Cafe Henri in the Bywater Will Close

Cafe Henri, the Bywater restaurant that began with plans to serve “dad food” to its neighbors and retooled once the owners realized all the neighbors were short-term renters, is closing its doors on July 31.

In a Facebook announcement, co-owner Neil Bodenheimer blamed the closure on a failure to “understand the dynamics of an evolving neighborhood shaped in part by the short-term rental market as well as by the loss of Hollywood South.” The closure was announced yesterday evening.

In the note, Bodenheimer also said that he and the rest of the team and “agonized over the prospect of shutting our doors. The financial reality is that we must...We still believe in Henri and eventually, hope to find a new location and investors for Café Henri.”

The news comes two days after the Times-Picayune published a report, “Cafe Henri Retools: How to Run a Restaurant When your Neighbors are AirBnbs.” The restaurant had hired chef Alfredo Nogueira, reworked the menu, and updated the cocktail list in hopes of attracting a crowd of tourists with a limited number of meals in New Orleans. The restaurant opened in the Bywater a little more than a year ago.