The Metairie restaurant La Tia Cantina serves some of the best Mexican food in the area, with a bar that makes fantastic cocktails.
Now, its founder has a second restaurant underway on Oak Street in New Orleans, which will take a different approach and also keep cocktails in the forefront.
Aguasanta is taking shape at 8312 Oak St., projected to open by late summer.
Aguasanta is a new restaurant for Oak Street in New Orleans.
This was most recently home to Magasin Vietnamese Café, which moved to Magazine Street earlier this year (and prior it was Mukbang Seafood and the sushi bar Chiba).
It will be a different restaurant from La Tia. Luis Nava, who is leading the project, said Aguasanta will serve modern American cuisine with a fusion edge. Mexican and Latin American ingredients and influences will feature prominently on the menu, though they’ll play out through a broader global range of ideas.
Shrimp aguachile pulses with fresh seafood flavor and a green chile and citrus marinade at La Tia Cantina in Metairie. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The kitchen will have a wood-fired oven for roasting meats and vegetables. The sushi bar from Chiba is still in place, but here it will be a seafood bar for dishes like ceviche, tiradito, aquachile and raw oysters.
“Whatever is in the market, we will take advantage of it," Nava said.
La Tia Cantina in Metairie has a contemporary, colorful look. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty | The Times-Picayune)
Nava, a native of Colima on Mexico’s Pacific coast, opened La Tia in 2022 in a restaurant space on West Esplanade Avenue that had seen many different places come and go. This one has been popular from the start, and with good reason. It covers the basics with tacos and such, but goes deep on regional Mexican flavors and adds a modern lens to presentation and the standards.
Nava is aiming to build a restaurant group, and he’s working with partners to make that happen. Leo Vasquez will continue to run La Tia, while Nava is working closely now with Ulysses Campos to develop Aguasanta.
Ulysses Campos prepares cocktails at La Tia Cantina in Metairie drawing from many different Mexican flavors and ingredients. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty | The Times-Picayune)
Campos has led the bar at La Tia, with a cocktail menu that draws on Mexican traditions but with a modern approach (to see what I mean, try the one at La Tia called el corazon, a hibiscus-hued blend of mezcal and a chile liqueur).
A cocktail called El Corazon has mezcal, ancho liqueur and fresh hibiscus at La Tia Cantina in Metairie. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The name Aguasanta translates to holy water, and they’re using that as a metaphor for the offerings at the bar.
The business corridor along Oak Street has seen a wave of changes, including a number of restaurant closures lately, and some new additions. But Nava said he’s been eyeing the street for years and is upbeat on its appeal as a restaurant.
“There are empty spaces, but you can see the ambience of it, it has so much potential,” he said. “I see the neighborhood as a close community that makes you feel right at home.”
4517 W. Esplanade Ave., Metairie, (504) 354-8570
Aguasanta
8312 Oak St., New Orleans, projected opening summer
