Past Lives Served Nightly: Sylvain Restaurant & Bar
Sylvain on Chartres, photo by Ellis Anderson
July 2025Now more than 13 years old, this restaurant is creating its own legacy in a building with a storied past - and its own sassy ghost named Rose.
– by Kim Ranjbar
photos by Ellis Anderson and Kim Ranjbar
This column is underwritten in part by Matthew Peck Gallery
Just steps away from hustling street performers, fortune tellers, and local artists in Jackson Square lies Sylvain, a Southern bistro tucked into a carriage house built in the late 18th century. Famished guests seeking respite from the brouhaha enter the restaurant by traversing a long, dark side alley culminating in a brick courtyard surrounded by verdant flora.
In contrast to the bright sunlight reflecting off the gleaming facade of the St. Louis Cathedral, a soft, enchanted light filters through the courtyard’s greenery at Sylvain, subtly evoking the feeling of another place and time.
“Every time I walk down that hallway, I’m transported,” says General Manager Ellie Rogers. “No matter how tired I am or how late I was there the night before, it’s always impressed upon me how lucky I am to work in this incredible space with so much history.”
Sylvain General Manager Ellie Rogers, photo by Ellis Anderson
photo by Ellis Anderson
Although the details are a bit murky, the two-story building on Chartres Street is believed to be one of many properties rebuilt by Don Andrés Almonester y Roxas after the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788.
A wealthy Spanish colonial official born of Andalusian nobility, Almonester is remembered for his lasting civic contributions to New Orleans, including the reconstruction of the St. Louis Cathedral and the construction of both the Cabildo and the Presbytère.
Aunt Rose
Over the past two hundred years, 625 Chartres Street has served as a residence for “many dignitaries and incredible characters,” but none quite so fascinating as Rose Arnold.
625 Chartres Street in 1936, seven years after Aunt Rose died. Photograph by Richard Koch, courtesy The Collins C. Diboll Vieux Carré Survey, a project of the Historic New Orleans Collection.
An article from the April 12, 1929 issue of the Times-Picayune.
Before such notables as Ruthie the Duck Girl and Mamie Francois, ie, the "Queen of Bourbon Street," there was Rose Arnold, more fondly known as Aunt Rose. Her obituary in the New Orleans States-Item sketches the life of an intriguing woman who, after an unsuccessful marriage to a wealthy Louisiana planter, carved out her own legacy in the city.
Aunt Rose launched a penny store, ran a rooming house, and eventually opened the Café des Quatre Saisons – a popular haunt for judges, lawyers, and other prominent city officials. A devoted animal lover, she was also known to feed stray cats in Jackson Square and is believed to have been a founding member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
But Rose’s legacy extended beyond her entrepreneurial endeavors. Though absent from her obituary, it was widely known that she had once been a Storyville madam, and her rooming house near Jackson Square became a magnet for bohemians, artists, and literary minds.
In a 1972 Times-Picayune article, Aunt Rose was portrayed as “a shrewd businesswoman” with a trove of stories to tell—tales that captivated American writers like William Faulkner and Sherwood Anderson, who “spent hours with her in her courtyard just listening and drinking."
Forever immortalized in literature, Aunt Rose is believed to have inspired the character of Aunt Sally—a retired brothel operator—in Sherwood Anderson’s short story A Meeting South. Many also speculate that she was the muse behind Faulkner’s Miss Rebecca, who appears in both Sanctuary and The Reivers.
Many of Sylvain’s employees, both past and present, believe Aunt Rose lives on, bedeviling the current occupants of her former rooming house on Chartres Street.
“She definitely haunts the building,” Rogers admits. “All of the staff members have their stories about Rose.”
One of the most memorable encounters comes from former head chef Martha Wiggins—a 2017 James Beard Rising Star semi finalist and protégé of Sylvain’s founding executive chef Alex Harrell. During a late-night solo prep shift in the upstairs kitchen, Wiggins recalled feeling a sharp smack on her backside from a spatula – though no one else was there.
“She’ll tell you all about it,” Rogers said with a grin. “She’s had lots of run-ins with Rose.”
In an effort to appease the willful spirit, Sylvain’s staff members have created a small altar with candles and offerings above the bar.
Mixing up a Sazerac for Aunt Rose, photo by Ellis Anderson
Offering up a Sazerac on the altar to honor Aunt Rose, photo by Ellis Anderson
“We leave her a Sazerac, and we replace it pretty regularly. If something goes wrong, the first thing we ask is ‘does Rose have her Sazerac?’”
La Marquise
Until 2010, the carriage house on Chartres Street was home to La Marquise, a cherished café and bakery owned and operated for nearly 30 years by French pastry chef Maurice Delechelle. Widely considered one of the best bakeries in New Orleans, La Marquise earned a loyal following – even during Mardi Gras, when Delechelle eschewed the typical Danish-style king cake in favor of a traditional French galette des rois.
