Creole Cuisine May Have a New Restaurant in the Works

Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts may have a new restaurant on the works at 301 Chartres Street in the Vieux Carre. According to construction documents filed by SCNZ Architects, LLC on March 6, Creole Cuisine is planning to turn the former bank and apartment building into a restaurant. Dining is planned for the first two floors. Additionally, there will be a bar on the first floor, a new kitchen on the second floor and storage for the kitchen on the third floor.

In a seemingly unstoppable explosion of restaurant openings and purchases, Creole Cuisine has been creating new restaurants and scooping up classic New Orleans spots in recent years. The restaurant group behind Broussard’s, Kingfish, Bombay Club, Boulevard America Bistro, Tommy’s Cuisine, Chartres House, Cafe Maspero, Original Pierre Maspero’s, Creole House, Bayou Burger, and others, Creole Cuisine was named 2015 Restaurateur of the Year by New Orleans Magazine. According to Tim McNally, the family-owned and operated company started with a little daiquiri shop in Chalmette and have “pledged to preserve the culture and the history. And...every restaurant under their care would be an individual effort, standing on its own, with its own identity, cuisine and profit plan.”

Located at the corner of Chartres and Bienville, the historic three-story, brick building distinguished by its rounded corner [hnoc.org] was home to New Orleans’ first Charity Hospital and housed the Ursuline nuns. According to a historic marker at the site, “After arriving at the port from the Balize by piroque on August 6, 1727, the religious established themselves and remained here until July 17, 1734. The building was later used for the first Charity hospital, established by gift of Jean Louis, former sailor for the Company of the Indies.” The Vieux Carre building was home to Iberia Bank until September 24, 2015.