Revisiting a historic New Orleans building after too long can feel like seeing an old friend again, especially when it’s in the French Quarter.
Stepping into one storied Rampart Street restaurant space recently, for the first time in more than a decade, felt like watching someone start a new chapter.
The historic building at North Rampart and Dumaine streets in the French Quarter is home to Succotash restaurant. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The new restaurant is called Succotash. It is poised to breathe new life into the property at 1041 Dumaine St. that, in different phases of its history, has been home to highly significant French Quarter dining destinations, starting with Marti’s in the 1970s and ‘80s and continuing with Peristyle for many years after.
It has sat dormant since 2015, after the closure of the last restaurant there, which was also called Marti’s though unrelated to the original.
Glass chandeliers are like aerial centerpieces in the dining room where a mural of City Park is on display at Succotash restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Succotash is now in the final phases of development, with an official opening slated for New Year’s Eve and regular hours to begin after that.
Southern inspired
Succotash is the first restaurant from Kimberly Cochran, who goes by Chef K. She grew up around the South, including time in Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans. Initially in finance, she shifted track to become a chef and built a career in private dining and events in Atlanta before embarking on plans for Succotash.
Kimberly “Chef K” Cochran created Succotash restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
She describes her culinary approach for Succotash as elevated comfort food, drawing inspiration from her family, from places she has lived around the South, and also adding a strong contribution from her sous chef, Richardson St. Louis, who brings a specialty in Caribbean flavors.
“I want people to say this tastes like grandma’s but looks different,” Chef K said.
The full menu for Succotash is not yet available, but Chef K said some menu centerpieces will be a T-bone steak and a dish dubbed “duck, duck, no goose,” a rice dish with duck imbued in the grains, topped with fried duck pieces, and with an option for foie gras to goose it up.
In the repertoire are shrimp and grits, poached lobster arancini and a play on Caesar salad finished with fried anchovies and slices of croissant standing in for croutons.
A seasonal kale salad with pear, pork belly and gorgonzola has pork drippings worked into the dressing. Naturally, succotash will be on the menu, including a rendition with fried okra.
“I’m taking everything I love from everywhere and putting it in one pot, and this is my pot,” the chef said of the restaurant. “It’s food from the heart.”
Behind the bar, and the wine list, are Thomas Moore and Zach Domke. The two say they’re directing the drinks list to be a combination of elevated classics and modern techniques.
Historic space, new plan
Succotash brings a new style to the historic space, with the main dining room now done in hunter green with gold trim, and the bar now finished in dark hues.
But those who remember previous restaurants will find many touchstones of the past.
Glass chandeliers are like aerial centerpieces in the dining room where a mural of City Park is on display at Succotash restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
That includes the banquette on a raised platform in the dining room, the tile floors and Art Deco lines, and beautiful Italian glass chandeliers that glitter like aerial centerpieces.
The dining room still displays a historic mural of the entrance to City Park. Follow a hallway to the bar, and there’s another mural of the peristyle in City Park (both works are by artist Alonzo Lansford, who was the first director of the New Orleans Museum of Art).
A mural of the City Park peristyle is part of the bar at Succotash restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Chef K has big plans for the second floor of the property, where windows slide open to a wraparound gallery overlooking Armstrong Park and views down the French Quarter streets. This second floor has been empty for many years and is now a blank slate, stripped down to the studs. Drawing on her experience in the private event world, the chef envisions building out the space for functions, including weddings.
In the restaurant and bar, she’s aiming to cultivate a local clientele, adding to the string of bars and restaurants gradually revitalizing Rampart Street.
Succotash is an upscale/casual restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
“The people we have here will show what we are in this space,” Chef K said. “I hope we see all our neighbors in here, because if the neighbors are coming, we’re doing something right.”
The neighborhood aspect of the French Quarter has long been an important part of the story for this property.
A storied restaurant space
Once an all-night restaurant called Gentilich, the first heyday for this space started in 1971 as Marti’s, opened by namesake Martin Shambra and Dr. Larry Hill. It became a hub of French Quarter social life and the city’s arts and gay communities in particular, as recounted in the book “Lost Restaurants of New Orleans” by Tom Fitzmorris and Peggy Scott Laborde.
Dinnertime at the Peristyle, one of New Orleans’ most fondly remembered restaurants. Although the restaurant closed in 2008, the space at Dumaine and North Rampart streets is active as Marti’s, the name it held before the Peristyle moved in for a 16-year reign. (Photo by Ellis Lucia, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)
Tennessee Williams, who had an apartment across the street, was a regular when in town. Events at the nearby Municipal Auditorium (shuttered since Hurricane Katrina) and the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts drew diners before and after shows.
The dining room of Peristyle as seen on September 30, 2006. (NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)
Marti’s closed in 1988, and the property returned in 1992 as Peristyle, initially led by chef John Neal. When Neal died three years later, his protégé Anne Kearney took over and built its stature to the top tier of New Orleans restaurants. Chef Tom Wolfe took over Peristyle in 2004 but closed it in 2009.
The main dining room at Peristyle with one of the signature murals at right in 2006. (Photo by Ellis Lucia, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archive)
In 2013, the restaurant came back to life as a new venture using an old name — Marti’s. This one lasted two years, shutting down amid disruption from Rampart streetcar construction. It has been quiet there since 2015.
That’s long enough for even locals well-traveled in contemporary New Orleans dining to be unfamiliar with the space and its role on Rampart Street. But with Succotash, that could soon change.
Glass chandeliers are like aerial centerpieces in the dining room at Succotash restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Once Succotash opens, the initial schedule will be dinner Wednesday to Sunday, with weekend brunch to follow and lunch hours possible later.
Succotash
1041 Dumaine St., (504) 290-8848, opens Dec. 31, 2025
