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Boarded up since Hurricane Ida in August, St. Joe’s Bar on Magazine and Joseph streets plans to reopen at the end of January, Ian McNulty reports on NOLA.com. Proprietor Charlie Thompson told McNulty he has been focusing on his other business, Uptown Costume & Dancewear, but is now working to staff the bar for a reopening.
The owners of Que Rico! Cuban Cafe on Magazine Street say their restaurant’s future could depend on an alcohol permit.
Since the pandemic started, the small restaurant has lost 65% of its customers, said Iderlin Donna Carrillo, who owns the business with her husband, Richard Rivera. Last week, they closed temporarily, citing staffing shortages.
Carrillo and Rivera said they need an alcohol permit to increase sales and profitability during the pandemic but worry they won’t receive approval in time. “We were rocking and rolling without liquor before the pandemic,” Carrillo said. “But we need it now to survive.
While most New Orleanians are glad the parades will return to the streets for the 2022 Carnival season, the route changes will hurt many of the small businesses along Magazine Street. The 2022 routes, announced on Tuesday by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, eliminate the stretch of Magazine Street from Jefferson to Napoleon Avenue, where nine krewes begin their procession, and the longer stretch of Magazine from Henry Clay Avenue that the Krewe of Thoth commands. Instead, these parades will all line up at Napoleon and Prytania Street. The owners of Tito’s Ceviche and Pisco at 5015 Magazine were expecting the revenue from the parade-viewing crowds to help with their financial recovery from the pandemic. “Mardi Gras parades are a financial boost for us,” said Tito’s co-owner Tatiana Lock.
Undergrowth Coffee is the newest java stop on Magazine Street, taking residence in the former Hey! Café spot near Napoleon Avenue. Owned by Alyssa Johnson and Zack Rescoe, Undergrowth Coffee focuses on sustainability. The owners aim to create a coffee shop that is not only good for Uptown coffee aficionados but good for all of the coffee growers and other businesses that make Undergrowth Coffee what it is. To the owners, the shop’s name represents not only the fertile area where all plants start but the outliers of society.
It turns out that grabbing a Hubig’s Pie on the way to the register at Harry’s Ace Hardware was a small pleasure we took for granted. For over six decades, Uptowners assumed the store with the friendly staff — and the pies – would always be there.
Harry’s Ace, like the fried pies that used to be on their top shelf, is soon to be filed under the most dread of New Orleans idioms, “ain’t dere no more.” The latter hopes to return next year, but after more than a century, the former, Harry’s, is hanging up its hat. Sometime next spring, the familiar shop under the red awning on the corner of Magazine Street is shutting its doors. The closure was announced Dec.
Banh Mi Boys, a fast and casual Vietnamese restaurant, is expanding and opening a location at 3244 Magazine St. The site was formerly home to Reginelli’s Pizzeria. Banh Mi Boys has developed a following since Peter Nguyen opened the Metairie favorite in 2015. Nguyen is now expanding through franchise operations, with the first on Magazine in the Garden District.
The restaurant is known for its Vietnamese-style poor boys packed with goodies such as grilled pork, grilled chicken and grilled shrimp wedged into crispy baguettes. It also offers rice and vermicelli bowls, salads, New Orleans-style poor boys and fries.
The owners of Harry’s Ace Hardware, Cary Becker and Kelly and Scott Fox, announced Thursday (Dec. 2) that their iconic hardware store will close after 63 years of serving New Orleans’ do-it-yourselfers at 3535 Magazine St., and over 100 years in business in New Orleans. Harry’s Ace Hardware will close its doors in the second quarter of 2022, the company said in a press release. “We want to thank our long-term customers and our loyal employees and ensure that they have plenty of notice about this change,” Becker said. “They have been the heart and soul of Harry’s from the day we opened our doors so many years ago,”
The building at 3535 Magazine has a storied history, dating from its beginnings as a car dealership.
The Soup Garden, a hot pop-up born during the pandemic, will return on Thursday (Nov. 4). The months-long pop-up will operate out of the Imperial Woodpecker sno-ball stand at 3511 Magazine St. The Soup Garden first found success last year, while many people were looking for comfort food and quick take-out. The stand is the brainchild of Allison Gorlin and Tiffiny Wallace.
There’s a new Thai restaurant coming to the Uptown area. Pomelo is settling into the small Magazine Street building in the Touro-Bouligny area that housed another Thai restaurant, Long Chim, which closed over the summer.
Pomelo owners Aom Srisuk and her husband, Frankie Weinberg, are currently enjoying a soft opening and are planning a grand opening for November.
Srisuk, a Thai native, said she is ready to take on the challenge of owning a restaurant in a food town like New Orleans and she is eager to bring authentic Thai food to the neighborhood. Srisuk is a seasoned restaurateur. She worked in her family’s restaurant before opening a Japanese restaurant and Thai restaurant in the central business district of Bangkok. She then opened restaurants in her hometown of Ayutthaya.
Acclaimed Uptown restaurant Cavan announced its closure Thursday after five years on Magazine Street. The decision came after 18 months of struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic. Robert LeBlanc of local restaurant operator LeBlanc+Smith announced the closure on social media. “In the wake of Hurricane Ida and after a prolonged period of instability in our industry, we have made the decision to close Cavan Restaurant and Bar,” he said in a statement posted on Instagram. He noted the historic building at 3607 Magazine St.
