Outpost 45, 900 Harrison Ave., named after the bus line that serves Lakeview, opened in May in the building that was once home to Mondo and later Elle J’s. This new restaurant concept comes from the team behind The Velvet Cactus, located right across the street, and Wrong Iron in Mid-City.
Outpost 45’s partners include Chuck Brechtel, Scott Dickinson, Herb Dyer, Jeff “JP” Roots, Amy Sandrock, and Rusty White.
Roots was raised in New Orleans and attended culinary school at Johnson and Wales University at their Charleston campus. After college, he worked as a sous chef in Charleston before relocating back to New Orleans. He cooked at Ruth’s Chris and various casinos before helping to open The Velvet Cactus in 2012. From there, he helped open The Velvet Cactus in Baton Rouge and Jackson, and Wrong Iron in Mid-City. Brechtel, Dyer, and White had connections to The Bulldog locations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as well as the now-shuttered Lager’s in Metairie, while Dickinson and Sandrock were partners with Roots in The Velvet Cactus.
Roots was eager to open another restaurant in Lakeview when the opportunity for Outpost 45 came along.
He said, “The opportunity presented itself in this place across the street. We wanted to open something in the neighborhood that would have a variety of things that different people would like. We wanted a nice bar where you could get a drink, but also get some comfort food.”
Not too much has changed with the renovations at the new spot; the pizza oven is gone, but the restaurant’s massive bar remains. Roots calls the menu at Outpost 45 an “elevated Southern” and the American-style bistro that offers familiar food with a bit of flair.
Menu highlights include Paneed Chicken, shrimp, tasso, and shitake mushroom pasta; She Crab soup; Blackened Red Fish, lump crab, red pepper hollandaise, and roasted garlic rosemary new potatoes; Skirt Steak, USDA Prime 6-ounce steak, chimichurri, garlic aioli, horseradish cream, Gouda mac, and cheese; Muffaletta Egg Rolls, deep-fried eggrolls served with a Sriracha Mayo; and Cornbread Dusted Pork Shank, Knob Creek tasso reduction, and spicy cheese grits.
Roots wanted Outpost 45’s cocktail menu to be approachable, with ingredients and flavors that customers know.
“Sometimes you get a cocktail that has so much in it that you don’t really know what you’re tasting,” he said. “I think we got it right with cocktails that aren’t too over-the-top.”
Cocktail selections include Spa Water, Peach and Orange Blossom Ketel One Vodka, citrus, and cucumbers; Strawberry Fields Forever, Bombay Sapphire Gin, lime, strawberries, rosemary, and soda water; and, a customer favorite, Si Reina, 21 Seeds Cucumber Jalapeño Tequila, lime, watermelon, and agave nectar. Featured frozen cocktails include a French 75 with gin, lemon, champagne, and simple syrup; and a tequila-based cocktail, Paloma.
The restaurant is currently open for dinner Tuesday through Thursday, 4:30 to 9:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 4:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with plans to open for brunch and lunch in July.
