By Marielle Songy, Mid-City Messenger
Pagoda Café, the breakfast, lunch and coffee hot spot on Bayou Road and Dorgenois Street, is set to reopen on Thursday (Jan. 21). The 7th Ward café has been closed since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Owner and manager Shana Sassoon made the difficult decision to temporarily shut down Pagoda Café right before the city-wide mandate requiring businesses to do so.
“We knew that gathering spaces weren’t ideal,” she said, “and we were concerned about the safety of our staff and customers.”
Sassoon’s original plan was to reopen in the fall, but that was put on hold due to the hurricanes that threatened New Orleans. She’s excited to finally welcome customers back to the café.
Pagoda Café has been serving up breakfast tacos, sweet and savory pastries, coffee and specialty drinks since 2013 in the tiny landmark building with the expansive patio. Built a century ago as part of the Oriental Laundry chain, the quirky building was previously home to a variety of businesses including a laundromat, a record store, a taco stand and a Rasta shop.
After Katrina, the building was sold to New Orleans civil rights pioneer Matt Suarez, who intended to open it as a sweet shop. When that plan fell through, Sassoon and business partner Dan Etheridge saw an opportunity for a café. They worked to completely restore the building.
“Bayou Road is a hub of Caribbean culture,” Sassoon said. “There’s lots of history here — it was the original portage between the river and the lake.”
Etheridge, who is originally from Australia, and Sassoon, who is from India and grew up in Houston, wanted to combine their cultures into one café. Although Etheridge left the business in 2018, his influence remains on the menu.
“We wanted to bring elements of Australian café culture and Indian culture into it,” Sassoon said. “It’s basically good coffee and good food. I’m from India, where there’s a beach-hut culture that’s very relaxing. We want to combine all of that.”
In Houston, Sassoon was raised on breakfast tacos. She has lived in New Orleans since 2000, and she knew that she wanted to include breakfast tacos and delicious coffee on her menu — she tapped French Truck coffee to handle the café’s coffee needs.
The menu later expanded, with Etheridge’s influence, to include sausage rolls made with sausage from Terranova’s Supermarket on Esplanade Avenue. Sweet pastries, salads and sandwiches were also added, and specialty drinks such as Mango Lassi, an Indian yogurt drink, and Iced Ginger Tonic are customer favorites.
“Right now we’re going to be take-out only,” Sassoon said. “We’re taking all of the precautions to keep everyone safe. We have an ordering window, and the staff will be following all protocols.”
To keep people as safe as possible, Sassoon encourages customers to order food ahead and then pick it up, although ordering at the window is acceptable. Food can be ordered ahead by calling the café at 504-644-4178. The café will be converting to online ordering through Toast, in a few weeks, which will make the entire process easier.
The reopening menu will include breakfast tacos, sweet and savory pastries, and a full beverage menu. See the menu here for the latest offerings.
One thing that Sassoon is proudest of is the new worker-owned co-op that she’s implementing at the café.
“In a worker-owned co-op, workers become owners,” she explained. “They share in profits from the business. It’s a way to create wealth and experience for workers and we’re doing it with all of our current employees — the employees who were here with us before the shut down.”
She sees it as an opportunity for the café’s cooks, baristas and servers to build toward their future.
The café will be open Tuesday through Sunday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pagoda Café
1430 N. Dorgenois St.
www.pagodacafe.net
504-644-4178
pagodanola@gmail.com
Reporter Marielle Songy can be reached at mlsongy@gmail.com.
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