They’re the kind of restaurant that are supposed to be everywhere in New Orleans —casual, affordable mom-and-pops rooted in local flavor but not stuck in the past.
In reality, identifiably New Orleans neighborhood joints like this are harder to find. Hot new things on the dining scene are more likely to be about Instagramable settings and food trends from other cities, and less likely to start with the Creole palate.
That’s why I’ve been so enthused lately by a few changes at some familiar names bringing new energy to old school Creole flavor.
One is Vaucresson Creole Cafe in the 7th Ward. The Vaucresson name is famous from Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest, too, where the family has been a food vendor serving Creole hot sausage po-boys for generations. A few years ago, the current generation rebuilt the butcher shop, lost to Hurricane Katrina, as a modern Creole café and deli centered around the same sausage.
More recently, they partnered with chef Bunny Young, and she now runs the kitchen with a greatly expanded menu – you’re getting dishes like smothered okra with crab and shrimp, crawfish etouffee, a daily gravy and a daily greens plate, and gumbo, with Vaucresson sausage and extra flavor from gizzards.
Speaking of great gumbo, there’s another at the Munch Factory, a restaurant with a memorable name I’ve been following around the city to a succession of different locations for years. This year, it landed in a primo spot in Mid-City and I’m excited for more people to discover it.
Chef Jordan’s gumbo has a deep, dark roux, earthy, smooth and slurpable, with dense sausage and tender shrimp. He makes a righteous version of blackened redfish, a famous dish that few do proper justice to anymore. From here, the Munch Factory menu has modern comfort food, like roast beef debris nachos and tuna tartar tacos.
These spots have the kind of New Orleans cooking too often overlooked amid the flash and buzz of new trends. But it’s the bedrock flavor that gives this city so much of its culinary weight to begin with and it’s immensely satisfying to see it thriving with the next generation’s pulse.
