In 2023, Kerry Seaton-Stewart stood outside her restaurant Willie Mae’s Scotch House shortly after a fire had ripped through the beloved Treme institution and pledged that it would be back.
She didn’t know at the time just how long or complex that journey would be. But now, she and her husband Mike Stewart have a new plan to bring their fried chicken and Creole soul classics back to New Orleans by doubling down.
Willie Mae's restaurant on St. Ann Street was damaged by fire in the early morning hours of April 10, 2023. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
While rebuilding continues at the original St. Ann Street restaurant, the family is now preparing to open a second location of Willie Mae’s in downtown New Orleans.
This location will be called Willie Mae’s Nola, and will open at 898 Baronne St. The address was previously home to the Caribbean-inspired restaurant NOLA Caye (which closed late last year). It’s a modern space in a former warehouse with a full bar.
Kerry Seaton-Stewart serves fried chicken at Willie Mae's Scotch House, which has been featured on many national TV programs.
Willie Mae’s Nola is slated to open near the end of the summer, in time for football season.
“New Orleans is home, so it’s good to be home,” Seaton-Stewart said.
Doubling down
Willie Mae’s opened a Los Angeles location a few years ago and ships its signature dishes nationally through Goldbelly.
Opening this downtown outpost is a way for the family business to make a return to New Orleans while the work to bring back the St. Ann Street restaurant continues. Seaton-Stewart reiterated her commitment to bring back the family’s original restaurant.
A weekday lunch at Willie Mae's Scotch House, where tables are spaced for social distancing measures.
“There’s no replacing the original, we’re definitely going to bring it back, that’s our family legacy restaurant,” she said.
It's not the first downtown foray for Willie Mae's. The family once had a second New Orleans location on the other side of downtown, a stand in the Pythian Market food hall. That food hall closed in 2022 after its building changed ownership.
Willie Mae’s Scotch House started as a bar in Treme in 1957 and grew into a neighborhood institution before earning widespread fame for its wet-battered fried chicken and Creole soul cooking. (Staff photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The plan is to keep this second Willie Mae’s open as a downtown destination even after the St. Ann Street restaurant reopens. It will serve a similar menu, which is centered on wet-battered fried chicken, famously light and crunchy with its crackling-crisp crust, red beans and butter beans, cornbread and bread pudding.
Rebuilding a legend
Willie Mae’s Scotch House is known as one of the city's oldest Black-owned restaurants. The Essence Festival of Culture is normally the busiest time of year for Willie Mae’s Scotch House, and this is the second that the restaurant will miss.
President Barack Obama stops at Willie Mae's Scotch House for lunch at St. Ann and N. Tonti Street in New Orleans during his visit to New Orleans for 10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina Thursday, August 27, 2015.
The fire that broke out at 2401 St. Ann St. in the early hours of April 10, 2023, left the old corner spot in ruins. The road back has been slower and more costly than originally projected. Seaton-Stewart said the work calls for a complete rebuild inside and will likely take another year.
The long family story behind the restaurant fuels the drive to bring it back.
Willie Mae Seaton was famous for her fried chicken at Willie Mae's Scotch House on St. Ann street in New Orleans. Photographed May 4, 2005
Stewart-Seaton is the great-granddaughter of restaurant founder and namesake Willie Mae Seaton, who started Willie Mae’s Scotch House as a bar back in 1957.
Once she began cooking for her customers, the business evolved into a restaurant. For a long time, it was a low-key neighborhood joint, the epitome of the backstreet Creole eatery.
Red beans and rice with fried chicken and fried okra on the side at Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans.
In later years, the restaurant's popularity catapulted. In 2005, the James Beard Foundation honored Seaton with its America’s Classics Award, recognizing restaurants that “serve quality food that reflects the character of their communities.” Just months later, the restaurant and its neighborhood were devastated by the levee failures after Hurricane Katrina. A long rebuilding effort became a rallying point for a widespread community of supporters.
The restaurant reopened in 2007, with Seaton-Stewart running the operation. Willie Mae Seaton died in 2015 at age 99.
Many travel and food TV shows came calling and the restaurant quickly became a bucket list destination for foodie tourists. It became common to see a line stretching down the weatherboard flank of the restaurant. Even President Barack Obama stopped in for lunch in 2015, during a visit marking the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The new Baronne Street location will put Willie Mae's in proximity to the big event venues and hotels downtown.
898 Baronne St., projected opening late summer 2024
2401 St. Ann St., projected reopening 2025
