Mid-City’s new Ruby Slipper cafe opens this weekend

Earlier this month, Curbed New Orleans documented the finishing touches of the new Ruby Slipper restaurant and headquarters on 315 South Broad Avenue. The cafe will open for business on Friday, December 22.

The new cafe will operate in the former Carpenters & Joiners Union Hall’s two-story brick masonry building. Cafe owners Jennifer and Erich Weishaupt converted its first floor into a 4,900-square-foot restaurant that seats over 120 guests.

Local firm Studio BKA Architects designed the new restaurant, while Woodward Service Group oversaw construction. The owners worked under The National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Standards and Guidelines, restoring the building’s brick facade, interior plaster walls, steel window sashes, and open office space.

New additions include an elevator, two commercial kitchens, wood-plank ceilings, and retro light fixtures.

The second-floor headquarters has four private offices, open office workstations, a commissary kitchen, and break rooms. The owners restored the second-floor bathrooms’ original tile.

Though our favorite addition is the cafe’s neon signage that’s visible on South Broad Avenue, which the owners based on the old Carpenters & Joiners Union signage.

• A sneak peek at the Ruby Slipper’s new Mid-City location [Curbed NOLA]