For Mama Roux in Newburgh, the Conversation on NOLA Cuisine Is Ever-Evolving

The arrival of warmer weather means it’s high time to get on down to Newburgh to sip on a Sazerac or snack on a paté on the picturesque NOLA-inspired patio at Mama Roux.

Inside the beautifully restored restaurant on Broadway, you can sidle up to the curvaceous zinc bar for a cocktail, cozy up in a leather booth under vintage Art Deco sconces, or wile away the hours on the spacious back patio, complete with an iron-balustered porch you'd swear came straight from the Big Easy. 

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Images courtesy of Mama Roux

Mama Roux’s menu is an ever-evolving reflection of the vibrant, comforting, and oh-so-diverse spirit and cuisine of New Orleans with which owner Sterling Knight opened the restaurant in late 2019. Since its opening, Chef Matty Hutchins, a CIA grad, has been deftly blending mainstays of the Southern, French, and Creole larders with new cuisines and techniques that would easily be at home on an ambitious tasting menu. 

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Images courtesy of Mama Roux

Here, lovable NOLA mainstays like Mama’s Fried Chicken with sweet potato mash, cider braised collard, and a buttermilk biscuit ($23) play with creative takes on French bistro favorites like Baked Escargots with kale-almond pesto, fontina, and grilled baguette ($16) and "Porky Puffs," pork rillettes with profiteroles updated for spring with accompaniments of pea purée, mustard caviar, Cooperstown’s “Toma Celina,” and mustard-Sherry vinaigrette ($14).  

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Coffee-Cured Elk from last month's five-course game dinner Mama Roux hosted with The Spirits Lab and Fossil Farms

More recently, Hutchins has also been working to expand the menu to spotlight the offerings of the Hudson Valley. “Honestly, I feel like the Hudson Valley is a unicorn,” Knight says. “There’s such a cornucopia of amazing products around us.”

That sentiment rang true last month, when Mama Roux collaborated with Newburgh’s The Spirits Lab and Fossil Farms in Boonton, New Jersey to present a five-course game dinner (including bone marrow and foie gras crème brulée) expertly paired with handcrafted cocktails.

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Images courtesy of Mama Roux

Speaking of cocktails—beverage director Patty Lowden is keeping the drinks menu fresh with choices such as "Helix the Cat," a mix of vodka, Dimmi, raspberry syrup, lime, and soda ($12) and "Gurl You Spicy" with tequila, cilantro/jalapeño syrup, lime, and orange ($12). If you’re on the wagon, the menu also has a “hooch-free” Hurricane with passion fruit puree, orange juice, grenadine, and lime ($5), and root beer floats with sarsaparilla bitters, coconut milk, root beer, and cream soda ($5).

And you definitely won't want to miss the last Sunday of every month, when Mama Roux hosts a drag brunch that’s become so popular it’s almost always sold out. “This has become a safe space for them to perform,” Knight says. “All of them have become team members here at Mama Roux.”

Mama Roux

96 Broadway, Newburgh

Open for Dinner Wed-Sat and Brunch on Sunday.

Wednesday and Thursday dinner served 5-9pm, with bar service until 10pm

Friday and Saturday dinner served 5-10pm, with bar service until 12am

Sunday brunch served 11am-4pm

(845) 561-5363

Mama-roux.com