Construction is under way in the Southdowns Shopping Center on the space that will be the home of the newly recreated Phil’s Oyster Bar.
Jordan Piazza, who will co-own the restaurant with his brother, Anthony Piazza, says securing permits took a little longer than expected. But the extensive renovation began late last month and is expected to be complete by mid-August.
“We’re hoping to time it with back to school,” says Jordan Piazza, son of the restaurant’s longtime owner, the late Gus Piazza. “We want to be ready when the LSU crowds return.”
The Piazzas are investing a considerable sum in overhauling the space, which previously housed the Thai Kitchen restaurant. Jordan Piazza estimates the total cost of the project is nearly $400,000.
“We’re spending a significant sum,” he says. “So we want to do it right.”
Like the original Phil’s Oyster Bar, the new space will have a “Back Room.” It will also feature all of the popular menu items from the family’s recipes, as well as a few new items.
Phil’s Oyster Bar opened in the mid-1950s on Government Street as a restaurant attached to Phil Tuminello’s Seafood Market. It became a true local favorite in the mid-1970s, when Piazza, the former LSU football team manager, acquired a stake in the business and took up its management. Over the years, it became known as much as a haunt for local movers-and-shakers as for its oyster and fried seafood fare.
To surmount the limited dining space and parking, Piazza moved Phil’s to the more spacious location on at 4550 Concord Ave. in 2004. But the new location lacked the charm and ambience that made the original Phil’s a classic neighborhood haunt, and in 2007 Piazza closed the restaurant after deciding to retire. He died five months later.
Coincidentally, Thai Kitchen, after leaving Southdowns Shopping Center, acquired the building at 4550 Concord Ave. and after an extensive renovation reopened their popular restaurant there earlier this year.
—Stephanie Riegel
