Cavan was one of a slew of restaurants to close for good last fall after Hurricane Ida. Now, the historic building it once called home has a new owner, a chef with New Orleans roots now developing a new restaurant back in his hometown.
Chris Dupont recently bought the property at 3607 Magazine St. He is a chef who built his career over the last 30 years in Birmingham, Alabama. His restaurant Café Dupont was a pioneer in the modern farm-to-table style for Birmingham.
Now he’s sold Café Dupont, along with his Birmingham home, and he and his family are moving to New Orleans.
“I wanted to have my last restaurant in the place where I came from,” Dupont said. “I saw this as a logical return for myself.”
ADVOCATE PHOTO BY JT BLATTY – Cavan opened in 2016 as a modern New Orleans restaurant built in a historic Uptown home.
He hopes to open his new restaurant by late summer, pending renovations to the former Cavan. Much about the new place has yet to be developed, and its name hasn’t been finalized.
But Dupont said he’ll start with the same cornerstone approach he’s used through his career – connecting with local food producers to build menus reflecting place and season.
“The ingredients write the menu. I have to spend time becoming familiar with the folks who have their hands in the ground,” he said. “I try not to pinpoint a style. I focus on technique.”
The chef opened the first iteration of Cafe Dupont in 1994 in Springville, Alabama, outside of Birmingham. This small town location put him in close contact with many local farmers.
Cafe Dupont opened in downtown Birmingham in 2003, nearly a decade after starting in the town of Springville, Alabama. (Contributed photo)
In 2003, he moved the restaurant to downtown Birmingham; it’s credited with helping stir a revival of the city’s business district, which at the time emptied out after hours. The Birmingham News has called Cafe Dupont the city’s “premier downtown dining destination.”
Dupont grew up in Gretna and by high school was working in local restaurants. That included big names of the era, most of which have long since closed, like Christian’s in Mid-City (now home to Vessel), the Bistro at the Maison de Ville when Susan Spicer was its chef, and Tour d’Eiffel, the once-landmark restaurant on St. Charles Avenue from chef Daniel Bonnot. His first sous chef job was at Flagons on Magazine Street (now home to Basin Seafood & Spirits).
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ADVOCATE PHOTO BY JT BLATTY – Cavan opened in 2016 as a modern New Orleans restaurant built in a historic Uptown home. The second-floor dining room looks out over Magazine Street.
These were formative experiences for his career.
“Probably the biggest influence on me was worked at really good kitchens, right from the beginning,” he said. “Everything I needed to know came to me from what I’d seen.”
Cavan was an atmospheric, upscale casual bistro opened in 2016 by local group LeBlanc + Smith. The property has bars and dining rooms on two floors and a front porch and yard facing Magazine Street. After trying to maneuver the pandemic, the impact of Ida proved the final blow when it closed in September.
Cavan, developed in a 19th century townhouse on Magazine Street, kept many of the vintage design touches intact. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
The Magazine Street address is a townhouse known as the Cockerton House, after Alfred William Cockterton, a state official who built it in 1881, according to a description in the “New Orleans Architecture Series.” Previously used as a gallery, Cavan was its first incarnation as a restaurant.
The architect for Dupont’s renovation is Brooks Graham, who has worked on many prominent New Orleans restaurants.
Though well known in Birmingham, Dupont said he knows he’ll have to start a new in New Orleans. But he’s also excited to rejoin the culinary scene that first inspired him all those years ago.
“We have so many roots here, it’s time,” he said. “I have love for the city, and I’m glad I’m doing my part in some way.”
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