After more than six years in spaces across New Orleans, Nonno’s Cajun Cuisine & Pastries closed its latest home along a historic stretch in the 7th Ward last month and will reopen in Jefferson Parish.
Chef Shermond Esteen opened the restaurant in a mint-green building on Bayou Road two years ago, following brief stays elsewhere in the 7th Ward in 2020 and in the Marigny in 2022. Inside, he offered a menu rooted in the city’s vernacular cooking, with plates of cheesy grits, charbroiled oysters, po-boys and seafood eggrolls drawing steady crowds most weeks. Ultimately, Esteen said, rising costs made it difficult to sustain operations in the neighborhood.
Now he is entering a new chapter outside of New Orleans and is preparing to reopen Nonno’s in Metairie. The restaurant is among several vendors — including Purchase Kitchen, Coastal BBQ Company and Sabor Del Parque — that was selected to operate in the Pointe, a new food pavilion in Lafraniere Park…