Dixie Beer Gets New Name, With New Orleans Neighborhoods in Mind

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your afternoon roundup of New Orleans food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• After announcing plans for a name change in June, century-old Dixie Beer has announced its new brand identity: Faubourg Brewing Company. The New Orleans-born brewery said in a press release Wednesday that “the new name is a tribute to the diverse neighborhoods of New Orleans”; faubourg is an ancient French word that was used to denote suburbs outside of Paris, and was adopted as a term for neighborhoods in New Orleans as the city expanded. Owner Gale Benson (who also owns New Orleans’s Saints and Pelicans franchises) announced the renaming in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, following similar moves by brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s Cream of Wheat. The company says that the new Faubourg Beer brand will be on shelves and taps in early 2021, and products until then will remain under the Dixie name.
• New Orleans’s curbside dining and parklets pilot has expanded citywide after launching last month in the the downtown development district. The pilot program, which allows restaurants to expand their outdoor seating into on-street parking spaces, is part of a broader vision “to use the public right of way to better support business activities and other initiatives around the city” during COVID and beyond. Restaurants and bars can apply for a permit for free during the pilot, which will run “for as long as there are COVID-related occupancy restrictions in restaurants and bars,” after which permanent policies will be implemented. For information on the city’s second round of Outdoor Dining grants and to apply for a permit, see here.
• Cafe Reconcile, the New Orleans restaurant that doubles as a successful job-training program for teens and young adults, prepared and distributed 1,000 servings of jambalaya to poll workers and people waiting to vote yesterday, reports NOLA.com. The restaurant was one of a number supporting voting efforts in various ways yesterday, but the only one Eater knows of that spent the day getting food to the polls.
• Louisiana-founded delivery app Waitr has added alcohol delivery service in New Orleans, which allows customers 21 years or older to add beer and wine when they order from restaurants, thanks to a law passed by the Louisiana legislature in the spring. New Orleans-area can an alcohol menu to their listing on the app; any alcohol purchase must be accompanied by a food order.
• New Orleans rapper and entrepreneur Master P will join Black Restaurant Week (which recently took place in New Orleans) for a keynote interview on Monday, November 9 about his foray into food and beverage, which includes a restaurant and two food product lines. Registration for the day-long, virtual culinary business conference is free.

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