So I was down in New Orleans a few weeks back to attend a good friend’s 50th been-here-another-year gathering, a nice surprise get together organized by his wife at the Bulldog Uptown on Canal, and on the advice of another friend I stopped off for an early dinner at Shaya before the party. It was superb. The servers were bright and knowledgeable, the food was perfectly executed, but by far the star of the evening was the fresh pressed mint tea. I opted for the hummus and haloumi, both of which were outstanding.
Also stunning was the puffy pita they served with the hummus. It was my first time encountering the not so unleavened version of this flat bread and it was very good. The ambiance was very nice as well.
All in all I would definitely recommend a visit, then an after lunch or dinner stroll down Magazine St. On this particular evening, I stumbled across the new location of Ms Mae’s bar and grabbed a pint of Gnarley Barley’s Jucifer and went down that old rabbit hole of memory lane, New Orleans style and stumbling out of the old Ms Mae’s at eleven am very much the worse for wear and tear. I was also struck again at how foolish it is for the Baton Rouge city council to believe they can turn Government St into Magazine St. Worth a shot, but not going to happen. Magazine is an organic occurrence that took 200 years to grow into that kind of funky neighborhood. I just don’t think you can purpose build something like that. It has to come together on it’s own. I may be wrong, I hope I’m wrong, but while there are a couple of stretches on Government that come close (most notably the Bedford/Ogden area that houses Elsie’s Plate and Pie, Radio Bar, Simple Joe’s and Time Warp, and the Jefferson/Goverment sector with Brew Ha-Ha, Mid City Craft Wine and Brew, Serop’s, Reginelli’s, coming soon Ned’s, Superior Grill, Anthony’s Deli and the magnificent Fleur di Lis pizza) there are still too many pawn shops and un-gentrified strip mall sections to produce that overall feel of Hey, we’re here, and it’s time to throw down that is central to Magazine. So do check out Shaya if you get a chance. An excellent excuse to cruise Magazine St.