More than a decade ago, the New Orleans-born chef Nick Lama opened a sophisticated, candlelit restaurant in Uptown rooted in his Sicilian heritage. He called it Avo, an Italian word meaning “grandfather” or “ancestor.”
It quickly ascended the ranks of Italian cuisine in New Orleans, with housemade pastas covered in lump crab meat or submerged in white truffle butter; roasted chicken speckled in capers with white wine and butter; and charred octopus in a circle of chili glaze.
But come next week, these intricate dishes will be served for the last time, as the restaurant on Magazine Street prepares to close its doors on Dec. 23.
“This decision wasn’t easy, but it comes with deep gratitude for everyone who has dined with us, celebrated with us, and supported us along the way,” the restaurant wrote in an Instagram post.
Lama, who could not be reached for comment Monday, began cooking at Muriel’s before serving as chef de cuisine at Gautreau’s under Sue Zemanick. When the contemporary-style building on Magazine Street, formerly home to Martinique Bistro, became available, he opened Avo in 2015 with his wife, Melissa.
Tonnarelli pasta cacio e pepe with lump crabmeat at Uptown Italian restaurant Avo.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Lama was raised in the restaurant kitchens of his parents. His father owned St. Roch Market until Hurricane Katrina, selling fresh seafood while running two other restaurants in Bucktown and the northshore.
“I grew up loving, cooking food, always being around people who cooked,” Lama told Gambit in a 2015 interview. “Food was a big part of my family, even just the process of it, being in the kitchen and just cooking together.”
At a time when New Orleans Italian dining included neighborhood joints serving veal and pasta under thick blankets of red gravy more often than not, Lama offered a more fresh, refined style of cooking. The restaurant’s interior and courtyard mirrored the elegance of the cuisine, reflecting a quieter aesthetic.
After a renovation in the summer of 2019, the former patio at the Uptown Italian restaurant Avo is an enclosed dining room.
A great-grandson of Sicilian immigrants, Lama once described his food to Gambit as “regional Italian cuisine with an emphasis on fresh and local ingredients.”
“I think that’s the thing with good Italian food,” he said. “It’s food made with local ingredients that are fresh and prepared in a very simple way so the ingredients really stand out.”
