Though after the ensemble and their handkerchief-waving marchers loop around the block and return to the restaurant at 3827 Fifth Ave., consulting chef and former co-owner Nick Brune assures Local Habit will be \u201ca lit-up standout\u201d every day of the week thereafter.<\/p>\n
The opening party runs from 7 to 11 p.m., and features a whole 250-pound hog cooked onsite. The cost is $20, which includes food plus a beer or cocktail of choice.<\/p>\n When the demands of his catering company began mounting, Brune and business partner Barry Braden sold Local Habit more than a year ago to four brothers: Ignacio, Javier, Guillermo and Antonio Fragoso.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were looking for something already up and running at the time,\u201d Brune says. \u201cBut they had a few struggles keeping the regulars around, so they called me up to change the concept and help manage the place a little.\u201d<\/p>\n Brune, a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, steered the brothers into a New Orleans model by recreating 40 percent of the menu. He also helped them redesign the space, which now includes a front patio framed by iron rails that extends 5 feet out to the sidewalk \u2014 a first on the east side of this Fifth Avenue block.<\/p>\n Rollup windows were also installed along with a 24-foot-long interior mural painted by acclaimed \u201clive artist\u201d Sean Dietrich, whose rabbit-themed fresco dominates a wall at The Rabbit Hole in Normal Heights. His mural at Local Habit, says Brune, reflects the restaurant\u2019s new cuisine and cocktails as it depicts \u201cNew Orleans flowing into California.\u201d<\/p>\n Classic dishes such as gumbo, etouffee and jambalaya will appear as occasional specials to augment the daily farm-driven cuisine that Brune describes as \u201cCali-Creole.\u201d Those meals, to name a few, translate to whole heads of roasted cauliflower with whipped goat cheese, Southern-fried chicken \u201cwith a little Thai influence\u201d and a \u201cgumbo-meets-ramen\u201d soup with dark roux noodles in pork and chicken broth, a recipe started years ago by the Vietnamese community of New Orleans.<\/p>\n In addition, Brune will return periodically to present his popular crawfish boils, which he held at Local Habit in the past. The next one, he says, will take place shortly after Easter, although an exact date hasn\u2019t yet been established.<\/p>\n In his absence, the kitchen will be helmed by chef Jimmy Tessier, a culinary arts graduate of Johnson & Wales who worked at Union Kitchen & Tap in the Gaslamp District and at Emeril\u2019s in Las Vegas. He has also been featured on Food Network\u2019s hit show, \u201cChopped.\u201d<\/p>\n Local Habit\u2019s previous focus on beer will remain, although with a full liquor license now in place, customers can get their absinthe fix poured with whiskey over a torched sugar cube in a classic Sazerac, which is Louisiana\u2019s official state cocktail and considered one of the oldest in the United States.<\/p>\n There will also be hurricanes, hand grenades, milk punch and blackberry-mint juleps slung to the rhythms of jazz, zydeco and other NOLA genres through a sound system, or sometimes live once a regular entertainment license is secured.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at what New Orleans has done for the world in terms of food, cocktails and music, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d says Brune, adding that Local Habit will be open late on most nights and that \u201cevery Tuesday will be Fat Tuesday\u201d with oysters and absinthe taking center stage.<\/p>\n \u201cLocal Habit is still my baby. It\u2019s a very important place to me and I\u2019m excited to be helping out.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information, call 619-795-4770 or visit mylocalhabit.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Local](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Local-Habit-exterior-new-patioweb.jpg\")
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(Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Nick-Brune-by-Chris-Rov-Costa-Photographyweb-225x300.jpg\")
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