Curbside Burgers has seemed synonymous with Barcadia since first partnering on the New Orleans Barcadia menu in 2013, but the buns have rolled out for good.
Curbside mastermind Nick Hufft has parted ways with Barcadia’s New Orleans and Baton Rouge locations—where he helped shape the burger-centric menus—to instead focus on the opening of The Merchant this month. A newcomer to the Perkins Road overpass area in the previous location of Zee Zee Gardens, The Merchant is now Hufft’s exclusive culinary partner in Baton Rouge.
Barcadia co-owner Billy Blatty says the Barcadia menu will stay mostly the same, with the in-house cooks preparing similar burger recipes branded with different names. For example, Barcadia’s answer to the popular KGB is named for the other side of the Cold War, JFK. The burgers will retain the same meat mix and similar combinations of ingredients, but Hufft emphasizes that they will be Barcadia products, not Curbside.
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Barcadia will also add a few extra items to round out the menu in Curbside’s absence and will soon roll out a new spring menu unrelated to the departure.
“We still maintain a great relationship with Nick and the Curbside brand,” Blatty says. “This was a mutual decision. It was time for both brands to stand out on their own, and we are happy to have grown with Nick over these past four years and look forward to the future we have with the Barcadia culinary team.”
Hufft is working toward a brick-and-mortar Curbside restaurant on Government Street slated for October, but until then, you can find his fare at The Merchant, which Hufft recently opened with co-owner Lon Marchand. One of Hufft’s specialties on The Merchant’s menu is a half-pound burger with a chuck, brisket and short rib blend, making it a more gourmet option than Curbside’s casual dishes fans have come to expect.
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“We’re going more for a gastropub feel with The Merchant, so we have a higher-end burger here. It’s fantastic, but it’s not in the price point of what we’re envisioning for Curbside,” Hufft says. “Curbside will be a neighborhood burger bar with a price point of under $8 or $9.”
While The Merchant is geared toward brunching and higher brow cuisine for the bar crowd, Hufft says the future Curbside location will aim for fast-service lunch transitioning into a comfortable nighttime space for family and friends.
“We have 3,000 square feet in the backyard under a big white oak tree. We’re going to have live music Friday afternoons. It’s going to be a space where you can have a burger, but with the way the patio looks and the way the backyard looks, you’ll be encouraged to stay for a second beer,” Hufft says.