One of New Orleans’ favorite restaurants is reopening next week. Café Reconcile will be bigger, and able to train even more young people in restaurant operations.
Regular customers of Café Reconcile in Central City may not recognize the new place. In the eight months that it’s been closed, it’s grown from 2400 square feet to 17,000. Chief Executive Officer Glen Armantrout says seating capacity has grown from 80 to 240, and the five-story building now has a courtyard and balcony.
“The great thing about what we’re doing now is everything’s fresh. Fresh vegetables. Fresh meats. Fresh seafood. And we’ve made enhancements to our older recipes.”
The famous bread pudding will be back, along with strawberry shortcake. The program will offer classroom training on healthy eating, how to budget and other educational programs. He says training is expected to grow from 120 graduates a year to as many as 300. And plans also call for more meal service.
“We’ll get back into doing breakfast Monday through Friday," Armantrout said. "That’ll grow into dinner service on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and eventually into a gospel brunch on Sunday.”
But for the next few months, lunch will again be the main attraction, served Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.