You know that $2 ferry ride you keep meaning to take? The one across the Mississippi that tourists love but locals rarely bother with? It’s time to stop making excuses.
Five minutes on the Canal-Algiers ferry lands you in Algiers Point, New Orleans’ second-oldest neighborhood. The streets bend with the river’s curve. Cottages with gingerbread trim line the blocks. Ship horns bellow from vessels gliding past rooftops. It feels like New Orleans shrunk into a tiny riverfront town.
Walk a few blocks to 1113 Teche Street and you’ll find a bright building that looks like someone painted it during Holi festival. This is Plume Algiers, and it serves the best Indian food you’ve never heard of.
Chef Tyler Stuart and his partner Merritt Coscia opened Plume in July 2020 during the pandemic. Stuart had worked in some of the city’s top kitchens—Carrollton Market, Ye Olde College Inn—but he’d never even left the country. Over dinner at Nirvana one night, the couple made a plan. They spent two months traveling through India in 2017, staging in restaurant kitchens and taking cooking lessons everywhere from Goa to Gangtok near the Himalayas.
What they brought back isn’t butter chicken or tikka masala. The menu at Plume features regional Indian dishes you won’t find anywhere else in the city. Fish Kabiraji from Bengal. Kerala fried chicken. Beef nihari slow-cooked with ginger and green chiles. Banana chaat with fried bananas, coconut, yogurt, tamarind, and pomegranate seeds.
The kaathi rolls are the real star. Think of them as Indian egg rolls—tandoori chicken wrapped in housemade paratha with fermented cabbage, yogurt, and cilantro. Diners from Houston say they’d come back multiple days in a row just to work through the menu. One reviewer called it the best Indian food they’ve had in America.
The restaurant is tiny—just a small dining room decorated with hand-painted murals by a local artist. Stuart and Coscia live upstairs. They just had a baby. Everything is made from scratch. The service is slow because it’s just them, but that’s part of the charm. You’re not eating at a restaurant. You’re eating at someone’s home.
The cocktails are strong. Try the “do you even know what a caipirinha is” or the Three Saree, a smoky tequila drink. Locals know to call ahead and order takeout, but the dining room is worth the wait.
Plume is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. No reservations for small groups. Park on the street but be respectful—it’s a residential neighborhood.
Cross the damn bridge. You’ll be glad you did.
Plume Algiers
1113 Teche St, New Orleans, LA 70114
(504) 381-4893
plumealgiers.com
