When Ancora first opened, Talbot says he spent a lot of time educating new customers about the Neapolitan style, so new to an already populated New Orleans dining scene. The neighborhood even received a cultural district award from the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development in 2013. Today, the district has blossomed into a dining hot spot. The Feret Street investment soon paid off. Talbot was a little hesitant at first as he remembers driving by Ancora’s future home on Feret Street, thinking ‘absolutely no way.’ There were no streetlights yet and one lone revitalized cocktail bar sat down the block. Talbot and Garcia saw potential in the uptown area of New Orleans in its early stages of redevelopment when selecting a location for their Neapolitan pizzeria concept. Both opened in the spring of 2011 to plenty of media fanfare. The two partnered to open New Orleans’ first Neapolitan pizzeria on Feret Street, in conjunction with the opening of a neighboring restaurant also backed by Garcia. I became really obsessed with it,” he says.Įnter chef and restaurateur Adolfo Garcia, who has built an empire of successful restaurants in New Orleans. “I was making pizza twice a week, then three times a week. When he moved back to his home state of Louisiana, he built a backyard pizza oven - some sources report that it’s a $10,000 unit. “I fell in love with pizza and was doing it on the side,” he says. and Europe, including a Michelin-starred restaurant in California. Talbot has built a successful career in fine-dining restaurants in the U.S. “The cargo lights came from a casino that sank during the hurricane.” Talbot’s father-in-law made the intimate wine bottle lights that hang above the bar. “There is a little bit of sentimental value in everything in here,” Talbot says. Talbot salvaged the lumber from a historic home in the Bywater area of New Orleans. The same reclaimed wood continues through to the tables, bar and a butcher-block lining the front of its open kitchen makeline. The front of the restaurant is lined with windows and dark, rich wood benches. Prepping for its dinner service, the pizzeria was filled with the aroma of roasting vegetables wafting from its handcrafted dome wood-burning oven, imported from Naples, Italy - a showpiece of the Neapolitan craft. Pizza Today traveled to the Crescent City in December to visit Ancora and sit down with Talbot.
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