BY ANNETTE SISCO | STAFF WRITER Greetings, New Orleans food fans! This week in dining news, we experience a new place and salute the departed. Le Chat Noir, a former landmark of live theater in the CBD, is now an elegant stage for food and drinks. We're relieved to hear a beloved Uptown tavern is reopening. An influential Italian chef has passed away, and we reprise our year of eating deliciously with a checklist of 52 dishes to try in '22. Plus, king cake recipes! Let's dig in... 1. Live 'Chat'? For his first meal at Le Chat Noir, Ian McNulty ordered both lobster and steak. But he's still daydreaming about... the turnips. Find out why in this rave review of the "thrilling" new downtown bistro, formerly a cabaret, from James Reuter and chef Seth Temple. 2. Prayers answered! The dark and cozy watering hole St. Joe's bar, at Magazine and Joseph streets, has been boarded up since Hurricane Ida in August, and regulars were starting to get worried. Good news: Owner Charlie Thompson plans to start pouring again this month. Find out what's new here. 3. Wait! There's more. Chef Goffredo Fraccaro has died; many will remember the joy he brought to his influential pre-Katrina Italian landmark, La Riviera. And we are re-upping this very popular list of 52 dishes to sample around town this year, plus some special drinks. 4. King cake patrol. True aficionados of the Carnival king cake like to sample several every season, and they don't mind going out of their way to find the best. We got this review of a Dong Phuong cinnamon king cake from a member of our Where NOLA Eats Facebook group. Give your opinion here. 5. Resolutions: Eat, drink and be merry. Eating healthy in the New Year? Good luck with that. In New Orleans, diets are a tough sell before Mardi Gras. In the meantime, here is a DIY NOLA-style yeast bread king cake recipe for a perfectly sensible Carnival breakfast, and this elegant French-style king cake recipe that uses puff pastry as a shortcut. Enjoy! That's it for the food newsletter, but in New Orleans the food news never stops. For more, visit us at NOLA.com. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend! --AS P.S. Want to support our award-winning journalism? Check out this great deal. Just $1 for six months — for local journalism that matters! Subscribe here today. | 
