The Mid-City icon, Mandina’s, opened this past Wednesday to a packed house. This news bodes well for the neighborhood. New Orleans food critic, Tom Fitzmorris, has dedicated a portion of his webpage, www.nomenu.com, to Mandina’s, bragging on the return of Mid-City.
← BlogMandina’s Reopens on Canal Street
The restaurant that defines what a New Orleans neighborhood restaurant is all about for many people, Mandina’s reopened Wednesday, February 7, in its original building on Canal at S. Scott. It’s a week earlier than the last estimate of the opening date I heard from the owners.
The restaurant looks terrific. They went beyond making it look as it had before the storm; and took it all the way back to the 1930s, when Mandina’s first opened. The dining areas have been reconfigured a bit. The bar is now where the rear dining room used to be, and the front room is more spacious. Not that the place could ever have enough room for all the people who want to eat lunch there on the average day.
The menu doesn’t seem changed a bit. All the classic daily specials are back, along with the fried seafood, Italian dishes, and New Orleans pot specials.
Now Mid-City can really be said to be whole again. All houses that have not yet been repaired and re-occupied likely will soon be. Mandina’s presence will make it happen–just you watch.
Mandina’s. 3800 Canal. 504-482-9179. Neighborhood Cafe.