It wasn’t just the consecutive days of double shifts Juan Contreras had to pull at his Mexican restaurant El Gato Negro, making up for staff who were staying home, fearful of being caught up in federal immigration sweeps. But that exhausting stretch was the last straw.
This week, Contreras decided to temporarily close the French Market location of his popular eatery, likely until the new year.
His restaurants in Gretna and Lakeview remain open. But in the French Quarter, business disruptions from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “Catahoula Crunch” crackdown are hitting differently.
The French Quarter location of Mexican restaurant El Gato Negro is temporarily closed in December 2025. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
“After all this, we just needed to take a little break and start the new year fresh,” Contreras said.
“All this” is a year that has brought immense challenges for many restaurants and bars in the city’s historic core and tourism hub.
It is leading up to what could be a consequential finish for French Quarter hospitality businesses, depending on how the final weeks through Christmas and New Year’s play out.
With road work underway on the next block, Royal Street is empty of traffic in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Many hopes are pinned for a strong turnout of New Orleanians pursuing local traditions in the neighborhood, tourists turning up and an influx of business around the Allstate Sugar Bowl after a vexing 2025.
The tale of 2025
The year began with the terrorist attack on Bourbon Street early on Jan. 1, casting a pall over the French Quarter in what is typically a busy time.
In February, coverage of Super Bowl LIX beautifully showcased French Quarter scenes to a national audience, and the mega event was a boon for some businesses. And in a welcome respite, hurricane season was a quiet one this year.
A construction worker locks a fence festooned with signs for local businesses that remain open on Decatur Street as road work progresses. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
But with the arrival of fall, a massive road work project began in the French Quarter, making construction zones out of numerous blocks and intersections on St. Peter Street near Jackson Square and Decatur Street near the French Market, reducing access to many businesses to sidewalk footpaths. That work, which is replacing aged underground water and gas lines, is expected to last for months more.
Street construction on St. Peters Street near Jackson Square in New Orleans, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
Now, year’s end is approaching with new pressure from Border Patrol’s immigration crackdown in New Orleans. Like El Gato Negro, many restaurants are operating with diminished staff as people stay home.
“It’s people with visas, documented people, even citizens, they don’t want to go out and get harassed,” Contreras said.
New Orleans is now also expecting a fresh deployment of the National Guard at some point in December, likely to include a visible presence in the high-profile French Quarter. Some in the restaurant sector see the deployment as a needed bolstering for local law enforcement; others fear heavily armed military personnel will heighten tensions in an area where people come to let their hair down.
Together, it’s exacerbating worries for restaurants that have been struggling to carry on, especially near the construction zones.
Businesses in the French Quarter near road work construction zones are seeing less traffic and asking for support. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Like El Gato Negro, the French Quarter breakfast restaurant Toast has locations in other neighborhoods. Business has been off at all of them since the start of the immigration actions in December, said proprietor Cara Benson.
“Last week was like the worst week since August at all the businesses,” she said. “People are unhappy, they’re just not going out as much.”
At the Decatur Street location, the drop off in business hit with the start of road work outside its doors this fall, Benson said.
“Normally we’re busy starting in October and that continues through December and into spring, but this year has not been normal at all,” Benson said.
A festive finale?
The final weeks of the year are a crucial time for in the annual business cycle for local restaurants. That’s especially true in the French Quarter, where restaurants play host to holiday parties and family outings.
“It caps off the year,” said Steve Pettus, managing partner of local restaurant group Dickie Brennan & Co. “There’s a different feel in the streets. People are out to have fun, and you’re joining the party.”
Fencing around road work rises on the streets fronting Tableau restaurant in the French Quarter (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Holiday décor now decks the dining rooms at Tableau, one of the group’s restaurants, while just outside the construction fencing on St. Peter Street presses in close, making the sidewalk a narrow alley and partially blocking the large restaurant from adjacent Jackson Square.
Pettus, however, remains upbeat for the season and for the French Quarter’s longer-term prospects.
“Locals who haven’t been frequenting (the French Quarter) are missing it now,” he said. “They want to be part of it again, there’s an excitement that only exists in the French Quarter. There’s a magic ingredient to it, and you’re seeing the next generation embracing the neighborhood.”
How to survive
Others in the thick of the construction areas are changing up tactics to hang on.
Alfred Singleton, chef/owner of Café Sbisa restaurant on Decatur Street, is trying to draw more private events and holiday functions to its historic rooms.
“You need to be a destination for people, because right now it’s hard for people to even see your business if they’re walking across the street,” he said.
Similarly, Santos, a late-night bar and music club on Decatur Street, has been opening earlier and packing its schedule with concerts and dance parties, trying to give more people a reason to visit, said owner Benji Lee.
“We’re getting support from people who are aware of the situation, but it’s not ideal to say the least,” Lee said. “In the end, we’re working twice as hard for less sales.”
A few blocks past the Decatur Street construction, at the Cuban bar and restaurant Manolito, managing partner Konrad Kantor has been finding ways to cut costs and also boost business, like adding weekend lunch service.
But Kantor is also among those enthused by the proliferation of modern restaurants and bars in the French Quarter, and he thinks locals will be impressed if they haven’t explored in a while.
“I’ve been running around the Quarter since I was a teenager, and there’s more cool local stuff here now than ever,” he said. “The concern is how can local places make it through whatever this downturn is and survive.”
Dining and Cooking