Dr. Jones, the tiny Metairie bistro that critics named one of the best new restaurants in the New Orleans area, is packing up its Veterans Memorial Boulevard storefront and moving into Uptown New Orleans. The 32-seat spot has built a following since opening in early 2025 with a BYOB model, an open kitchen, and a menu that mixes Louisiana staples with international flavors.
The relocation was announced in August, according to NOLA.com, ending the run of Dr. Jones's original suburban home in Jefferson Parish. The restaurant has occupied a compact storefront at 1325 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Metairie, a strip-mall space that once served as the original location of the sushi restaurant Yakuza House before that concept expanded elsewhere, according to New Orleans Magazine.
Dr. Jones is co-owned by chefs David Rouse and Billy Jones, who trained together at the Louisiana Culinary Institute and worked in Michelin-starred kitchens in Chicago before returning home to cook at Donald Link's flagship New Orleans restaurants, including Herbsaint, Cochon, and Restaurant August, per Big Easy Magazine's profile of the pair. Before teaming up on Dr. Jones, Billy Jones had been chef and co-founder of Blue Giant, a well-regarded modern Chinese-American restaurant in the Garden District that closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic; the same New Orleans Magazine piece notes he stepped away from the industry for a stretch before reuniting with Rouse.
A Fast Rise to Best-of-the-Year Status
Dr. Jones opened in early 2025 as a casual, counter-style diner concept without a liquor license, letting diners bring their own wine or beer while the kitchen turned out elevated dishes at accessible prices, Axios New Orleans reported at the time. The gamble paid off quickly: NOLA.com food critic Ian McNulty named Dr. Jones one of the top five new restaurants across the entire New Orleans metro area in his year-end roundup for 2025, a distinction that helped turn the suburban storefront into a destination.
The menu leans into that global-meets-Southern identity, pairing barbecue shrimp seasoned with Ethiopian berbere spice alongside tapioca pearl croquettes stuffed with Camembert and Natchitoches meat pies finished with a chipotle lime crema, according to Where Y'at Magazine. That blend of Louisiana tradition and international technique has become the restaurant's signature, distinguishing it from typical suburban bistro fare.
Metairie's Dining Boom Loses a Star Tenant
The move comes as Veterans Memorial Boulevard itself has kept growing, with new additions in 2026 including a Chicken Salad Chick location at Lakeside Mall and a planned three-story rooftop dining development along the south I-10 service road, as Hoodline previously reported. Dr. Jones's departure from that corridor stands out even as the surrounding retail and dining scene continues to expand.
The shift also fits into a broader pattern of restaurants crossing parish lines in both directions. Even as Dr. Jones heads into the city, 7th Ward restaurant Nonno's Cajun Cuisine made the opposite move earlier in 2026, leaving New Orleans to open at Lafreniere Park in Metairie, a migration Hoodline covered when it broke the news of that relocation. Meanwhile, Uptown's dining real estate has been in flux of its own accord, with the former Avo space on Magazine Street closing in late 2025 before reopening for pop-up concepts such as Bevi Seafood earlier this year, according to Hoodline's coverage of that turnover.
Exactly where in Uptown New Orleans Dr. Jones will land, when it plans to open, and whether it will keep its BYOB format or pursue a full liquor license in the new space all remain unresolved. Those details had not been announced as of the relocation news this week.
