New Orleans built its international reputation on gumbo, étouffée, and po’boys. Mexican seafood wasn’t part of that story — until now. Acamaya, the contemporary Mexican seafood restaurant opened in 2024 by sisters Ana and Lydia Castro at 3070 Dauphine Street in Bywater, just became the only Louisiana entry on the New York Times’ list of 41 greatest Mexican restaurants in the United States. This is no surprise cameo. The restaurant already holds two NYT stars, a Michelin Bib Gourmand and Best New Restaurant nods from both Esquire and Bon Appétit. That’s a track record, not a moment. Its rise reflects the city’s diverse roots expanding well beyond its classic culinary identity.
What the New York Times Actually Said
NYT reporter Brett Anderson spotlights the dishes that reveal exactly how this kitchen thinks.
- Costra tacos filled with cheese-crusted Gulf shrimp
- Local crab cooked with collard greens and chochoyotes — small masa dumplings — in a preparation that bridges two coastal traditions without forcing the connection
- Blackened drum a la veracruzana, swimming in a stew of tomatoes and olives
Anderson’s framing cuts through any easy narrative: this isn’t forced hybridization of New Orleans and Mexican cooking. It’s a gifted chef cooking what she knows, using the most attractive local ingredients available in southeast Louisiana — which means Gulf seafood.
The NYT list situates Acamaya inside a broader “culinary renaissance,” describing 15 years of Mexican Cuisine in America moving decisively past Tex-Mex into something far more complex and honest. Acamaya, per the Times, tells part of that expansive national story from a Bywater address.
The Chef Behind the Kitchen
Ana Castro didn’t set out to represent a movement — she set out to cook her food.
Castro grew up in Mexico City and is a James Beard Award semifinalist. Acamaya, opened with sister Lydia after an earlier New Orleans venture closed in 2023, is the more expansive version of her vision — the kitchen where she could fully explore the food she grew up eating and match it against Gulf Coast abundance. NYT co-chief critic Tejal Rao awarded the restaurant two stars calling Acamaya idiosyncratic and puckish — two words that explain precisely why it resists easy categorization and earns its recognition.
The sisters have since opened Casimiro, a Mexican breakfast and lunch spot nearby in Bywater, steadily building a presence that feels less like a restaurant group and more like a neighborhood institution in the making.
A city the world knows for Creole and Cajun cooking is now producing nationally recognized New Orleans dishes — not as an anomaly, but as a natural extension of what happens when a talented chef with deep roots lands somewhere with extraordinary ingredients.
Planning a Visit
Reservations open at midnight on OpenTable — and disappear just as fast.
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Address | 3070 Dauphine Street, Bywater |
| Hours | Thursday through Monday, 5 pm to 9:30 pm |
| Reservations | OpenTable, opens at midnight for the following 30 days |
Acamaya is reachable by rideshare from central New Orleans. This is not a walk-in situation — plan accordingly. If you’re building a New Orleans itinerary, this is the reservation to secure first.
