Along a busy stretch of Earhart Boulevard, Nice Guys Bar & Grill has added something different: an outdoor oasis where the aroma of charred oysters drifts from the grill and people gather over plates of praline chicken wings and crawfish hot sausage quesadillas.
When this creative Creole tavern first opened, this same paved area was just a parking lot. In the pandemic, Nice Guys added tents and tables and as customers flocked to them this simple outdoor set up grew into a permanent pavilion, with string lights, fans and TVs.
It’s an example of what’s happening all across New Orleans now. Early in the pandemic many restaurants that had never considered outdoor dining gave it a shot. For some, the outdoor tables went away as soon as they could seat more people inside.
For many others, however, the experience sparked a lasting change. They’re banking on the year-round appeal of the outdoors, even in a city where the weather can snap from swelter to deluge, and they’re building in more amenities and accommodations around it.
New Orleans city officials, meanwhile, are working up a program to expand outdoor use for the long term.
Perhaps you’ve seen those parklets that have popped up around town, turning the parking lane of city streets into restaurant patios. They’re on a trial run now. Soon, the city intends to let restaurants apply to use these erstwhile parking spots as a normal part of business.
It’s aimed at fostering the kind of vibrancy you see on city streets around these café scenes.
Examples are already flourishing. For instance, the Spanish restaurant Lola‘s in Faubourg St. John has been thoroughly transformed by going outside. Practically all its seats are now open air.
Will the trend persist? Well, I can report that on a fall evening at Lola’s, under the cathedral like oaks of Esplanade Avenue, with paella on the table and more sangria on the way it can feel like the best seats in the house are outside.
