The building once home to Creole Cabana—the shuttered Caribbean-inspired restaurant that anchored The Oasis recreational development—could get new life later this year as a restaurant or catering entertainment venue with a different concept, according to permits filed a couple of days ago.
Developer Chris Shaheen, who opened The Oasis in 2018, on Tuesday applied for an undesignated type of permit for the 7,500-square-foot “restaurant/catering entertainment venue” on Burbank Drive that Creole Cabana vacated in January amid slow business and “dire” financial problems plaguing then-owner Sammy Nagem, who also closed his Sammy’s Grill locations in Prairieville and on Highland Road in Baton Rouge.
Regarding the empty space, Shaheen tells Daily Report he’s in the process of negotiating with an undisclosed management group to reopen the bar and restaurant under a different name that, for branding purposes, will likely include “Oasis” in its moniker. The concept will also officially become part of The Oasis property rather than acting as its own separate establishment.
“It’ll have a completely different menu, and we’ll be pushing the volleyball, patio, bar and catering more. Our goal is to make it the premier crawfish boil facility in the city,” Shaheen says. “I want to make sure, this time, we do it the right way. We’re trying to capture more of the student market.”
However, many details remain murky, such as whether the business would operate primarily as a restaurant or entertainment venue. Amid the possibility of another pandemic-related shutdown, an opening date is also up in the air, though Shaheen is gunning for September.
Shaheen declined to identify the management group, but says some better-known potential local investors have expressed interest in being involved.
He hopes to firm up more specifics within the next couple of weeks.
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