Newman Alumni Revitalizing Freret Street

[FULL STORY]

After decades of decline – not to mention a crippling blow by Katrina – Freret Street is on the rise. Businesses are popping up all along the once thriving business corridor. Restaurants, bars, retail shops, and gyms are sprinkled up and down the street and more are on the way. And at the center of this mini-boom is a group of entrepreneurial Newman alumni.

 

“After Katrina, it was grim, but it had a lot of potential,” says Neal Bodenheimer ’95, who is the founder and owner of Cure, a modern new nightspot on Freret Street. Bodenheimer had the idea for Cure since 2005, and he originally planned to open the restaurant in New York City, where he was living at the time. But when Katrina hit, he knew he needed to come home. "If native New Orleanians didn't return home after Katrina, then many felt that there would be no New Orleans," said Bodenheimer. He changed the location to Freret Street, and continued with his plans.

 

By 2008, Bodenheimer and business partner Matthew Kohnke were busy restoring the brick structure at the corner of Upperline. In February of 2009, Cure opened its doors. Visitors can step from the hot street into an oasis of cool light, gourmet cocktails, appetizers, and small-plate entrées. Business has taken off for Cure; it has been named one of the Best Bars in America by Esquire magazine, one of America’s Best Cocktail Bars by Travel + Leisure, and it was a Best Bar Program semifinalist in the 2012 James Beard Foundation Awards. Building on his success with Cure, Bodenheimer has opened a second bar – Bellocq, in the Hotel Modern on St. Charles.

 

In the time since Cure opened, Freret Street has seen a slew of new businesses open. Once the only dining option was Domino’s, but now foodies can choose from Sarita’s, Freret Street Po-Boy and Donuts, High Hat Café, Ancora, Midway Pizza, Frostbite Yogurt, and two new restaurants connected with Newman graduates: The Company Burger and Origami.

 

The Company Burger is the brainchild of alumnus Adam Biderman ’99. The restaurant prides itself on its main attraction and primary focus – the hamburger. These no-nonsense, yet juicy and indulgent treats are a key to the restaurant’s continuing success since its opening in August of 2011. The Company Burger has gotten some great press also. Biderman recently won the Concept Award of  StarChefs.com Rising Stars Awards, and Company Burger was recently named Burger Restaurant of the Year by New Orleans Magazine. Biderman himself has garnered a bit of ink, having recently won the "Porkpurri" category at the the Hogs for a Cause festival, which helped propel his team to a Grand Champion prize win at the event.

 

When Casey Burka ’02 and Ben Jacobson ’01 saw that the troubled bar Friar Tuck’s was closing its doors for good, they saw an opportunity. The two banded together with alumni Henry '01 and his father Arthur Pulitzer '61 and purchased the property, planning to convert it into a family-friendly restaurant. Mitsuko Tanner, mother of Newman alumni Tabo ’04 and former Greenie Junya Tanner, now runs the Origami Restaurant out of the building. The beautifully decorated space offers delicious sushi and Japanese food in a warm, friendly atmosphere – a far cry from the old Friar Tuck’s. Alumnus Tabo Tanner is helping his mother as a sushi chef at the restaurant.

 

But what is really remarkable about the revitalization of Freret Street is the dedication by its business owners to see the street become the great neighborhood it was in the '50s. Entrepreneurs like Bodenheimer, Biderman, Burka, Jacobson, the Tanners, and the Pulitzers are taking a calculated risk in operating businesses there, but the risk is paying off. All of the businesses are doing well; the alumni are all members of the New Freret business alliance, and Bodenheimer is on the board. He is also happy with the relationship he has with the other alumni, who help each other out any way they can. “I love Company Burger and I talk with Adam and Casey a lot,” says Bodenheimer. “It’s the Newman relationship that you never undervalue. I wanted to help them to be successful.”