Duke LoCicero is a familiar name in New Orleans dining. For his next act, the chef is planning a new restaurant to bring something a little different to Metairie.
He’s now developing Dab’s at 3401 N. Hullen St., which he plans to open by Sept. 1.
LoCicero describes Dab's as a New Orleans bistro, and it will have some of the signature dishes from the chef’s former restaurant Café Giovanni (namely, oysters Giovanni with its “stained glass” pattern of sauces).
Dab’s, however, will have late-night hours (until 2 a.m. Thursday through Sunday). Its bar will have perpetual happy hour pours (twice the liquor), with a specialty in bourbon and whiskey. And the menu will offer “flights” of dishes, for a quicker, small plates version of a chef’s tasting menu.
“We’re going for something that’s missing in Metairie,” said LoCicero.
Contributed photo by Alicia Claire - Fried and plated over a "stained glass" pattern of five sauces, oysters Giovanni is a signature dish at Cafe Giovanni in New Orleans.
The address, most recently home of Cello’s and, earlier, Fratelli’s Deli, is near Lakeside Shopping Center.
Dab’s is named for LoCicero himself. Though he goes by Duke, the Metairie native was born Dabney Ewing LoCicero.
“I was named after the doctor who saved my father’s life,” he said. “He was electrocuted, got hit by 13,800 volts on a construction site. Everyone gave up on him except Dr. Dabney Ewing.”
Chef Duke LoCicero opened Cafe Giovanni in the French Quarter in 1991 serving "New World Italian cuisine."
LoCicero is known for his passion for New Orleans food and for his showmanship in the kitchen and dining room. For 26 years, he operated his own Café Giovanni in the French Quarter, at 117 Decatur St. It was part of a generation of restaurants that introduced a new style to the Creole-Italian table. LoCicero called his cooking “New World Italian cuisine," an approach defined by Southern Italian classics with a hearty dose of Louisiana flavor.
LoCicero surprised many of his fans by closing Café Giovanni in 2017, citing at the time worsening business conditions of the French Quarter with high-profile street crime and slow-going road work. He later spent about a year as chef at N’Tini’s in Mandeville (that long-running restaurant announced it would close June 23).
Mandeville mainstay N’Tini’s will pour its last martini this Sunday (June 23).
Today, the veteran chef said he’s fired up for a fresh start and a new concept in his old stomping grounds. While Dab’s address is down a side street, he believes it will draw people by tapping an unmet local need.
“If you want late night food here, all you have are burgers,” he said. “Back in the day, every Italian restaurant here had seafood, steaks and pastas, that’s how it’s going to be here, but smaller portions and good prices.”
The food flights, for instance, revamp the multi-course “feed me chef Duke” repasts LoCicero once served at Café Giovanni. Order a seafood flight, for instance, and you might get a progression of shrimp, scallops and mussels in different preparations.
Dab’s
3401 N. Hullen St.
Projected opening: Sept. 1, 2019
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