Some restaurants open and chase whatever’s current. Lilette has never done that. Chef and owner John Harris opened this Uptown bistro in 2001 inside a late 1800s corner apothecary on Magazine Street.
He kept the original ceramic tile floors and wide-paned windows, painted the walls a deep wine color, and started cooking the French and Italian food he’d spent years learning to make well. Twenty-five years later, the place looks and tastes essentially the same. That’s not a criticism. It’s the whole point.
The name comes from a French woman. When Harris apprenticed in France, he stayed with the Mauri family, whose matriarch, Lilette, shaped his understanding of traditional French cooking in a way that no culinary school quite manages.
He carried that back to New Orleans, worked as executive chef at Gautreau’s, then found this corner space in late 2000 and spent two years restoring it to its original open floor plan before opening the doors.
Travel and Leisure eventually called it the sexiest dining room in New Orleans, which is the kind of line that gets quoted forever, and in this case it’s not wrong.
The menu is where Harris’s background comes through cleanly. Hanger steak frites with marrow bordelaise has been on the menu since the beginning and is the thing to order if you’re here for the first time. The bouillabaisse and duck confit have held their spots for years as well, while a rotating specials board keeps things moving for the regulars who show up more than once a month.
Harris was named to Food and Wine’s list of America’s Best New Chefs in 2002 and has been a James Beard finalist for Best Chef South four times. Chef Ed Charles, who joined the team in 2003, became a co-owner in 2019, and the two have kept the kitchen running at the same level across decades of New Orleans upheaval.
What makes Lilette worth a trip away from the Quarter isn’t just the food. It’s the way the room shifts across the day. Lunch is bright and relaxed, the windows letting in light off Magazine Street while neighborhood people eat unhurriedly. Dinner turns quieter and warmer, the lighting dropping and the wine list coming into focus.
Bouligny Tavern, Harris’s wine bar in the century-old cottage right next door, makes for a natural first stop before the meal or a last stop after.Lilette is at 3637 Magazine St., open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday and dinner Monday through Saturday. Reservations are strongly recommended.
Call (504) 895-1636 or visit liletterestaurant.com to book.
