In New Orleans, we have a lot of history, and a lot of restaurants. It’s an aspect of this town that makes it so remarkable and appealing for locals and visitors alike. And while restaurants traditionally come and go, the history always remains, especially when it comes to certain spaces that occupy the older sections of the Crescent City like the French Quarter and its surrounding faubourgs. One of those spaces has always lived at the corner of Rampart and Dumaine, which housed Gentilich’s restaurant for most of the 20th century, famously followed by the beloved Marti’s, then Peristyle, Wolfe’s, and then Marti’s again, briefly, before falling vacant for entirely too long for such a special spot. Some of us wondered, perhaps with a bit of fear and sadness, if it might ever again house the kind of loose, vibrant restaurant we’d come to love and associate with that building over the decades.
Fortunately, those fears were put to rest with the opening of Succotash Nola late last year, courtesy of Chef Kimberly Cochran, who goes by “Chef K.” An Alabama native with roots throughout the South, Cochran left a career in finance in Atlanta to follow her passion for the culinary arts, which, in time, led her to New Orleans. Inspired to open her own restaurant, the next question was: where? One visit to the corner of Dumaine and Rampart was all it took for Chef K. to make a decision. “When I went into that building, I could tell y’all knew what you were doing here,” she says. “At one point, this building had been so unloved, and yes, it might look like it’s about to fall down, but real restaurant tours and real chefs were in this building, and this is before I even knew the full history of it. So I said, ‘Ok, I want it,’ because everything was exactly where it was supposed to be to make this restaurant flow properly.” Not that it didn’t take a little – or a lot – of elbow grease to get the room ready for diners. According to Cochran, “We had a lot of work to do to fix the building, but now it’s finally getting the love that it needs. Now we’re going to make it a really beautiful building again, restoring the outside of it, which we’re going to hopefully start this summer. But it was a huge project.”
Diners familiar with the location will be gratified, on entering, to see that most of the famous design elements remain lovingly intact, including the beloved Peristyle mural. It feels wonderfully familiar and exciting, especially for those of us with fond memories of that room and its vibrant, refined atmosphere. Naturally, the cuisine would hopefully equal the ambiance, which is not a small task for a space with such a rich and colorful story. To that end, local gourmands will be delighted to learn that Chef K. brings a menu packed with familiar ingredients and components, only with Cochran’s personal and globally inspired influence that brings favorites like fried softshell crab and dirty rice to new and intriguing places. Says Chef K., “I knew I was going to keep things local and super fresh, and I knew I was going to keep it seafood forward. I didn’t want to do anything pretentious. I want to use all of my products for everything, so that nothing goes to waste. It made sense, it was familiar, it wasn’t pretentious. It was beautiful without being too weird or too modern. I just wanted it to be familiar, but elevated, and just maybe with a different twist on things.”
As for how this translates to the menu at Succotash, diners can expect a host of comforting Southern classics, all with Cochran’s unique touches. For starters, there’s a generous plate of fried frog’s legs sauced with brown butter, scallions and ginger, delightfully paired with a Caribbean fish sauce. “To me, whenever I thought of frog legs, I always thought of a really light batter, and also the fish sauce that you use when you eat vegetable or shrimp tempura from a Japanese restaurant,” she says. You’ll also find deviled eggs – or “Deviled Offspring” as it appears on the menu – here spiked with a Korean Gochuajang flair, topped with pork belly, fried mushrooms and scallions, and your choice of either fried shrimp or oysters, though those two options are non-negotiable with the kitchen. “I won’t let you get it without one or the other,” Cochran claims. “I’ll make you a well done steak, and I’ll add or take away stuff on a plate, but on this deviled egg situation…yeah, you have to get it with the shrimp or the oysters.”…