Family known for dining is giving new life to Josette’s. But it won’t be a restaurant.
They are young and ambitious and have proven they have the skills to put together a big deal and a fine meal.
Nicaud Restaurant Group is doing that in downtowns across South Mississippi.
The company just opened Rooftop Taco and Taquilla Bar in downtown Ocean Springs.
Coming this spring to the second floor of the building on Government Street are four hotel rooms done in retro style. Topping it off will be a rooftop bar and lounge, said Jourdan Nicaud.
He, along with his uncle, Lloyd Nicaud, and their staff at Nicaud Restaurant Group, own and operate Fill-Up with Billups restaurants in Biloxi, Pass Christian and Oxford. They also own Charred in Ocean Springs, Bacchus on the Beach in Pass Christian and Hotel Pass Christian.
Now Jordan’s brother, Field, has joined the business and together they have opened Field’s Steak & Oyster Bar in Bay St. Louis last year and now Rooftops to start 2020.
And they have more to come.
What’s ahead
▪ Last week Jourdan Nicaud went to the Biloxi Development Review Committee with plans to give new life to the former Josette’s costume building in downtown Biloxi. The space, where Mardi Gras dresses and vampire costumes hung before the costume shop went out of business last year, will be transformed into about 40 downtown apartments.
Called 902 Howard, these short- and long-term rentals will stretch along Caillavet Street. Jourdan said he expects they will attract those who work downtown and people from outside the area looking for a second home.
“They’ll be able to walk to the casinos,” he said of the tenants. They’ll be close to the new restaurants and attractions planned on Howard Avenue and downtown, he said, and just across the street from MGM Park for baseball games and Saenger Theatre for shows, when the landmark is restored and reopens.
▪ Charred a Steak & Oyster Bar is moving from downtown Ocean Springs into the former Mardi Gras Museum and Magnolia Hotel in downtown Biloxi.
“We needed more seats,” Jourdan said, given the talents of Chef Milton Joachim at Charred. The two-story restaurant will have a huge walk-in glass meat cooler and marble oyster bar featuring Biloxi Butter oysters farmed off the Mississippi Coast.
The cooler will display wet- and dry-aged beef, similar to Doris Metropolitan in New Orleans, where Field said,“The steaks there are amazing.”
▪ Another undisclosed Nicaud business will open at the Charred location on Government Street in Ocean Springs.
▪ A chef from Alaska is moving to the Coast to to add pizza to the Nicaud Restaurant Group offerings.
Gotta be downtown
The Nicaud Group has concentrated its businesses in downtowns.
“We just like to be in the middle of everything,” Jourdan said.
In Biloxi, “I knew there was a need for downtown housing,” he said. They chose Biloxi architect Michael LeBatard to design the new apartments in the 1930 building. LeBatard said he took inspiration from the old Kennedy Hotel that stood near the railroad tracks, a block away. His design is for a distinctive yet familiar building will house one- and two-bedroom apartments with a penthouse or two on the top.
“I have about 2,500 plus pictures of Old Biloxi,” he said. He also has historical photos of Josette’s when it was the old Borden Creamery. The magic comes, he said, when he pulls out the best old architectural features and puts them into the new design.
Old look, new style
This blending of old and coastal into their new businesses and themes — and the number of businesses they’ve opened — is surprising given the ages of the Nicaud brothers. Jourdan is 30. His brother Field is 24.
Jourdan went to Tulane University to study medicine, but instead opened his first restaurant, Bacchus on the Beach, in his hometown of Pass Christian when he was 21. He’s since built a strong portfolio of downtown restaurants and a hotel. While he still spends some time in the kitchen, he says, “My little brother is a better cook than I am.”
Field Nicaud went off to study at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education, and worked in the kitchens at Eleven Madison Park and La Nacional in New York before moving to Philadelphia. There he trained with Iron Chef Jose Garces.
“The tacos — I learned from him,” Field said.
With his education and experience, Field chose to return home. “I wanted to be with my family,” he said. “I love the Gulf Coast.”
Wes Newell, their chief operating officer, and Jerika Vincent, who recently joined the Nicaud Group and handles social media and marketing, also are young.
When it came time for a theme for the new restaurant in an old building in downtown Ocean Springs, they went Mexican.
“Downtown Ocean Springs didn’t have tacos or tequila,” Vincent said. Then they invited the Coast art community to design a mural for the exterior of the building. Their designs were so good, Vincent said, they used the winning entry on the outside of the building and three more inside.
“It’s all local art, all local talent,” she said. The Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, theme from the art is carried throughout the restaurant, down to the salt and pepper shakers.
Field and Chef Joachim came up with 10 varieties of tacos for the menu at the new Rooftop, such as crabcake or smoked chicken and crispy bacon. They also spiced up the fajita list with a shrimp and crawfish fajita.
For the rooftop lounge they are going with more of a Nashville and Los Angeles vibe — “Something different for the Gulf Coast,” she said.
As young business owners, doing business downtown is a conscious choice, she said.
“We love being in the hot spot areas,” she said. “We want to be in the action, too.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
