Creole Classics Get New Life at Saint John, Reborn in the Warehouse District

At Saint John’s original French Quarter home, Eric Cook achieved what few other chefs cooking in New Orleans today have: bringing traditional, historically accurate Creole food into the zeitgeist. After closing the doors to the restaurant in May, Cook has revived Saint John in a new location downtown, promising to “show this city what Saint John can really be,” he says.

Saint John reopened Friday, September 27 at 715 St. Charles Avenue, less than two weeks after the release of Cook’s first cookbook: Modern Creole: A Taste of New Orleans Culture and Cuisine. Saint John is an homage to Cook’s Louisiana upbringing, originally opened in 2021 as a follow-up to his successful first New Orleans restaurant, Gris-Gris. The menu is informed by his and chef de cuisine Darren Chabert’s combing of 18th-century Creole cookbooks and Cook’s family recipes. They bring a modern eye to time-honored standards, however, polishing dishes to a fine dining level and widening the cuisine’s scope of influence. The restaurant’s new menu, as such, reflects that juxtaposition, with dishes like mirliton ceviche and a banh mi au poulet showing up alongside Louisiana gumbo and redfish meunière.

Saint John takes over the former home of restaurant Le Chat Noir, a modern space with two bar areas on either side of the entrance and one spacious, open dining room in the back. It’s open Wednesday through Monday for lunch, dinner, and happy hour. Check out some of the new menu items below.

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Seafood and andouille gumbo with shrimp, crab, and okra

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Mirliton ceviche with hearts of palm, avocado, leche de tigre, and plantains

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Chicken Bordelaise with asparagus and fingerling potatoes

Rabbit fricassee with gnocchi, bacon lardon, carrot, leek, and fennel

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Rack of lamb persillade with jollof rice and zhug

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Bone-in veal chop Parmesan with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, and gemelli

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Redfish meunière with roasted fingerling potatoes, artichokes, crab, and tomato salad