New Orleans restaurant news

A rendering of the bar at Restaurant R'Evolution at the Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans, slated to open March 2012.

People say August is a slow month in New Orleans. You wouldn’t know it by the restaurant news and gossip bubbling in the local dining scene. Here’s a roundup of the latest.

The big food news right now is in New Orleans hotel restaurants. Coquette chef/owner Mike Stoltzfus has signed on as chef at the restaurant slated to open inside The Saint Hotel, a new 166-room boutique luxury hotel slated to open in December next door to the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans at Canal and Burgundy. The restaurant,  Sweet Olive, will revolve around the food that put Stoltzfus and Coquette in the top ranks of New Orleans restaurants: a seasonal, farm-to-table menu of new Southern/New Orleans cuisine.

“Sweet Olive will be a complement to my current restaurant Coquette and I will be overseeing the kitchens at both locations,” said in a statement announcing The Saint’s opening date. “Sweet Olive at The Saint Hotel will provide me with a new culinary platform to explore flavors that will entrance our guests.”

Stoltzfus will run the hotel’s 50-60 seat restaurant, which will be situated in the hotel’s prime street-level space fronting Canal Street, as well as the rooftop bar/lounge and in-room dining services. The hotel will also house a new watering hole called the Burgundy Bar — so named for the cross-street the hotel sits on, as well as the “bordello chic” design, which will feature deep red banquettes and red crystal chandeliers, according to general manager Brian Englehart.

The Times Picayune reported on the $7 million floor-by-floor renovation and re-launch of Le Cirque Hotel at Lee Circle. The property will be renamed The Modern Hotel New Orleans, and the story mentions that the hotel is partnering with the owners of Dominique’s on Magazine and the luxury cocktail bar Cure for the hotel’s ground-floor bar and restaurant.

The initial press blitz called for a Summer 2011 open of Restaurant R’Evolution (pictured), a re-invented Creole fine dining restaurant partnership between Louisiana chef John Folse and Chicago chef Rick Tramonto at the Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans. The opening date has been pushed to March 2012. The duo plan to have a 10,000-bottle wine cellar and a rep for the restaurant said to expect an announcement about the new pastry chef in early October.

The highly-anticipated re-opening of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, which has been shuttered since Hurricane Katrina, will also see the opening of a new restaurant under the eye of a “nationally recognized chef” according to the hotel’s web site. There are unconfirmed rumors floating around about a seafood-centric restaurant headed by an acclaimed, locally-born chef; expect to hear an announcement soon.

The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans recently announced the arrival of new executive chef Vincent “Vinny” Russo and M Bistro chef de cuisine Emily Dillport. Russo and Dillport arrived in New Orleans by way of The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, and the two are shaking up the menus at M Bistro, including the upcoming debut of a “pop-up” restaurant concept on Sunday nights featuring Russo’s family-style Italian or Dillport’s soul/comfort food.

Fish and chips from chef Matt Murphy's new Irish House.

Speaking of The Ritz-Carlton, former executive chef (and Dublin-born) Matt Murphy just opened Irish House (1432 St. Charles Ave.), a gastropub in the Lower Garden District. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu is a mash-up of classic Irish fare, such as bangers and mash and fish and chips (pictured), with upscale bar food like burgers, fried mushrooms, chicken wings. Recent visits turned up a few instant favorites, like the black and white puddings (think: finely-ground boudin made with oats instead of rice) in the Full Irish Breakast, deep-fried bacon and cheese “croquettes” served with a savory marmalade and chive sour cream, and perfectly crisped “chips” (a.k.a. French fries, in these parts).

Gambit food writer Ian McNulty reported on a new, August-only pop-up taqueria from Iris chef Ian Schnoebelen and maître d’ Laurie Casebonne. Dubbed Rosalita’s Taqueria, the food stand is located in a passageway behind the couple’s home in the 3300 blook of North Rampart. They’re serving up fish tacos, adobo pork tacos and burritos from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoons in August.

The sweet potato maple bacon biscuit from Shake Sugary.

Not too far from Rosalita’s in the Bywater, Johnson and Wales-trained pastry chef Dawn Snead is operating Shake Sugary (3600 St. Claude Avenue), a Saturday/Sunday bakery filled with habit-forming sweets and savories like the already-famous sweet potato maple bacon biscuit (pictured), big ol’ muffins, scones and sweet rolls.

People are already talking about Artz Bagelz (3138 Magazine Street), a bagelry set to open soon. A recent post on the shop’s Facebook page insinuated that the opening may happen as early as Sunday, August 16. Fresh, real bagels made in New Orleans. Yay!