After opening and finding success during the pandemic, Honduran restaurant Alma Café in the Bywater is preparing to open a second location this fall in Mid-City.
Operating as a breakfast and lunch spot, Alma Café is one of many newer restaurants in the Bywater offering Latin American food. Its menu of Honduran food includes highlights like Fritas Hondureñas, huevos rancheros, and the Campechano Breakfast. Chef-owner Melissa Araujo cites neighborhood support as a major reason for being able to expand her operations with a second location.
“The Bywater is a welcoming place,” she recently told What Now New Orleans while in Chicago to attend the 2024 James Beard Awards, for which she was a semifinalist. “If you’re trying to be a part of the neighborhood and do something different, they will patronize and support you.”
When asked about a specific address for the new Alma Café, Araujo would only say the new location will be on N Carrollton Avenue, just before Canal Street coming from the direction of City Park.
“I think everybody is going to be surprised about the corner in Mid-City where we are going,” she said. “We had been looking for a location in Uptown for almost two years, but everything I found needed expensive renovations that were outside the budget. This location in Mid-City was economically feasible and it’s a good fit for Alma.”
Araujo said the new location will be much bigger than the original, with a seating capacity of 125 guests compared to 80 seats in the Bywater. It is set to open in October with breakfast, lunch, and dinner service. The original location will be adding dinner service when the second location opens in October.
