3 new restaurants to open in New Orleans from the Barcadia owner
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Mister Oso brings its Latin-inspired menu to the space vacated by Barcadia. Photo: Courtesy of The Culinary Creative Group
A New Orleans restaurant developer is partnering up with a Denver firm to bring three new concepts to the city.
Driving the news: Billy Blatty, in partnership with The Culinary Creative Group, announced the new restaurants as he says goodbye to Barcadia, the arcade/restaurant concept that was a CBD mainstay for the past decade.
Flashback: Blatty is no newcomer to the New Orleans nightlife scene.
- He previously operated Ampersand, a CBD nightclub, and Belle's Diner, which closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- Blatty also operates the Ohm Lounge on Tchoupitoulas, and Sofia and Nagomi.
State of play: Blatty decided to close Barcadia in the wake of Hurricane Ida when storm damage forced the team to close the kitchen for an extended period.
- "I opened the first arcade bar back in 2007, and that concept has had a phenomenal run," Blatty tells Axios. But "what was once a novel concept is no longer a novel concept."
- That decision created an opportunity for a new vision.
What's happening: Two of the concepts Blatty will bring to New Orleans are expansions of The Culinary Creative Group's offerings in Colorado, and one is wholly new.
🍽️ Mister Oso will land in the Barcadia space and is slated to open in September.
- Blatty says diners can expect "a massive upgrade to the space."
- The restaurant will offer a Latin-inspired menu with chef Blake Edmunds at the helm.
🍽️ A5, a Japanese-inspired steakhouse, offers a space for chef Max Mackissock to focus on high-end cuts, locally sourced seafood and inventive sides.
- "You can ball out on a date and go big with your friends, or you can come in casually and hang out at the bar and have a cocktail and a meatloaf," Blatty says of the restaurant due to open mid-2024.
- It's slated to land in the new apartment building at 840 Carondelet St.
🍽️ Bohemia, a "dynamic culinary park concept," heads for the bustling Freret Street corridor sometime in the third quarter of 2024, Blatty says.
- Diners can expect three distinct dining concepts, a bar and a communal outdoor space to tie it all together.
- Think "hammocks and swings, concrete ping pong tables, seating underneath retractable pergolas, fire pits, a dart station" and lots of greenery, Blatty says.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Ohm Lounge is no longer inside the Royal St. Charles Hotel.