What started as a pop-up tapping the flavors of family heritage and the cravings they set is now becoming a new restaurant bringing something different for Mid-City.
Smoke & Honey is taking shape at 3301 Bienville St. That was the home of Piece of Meat, the one-time butcher shop and restaurant that turned into a steakhouse but closed in summer.
Smoke & Honey is projected to open in late January, with renovations now underway. The restaurant will start with breakfast and lunch and later add dinner.
It will also serve as a satellite location for Coffee Science, the excellent café not far away at 410 S. Broad St.
"Grandma's cooking"
Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis is an actor and filmmaker who created the Smoke & Honey pop-up as a pandemic pivot.
Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis created Smoke & Honey as a pop-up for traditional Greek and Jewish food, starting at Pal's Lounge. (Contributed photo from Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis)
It found a home at Pal’s Lounge, that ever-reliable incubator of New Orleans pop-ups.
The concept draws on her heritage and her upbringing in Greece, on the island of Aegina, just off Athens.
Greek salad from Smoke & Honey, which specializes in traditional Greek and Jewish food in New Orleans.(Contributed photo from Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis)
“Food is in my blood; it’s one of the greatest joys of my life,” Ellwood Yiagazis said. “My food is Greek and Jewish soul food, grandma’s cooking.”
It is emphatically not a fusion of the two, but a reflection of different parts of her family story.
The menu will expand on the kind of dishes she’s served as a pop-up.
On the menu
That will include chicken and pork gyros, matzo ball soup, lox and smoked salmon, marinated beets, Greek salad, stuffed grape leaves, souvlaki and spanakopita. On the morning menu, there will also be a breakfast gyro with eggs and halloumi cheese.
The lambeaux is a leg of lamb po-boy, a riff on traditions from Smoke & Honey in New Orleans. (Contributed photo from Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis)
The pop-up’s signature sandwich will be here too. That’s the lambeaux, with leg of lamb, whipped feta and garlic onion jam on a John Gendusa Bakery po-boy loaf.
Smoke & Honey will be a casual neighborhood spot with counter service and indoor and outdoor seating, a place to drop in for a meal or just a coffee. It will also have some elegant touches, like a new alcove built into the wall for a cozy booth. Seats at the bar will look across newly installed, rose-colored tile work.
Gyros are a key part of the menu from Smoke & Honey in New Orleans. (Contributed photo from Vassiliki Ellwood Yiagazis)
The restaurant should be another win on the grab-and-go front in this town too. Expect a case with dips sandwiches, and other items at the ready to supply a quick meal or a picnic on nearby Bayou St. John.
By the Coffee Science coffee bar there be a selection of imported pantry goods.
“It’s all the things I love in the Greek kitchen that I can’t find here,” Ellwood Yiagaziss said.
3301 Bienville St.
Projected opening: late January 2024
