About us

Founded in 2010 by Chefs Dana Honn & Christina do Carmo Honn, Carmo is a New Orleans-based tropical restaurant and bar with a commitment to providing vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike with healthy and affordable dishes in a warm, friendly and casual atmosphere. The menu is built upon the rich, multi-cultural culinary influences found throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, West Africa, Southeast Asia, Gulf South, and beyond and features eclectic and traditional/traditionally-inspired dishes with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients, as well as unique and little-known flavors from around the world.

A primary part of Carmo's mission is to provide a narrative of "origins to table" tropical foodways, paying homage and respect to those species, people and cultures from which the vast majority of ingredients/foods which fill the world's collective plate come from. An example of the culmination of that narrative can be found in their new project, "Origins: Amazonia".

The menu includes selections such as a Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, pão de queijo, acarajé, and daily soups and specials from around the tropics. Carmo’s raw seafood menu features the region’s freshest fish prepared in a variety of styles, including shima sashimi (raw, flash-cured fish, a style common to Japan’s tropical islands), tiradito (a Peruvian version of sashimi, smothered in aji Amarillo pepper sauce) and rum-cured, cold-smoked yellowfin tuna. There’s also a raw vegan menu that introduces diners to shio-koji style preparation, avocados, organic tofu, and other fresh vegetables lightly fermented using a koji (aspergillus oryzae) marinade, which almost magically imparts distinct umami characteristics to any food to which it is exposed. The beverage menu is equally as unique, featuring exotic fruit such as juice of the cocoa fruit (cacau), açerola, cupuaçu, graviola (soursop), caja and caju, which infuse Carmo's juice and cocktail menu with exciting new flavors.

Sustainability is an intrinsic part of Carmo’s mission, with certifications by local and national environmental and conservation organizations, including the only three-star rating in the state of Louisiana by the Green Restaurant Association, and the only restaurant in the state to be certified by SeafoodWatch.