook The SoFab Cook Book: Recipes from the Modern South by Williams and Maddie Hayes, with a foreword by Dickie Brennan, as well as exhibits (check out The Natural Port: A Look at Coffee Culture in New Orleans which opened July 24), and collaborations with local artists like Brandon “BMike” Odums of Studio Be. In addition to the anniversary programming, SoFab regularly houses a number of projects and institutions, including the Museum of the American Cocktail, the Paul C. P. McIlhenny Culinary Entrepreneurship Program and the Research Center at Nunez Community College, and a collection of over 40,000 culinary books, along with historical menus and pamphlets. southernfood.org.
Courtesy of SoFAB
The cover of the Southern Food & Beverage Museum's new cookbook.
Chef Castro is Back!
At long last, Chef Ana Castro has opened her much-anticipated Bywater restaurant Acamaya, the follow up to the highly praised, James Beard-nominated five-course tasting menu restaurant Lengua Madre, which closed in 2023. Acamaya, which Castro runs alongside her sister Lydia Castro, is a mariscos-style restaurant offering a more casual—yet no less thoughtful take on Mexican seafood culture. The restaurant’s design takes cues from Mexican craftsmanship and features quintessential indigenous ingredients like huitlacoche. Besides the much lauded Lengua Madre, New Orleans foodies and barhoppers might recognize Castro from her time as sous chef at Coquette and her pop ups around town. A passionate rep of both New Orleans and Mexico, Castro has clearly put thought into every detail of her latest venture in the Big Easy. acamayanola.com.
