Niche closes, owners eye replacement next year

In mid-October, Niche Restaurant closed its doors after four years, and it’s back to the drawing board for Ause Ismail and his family. Though the family is most known for their Po-Boy Express locations in Baton Rouge and Denham Springs, Niche was Ismail’s attempt to branch out from that concept.

The building, which is owned by the family, will house a “new concept that should be open by the new year” Ismail says.

“We’re exploring all available options,” he says. “We’re open to anything. The original idea of Niche was to take Po-Boy Express and add a few dishes here and there. Now, we’re focusing on the original idea of what we wanted to do. We’re learning from all the mistakes we made and trying to come up with something else.”

Though Ismail never heard complaints about the restaurant’s food, Niche had stiff competition on Siegen Lane, with chain restaurants such as Olive Garden, Twin Peaks and McAlister’s Deli nearby.

“Our food was always above average,” he says. “The latest menu was more extravagant, and that last push wasn’t meant for the Siegen crowd. We alienated ourselves too much. Business slowed down a lot, and we weren’t able to justify staying open. That location is tough.”

In July, the restaurant added chef Sean Rivera, who ramped up the menu with fresh vegetables, quick lunch entrees and more dinner selections. Rivera now works as a chef coordinator for the Agribusiness Council of Louisiana.

For Ismail, the fact that Niche closed in its fourth year rather than its first was more distressing.

“I always thought of Niche as a living, breathing thing,” Ismail says. “Absolutely, I was sad to see it go. It was a dream of mine when I was in college to open a restaurant like that. It was always evolving. I didn’t want the crowd to get bored and always looked forward to changing up the menu. I didn’t want it to ever get stagnant. For the most part, we sustained and made enough to cover expenses.”

Even though the family is still working out a plan for the new endeavor, Ismail is optimistic about the location’s future.

“The new concept will have good food, something that everybody is going to want to eat,” he says. “We’re not going for any one market.”