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People in New Orleans hospitality (clockwise from left) Isaac and Amanda Toups, Cristina Quackenbush, Vincent Catalanotto Jr. with Seth Howard, Jordan and Alexis Ruiz, Martha Gilreath, Shirley Lee. (Photos by Chris Granger and Ian McNulty, NOLA.
com | The Times-Picayune, and Toups Family Meal) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save After a year trying to keep up with an ever-changing dining scene, what always stands out are the people I connect with along the way, and the many ways they express our community’s food culture. What follows is my annual column of thanks to them. Some I met for the first time.
Others I got to know little better. Their stories filled my notebooks through the year; looking back, they fill me with gratitude for the time they gave me, the stories they trusted me to tell, and for their contributions to a food culture all of us can share. Let’s hear from a few of them below.
Martha Gilreath made a name with king cakes before opening her New Orleans bake shop Nolita. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) King cake and redemption at Nolita People will always cheer the arrival of a new neighborhood bakery, and that happened when Nolita (3201 Orleans Ave.
) opened in Faubourg St. John in time for Carnival in 2024. King cakes follow a classic style at the Orleans Avenue bake shop Nolita.
(Staff photo by Ian McNulty, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) For Martha Gilreath, its creator, the shop is also the manifestation of a story of redemption and renewal, one in which king cake proved a key piece. A few years ago, drug addiction had driven her into homelessness.
She was living under an overpass in New Orleans. She turned the corner through a rehab program, and soon after was enrolled at the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute , the city’s fast-track culinary school . She graduated as valedictorian of her class.
She earned a following for her king cakes, initially sold at pop-ups, and eventually spun that into her own shop, a place to share her craft and her joy. King cake from local bake shop Nolita follows the classic form and adds a bit of citrus to brighten the flavors. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, Nola.
com | The Times-Picayune) “I think about how much I’ve taken, and now I get this new big, beautiful life and I get this chance to create memories for other people, especially young people,” Gilreath told me. “I think we all make good memories around food.” Family meal for a city at Toups’ Meatery Isaac and Amanda Toups The term “family meal” normally refers to a restaurant’s pre-shift staff meal.
It took on new meaning at Toups’ Meatery (845 N. Carrollton Ave.) when the pandemic closed restaurants.
Toups’ kept cooking for staff and extended the offer to others put out of work, growing it into a massive feeding campaign. Chef Isaac Toups fills orders for volunteer delivery drivers who bring meals for his restaurant Toups' Meatery to New Orleans families in need. The restaurant's community feeding program continues all summer.
(Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com ) This year, the network and know-how behind that effort was revived after Louisiana refused to accept millions in federal funding to support summer meals for kids in danger of going hungry. Amanda and Isaac Toups decided to turn their restaurant into a hub to help fill the gap themselves .
The state later reversed its decision, but the need continued, and that spurred a stunning effort to provide some 70,000 meals during the summer through one small restaurant. Volunteer driver Shelby Rotolo carries bundles of meals bound for New Orleans families from Toups' Meatery, which has organized a network of such volunteers to distribute around the city. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.
com ) “We’re the greatest food city, and that many New Orleanians are hungry? That’s unacceptable, it’s embarrassing,” Amanda Toups said. “We have this team and this process that can help. We’re going to use it for as long as we can.
” To keep it going, they created a nonprofit called Toups Family Meal as a vehicle for further community give-back and connection. A spicy second act at Miss Shirley’s Shirley Lee, proprietor of Miss Shirley's Chinese Restaurant, has been the face of her family business for decades, going back to Royal China restaurant. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.
com | The Times-Picayune) Miss Shirley’s (3009 Magazine St.) always seems busy. At the center of the action is Miss Shirley herself, Shirley Lee, a charismatic whirlwind wrapped in a kitchen apron.
An assortment of dumplings and beef short ribs makes a appetizer platter at Miss Shirley's Chinese Restaurant in New Orleans. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) She’s matriarch of a restaurant family in the midst of an extraordinary second act.
The Lee family ran Royal China in Metairie for over 40 years. They retired 2021, but it turns out they couldn’t stay away. “Honestly, I missed my customers so much,” said Lee.
