Clesi's Will Bring Grilled Oysters, Hog Roasts & More To Banks By Summer

Crawfish hub Clesi's has been heating up Banks Street since quietly opening in January, but the secret is out about this new hot spot with lines out the door. On top of boiling six days a week at his restaurant— located in the former Mid City Pizza location—along with boil pop ups at Finn McCool's and Prytania Bar and private event catering, James Clesi is also gearing up to expand his menu offerings and turn his spot into a destination for movies, Saints games, and general letting-of-good-times-roll.

Clesi's will soon add grilled oyster nights to their arsenal, as well as crab and shrimp boils, and by summer, expect to find whole hogs being roasted out front.

The restaurant is currently BYOB, but Clesi is looking into potentially adding beer/wine. Until then, he tells Eater, "if you want to come hang out, bring an ice chest of beer, play cards, eat crawfish, whatever, we are happy to have you." The congenial boil master also notes that his jambalaya cheese fries are becoming somewhat of a cult classic when it comes to hangover foods.  Also on the menu at Clesi's:  boudin balls, meat pies, fried catfish, and jambalaya (without the cheese fries).

Clesi's also does private catering/parties, which includes not only the food, but chairs/tables/tents and garbage clean up as well.

Clesi's
4413 Banks Street, NOLA, 70119
Phone: (504) 909-0108
Kitchen Hours: Tues-Thurs & Sundays, noon to midnight. Fri-Sat, noon to 2 a.m.
Crawfish Boil schedule: Tues-Sun at 5 p.m. and Sat at 3 p.m. until they run out. The Clesi team also does crawfish boils at Finn McCools on Thursday at 5 p.m. and Prytania Bar on Fridays at 5 p.m. (with a huge 200+ lb batch).