CellarDoor – New Orleans

CellarDoor opened its doors in July 2014. Much has changed since then, but our original hope remains the same: to provide a modern New Orleans experience, in a classically New Orleans building. Our cuisine can best be described as Contemporary Southern, and our cocktail list contains meticulously researched, and sometimes “improved” versions, of the classics. For good measure, we’ve also thrown in a few creations of our own.

Chef Thomas Finch is a native Louisianian, who has traveled the world in search of his culinary inspiration. Tommy has spent time in some of the most prestigious kitchens both at home and abroad. Our cocktail program is managed by owner Gregory M. Gremillion, who is also a native of Southern Louisiana.

The Swoop-Duggins House is truly one of the most unique buildings in all of New Orleans. Part of the Upper Central Business District’s National Historic District, as well as the local Lafayette Square Historic District, it is possibly the single oldest “house” remaining in downtown New Orleans. At the end of the eighteenth century, the boundaries of New Orleans expanded upriver from the Vieux Carré (French Quarter.) Previously operating as the ever eccentric Velvet Room, the brothel themed Sporting House, arts themed restaurant “Christopher Blake’s” (which was owned by New Orleans gourmet laureate Christopher Blake – Gertrude Stein’s last protégé), and perhaps most notably, one of the longest running brothels in New Orleans, the Swoop-Duggins House doesn’t fall short on soul or history. Most likely built around or before 1830, the house is a three-story, three-bay, brick house with an attached two-story service wing… and yes, it most certainly does have ghosts. In 2016 a 3 story “gallery” (a balcony spanning the depth of an entire sidewalk) which was original to the property, was restored to its original grandeur by the Gremillion family.