Compere Lapin
Louisiana
Compère Lapin is a restaurant at 535 Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Warehouse District. It opened in June 2015 and is led by Chef Nina Compton, whose food draws on her St Lucian background, French training and Italian experience. The restaurant’s name comes from Caribbean folktales, and its stated aim is to express the energy and hospitality of New Orleans through a contemporary neighbourhood dining room. The menu centres on bold, ingredient-led cooking that combines Caribbean flavours with Louisiana produce and Gulf seafood. Official dishes include curried goat with sweet potato gnocchi, jerk pork belly, tuna ceviche, blackened pig ears and fried chicken with coconut grits. Menus change regularly and include small plates, larger mains and desserts, with brunch and dinner service listed on the restaurant’s own site. Drinks are an important part of the experience. Compère Lapin’s website describes an award-winning bar programme built around creative cocktails and local ingredients, alongside wine, spirits and dessert drinks. The restaurant also offers private dining, indicating that it can host more formal gatherings as well as regular meals. The overall style is polished but relaxed, with a focus on culinary detail rather than elaborate formality. Taken together, the restaurant presents itself as a distinctive New Orleans address that connects regional ingredients with Caribbean and broader global influences. Its official materials emphasise house-made preparations, seasonal adjustment and a strong sense of place. For guests, that suggests a dining experience shaped by the city’s food culture but filtered through Nina Compton’s personal background, with the bar and kitchen working together to create a layered, modern Southern-Caribbean restaurant experience.