New Orleans’s Newest, Fanciest Food Hall Arrives Downtown

A highly-anticipated, Black-owned food hall replacing the former Auction House Market makes its debut Friday, August 12, bringing a chic new hub for brunch, happy hour, and late-night food and drink to New Orleans’s Warehouse District.

The Hall on Mag, from entrepreneur Jamal Wilson, was first announced in July, making for an exciting development in New Orleans’s food hall scene following the closure of Auction House Market. It’s opening ahead of schedule with six food vendors, a full-service cocktail bar, and private event space called “the Library” that has its own bar. The six kitchens, which are all offshoots of Florida vendors, are as follows:

• South and Common, serving Southern comfort food
• Amato Italia, serving modern Italian fusion
• Ja Nai, serving Japanese street food and sushi
• American Culture, serving new American
• Itzayana, Mexican and Japanese fusion street food
• El Greco, Mediterranean with a seafood focus

Wilson first opened the Hall on Franklin in Tampa in 2017 with the aim to “revolutionize” the food hall concept by offering various levels of service, standard counter service and full-service/sit-down dining. Since then Wilson has announced plans for a food hall in Atlanta and opened the Hall on the Yard in Orlando last year. A second Atlanta location, the Hall at the Grove, is planned for later in 2022. Wilson has previously said he hopes to bring food halls to Miami, Charlotte, the Virginia-D.C. area, and Alabama in the next few years.

When Auction House Market closed in March after four years, the building’s owner and operator, Felicity Property Co., said it “saw a shift in the multi-vendor food hall model” — and it seems Wilson’s approach fits the bill. The full-service model allows customers to order items from different vendors without at each stand — instead, it all gets brought directly to the d. The Hall on Mag offers licenses (rather than leases between stall operators and the landlord) that cover rental fees, use of common space and storage, scullery services, and general maintenance. It joins St. Roch Market, opened in 2015 and currently operating with eight vendors, and Pythian Market, the four-year-old food hall in the CBD.

The Hall on Mag, located at 801 Magazine Street, is open every day but Monday: Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with late night hours to follow.

Katherine Kimball/The Hall

Katherine Kimball/The Hall

Katherine Kimball/The Hall

Katherine Kimball/The Hall