May 19, 2026 - Food and Drink

Cafe Malou's spicy crawfish dip is worth sharing

Carlie Kollath Wells

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Top-down view of a white bowl filled with ricotta topped with crawfish, garnished with mint and chives; lemon wedges and toasted bread on a dark wooden table. — Spicy crawfish dip at Cafe Malou. Photo: Carlie Kollath Wells/Axios

Cafe Malou is a new-ish Uptown New Orleans cafe that's connected to Octavia Books.

The big picture: Restaurateur Mani Dawes opened the full-service restaurant last fall in the former Toast space.

It serves breakfast, lunch, coffee, smoothies and pastries. (Menu)
Many diners around me were eating the baked egg dishes.

Zoom in: I met a mom friend for brunch the other day and shared the spicy crawfish dip.

It came with fat crawfish tails on top of ricotta and artichokes. It was drizzled with spicy Calabrian chili oil and served with a hunk of bread.
I love artichokes and dips and thought this was a tasty, shareable option.

The vibe: Remember in high school when you'd get a drink at Starbucks and walk around Barnes & Noble?

Cafe Malou feels like the grown-up local version of that.

Go deeper: Artichoke dishes worth ordering

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