Local restaurateur Dana Honn, who co-founded Porgy’s Seafood Market, Carmo, and several other concepts, is bringing a fresh culinary concept that will blend the accessibility of a neighborhood market and café with an ingredient-driven focus.
While the upcoming Poydras Market will serve the Central Business District, the Esplanade Market Café will open in Bayou St. John inside the Esplanade at City Park Apartments. On Poydras, the concept will be a third-floor cafe space with a smaller grab-and-go operation on the ground floor. The cafes’ exact opening timelines remain subject to city permitting processes, and likely will open in the coming months.
Honn says the inspiration for the hybrid concept stems from both successful multi-cuisine spots in New York City, a post-pandemic shift toward serving established local communities rather than relying on tourism and convention crowds. For example, the Esplanade cafe will focus on serving different cuisines to its large residential building.
“There’s about a thousand residents, and so the question is: What do these folks need on a daily basis?” Honn recently told What Now New Orleans.
To answer that question, the space is designed to function as more than just a cafeteria serving the same menu day after day. Instead, repeat customers will find regularly changing options. Offerings on a given day might include Latin-inspired dishes alongside a small menu of Louisiana comfort staples, Honn said. Beverage options will include classic café fare first, possibly beer and wine in the future.
Honn noted that his underlying philosophy is deeply rooted in local sourcing and sustainability. Both cafes will operate under the umbrella of Coastal Commons Group, a managerial and procurement enterprise established to support regional producers. While the menus at the market cafes will be ingredient-driven, they won’t be chef-driven per se.
“I shy away a little bit from the idea of ‘chef-driven’ just because I’m personally a little bit jaded in terms of the chef being the focus,” Honn said. “These days, I’m really trying to focus more on producers and the ingredient side.”
