NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Another post-pandemic restaurant casualty is shaking the local dining scene. Justine, the French-inspired brasserie tucked along Chartres Street in the French Quarter, will serve its final meal the Sunday before Memorial Day.
The announcement came this week from owners Mia and Justin Devillier, who shared the news in a heartfelt message posted online.
“To our devoted team, our wonderful guests, and our special city of New Orleans: We are so grateful for the time you spent with us over the past six and a half Mardi Gras lunches, to celebrate dinners, late night revelry, and celebrations full of love,” the couple wrote.
Opened in early 2020, Justine quickly earned a loyal following with its Parisian décor, curated cocktails, and bold French fare. But like many restaurants in New Orleans, it never fully recovered from the economic blow dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Justine is the latest in a growing list of high-profile closures. Last week, chef Michael Gulotta shut down two of his three restaurants, Mopho in Mid-City and Maypop downtown, both hit hard in the pandemic’s wake.
RELATED STORIES: Shifts in dining habits factor heavily in closing of two award winning restaurants in NOLA
“I just think New Orleans… we have to… we’ve gotten to the point where we’re a feast or famine city based on our tourism,” Gulotta said. “And we’re no longer… we have lots of people that are leaving… It’s just… It’s difficult to say, but you see it in all the reports… they say that people are leaving New Orleans.”
Gulotta said city infrastructure issues added to the strain. Maypop saw business drop after a nearby building started crumbling. Even basics like deliveries became a challenge.
“There is a pothole that is so bad in the back of Mopho that one time a delivery truck hit that pothole, went near… what’s the word I’m looking for… near sideways and knocked the transformer off the telephone pole and so we were out of power for like two days,” he said.
With Maypop and Mopho closed, Gulotta is focusing on TANA, his Italian restaurant in Old Metairie. Many chefs are making this pivot, narrowing their focus to survive.
The Devilliers will also concentrate on their other restaurant, La Petite Grocery, located uptown on Magazine Street.
“They’re all constantly just looking at their numbers and finding ways to become more efficient and plan for the future,” Gulotta said. “But it’s hard to plan for the future when you don’t know what it looks like.”
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.
Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.
Copyright 2025 WVUE. All rights reserved.