It’s hard to keep a good witch down, and New Orleans chef Cristina Quackenbush is indeed a good witch.
Two years ago, she spun together her spiritual identity as a witch with a modern interpretation of her Filippino roots cuisine to create Tatlo, an absinthe bar and restaurant that was unique in New Orleans, and perhaps anywhere.
She closed Tatlo after just a year, pledging to reopen it again. Now she has, precisely in the same location. It’s just off Bourbon Street in a speakeasy-style den connected to the Old Absinthe House.
Tourists pour into that landmark French Quarter bar for beers and shots and an ambiance of old New Orleans. In the corner of the bar, an unmarked door with a small, grated window gives anyone who peeks through a glimpse into Tatlo. It’s a very different scene on the other side of the wall.
The restaurant and absinthe bar Tatlo is all but hidden just off Bourbon Street in the French Quarter.
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
The lighting is kept at perpetual twilight. Spanish moss clings to thick rafters. Antique absinthe fountains rise from the bar. Emblems evoking the feminine occult adorn the walls. There’s an elegant mystique to Tatlo, a sense of finding something hidden in plain sight.
While October in New Orleans has become a season of “witch brunches” and costumed events at restaurants, that is not Tatlo. This is a genuine manifestation of the chef’s spirituality expressed through food, drink and hospitality, from the decor to the recipes.
A chef’s journey
Quackenbush first gained a following for the traditional cooking of her Filipino heritage with Milkfish, which started as a pop-up, became a restaurant for a few years and reverted again to a pop-up concept.
Witchcraft has been part of her life since she was a teenager. It’s always been a benevolent practice, she says. She channeled it into a different kind of restaurant when Tatlo first opened in 2024.
Chef Cristina Quackenbush created her restaurant and absinthe bar Tatlo in the French Quarter by blending her Filipino roots cuisine and her spirituality as a witch.
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
“One reason I wanted to do this is to change misconceptions,” Quackenbush said. “As witches, we’re all about the ingredients, the environment and how that can shape how we’re living. We need to be at one with ourselves, and witchcraft is what has helped me through my life.”
Tatlo quickly made a splash. The ambience and witchy identity were certain to draw tourists looking for a spooky French Quarter vibe. But the restaurant also developed a local clientele based on the chef’s reputation for Filipino cooking and late-night hours that drew hospitality workers after their shifts. It made a 2025 list from Bon Appétit of nine top new bars across the country.
The divine connection is a cocktail with blue absinthe at Tatlo restaurant and bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
But the finances were not working out, the chef said. After a year, she closed Tatlo and began scouting other potential locations. Nothing fit quite right. But in the interim, one of her frequent customers stepped up as a new investor and the chef was able to come to better terms with the landlord at the Old Absinthe House location.
Thus, all the pieces and parts she had moved out started going back in, and a renewed Tatlo opened its doors last week.
Dishes, drinks as spells
There are some differences now. A broader range of Southeast Asian influences on the first menu has been refined to more specifically Filipino flavors, with the chef’s modern interpretations.
Recipes are composed as spells and chosen for a purpose, based on the spiritual or wellness properties of their ingredients, Quakenbush says.
A candle made of butter melts into the protection noodles, one of the dishes designed as a benevolent spell at Tatlo, a restaurant and bar in the French Quarter.
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
Protection noodles, the top dish from Tatlo’s first run, have crab and green curry and lots of garlic tangled in pancit noodles, with a candle made of butter that’s lit at the table to melt into the dish. Garlic is known for its antimicrobial properties. At Tatlo, it’s recommended for protecting emotional well-being too.
Pork ribs crusted with seasoning and sticky with lemongrass barbecue sauce are arranged on the plate in a runic triangle shape for a dish called the Triquetra, recommended for mental clarity.
A dish called Teach a Girl to Fish is based on the traditional Filipino sinigang soup, with a tart base of tamarind, tomato and okra. But here it becomes an upscale treatment of the daily fish with a delicate smoked fumet replacing the broth. For Quackenbush, it’s a dish that represents her culture and is a symbol of rebirth and change.
Prices are mid-range, with dishes between $15 and $25.
The full bar has a collection of absinthe, including from local maker at Atelier Vie, for artfully composed cocktails or traditional service with fountains and sugar cubes.
For a dose of awakening and connection, try the Divine Connection, an absinthe cocktail with blueberry, lemon and butterfly pea flower, while there’s power and remembrance in Aunt Nan’s Old Fashioned, a riff on the classic made with rice whiskey and jackfruit.
Candles seem to float above a piano in the dining room at Tatlo restaurant and bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
Hecate’s Crossroads, a cocktail of absinthe and prosecco with lavender, promises wisdom and guidance. Of course, that could depend on how many are tipped back in a night.
In November, Tatlo will start a late-night menu, served from 11 p.m. on, with more traditional Filipino dishes from the Milkfish repertoire. The restaurant will also soon begin using two additional dining rooms for groups and events, located on the second and third floors above the Old Absinthe House, accessed by a winding staircase and giving views over Bourbon Street.
Tatlo
240 Bourbon St.
Wed.-Sun., 6 p.m. to midnight (1 a.m. on Fri., Sat.)
Note: open to ages 21 and up.
Dining and Cooking