Maple Street Cafe

Restaurant Review

Anecdotes & Analysis

It's an old story: hotshot young man or woman comes to town to take a job, and works so relentlessly that, when the holidays roll around, he/she find him/herself unincluded in any group close enough to invite him/her to dinner. It happened to me one year, and I grew up in New Orleans.

So you wind up going to a restaurant for dinner on Christmas Eve or Day. Especially if the holiday doesn't include you to begin with, you want a nice place, but no big deal. The Maple Street Cafe seems to have been created for such folks. It opens for all the holidays, does a nice job with them, and does so without inflating its prices.

Why It's Essential

In a renovated cottage in the middle of one of the busiest blocks of Maple Street, this pleasant cafe captures a clientele from the neighborhood, the university crowd, and the local shopkeepers. The half-Italian, half-Creole menu is appealing and well turned out. And the prices are attractive.

Backstory

The Maple Street Cafe opened in 1995, a spinoff of Petra, a now-extinct Metairie restaurant. Jordan-born brothers Jameel and T.J. Qutob spent some years at Vincent's and Andrea's respectively before beginning their own restaurant ventures. The talented old-line chef Jonathan Peters--now semi-retired--has long been the guiding hand in the kitchen, but the brothers spend a lot of time cooking, too. In 2011, they took over the old Bull's Corner in Laplace and reopened it with much the same menu as at the Maple Street Cafe.

Dining Room

The main room is split-level, being a combination of the old cottage's parlor and its former front yard, now enclosed by walls with many windows. It's pleasantly bright. The kitchen is at the rear (its teeny size explains the simplicity of most of the food) and open to view. Just past it is a less-appealing private dining room that could use some renovation. They also have a few tables on a small deck for alfresco dining.

For Best Results

Avoid tables near the front door in cold weather. Have pasta as an appetizer. Even though the restaurant is rarely full, make a reservation; it has a way of packing unpredictably.