Holywater opens on Conti Street, bringing an oyster bar to an 1837 chandlery
Brothers Alex and Miles Pincus opened the 3,500-square-foot French Quarter restaurant Sept. 23.
NEW ORLEANS: The French Quarter has a new oyster bar. Holywater, from New Orleans natives and brothers Alex and Miles Pincus, opened September 23 at 622 Conti Street, three blocks from where the brothers grew up.
The building does a lot of the talking. An 1837 maritime chandlery, the kind of structure that supplied the sailing ships that made the Quarter, now holds three levels of restaurant: the oyster and cocktail bar on the ground floor, all mahogany and brass with salvaged Louisiana cypress beams, and a 125-seat dining room above it with restored brick walls and antique brass lighting. The third floor is a lounge for music and events.
The brothers come by the concept honestly. Lifelong sailors, they built the Manhattan-based restaurant group Crew before returning to New Orleans, three blocks from where they grew up. Their mother opened the New Orleans Famous Praline Company; their father managed the Hotel Monteleone. The Quarter is, in a real sense, the family business.
The restaurant sits in a former 1837 maritime chandlery, and the building's history is the concept's backbone. The 3,500-square-foot space runs three levels: a mahogany and brass oyster and cocktail bar with salvaged Louisiana cypress beams on the ground floor, a 125-seat dining room with restored brick walls and antique brass lighting above it, and a third-floor lounge for music and events.
The bar program leans theatrical, with cocktails like the Mezcal Hurricane and the Purple Jesus, while the kitchen works Gulf seafood through classical French technique. The culinary team pairs executive chef Alex Harrell of Elysian Bar with James Beard award-winning barman Neal Bodenheimer.
The Pincus brothers are lifelong sailors who built the Manhattan-based restaurant group Crew before coming home. Their parents are Quarter royalty of a sort: their mother opened the New Orleans Famous Praline Company, and their father managed Hotel Monteleone. “Holywater is a place Miles and I have been dreaming of since we were teenagers,” Alex Pincus told Southern Living. “To restore this beautiful old building with friends and fill it with incredible people, food, music, and good times feels like coming full circle.”
The kitchen draws on Gulf seafood and classical French technique, and the bar leans into the theatrical: cocktails include the Mezcal Hurricane and the Purple Jesus. The culinary team includes executive chef Alex Harrell of Elysian Bar and James Beard award-winning barman Neal Bodenheimer, a pairing that signals serious intent behind the youthful energy.
Holywater arrives as the Quarter's dining scene absorbs a difficult summer for hospitality, with soft hotel occupancy and thinner crowds testing new rooms. A 125-seat dining room in a restored 1837 building is a bet that the city's appetite, for oysters and for itself, is intact.
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