Shop and Sip: Metairie’s Lakeside Mall Now Has Its Own Bar, With Wine To Go | Where NOLA eats

If shopping makes you thirsty for work, there’s good news at Lakeside Shopping Center. The Metairie shopping center now has its own bar.

Vine & Tap officially opens Thursday right next to the atrium near the middle of the mall. It’s a cafe-sized space with a marble bar for counter service and a collection of tables around the room for full service. After the holidays, Vine & Tap will be adding more tables to the atrium, an area that is now occupied by a stage for photos with Santa Claus and the North Pole Express train ride.

This is the next project for New Orleans-based Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, which operates numerous restaurants in the area.

This includes a Tavola restaurant and wine bar in a separate building adjacent to the shopping center, at the address that has long been Bravo’s home! It opened last year and company CEO Marv Ammari said the happy hour response at the restaurant was part of the reasoning for adding this new bar inside the mall to him. -same.

“We got to know Lakeside and they got to know us, and this different opportunity presented itself,” he said.

Vine & Tap has a full bar, with beer, cocktails and frozen drinks, including an icy eggnog for the holiday season. Wine is the specialty, with around ten wines on tap in addition to the bottle list. The bar also sells retail bottles of wine, for people who want to take home what they’ve tasted.

In the coming weeks, Vine & Tap will add a short menu with cheese and cold cuts, salads, panini and other snacks.

The idea, said Ammari, is to provide another convenience to shoppers who want to take a break between stores. It can also give someone who’s just been around a mall a place to relax while others continue to shop.

Ammari said he took inspiration from wine bars he saw in malls in other cities. One difference here, however, is the go cups. Customers can take their drinks with them to continue walking around the mall.

“This is New Orleans. Without it it could be a tough sale, ”he said.

The new wine bar is located on the site formerly occupied by a Godiva Chocolatier store. Earlier in 2021, Godiva began closing its 128 retail stores and cafes in North America to focus on wholesale and online sales.

Vine & Tap will reflect the opening hours of the shopping center. That means it will rain before noon most days. That’s why the bar has a Bloody Mary on the menu, said company chief operating officer Zeid Ammari.

“A damn Mary and shopping do me good,” he laughs.

Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts operates a wide range of restaurants and bars, including the historic Broussard’s, Café Maspero and the Bombay Club. Lately it has grown into Jefferson Parish and started its first project on the North Shore. A Covington location of its Boulevard American Bistro is now slated to open in early 2022.

Vine & Tap

Lakeside Shopping Center, 3301 boul.