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The menu at Nolé mixes Latin American and Louisiana flavors, like the cochon de lait paella.

New Orleans restaurateur Al Copeland Jr.  has a new project in the works for a high-profile restaurant space on St. Charles Avenue.

Nolé is slated to open in late March at 2001 St. Charles Ave., in the former home of Cheesecake Bistro by Copeland’s, and, before that, Straya.

It will blend Latin American and Louisiana flavors. The approach is a collaboration between Copeland and chef Chris Lusk.

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Southern fried chicken is part of a fajita plate at Nolé, a new restaurant in New Orleans.

Look for dishes like paella with cochon de lait and chorizo, Latin-style street corn with blue crab and Creole cream cheese, red bean salsa and pork stew topped with cracklin’.

Naturally, given the Copeland’s connection, there will be fried chicken, with on-the-bone Southern fried chicken combined with a fajitas platter.

Copeland said his aim for Nolé is to showcase connections shared between Latin America and Louisiana through food.

“This needs to feel authentic New Orleans and authentic Latin at the same time, it’s the blend, and it’s coming from the reality of the history we share,” Copeland said.

“As soon as we started looking into it, it just started rolling and coming together,” he said. “The more you learn about how much we really share, the more you see it all around you and the more you respect it.”

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Latin-style street corn with blue crab, aioli and Creole cream cheese is on the menu at Nolé, a new restaurant in New Orleans.

Copeland runs the company created by his father, the late, legendary Al Copeland Sr., founder of the Popeyes fried chicken brand. The company now includes Copeland’s of New Orleans restaurants and a number of other concepts, as well as a major food and seasoning production business (it still supplies Popeyes with many staple ingredients).

The St. Charles Avenue restaurant space is getting a thorough redesign from its Cheesecake Bistro days. It will have two bars, and a terrace room will front St Charles Avenue with the feel of a patio and broad windows that can open in good weather, looking out to the passing streetcars.

Cheesecake Bistro occupied this large restaurant space for 17 years before closing last spring. Prior to that, Al Copeland Sr. had developed Straya here, a temple to his over-the-top approach to life, to the tune of neon, pastel, metal palm trees and panther statues. Its design stirred an entertaining local spat between the restaurateur and novelist Anne Rice when she lived nearby.

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A new hotel called the St. Charles Coach House, seen under renovation here in 2018, opened at 2001 St. Charles Avenue.

The restaurant is part of the hotel, also owned by Copeland’s company, that was closed last summer and reopened as the new St. Charles Coach House in the fall.

The Nolé concept is a departure from Copeland’s other restaurants, which is one reason he wanted to bring in a new chef.

Lusk has experience across New Orleans fine dining, leading the kitchens at Café Adelaide, Restaurant R'evolution and the Caribbean Room. He is now chef at the Steakhouse at Harrah’s.

"I knew we needed someone with a true passion for this food," Copeland said. 

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Al Copeland Jr. cooks up a batch of fried chicken at his company's test kitchen at the top of Copeland Tower in Metairie. 

Several of Copeland's existing concepts were considered for this location, but the company ultimately decided to do something new. In addition to Latin American flavors, Nolé will be influenced by the maternal side of Copeland‘s family, which hails from Houma and Cajun country.

"With so many restaurants in New Orleans now, how do you stand out?" Copeland said. "There's a lot for us to explore here."

Nolé will serve lunch and dinner daily and Sunday brunch, with a daily happy hour from 4pm-6:30pm.

Nolé

2001 St. Charles Ave.

Projected opening late March 2019

Follow Ian McNulty on Twitter, @IanMcNultyNOLA.