Breakfast was the thing at Riccobono’s Peppermill, and for decades it was a destination near the heart of Metairie’s business district for morning meetings and more casual social gatherings over the table. Since closing last summer, the future of its location had been an open question.
But now the former Peppermill at 3524 Severn Ave. is home to a new restaurant aiming to serve a similar role later in the day, and with a much different menu, look and style.
The longtime home of Riccobono's Peppermill was transformed in 2024 to become Vacca Steakhouse in Metairie. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Vacca Steakhouse opened in June as a new restaurant modeled on a classic template.
Cutting into a steak at the table at Vacca Steakhouse in Metairie. (Photo by Patrick Haggerty)
It’s a place for martinis at the bar, a cabernet-lover’s wine list, steaks that arrive with sizzle, sides portioned to share and a vein of Creole and Italian flavors running alongside the beef.
Who’s behind it?
Jonathan Brisbi and Darrell Dumestre partnered to open the restaurant and brought in two familiar names from the local hospitality business to run Vacca as operators.
Tim Waguespack works the bar at Vacca Steakhouse in Metairie. (Photo by Patrick Haggerty)
At the front of the house there’s Tim Waguespack, formerly food and beverage manager at the historic Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter.
Carmen Provenzano, chef de cuisine and co-operator at Vacca Steakhouse, greets guests at the Metairie restaurant. (Photo by Patrick Haggerty)
The kitchen is run by Carmen Provenzano Jr., who cooked at Pascal’s Manale Restaurant and ran the Uptown classic after it was bought in 2019 by his uncle, the late auto magnate Ray Brandt. Pascal’s Manale changed hands again in 2023 and is now part of the Dickie Brennan & Co. restaurant group.
The old Peppermill is now identifiable only by the exterior. Inside, the restaurant has been redone with a pair of dining rooms with dark tones and gold and brass fixtures for a look that’s upscale and still cozy.
At Vacca Steakhouse in Metairie, the Vitello Room serves as a space for private events. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
One of those rooms, the Vitello Room, is configured for regular service and also private events and holds about 50 people. The entire restaurant can seat about 125.
Bar and menu
The large bar is a new centerpiece, and Vacca's operating hours have been designed around it. The restaurant opens in the mid-afternoon most days and for lunch on Friday, part of its bid to become the place to take some business to the bar or dive into an elevated, social lunch to end the week.
Fried lobster tail with Creole mustard sauce starts a meal at Vacca Steakhouse in Metairie. (Photo by Patrick Haggerty)
Vacca serves certified prime Angus beef through house cuts including a cowboy rib eye, a N.Y. strip and a 42 oz. porterhouse for two. At the top of the menu, there’s crab cakes, fried lobster tails, onion rings and wedge salads and a dish called oysters Severn, with fried oysters and brie over thick-cut bacon.
Fried oysters and brie cheese are served over thick-cut bacon at Vacca Steakhouse in Metairie. (Photo by Patrick Haggerty)
Entrees run through fish and chicken dishes, a steakhouse cheeseburger and Italian flavors (reflecting Provenzano’s background) like lobster fra diavolo.
Desserts range from simple warm cookies and milk to a family-sized “gigantic carrot cake,” which is $30.
A Metairie niche
Jonathan Brisbi toasts a table of diners at Vacca Steakhouse, the Metairie restaurant he co-founded. (Photo by Patrick Haggerty)
Brisbi once ran Brisbi’s Lakefront Restaurant & Bar in New Orleans and sold that waterfront spot to Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar in 2018. He’s now a partner in several bars and the new upscale lounge, Jolie, in the Warehouse District.
“I wasn’t looking to get into anything else, unless it was an old-school steakhouse and then this opportunity came around and that’s exactly what this is,” said Brisbi.
Vacca Steakhouse opened in 2024 in Metairie with an old school approach. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The Peppermill opened in 1976. In September 2023, the Riccobono family closed the restaurant and put the property up for sale. It was at least a partial retirement for longtime co-proprietor Vincent Riccobono (he still runs the much smaller Riccobono’s Panola Street Café in New Orleans).
The bar at Vacca Steakhouse is configured to be a centerpiece for the Metairie restaurant. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Other restaurants swiftly responded to the void this left in the Metairie breakfast game, including nearby Drago’s and another Riccobono family restaurant, Sala, in the West End. But Dumestre and Brisbi saw a different opportunity on Severn Avenue.
“There’s a niche in this part of Metairie for a locally-owned, old school steakhouse,” said Dumestre.
3524 Severn Ave., (504) 318-3808
Wed.-Thu. 3-9 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. 3-10 p.m. (closed Sun.-Tue.)
