Description:

Step into another world when you open the old wooden door at 1719 Oretha C. Haley Blvd. in Central City in New Orleans. Casa Borrega has a lively courtyard, where Latino musicians play on Friday nights and fans can cheer on their team during the World Cup.  There is New Orleans-style reclaimed woodwork and paneling in the dining room. There are vintage record album covers as décor, ranging from Michael Jackson to Thelonius Monk.  Casa Borrega has a bar with over 100 tequilas, and everywhere are the bright colors, carved masks and Day-of-the-Dead motifs associated with a place you would expect to find in San Antonio, Texas, or in Mexico City.

Hugo Montero, the owner, an artist from Mexico City, bought the 1891 Greek Revival home and, sometime, food store in 2008.  With his wife Linda, who founded The Green Project in 2004, Hugo turned the decrepit building over four years into an authentic Mexican restaurant that is also a certified green business.  

The menu of fresh ceviche, handmade tamales, chiles relleno and huevos rancheros is Mexican rather than Tex-Mex. The tortillas are made in-house and the Margaritas are available with every conceivable tequila.  There’s Mexican cinnamon coffee and flan for dessert.  Casa Borrega is a welcome addition to an up-and-coming neighborhood being reclaimed, block by block, by nonprofits, museums, boxing gyms, cultural centers, art movie houses, and grass-roots mom and pop businesses.  It lends a fiesta-like ambiance to a district that’s fast becoming as multicultural and diverse as any in the city.  It’s a testament to the faith and ingenuity of the owners that this building has a joyous new life.