Maurice in front of La Marquise, 1987. Vieux Carré Digital Library
The courtyard during the La Marquise era. One of the intriguing features was the little door in the wall that is no longer there. May 1983, Vieux Carré Digital Library
Locals and visitors alike recall the shop with deep affection. One Reddit user remembers chasing anoles in the courtyard while their mother enjoyed coffee with friends, inspired by a fruit tart so perfect it sparked a desire to attend pastry school: “That little store has had an outsized influence in my life.”
Many older local artists remember times when they’d have to arrive at Jackson Square pre-dawn to reserve their spots for the day. They’d then settle in at La Marquise with café au lait, pastries, and conversation with other artists and French Quarter denizens, until potential customers began filtering out of nearby hotels.
The view of La Marquise from the corner of Wilkinso Row and Chartres. Many Jackson Square artists and musicians began the day at La Marquise and ended it at the Alpine Bar. 1972 drawing by Jack R. Miller, Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Barbara and Hugo Wedemeyer, 2000.61.44
In 1982, Delechelle opened a second patisserie in the neighborhood called Croissant D'Or. Although the old-world style pastry chef retired, the popular Ursuline Street bakery lives on (with a second location opening this summer – only three blocks from Sylvain on Chartres Street).
Maurice Delechelle on a bicycle, 1989, Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of an Anonymous Donor, 1993.106.9
The Sylvain Era
It’s been almost 13 years since business partners Sean McCusker and Robért LeBlanc opened Sylvain. The spirit-focused restaurant opened as a sort of playful counterpoint to Cure – the award-winning, “extremely serious” craft cocktail bar on Freret Street (co-founded by Neal Bodenheimer in 2009).
In contrast, Sylvain set out to embrace a more laissez-faire attitude, with a touch of irreverence. “It’s a place where you can get a really great drink, only in a more laid-back atmosphere,” says Rogers.
Honoring the building’s artistic and non-conformist legacy, the restaurant took its name from Silvain – the first documented French opera performed in New Orleans. Staged in 1796, a few blocks away at the Théâtre St. Pierre, the one-act opéra-comique boldly advocated for social equality while critiquing the injustices of the landowning elite.
Since opening, Sylvain’s kitchen has been home to some of the city’s finest chefs, from Alex Harrell, currently helming the fires at The Gloriette in Covington, and Cafe Reconcile’s Martha Wiggins, to Link Restaurant Group alum Kyle Coppinger and Vancouver-native Chris Hamm.
With so many different personalities bringing their own flavors, Sylvain’s menu became a bit off-kilter, but Todd Pulsinelli, Culinary Director for LeBlanc + Smith properties, has been working with the restaurant’s head chef Matt Regan to bring things back into focus.
“I think we’ve kind of brought it back to kind of what it was in the beginning. It’s staying true to local ingredients and [we’re] keeping the menu seasonalized,” says Pulsinelli. “I’m really proud of the menu and the way this place is rolling.”
A few of Sylvain’s highlights include a fried green tomato with shrimp remoulade, cream cheese dumplings with spicy crab (or crawfish), and a slow-cooked short rib in a rich, red wine bordelaise.
“Everything is really simple, but done right,” says Pulsinelli.
“One of the best menu hacks at Sylvain is to order one of the salads, like the green cabbage salad, a Vietnamese-inspired dish with lime, cilantro, jalapenos, peanuts … and add fried chicken to that,” laughs Rogers.
Vietnamese-inspired cabbage salad topped with fried chicken at Sylvain, photo by Kim Ranjbar
Eggs Benedict with biscuits, Chisesi Bros. ham, creamed kale and hollandaise, a recent brunch item at Sylvain, photo by Kim Ranjbar
“We also have this fabulous cauliflower Caesar, with pesto and parmesan crisps. We like adding fried chicken to that, too.”
A former bartender who cut her teeth behind the stick at Sylvain over a decade ago, Rogers likes to assist the bar manager Katie Goldstein whenever there’s a need for some creative input or R&D.
“I’ve been a part of the bar there for so long, it’s hard to keep my fingers out of the pints.”
She recommends the bar’s current daiquiri riff called The Four Tempers, made with sugar snap peas, lemon and Alpeggio, a grassy, floral liqueur from Northern Italy. “It’s bright green, and super clean and bright,” says Rogers. “The bar manager [Katie Goldstein] loves Severance, big fan.”
“We’ve evolved over the years, but we always try to keep our essence – being somewhere where locals and tourists alike can find a great bite to eat in the French Quarter,” says Rogers. “We want to be an oasis.”
And as such, Sylvain is in the process of creating its own legacy, one that both echoes – and honors – the setting’s bohemian French Quarter past.
*Drop in to Sylvain Restaurant & Bar for a bite during the upcoming Tales of the Cocktail July 20-25, a 23-year-old festival-turned-spirits conference attracting industry professionals from all over the world.
