The former home of a popular Westbank pizzeria has been revived by Adrian Chelette, a local chef with a long background making standout pizza in New Orleans. Chelette, who most recently manned the pizza oven at Seventh Ward hotspot Margot’s following his time as co-owner at Ancora Pizza, has opened Nighthawk Napoletana, a simple, modern neighborhood restaurant with a large wood-burning pizza oven flanked by a dining counter, a bar, a small covered patio, and a narrow dining room. The restaurant’s succinct menu features eight sourdough Neapolitan-style pizzas, a few salads, and small plates like meatballs and arancini.

Brasa, a South American steakhouse from Antonio Mata and chef Edgar Caro, is now open in the former Morton’s space downtown. Many of the dishes from Brasa’s Metairie location have carried over to the new restaurant, which emphasizes unique cuts of Angus beef and local seafood. Appetizers include short rib mac and cheese and boquerones; entrees feature aged hanger steaks, Wagyu pincanha, smoked chicken, black Angus ribeye, and other hefty meat cuts, served with South American-style sides like carrots and smoked corn.

Emeril Lagasse’s newest restaurant is making a splash downtown, marking the celebrity chef’s first foray into French food. It’s in the casino, but also accessible by the street, an elegant space serving a mix of dishes synonymous with a splurge, like a seafood tower, with classic brasserie staples like French onion soup, a tarte flambée, blue crab timbale, roasted bone marrow, and steak frites au poivre. Still, there are a few familiar local touches, like turkey and andouille gumbo, crawfish and angel hair pasta, and hogs head cheese.

Mister Oso is the splashy new downtown restaurant to take over Barcadia, though it’s from the same owner — local restaurateur Billy Blatty has imported the Denver restaurant (and Bib Gourmand winner) after a merger with Colorado hospitality group The Culinary Creative Group. Fun, festive, and Instagrammable, Mister Oso serves tacos, empanadas, ceviche, aquachile, and colorful cocktails in a lively setting.

Plates is an ambitious new restaurant in the Warehouse District blending the flavors of Spain, Vietnam, Germany, New Orleans, and more on a menu of colorful shareable dishes served on antique plates. Chalmette-born chef Farrell Harrison creates dishes like charred okra, patatas bravas, garlic shrimp, scallop maque choux, and mustard-braised rabbit with spaetzle, served alongside Spanish-inspired cocktails utilizing vermouth. The restaurant, set in the sprawling warehouse space formerly home to the Mill and Sac-a-Lait, also offers a weekend brunch and weekday happy hour.

St. Pizza, the new sister tavern and pizzeria adjacent to mod, cozy wine bar and Patron Saint, is open for dine-in. Grab a slice of beautifually charred pepperoni or fennel sausage pizza, best enjoyed with a Manhattan, a fushcia pet-nat, or a glass of deep red — owners Leslie Pariseau, Abhi Bhansali, and Tony Biancosino craft a beautifully curated beverage list. End the night on a sweet note with a chocolate chip sea salt cookie.

Beloved brunch spot Ruby Slipper Cafe has reopened in the French Quarter, five years after it first closed following the tragic Hard Rock Hotel construction collapse. All the brunchy favorites are back in full force, plus a few seasonal specials on the new spring menu: Expect lavender-lemon beignets, pineapple ham Benedict, gin blossom lemonade, almond berry pancakes, and more.

Martha Gilreath’s new bakery, open just in time for king cake season, is slinging blueberry muffins, banana bread, biscuits, sweet rolls, bialys, old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies, and sweet and savory danishes and croissants from its Orleans Avenue outpost. But the showstopper here is Gilreath’s king cake, of course, crowned with a brown-butter-sugar-cane glaze and fine satsuma zest — the same cake that earned her a devoted following when she first launched Nolita as a pop-up. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Friday; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Dew Drop Inn — the iconic Central City nightclub, hotel, and restaurant that’s hosted the likes of Tina Turner, James Brown, and Ray Charles — has made a triumphant return to New Orleans after its 2005 closure. Curtis Doucette, Jr. is the new name behind the Dew Drop, and his aunt, chef Marilyn Doucette of Meals from the Heart Cafe, is at the helm of the restaurant. Seated breakfast and lunch are served from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m, with weekend brunch from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (standard on Satudays; live jazz brunch Sundays), with menus featuring dishes like grits and grillades; classic egg blackstone with hollandaise; bananas Foster French toast; and hot sandwiches, seafood plates, and salads for lunch. A succinct cocktail list, beer, wine, and bubbly are also on offer.

Rosella is a new Mid-City cafe with an identity all its own — nostalgic, funky, and most importantly, delicious. The menu, which co-owner Alix Petrovich calls “a little bit comfort food, a little bit New Orleans, and kind of tongue in cheek,” includes ultra-tasty eats like an andouille corn dog, red bean salad, and meatloaf with a classic onion gravy, cauliflower puree, and green beans. Come for the good vibes, satisfying food, and excellent prices for zippy bottles of wine.

Porgy’s is not just New Orleans’s most ambitious new seafood market meant to serve as a dedicated space in the supply chain for bycatch. It’s also a restaurant, where a powerhouse team of chefs behind some local favorites (Carmo and Marjie’s Grill) are serving up New Orleans favorites with a sustainable twist. The menu includes boiled crabs, shrimp, and crawfish when in season, raw oysters on the half shell, seafood gumbo, and a hot sausage sandwich, but also, any of the fish in the case can be prepared in any format for dine-in. There is a muffulettu always on the menu, which replaces Italian cold cuts with Gulf tuna conserva, and rotating specials of crudo, semi-raw preparations, and brandades that will use bycatch.

Good Catch, from chef Aom Srisuk and Frankie Weinberg of local Thai restaurant Pomelo, dishes up specialties from all four main regions of Thailand while giving extra attention to seafood — this menu emphasizes dishes with crab, shrimp, scallops, sea bass, and even fried oysters, pairing the proteins with glass noodles; rich yellow curries; peppery chili sauces. The latest in a string of Thai restaurants to open in New Orleans (including Dahla, Thai’d Up, and Thaihey NOLA), it’s even bigger than Pomelo, and has the added benefit of a full bar.

After closing more than a year ago, Mid City Pizza — founded in 2013 by the late Rand Owens, who quickly established it as a laid-back, cozy staple for thin-crust pizza and old-school arcade games — has reopened on Banks Street under new owner Tony Cortello. Thin-crust, New York-style pies are on the menu, of course — Cortello has installed a water system that mimics the exact pH and mineral content of New York city water, recreating that true Big Apple taste in the dough. He’s also offering a few Sicilian-style pizzas, Italian sandwiches, salads, starters, and sugar-dusted zeppole doughnuts, plus wine, beer, and classic cocktails.

Tana is the third restaurant from the MoPho and Maypop team, an acclaimed set of New Orleans restaurants owned by chef Michael Gulotta and Jeffrey Bybee. Once a pop-up serving Sicilian-style dishes, the new incarnation is a vast expansion on that original kitchen — a 5,000-square-foot restaurant with a bar and lounge area in Old Metairie. It incorporates the Italian Riviera cuisine of Liguria for a large, chop house-style menu of small plates like meatballs, savory zeppole, arancini, and muffuletta-esque stuffed focaccia; salads, garlic and artichoke soup, and bacon and oyster stew; and large plates like veal marsala, pork chop parmesan, and a tomahawk rib-eye. Pasta is a focal point of both the menu and the dining room, where a pasta-making station takes center stage.