A decade back, Chef John Besh partnered with Chef Alon Shaya to create Domenica Restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel, inspired by the regional cooking of Italy. (Both chefs are no longer affiliated with the restaurant). Although New Orleans has its share of Italian restaurants, it’s fair to say most of them serve Italian-American cuisine, much of it Sicilian-inspired. From the onset, Domenica took a different approach, and has been a smashing success ever since.

A grand-scale enterprise, Domenica set out to offer a completely new template, rethinking and redefining the contemporary Italian restaurant in New Orleans, starting with a robust in-house charcuterie selection, complemented by artisanal imported cheese and bread made in house, served with various condiments. Chef Shaya went to Italy to perfect his pizza-making skills, and so pizza became an integral part of the menu at Domenica.