“I felt like it took my life away. That is my life.” Shirley Lee, proprietor of Miss Shirley’s Chinese Restaurant, shows off a lobster dish from her trove of specials.
(Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) Miss Shirley’s opened in 2022. I love the dumplings and the dry chili chicken (laziji) .
I’m always looking for the next special coming through. And I also love seeing someone so clearly savoring every minute of making other people happy with her creation . Heart and sauce at Vincent’s Waiter Seth Howard offers a dish to the statue outside Vincent's Italian Cuisine on St.
Charles Avenue. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune) Family restaurants are special. They can transmit the character of their creators and the multi-generation stories that keep them going.
They are also susceptible to all the things that can happen in a family, including the inevitable march of time. Vincent Catalanotto Sr.'s chef coat is on display in the Metairie location of Vincent's Italian Cuisine with a banner (translation: "forever in our hearts") and a copy of his obituary.
(Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) So when Vincent Catalanotto died in May , there was concern of what would become of his two beloved Italian restaurants, Vincent’s Italian Cuisine (4411 Chastant St. and 7839 St.
Charles Ave.). Enter the restaurant founder’s son, Vincent Jr.
, who has stepped up to keep the restaurants on track along with the restaurants' long-time managers. Waiter Seth Howard brings dishes as Vincent Catalanotto Jr. sits down for a meal at Vincent's Italian Cuisine, the restaurant founded by his late father where and his team are adapting to a new chapter after his passing.
(Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune) “It was my father’s wish that it kept going, so I want to be here, I want it to be under my watch, my responsibility,” Catalanotto said. “My goal now is making sure our food is consistent, that we’re taking care of people here.” This is how a legacy continues at a family restaurant, even through loss and grief, to make new chapters.
Today at Vincent’s, the feeling, the style of service, and perhaps most of all the relationships still run as thick as red sauce. Reeling in the years at Munch Factory Alexis and Jordan Ruiz started the Munch Factory as a modern Creole restaurant for New Orleans. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.
com | The Times-Picayune) There’s excitement at visiting new restaurants, but also the distinct pleasure in revisiting an old favorite, and especially in bringing someone else for the first time, knowing what they’re in for. That’s just what it was like to return to the Munch Factory (6514 Congress Drive), a neighborhood Creole restaurant that doubles as an amenity for the city golf course in Gentilly. Photo from 2011: Jordan, Dominick and Alexis Ruiz offer Creole favorites at The Munch Factory.
(Photo by Cheryl Gerber for Gambit Weekly) Describing the Munch Factory to a colleague, I was stunned to realize I’ve been covering this particular journey in the business for more than a dozen years . It’s meant keeping up through the highs and lows that this business can bring a family, and the many moves around town to find the right groove. Creole gumbo has always been a centerpiece at the Munch Factory in New Orleans.
(Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) The thread across it all has been the personality that founders Alexis and Jordan Ruiz bring to the dining experience and the quality of the food, a through line that underscores the Munch Factory, like the deep dark roux for Jordan’s Creole gumbo. Casting a spell at Tatlo Cristina Quackenbush is the chef of Tatlo, a French Quarter restaurant and absinthe bar based on witchcraft.
(Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) Who would’ve thought a restaurant with a witch theme, speakeasy vibe and a location right off Bourbon Street would feel absolutely genuine ? Cristina Quackenbush did, and she’s rolled her identity as a witch together with her reputation as a master of her native Filipino flavors for Tatlo (240 Bourbon St.), a restaurant that’s singular to say the least.
Found behind the Old Absinthe House bar, Tatlo is a restaurant and absinthe bar inspired by witchcraft. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) “It’s witchy, because that’s who I am.
I practice witchcraft, and this is a restaurant where I can share what that means with people,” she told me. Cristina Quackenbush is the chef of Tatlo, a French Quarter restaurant and absinthe bar based on witchcraft. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.
com | The Times-Picayune) Can you feel the magic in the cooking? What I know is that visiting Tatlo, tasting through its offerings and seeing a chef I’ve followed for many years create something different and uniquely personal made me feel good. “There are so many things we can do here with the guests, the food, the magic,” Quackenbush said. “It’s everything I wanted, I love it, and I’m happy.
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