PR: Now Serving Dinner Six Days a Week

Press Release

For Immediate Release
March 5, 2008

Contact: Meredith Town
Tel: (504) 943-1102
E-mail: meredith at hookah dash cafe dot com

Hookah Café Now Serving Dinner Six Days a Week

Finally, Hookah Café’s limited kitchen hours have been lifted and the full menu will now be available six days per week. All entrees, tapas, appetizers, and desserts will be served from 5:30pm until 12am every night except Friday, when the late night menu becomes available from 11pm ‘til 2am. Saturday night both the regular and late night menus will be available through 1am. Thursday through Sunday also includes a seasonal rotation of weekly specials on the regular menu.

Chef David Duvall’s menu now includes a diverse array of dishes intended to satisfy all appetites. Ranging from tapas (small-portioned plates intended to be enjoyed with libation) and appetizers (larger and more substantial than tapas plates), to full-plate entrees and smaller petite entrees (slightly smaller than full entrees), his menu easily caters to all levels of hunger. Plus, his seasonally-inspired weekly specials and desserts guarantee regular visitors a fresh and original culinary experience every time. Hookah Café is located at 500 Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, and opens at 5:30pm Tuesday through Sunday.

PR: Hookah Cafe Renovations Completed

Press Release [Images Follow]

For Immediate Release
February 18, 2008

Contact: Meredith Town
Tel: (504) 943-1102
E-mail: meredith at hookah dash cafe dot com

Hookah Café Renovations Completed

Interior renovations at the Hookah Café, a gradual process which began three months ago, were completed this week. New banquettes, chairs, and tables now decorate the main dining room, replacing the old coffee tables and accompanying teak-wood low-slung chairs, thereby giving a more dining-friendly feel to the main room. The carpeting was removed as well and the cement floor below artistically stained and finished in a matching style. On the whole the new layout is noticeably more space-efficient and has significantly increased the total number of available seats.

According to Hookah Café management, these changes were intended to compliment the surging popularity of the dining menu. The old furniture, though conducive to lounge-style relaxing and hookah smoking, was simply not appropriately comfortable for diners, and with the uptick in dining business the time was ripe for a renovation in that direction. “These improvements were necessary to make our customers more comfortable while dining and will enable us to focus on and expand our food business,” said owner Gil Birman. “Chef David Duvall is extremely talented and it would be foolish to not invest in making our infrastructure more supportive of his menu and skill.”

All of the new furniture has been custom-built for the space, and when possible local New Orleans artisans were utilized. Two sleek, modern long banquettes on opposite sides of the dining room can now easily accommodate parties of up to 20, while a handsome red-suede, tufted round banquette is situated like a center piece in the middle of the room. The new dining-height tables were meticulously created by Bywater-based craftsmen out of reclaimed heart pine wood, and are nicely accentuated by the new generously proportioned European dining chairs. Bringing all these new elements together is the concrete stain-finished floor, also created locally by a Marigny-based artisan. In addition, the carpet removal necessary for the new floor has markedly improved the acoustics and sound quality of the live bands which often perform at the Hookah Café. Overall, the new layout has an air of chic sophistication and style, bringing a fresh and contemporary dining atmosphere to this established Frenchmen Street hotspot.

Hookah Café, New Orleans’ Original Hookah Lounge, opened in early 2004 and is located at 500 Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny, a mere half-block from the French Quarter.

VDAY: Valentines Day at Hookah Cafe

Prix Fixe 5-Course Menu – Available Feb 14th, 2008 (Valentines Day)

Prices (per person) are based on your Fourth-course selection. Vegan And Vegetarian 4-course dinner is available for $35. Our regular Tapas and Entree menu will not be available on Valentines day.

Wine Flight will be available for $25 and includes 5 half-glasses of wine.

First Course

House Salad

Second Course

Cup of Bouillabaisse

Roasted Red Pepper Corn Chowder

Third Course

Duck Cassoulet with Root Vegetables and Picholine Olives.

Potato and Salmon Croquettes with Creme Fraiche and Caviar.

Fourth Course

Seared Red Snapper

Served with Jerusalem Artichoke and mashed potatoes. $45

Blackened Filet Mignon

Served with Mashed potatoes. Enhanced with Garlic Confit, Rosemary, and Sundried Tomatoes. $57

Blackened Lamb Chops

Sauteed Jerusalem Artichokes and Artichoke Fritters. $63

Fifth Course

Creme Brulee

Caramelized Banana Strudel

Reservations Recommended.

PR: Awards Recognize Hookah Cafe Dishes

PRESS RELEASE (1) – January 7, 2008

Hookah Café Chef David Duvall recently earned a 2007 Clean Plate Award from Restaurant Business magazine for his Fried-Green Tomato Napoleon (mistakenly named Crabmeat Napoleon in the article). The Clean Plate Awards, whose winners are selected each year by a notable group of culinary experts (including Ming Tsai, Marcus Samuelsson, and Ralph Brennan, among others), recognize “great food from great restaurants” around the United States. Gerry Fernandez, president of the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance, writes:

Crabmeat Napoleon, Hookah Cafe, New Orleans

This place is tucked back in the French Quarter away from the touristy restaurants. We stopped here for drinks and appetizers and I ordered this item. It was definitely an intense dining experience! Green tomatoes are sliced to just the right thickness, dusted with cornmeal or flour and fried to perfection. The slices are layered with crabmeat and the three- to four-inch stack is served with a gumbo-like brown sauce. Everything went together perfectly.”

http://www.restaurantbiz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22752&Itemid=129

Hookah Café, located at 500 Frenchmen Street in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans, is proud to announce this achievement and congratulates Chef Duvall for his commendable culinary talent.

PRESS RELEASE (2) – January 7, 2008

Hookah Café, located at 500 Frenchmen Street in the Marigny, is pleased to announce their inclusion in noted food critic Tom Fitzmorris’ “Ten Best Bouillabaisses,” as published on his website, nomenu.com. From the December 16th, 2007 Issue of The New Orleans Menu Daily:

“In what looks like the unlikeliest place to find any cooking as ambitious as bouillabaisse, here is indeed an excellent one, served as a soup. (It can be had as an entree, however.) Everything about it is perfect…”

Congratulations to Head Chef David Duvall for this meritorious recognition.