Issue No. 001 · Spring 2025
Gate
keeping
New Orleans
Culture, Strategy, & Wealth from the Front Porch of the South.
Read the IssueFrom the Editor
The Table You Can't
Get Into—Yet
There's a Galatoire's Friday lunch table that doesn't appear on Resy. It's held by a man whose grandfather held it. We're telling you about it anyway.
Continue Reading →Inside This Issue
The Real Reason Compère Lapin Has a Waitlist
Chef Nina Compton didn't just open a restaurant—she reorganized a neighborhood's social hierarchy. Here's what that actually means for property values on Tchoupitoulas.
Broadmoor Before It Was Cool to Say Broadmoor
The people who bought in 2012 know exactly what they did. Now everyone else is figuring it out.
A Reservation Isn't Always a Reservation
The unspoken New Orleans restaurant hierarchy, decoded — from who gets a table to who gets the best one.
The Manifesto
"It's a white linen suit with a grease stain from a fried oyster. That's the whole point."
This isn't a tourist guide. It's not a listicle about the best beignets.
Gatekeeping New Orleans is for the people who already know — and the people smart enough to know they don't know yet.
We write about the food, the chefs, the buildings, the blocks, and the social architecture that makes this city run. We talk wealth without embarrassment. We name neighborhoods before the median price jumps. We tell you who the chef is before the James Beard nomination.
Founded by a New Orleanian who spent years in HR — which means she knows exactly how power actually moves in a room.
Our Three Pillars
Culture
The gatekept restaurants. The chefs to know before they're famous. The food traditions that don't make it onto travel blogs because the people who know them aren't telling.
Strategy
Social capital is a real asset class. We explain the rules of the room — which rooms matter, who's in them, and how a reservation, a renovation, or a relationship can shift your position.
Wealth
New Orleans real estate before the wave, after the wave, and during the wave. Quiet luxury. Generational money. The zip codes that don't need to perform.