Or enjoy our classic Criollo cuisine with a delightful a la carte lunch option. Click here to view our Mother’s Day Menu.

Click here to make reservations or call 504 681-4444 for more information.

We’ll be serving a variety of options for the whole family to enjoy. Enjoy a 3 course prix fixe menu for $38++ which includes sumptous dishes such as Petite Filet of Beef and Grilled Black Grouper.

Or we’ll be serving our classic Criollo cuisine with a delightful a la carte lunch option. Click here to view our Easter Lunch Menu

Click here to make reservations or call 504 681-4444 for more information.

The staff of Criollo, the new Louisiana-Creole-Caribbean restaurant and lounge at the Hotel Monteleone, has to be ready to handle many things, not the least of which is a serious party.

The restaurant, set to open June 14, has an open floor plan that encourages foot traffic to flow right into the adjacent Carousel Bar and piano room. When the famously spinning bar is in turntable mode, the festivities can spill from the bar, to the baby grand, around the Criollo lounge and eventually to the dinner tables.

“I’m in an environment that goes from one bar into another bar and into the restaurant. You can’t get uptight with your food in this space,” said Joe Maynard, Criollo’s chef de cuisine. “The food should be fun.”

Criollo is part of an extensive renovation on-going at the 125-year-old French Quarter hotel. Knocking out walls, adding windows and painting the place a sophisticated slate gray has brought a little 21st century vibe to the 19th century building.

The piano room now leads into Criollo’s lounge, where a marble-topped bar spans the length (no one will go thirsty around here), providing a visual dividing line between the spaces, if not a physical one.

In the dining room, an exposed kitchen stretches across another wall, setting a stage where Maynard can be the star. A little culinary theater always makes for fine entertainment.

Windows at the far end of the kitchen encourage Royal Street strollers to indulge their voyeur tendencies.

“I love that you can stand on the sidewalk and look right down the line,” Maynard said recently as he took me on a tour while construction workers hung lights and hooked up equipment.

Criollo was scheduled to open this week — and is serving breakfast — but the debut of dinner and lunch has been delayed until the final touches are in place. That’s giving a little extra time for Maynard to perfect his menu.
A rendering of Criollo, the new restaurant in the Hotel Monteleone.

The food will be a blend of Louisiana heritage, Caribbean flavor and modern handling. “I appreciate tradition as part of our culture,” he said, “but I want to manipulate my ingredients less and less and showcase really fresh food.”

In Maynard’s hands, that translates to: herb-marinaded chicken with a light slaw and fresh fig balsamic; oysters (when in season) baked three ways; and snapper with a tangy citrus butter, Marcona almonds and fat caperberries.

“That’s my riff on almondine,” Maynard said of the citrus snapper.

A Miami native with kin in Tennessee and Kentucky, Maynard spent several years moving around the South, from North Carolina to New Orleans, where he was senior sous chef at the Windsor Court. He eventually returned to Miami, where he most recently was executive chef for Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Hotel.

“In the last 17 years, my wife and I have moved 13 times,” he said. “We’re now here to stay.”

Maynard expects Criollo — Spanish for Creole — will reflect his Southern excursions and his south Florida upbringing, with lots of regional ingredient sourcing. But he wants to take a light approach. Tropical flavors and Southern staples — like greens and beans — may make an appearance, but cream will be used sparingly and portions will be designed for human appetites, rather monster ones.

“I want people to say that was so good, but not feel like they need a nap when they get up from the table,” he said. “We’ll be using the grill a lot, and we’ll use a two-ounce ladle of sauce, instead of a four-ounce, and go light on dressings for salads.

“It’s about lightening things up.”

After all, who wants to feel so full they can’t go back to the party?