Where to Dine During Lent Season in New Orleans
Tujague’s Crab Cake Benedict. Image by Sam Hanna.
Now, with Lenten season upon us (February 22 – April 6, 2023), some of New Orleans’ top restaurants are offering tasty and Lent-friendly dishes and specials. From Fish Fry Fridays at Mister Mao and seafood specialties at Compere Lapin to crawfish cakes at Birdy’s and house-made pasta at Jack Rose, restaurants are offering something for every palate. Check out our top picks of the Lent specials at New Orleans restaurants.
Bakery Bar
1179 Annunciation Street
The intimate eatery serving savory dishes is offering guests blackened tilapia tacos — three corn tortilla tacos served with squash, zucchini salad and patacones, plus moules mariniere — mussels steamed with banana leaves and candied oranges in white-wine cream sauce.
Birdy’s
1320 Magazine Street
Birdy’s serves up Southern-inspired, locally-sourced American cuisine. For Lent, try the crawfish cake — pepper jack cheese, crab boil aioli, dill slaw, and apple cider vinaigrette; or smoked salmon toast — whipped cream cheese, apricot marmalade, grapefruit, dijon vinaigrette, and smoked trout roe, with a farm salad.
Compere Lapin
535 Tchoupitoulas Street
For Lent, Compere Lapin, Chef Nina Compton’s award-winning restaurant located in the lobby of the funky boutique Old No. 77 Hotel in the Warehouse Arts District, offers a variety of seafood specialties including a crawfish roll on a milk bun with shrimp-fat aioli and celery salad; broiled shrimp with Calabrian butter; and scialatielli pasta with Gulf shrimp and butternut squash.
Jack Rose
2031 St. Charles Avenue
The culinary crown jewel of the Pontchartrain Hotel, Jack Rose brings an eclectic and exciting dining experience to New Orleans’ Garden District. For Lent season, relish in a variety of specials created by Chef/Owner Brian Landry including crabmeat mac ‘n’ cheese; bucatini verde (a type of pasta); gnocchi with shrimp; and squid ink campanelle (also a type of pasta).
Mister Mao
4501 Tchoupitoulas Street
Throughout the Lenten season, Mister Mao will be hosting Fish Fry Fridays. Each Friday during dinner, Chef/Owner Sophina Uong will offer fried masa harina fish with spicy shrimp in coconut milk sauce, red palm oil, and fresh coriander served with seasonal sides.
The Bower
1320 Magazine Street
Culinary darling The Bower will offer roasted Gulf shrimp and mushrooms (lion’s mane and chestnut mushrooms) with parmesan, orange compound butter, and miso broth; and the Gulf fish served with crispy basmati rice, mushrooms, lobster and tomato broth, citrus, and arugula salad.
Toups Meatery
845 N. Carrollton Avenue
While Chef Isaac Toups might be known for the melt-in-your-mouth meats that he serves at his Mid-City restaurant, the author of Chasing the Gator: Isaac Toups and the New Cajun Cooking has been fishing and crabbing since he was a toddler. For Lent, Chef Toups is featuring LA jumbo lump crab Nicoise salad with pickled green beans, spicy fingerling potatoes, olives, pickled quail, and boquerones vinaigrette; couvillion (a family recipe) with Louisiana Gulf fish, crab and crab-fat rice; and marinated crab claws with coconut lime vinaigrette and pickled pineapple.
Tujague’s
429 Decatur Street
The second oldest restaurant in New Orleans and the third oldest continuously operating restaurant in the U.S. invites guests to enjoy the seared Louisiana crab cake served with a bourbon corn sauce; and shrimp and grits — pan-seared Gulf shrimp simmered in a New Orleans-style BBQ sauce, served over stone ground grits.
