Chef Melissa Araujo pays homage to her Honduran roots—and her grandmother’s kitchen—at her welcoming Bywater cafe. She channels culinary influences from the homey dishes of her childhood along with specialties of the Garifuna, descendants of an Afro-indigenous population from the Caribbean who were exiled to the Honduran coast in the eighteenth century.
Alma, which means soul in Spanish, was five years in the making, with Araujo popping up in various kitchens while she was running a catering business. From day one, it was wildly popular with locals, but as time went by and more visitors started coming back to New Orleans, tourists discovered Araujo’s from-scratch menu.
The Alma breakfast is a best seller—two eggs with refried beans, sweet plantains, avocado, queso fresco, and homemade crema—along with its sister dish baliadas sencilla, a mix of eggs, refried beans, and queso on homemade flour tortillas. Fried dough dusted with sugar delivers a Honduran version of beignets called bunuelo macheteadas. There’s also house-cured salmon paired with toast for a take on a bagel with lox.
Plant-based dishes are a feature at every meal, from the red beans and jasmine rice served with coconut milk and herbs at lunch to the garlic-roasted eggplant and coriander roasted carrots on the new dinner menu. Initially open just for breakfast and lunch, Araujo added dinner early this year, offering a newly crafted menu each night. Guests can dine inside and out in the sparse, elegant space, which is decorated with her grandparents’ wedding photo and a tile mural of the Mayan moon goddess Ixchel, a deity of female power and fertility.
Can’t Miss
Cocktail: The Mayan Mezcalita with Montelobos mezcal, hibiscus tea, lime, and cilantro syrup
Appetizer: Ana shrimp dip
Main: Caracol al ajillo—escargot served with garlic butter and bread for dipping
Dessert: Honduran bread pudding drizzled with cognac-infused cane syrup