The Newest Restaurant Openings in New Orleans, June 2025
The Kingsway restaurant, chef Ashwin Vilkhu's first solo venture, started taking reservations on June 10 — an opening, delayed by a slew of building issues, three years in the works. Vilkhu's family is the culinary force behind Saffron, the modern Indian restaurant opened by his chef father, Arvinder Vilkhu, in 2017. This year, the father and son were co-nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: South.
Located just steps from Saffron, at 4201 Magazine Street, the Kingsway is personal for the second-generation chef, a medium for sharing his family's culinary origin story through chopstick-worthy childhood Asian dishes. The restaurant is named for Kingsway Drive East, the street where the family lived on the Westbank when they moved from New Delhi to New Orleans in the 1980s. New Orleans architecture and interior design firm Farouiki Farouki created a welcoming and elegant space throughout the light-filled dining room and glowing back bar.
The four-course, $92 tasting menu conjures some of Vilkhu's favorite culinary memories, amplified by the chef's technique and his commitment to quality ingredients. Guests select from three to four dishes for each course, with options like the stellar gulf yellowfin tuna with the chef's five-year chili sauce and sticky rice and a crispy, wok-fried take on Mongolian beef, made with slices of leg of lamb. Colin Williams leads the cocktail program with a focus on Asian flavors, while sommelier Taylor Adams builds a wine list of hidden treasures to complement the canon of bold flavors.
Chef Luci Winsberg, who began her culinary career under chef Sue Zemanick at Gautreau's, is now in the compact kitchen at RRNW, the Uptown neighborhood wine shop owned by Darrin Ylisto and Miriam Matasar. Winsberg, who was Zemanick's sous chef when she opened Zasu, dishes creative seasonal plates suitable for snacking or lunch, from tartines and dips to entree salads. She's also featuring farmed oysters from Justin Trosclair at Lady Nellie Oyster Farms.
Melissa Stewart and her partner chef Baruch Rabasa are on the brink of opening their Applied Arts Coffee in Bywater. 'We are in the 'two more weeks' phase,' said Stewart, wading through the glacial pace of city permitting before they can open their doors this summer. Beyond the focus on sustainably and responsibly sourced coffee roasted to order, Rabasa will be creating beautifully composed smørrebrød (pronounced smore-bro) Scandinavian open-faced sandwiches that speak to Stewart's Norwegian heritage. Baruch's Mediterranean and Mexican roots will show up in pastries, salads, and the brand's specialty-grade coffee.
Summer is the perfect time to check out Lost Coyote, a newish restaurant with a pool at 1614 Esplanade Avenue, on the edge of the historic Treme neighborhood. The owners are Colin Kennedy, whose years of management experience include a lengthy stint at Creole Cuisine Concepts, and chef Nicole Theriot Lauten, a Louisiana girl from down the bayou in Terrebonne Parish. A graduate of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, she calls her time working with chef Nina Compton at Compere Lapin and the recently closed Bywater American Bistro her most formative professional years. Formerly Joe Joe on the Ridge, a Mexican concept, Lost Coyote features an eclectic American menu of salads, small bites, and hearty entrees, alongside a bottomless mimosa brunch on weekends. Take a dip in the spacious pool for $20 a day, which includes a glass of bubbles and a towel. There's free onsite parking and bonus — a goat name Rosita out back.
Coma Arepas, Origen chef and owner Julio Machado's ode to his country's national street food dish, will open at the St. Roch Market on June 19. The naturally gluten-free flat cornmeal cakes are as popular in Machado's native Venezuela as tacos are in Mexico. Arepas toppings include plantains, cheese, black beans, shredded beef or chicken, avocado, and more. This is Machado's second Coma Arepas location, the other is in Kenner at 3809 Williams Blvd. See More: New Orleans Restaurant Openings
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