Sicilian heritage and New Orleans cooking are so closely entwined that in some settings they’re practically one, and Nick Lama’s family roots reach deep into this tradition. But for his own first restaurant, Avo (5908 Magazine St., 504-509-6550; restaurantavo.com), the young chef is working from a different intersection than the familiar Creole-Italian. “My idea here […]

If you know Nick Lama, it’s probably for the young chef’s cooking at Gautreau’s, where he was Sue Zemanick’s chef de cuisine. The Lama name, however, has a long history in New Orleans. The Lamas held the lease on St. Roch Market until Katrina. They ran seafood restaurants around the area. In the video above, […]

Sue Zemanick’s former sous/chef du cuisine of Gautreau’s Nick Lama is a fourth-generation Sicilian, whose family owned and operated Lama’s St. Roch Market, ya heard.  His Uptown restaurant will no doubt dazzle with a menu of family recipes made new again—think burrata and grilled peaches, short rib lasagna and more.  Expect a ‘vintage-industrial’ atmosphere in the […]