A Garden District/Uptown favorite for more than 30-years is closing for good.
Upperline, the restaurant which draws its name from the street they’re located on has announced it will not be reopening for business.
The restaurant is another New Orleans institution which has fallen victim to the pandemic.
Proprietor JoAnn Clevenger tells the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate that at 82-years of age, she has decided close.
“If I was 62, I would definitely be reopening, but I’m not,” she said.
The walls of the restaurant are renowned for paintings by Clevenger, running from the wainscoting all the way to the ceiling.
“Every painting has a story to tell,” she told the paper.
“But so does every table.”
The well-known restaurant, which occupies a house on the corner of Upperline and Pitt Streets will be put up for sale.
Clevenger says if a motivated buyer wants to buy to restart the restaurant they would oblige, but:
“We would sell Upperline with the name and the recipes but I only want to sell to someone who is not going to damage what we built here; they could change it, but I have to trust they won’t damage it.”
Clevenger and her family have struggled to make the decision on closing out Upperline for quite some time.
Now Upperline joins the ranks of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen and other great bistros and fine dining stops which have become part of New Orleans past.
