The Bulldog owners to bring Mexican restaurant to Old Hammond

Two New Orleans developers have signed a purchase agreement for $900,000 to buy the vacant building on Old Hammond Highway that formerly housed the renowned Chalet Brandt gourmet restaurant and was more recently the site of Mandina’s and, later, Another Broken Egg Café. Herb Dyer and Rusty White, who own and operate The Bulldog bars in New Orleans and here on Perkins Road, plan to tear down the building and redevelop the property as a high-end Mexican restaurant called The Velvet Cactus, according to the agent representing them in the sale, Mark Hebert of Kurz & Hebert Commercial Real Estate. The new restaurant will be between 3,500 and 4,500 square feet, including a patio, and will have parking in the back. That’s roughly the same size as the existing structure, but it will be configured differently and will therefore require zoning approval. “The existing building is just functionally obsolete and needs to be torn down,” Hebert says. “But we’re not changing the use of the property, and we hope everyone realizes what a good thing this will be for the neighborhood.” This will be the second Velvet Cactus for Dyer and White; they opened their first one in the Lakeview section of New Orleans last year. Hebert expects the deal on the bank-owned building to close in about 100 days. —Stephanie Riegel