Andrea's Restaurant in Metairie changes hands again, the new owners have a different plan

There’s been another change of ownership and a big change of plans for a Metairie property that for decades ranked among the most prominent restaurants in Jefferson Parish.

Last summer, local real estate developer Anthony “A.P.” Marullo III bought Andrea’s Restaurant from its founder chef Andrea Apuzzo and began developing plans to turn it into a new, multifaceted Italian restaurant and event venue called Marullo's. 

But Marullo says he has had a change of heart and a new outlook on his own future. So he struck a deal to sell the property to the New Orleans-based hospitality group Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, which runs more than two dozen restaurants in the area.

Marv Ammari, CEO of Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts, said his team is now formulating the plan for the new restaurant they will create here. It will be different from the one Marullo envisioned and different from what Andrea’s had been through the years.

The guiding concept right now, he said, is an approachable steakhouse with more affordable prices than the established upscale players in that market.

“In my opinion, an approachable steakhouse is missing in Jefferson Parish,” Ammari said. “We always look for what the community is missing, and I think that’s something needed.”

Many details of the new project are still in the works, including its name, and where else the menu might go beyond steaks. It could be a year before this new restaurant debuts while the company is developing several other restaurants concurrently.

The sale of Andrea’s last year marked a major shift for what had been a stalwart of the Jefferson Parish dining scene. Apuzzo, a native of the Isle of Capri in Italy, opened his namesake restaurant in 1985. Through the years it served as an upscale restaurant and also a popular venue for banquets and events, cultivating a clientele who would return through generations for their own family celebrations.

Marullo initially said he was inspired to pursue the restaurant to create a tribute to his mother, Barbara Marullo, who died in fall 2022.

But he said during the months since he has reassessed the best way to do that. Now, he said he wants to focus more on family and starting a philanthropic nonprofit to give back. So he approached Ammari with the offer to take over the Andrea’s property.

“I feel like it’s in good hands,” Marullo said. “I’ve known them a long time, I know them to be passionate and responsible individuals in this industry. I felt they’d honor what that site means to the community.”

Veterans project on hold

Marullo also began development on a second major restaurant project nearby in Metairie at 3131 Veterans Blvd., a commercial complex that is part of his portfolio.

Marullo’s Steakhouse was to be an upscale restaurant with high-end steaks and a strong seafood component, and private dining rooms built around hibachi-style tables for chef-led dinners. The restaurant, occupying what had once been a Mellow Mushroom pizzeria location, would have a large banquet space as well as a bourbon lounge on a glass-enclosed patio overlooking Veterans Boulevard.

Marullo now said those plans are on hiatus as he weighs his next moves.

“I sincerely don’t know what’s next there right now," he said. “I don’t rule out proceeding there. Whichever way the strong wind takes me, that’s the way we’ll go."

Andrea’s, at 3100 19th St., across Causeway Boulevard from the Lakeside Shopping Center, had been a very large restaurant. It covers 12,000 square feet, and in its past incarnation had many interconnecting private rooms, with seating for up to 350, plus outdoor parking for 200 cars. It has since been gutted, essentially creating a blank slate for what will come next.

Ammari said the future restaurant here will be very different from Andrea’s, in much the same way that his company has transformed other well-known properties. The longtime home of La Madeleine in Elmwood, for instance, was turned into a location of its Boulevard American Bistro concept. The former Bravo restaurant at the Lakeside Shopping Center became a new Italian restaurant from the group called a Tavola.

Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts got its start with bars and eventually began buying longtime local restaurants. That portfolio now includes Broussard’s, Café Maspero and the Bombay Club, all in the French Quarter, and Tommy’s and Ernst Café in the Warehouse District. It recently expanded out of state, opening its Flamingo Landing restaurant in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Its concept Boulevard American Bistro, which started in Metairie at the former home of Houston’s restaurant, has been in growth mode, with three open now and two locations under development. One is in the former Emeril’s NOLA in the French Quarter (projected to open in June) and the other is in the former Auction House Market in the Warehouse District (projected to open in the fall).

Apuzzo, meanwhile, retired from the restaurant business last fall after a long and high-profile career in New Orleans hospitality. Today he says he misses it.

“It’s the people. I really miss my customers and seeing people,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to be this hard.”

Right now, he’s said, he’s looking for opportunities in culinary education and restaurant consulting.

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